Friday, June 24, 2011

Cuirass, finished!

That's right, boys and girls, the cuirass to my Cardassian uniform is finished! Well, the construction is finished. I've spent the last 8 hours finishing up detail work, adding the last bit of piping, and sealing and gesso-ing everything. That means that tomorrow is Epoxy Day! I was slightly terrified at the thought of epoxying this thing, but now I'm excited, because it means that painting is just around the corner.

So, tonight's progress. First, I had realized a few days ago that the waist on my armour sat a little too low. All the images I've seen of Cardassians in uniform showed the cuirass sitting just above the natural waist. Damn. So, first thing I did was adjust the waistline by hacking off a large chunk of foam. It hurt a little, but it did end up looking more accurate.




Once that was done, I set to work on the detailing for the back. I had bought a new bottle of 3-D paint at the store earlier, and I had stupidly bought it in black. Bad idea. Once I had on the first layer, it was nearly impossible to make out the different layers when I went back over it later. It was a nightmare, and I had to do everything while looking at the armour at a cockamamie angle so I could see that the paint was building up effectively. >.< But, I managed, and the back is now detailed and ready to go.



Looks like some sort of a beetle!

Anyway, after all the detailing was finished, I set about finishing the piping that still needed to be added. There were the little detail bits on the smooth panels on the back, the piping up the side pieces, and the armholes. You can see the piping up the sides in the pic below.



The last bit was to close up the side seams (which was already done in the above pic) and the shoulder seams. I left one side seam open so I could slip the armour on over my head. I plan to have the other side close with velcro.
The way I closed the seams was to take another piece of foam that was wide enough to cover a good enough area on either side of the seam, and glue either side to it. It provided a nice seam, and added an extra bit of reinforcement.
The top was done in the same way. Once the shoulder seams were closed, I went over them with gesso and Mod Podge to disguise the join, though I hadn't yet done that in the picture below.



At this point, I had a little bit of fun and tried on my armour. I was overall pleased with the fit (and I spent a little time parading around in front of the mirror, you know, for fitting purposes), with only a few adjustments to be made at the side opening and the armholes. Once those were made, I added the piping around the armholes to finish everything off.



And there it is! The finished cuirass! Tomorrow, I epoxy. Then, I plasti-dip. Then I paint! Oh yeah, and I have to make the jumpsuit at some point...maybe tomorrow!

2 comments:

  1. DEAR LORD IN HEAVEN, YOU ARE AMAZING!

    This is crazy, detailed, beautiful work. (And now I really want to watch some DS9 again...)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you so much! I have an obsession with Cardassians, and I'm completely addicted to Star Trek, so it was bound to happen that I'd end up in a Cardassian uniform sooner or later. lol

    ReplyDelete

Flickr