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[Ashtroboy]

So ive been going through the costume requirements page and have noticed that the armour section has an acceptable armour material list, however the helmet section does not, as such i was wondering if its okay for me to make my bucket from EVA foam, as curving the dome will be exceedingly easy.

This is the 1st of many questions that i have, however i will await the answer to this prior to asking the next

cheers
Ash

[Taakur Beroya]

Welcome ashtroboy, Eva is not an acceptable building material for an armor pieces. What would be acceptable would be to use the Wizard of flight templates to make a helmet out of cardboard and then coat that in Bondo glass and resin. You could also use a skate helmet, fill in the holes and then use that as your dome. There is a really good scratch build tutorial on the tutorial section. You could also go into the helmet section and check out some of the threads. You could also talk to Bowfanny, he is pretty much a helmet master. Best of luck vod and if you need anything just ask.

[Ashtroboy]

Cheers for the quick reply

just curious as to why its not an acceptable material, and secondly what if i were to cover the eva foam in bondo?

sorry to be a pain

Ash

[Ref Al'drann]

No, EVA covered in bondo still not approvable. The bondo will flake off anyway if the material flexes.

Here are some discussions on the topic of why EVA isn't approvable.

http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=54395.msg767688#msg767688
http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=87343.msg1292135#msg1292135
http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=95916.msg1393596#msg1393596

Here's the short of it:

1. EVA does not give the appearance of realistic armor. It might look great in pictures, but it looks like foam in person.

2. EVA is not a durable material and it does not absorb resin or other hardeners. Resin works with card because paper can be saturated with resin and the final product is, for all intents and purposes, entirely made of resin. EVA foam with resin and bondo on top is still going to flex. This leads to cracks, tears, wrinkles and all manner of unsightly problems.

3. There is nothing that EVA can do in Star Wars costuming applications that other approved materials can't do just as well or better. It might be more difficult to get the desired results in some cases, but we don't approve materials solely on their ease of use. We base the approval of materials entirely based on the look of the end result.

[Karl Dha'Werda]

Cheers for the quick reply

just curious as to why its not an acceptable material, and secondly what if i were to cover the eva foam in bondo?

sorry to be a pain
Ash

Ash, it is an unacceptable material because it is not rigid enough for armour.  Using EVA foam as a base is no more useful then cardboard if you are going to coat it in Bondo glass or resin anyways.  Here are some quotes from other inquiries about using EVA foam.

As mentioned, it has been HEAVILY discussed over the last couple of years with a few members even buying foam and resin to do test samples and stress tests. Some of the reasons that influence this decisions are but are not limited too...

Thickness: In the Star Wars universe, most armor is 1-4MM thick with the occasional 5-6MM thick pieces. Foam thick enough for armor use runs 12-15MM thick. Great for HALO, GOW etc but, entirly too thick for Star Wars armor. It doesnt have that "in universe" feel.

Realism: I recently purchased a set of Combat Evolved Master Chief armor made primarily from EVA. It's really nice armor and in pix and from a distance you cant really tell it's foam. But, in that 2-6' window where you will usually be encountered in public, it has visible creases and crinkles at natural bends points where the armor flexes and that really kills the illusion of real armor regardless of how well it's prepped, assembled and painted.

Hardening: As mentioned bout the hardening, as the argument has come up... "what if it's resin coated or glassed". For one that kills any "cost efficiency" of it. But, EVA foam is designed as a flooring for garages and industrial areas where spills of various chemicals may happened. The design of the foam is to reject these materials, not allow them to impregnate it. So, when you resin or fiberglass it, you are essentially applying an unadhered, thin shell that will break, crack and come off and my do so in as little time as the first text fit. Ithica here had a horror story occur on a kit he built. Ithica is adept and well schooled at working with EVA armor as resin for casting and armor applications. He suffered a catastrophic failure that dismantled the entire costume and required a complete rebuild.

The overall decision was it doesn't fit the look and feel the club wants to portray for Star Wars. It is great for other serials but, not this one. It is allowed for certain applications here though... things such as soft cods, soft knee's, pauldrons etc. But, not for primary armor.

Foamies and EVA wouldn't be sturdy enough.  Since we have plate armor on parts of our body that like to bend and move (like chest and belly), EVA foam would bend and crease and it would look bad.  You'd have to reinforce it with fiberglass and by then it would be more work and more expensive than just using sintra.

Also EVA foam is really thick.  Much thicker than the average Mando armor and it would probably look strange compared to other kits.

EVA foam is really nice for bulky armor like from Mass Effect, Gears of War or Halo.
Craft foam is nice if you're simulating leather or something thin and pliable.

Looks like Ref beat me to it as I was searching for the similar information he has.

[Ashtroboy]

wow super fast replies, many thanks, okay , I'll find a home for the EVA i have and order some Sintra in, you've all been awesome and saved me wasted my limited time.

thanks
Ash

[Ref Al'drann]

For a helmet, card will probably be easier than sinta. Once the construction is complete, you can saturate the card in resin, fiberglass the inside and bondo the outside and you'll have a very strong helmet.