Patterns for the torso complete, I decided to make a start on what looks like the most complicated part of this costume: the vest. I spent a very long time staring at my reference pictures for this, mentally deconstructing it and trying to decide how best to assemble the many, many pieces.
While I was waiting for my fabric to arrive, I decided to work on the armour plating. First on my list, the chest pieces! After some trial & error, patience and just a little bit of maths, I came up with the following net which could be assembled to form the 3D pecs. I transferred the template onto 2mm craft foam and assembled with fast-holding tacky glue.
The rest of the armour was much simpler. Each of the abdominal pieces is cut out from 2 layers of 2mm craft foam (I could've just bought some 4mm foam, but I already had plenty of 2mm leftover from other projects 🤷♂️), with the exception of the bottom piece which is thinner, so I only used 1 layer for this. The two black strips underneath each pec, however, look much thicker, so I made these from 3 layers of foam (with each layer getting slightly smaller so that when the pieces are wrapped, they'll have that bevelled look.)
And finally, the most difficult step (and the one I was dreading throughout this entire process) - wrapping the armour in fabric. I had to wait a few more days for the fabric to arrive, so that only added to my sense of impending doom. The black pieces were relatively simple, but the chest was an absolute nightmare!
First of all, I attached the foam pieces to the back of the fabric with contact cement and cut them out, leaving a border of roughly 20mm around each edge. This was my first time using contact cement but it's really effective (just remember to work outside, in a well-ventilated area, and wear a mask & safety gloves!) I did a small test beforehand, and this stuff is really flexible when it dries!
Next, I began to fold over the edges of the fabric one by one and glue them to the back of the foam with more contact cement. Finally, I cut a small hole in two of the abs to accommodate the hex nuts that will be added later on.
I then followed this same process for the pectorals, only with a lot more cursing because of the 3D shapes! This was honestly a really stressful and nerve-wracking stage because once two pieces of contact cement touch each other, they become literally impossible to separate again so I only had 1 shot to get this right - otherwise I'd have to remake the ruined piece from scratch.
The next stage of the build will be tailoring the rest of the vest of getting the armour sewn into place. Stay tuned!
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