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 Question - Requesting exemption on EVA restrictions

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Question - Requesting exemption on EVA restrictions
« on: Jul 21, 2015, 01:46 AM »
I have a question about:

Su'cuy vods! I am requesting exemption on the banning of EVA foam as a building material. The reason being is that sintra is not easily available in my area, (http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=85029.msg1264872#msg1264872) and I have experience with EVA foam for armor building.

http://imgur.com/a/NI1JV
That album is a Thanos cosplay a friend of mine commissioned. PLEASE NOTE THAT the helmet and gauntlets, as well as boot and chest pieces not pictured, were all made *in less than a week!* This is not indicative of my full potential, but he needed it quickly and I came through. In addition, these pictures were taken *after* he took it to the convention! So the work has clearly held up. If I had more time to work on it for personal wear, a finished product would be sealed, better surfaced, and detailed and blackwashed among other things.

I have pictures of other projects I have completed if it would help with this discussion and I'd be happy to answer any questions you guys may have.

Vor'e!




Ralin Voth


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Re: Question - Requesting exemption on EVA restrictions
« Reply #1 on: Jul 21, 2015, 03:04 AM »
There are multiple considerations that have all been taken account of regarding the use of EVA foam for club use.

There's the durability factor. Some kits see 10, 15 more more events a year. Many of us on the App Team know people with EVA suits, and it's very common for them to need repairs during or after most events, up to and including the replacement of torn or creased parts. It's hard to recommend using a material that will constantly require a financial output to keep in wearable shape. You'll soon surpass the cost of having spent the money to order armor made of more durable material.

EVA foam strong enough to be used for costumes tends to be much thicker than what we use for our Beskar'gam. This leads to a costume that looks more like a costume, rather than a character that stepped off the movie screen.

There are those wizards of construction who can turn out amazing work with the least likely material. Does this mean EVA foam will be acceptable for general use? Not likely. The time, effort, and financial investment required to make a kit good enough to pass CRLs prohibits the general use of EVA foam. Could a one-off kit be made with EVA foam that would pass the approval process? It's possible, and while highly unlikely, if it was virtually indistinguishable from a Sintra, fiberglass, or metal kit, there's a chance it could be approved.

Take Schubiwan armor for example. While banned, if someone were to modify it and put the effort into fixing the problems with the armor, it could be made approvable. It's banned though because of the cost and extra work it requires above and beyond what a normal scratch-build would require, and that's why EVA foam is banned as well - and will remain so.


« Last Edit: Jul 21, 2015, 10:27 PM by Ralin Voth » Logged

pinocchio


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Re: Question - Requesting exemption on EVA restrictions
« Reply #2 on: Jul 21, 2015, 05:53 PM »
just for the record none of those pictures inspire confidence, in fact they pretty well support why this material is prohibited, it looks like carved up foam chunks, and would never be mistaken for a hard plate metal armor/ceramic/composite or even Stormtrooper ABS.  There are other materials  outside of sintra, but the puffy foam look is not going to cut it until the material processes mature.  My advice would be to use thin sheets of foam and fiberglass over them, both sides, fiber glass and other composites are approvable and have the necessary rigidity if someone were to insist on going down this road, but be aware resins and glass are not the cheapest thing and bondo, you would go through a lot of it unless you are good with composites.  We do get the odd person trying to slip through gaunts made of cut up yoga mats, and they look like cut up yoga mats.  Sorry.

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Re: Question - Requesting exemption on EVA restrictions
« Reply #3 on: Jul 23, 2015, 07:43 PM »
I have to agree with my vode.

While durability is always an issue with EVA one of the main things we need to keep in mind is believability. We're selling an illusion. Our goal is to make plastic look like metal. We're trying to emulate what is seen on screen and EVA foam looks...well...foamy.

I like foam as a filler between thin plastic to give the armor more depth. But as the sole armor component it just doesn't work. But don't take our word for it. Compare and contrast your foam work against other simulated armor parts made of other materials and see what you think.

And thanks to the internet Sintra is available everywhere. But don't think you have to rely only on sintra. You can do some amazing things with a plastic trash can. Here's an example...


kiffren


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Re: Question - Requesting exemption on EVA restrictions
« Reply #4 on: Jul 24, 2015, 10:30 AM »
And thanks to the internet Sintra is available everywhere. But don't think you have to rely only on sintra. You can do some amazing things with a plastic trash can. Here's an example...

In my area Sintra is incredibly expensive and if you use 3mm it becomes very brittle, most likely due to the altitude. The most common material used here is ABS which is a readily available plastic. ABS is used very often in industrial applications so finding a source for it if Sintra is hard to find is really easy. Like the others above have said, Sintra (keep in mind Sintra is a brand name, the material itself is expanded PVC) is incredibly easy to find on the internet.

If you are unwilling to go to a plastic store or order plastic online, you can always go to your hardware store and get yourself a PVC pipe. A 6" pipe should be able to fit most of your armor pieces. The backplate is the only one that might not fit on the pipe. A 10ft section of 6" PVC pipe is $40 according to the home depot website. While personally I'd use a 4" pipe for everything but the backplate (it's thinner and easier to work with), a single 6" pipe would be cheaper overall. That should be enough plastic for two sets of armor so you're looking at $20 for your plastic if you coordinate with someone else who is willing to use PVC pipe. There are a couple tutorials for using PVC to make armor (either trace out the pattern first and then cut or flatten the pipe and then put the templates on the flattened plastic) and working with it isn't that difficult.

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