Updated Captain Phasma Build

 Years ago I made my first replica of the Captain Phasma helmet from Star Wars Episode VII: the Force Awakens.  It came out pretty good given the reference images that were available at the time and it managed to get around quite a bit.  Here's a winning shot of one of my Phasma helmets being worn at the world premiere of Episode VII:

I was very proud of the build, but since then she's been in two movies and I've been able to get images of the helmet from all kinds of different angles.  It turns out I got a few details a little wrong.  Then one day I was perusing Do3D.com, the same outfit that modeled the helmet for me originally and noticed that they'd updated the model since then.  Since the 3D printers were idle at the time, I figured I might as well go ahead and update my Phasma build.

So here's the updated 3D model rendered next to the 3D model I used for the original build:

In short order I'd printed a new prototype.  Here's the new printed prototype (right) next to a cast from my original mold (left):


The print was pretty good, but there were a few things I decided to tweak by hand.  Most notably, the noseplate didn't fit quite right and made the width of the "frown" a little too big.  The "teardrop" details in the cheek area also needed some adjustment.  Fortunately, I don't mind doing a bit of Bondo work:

I used a noseplate casting from my original build and after a bit of trimming and re-shaping, I was much happier with it:


With a bit of sanding and filling, it got a coat of grey primer:


And just like that, it was ready for a gloss coat in preparation for molding:

The mold was a pretty straightforward matrix mold with a tin-cure silicone jacket and a fiberglass mothermold.  I've covered the making of this kind of thing many times, so I feel silly going through the step by step once again.  Long story short: the mold worked and I made a few copies:

That's about the same time I'd stacked up a bunch of shiny things that needed to be shinier, so it was an easy thing to slip the helmet into the spray booth for chrome:


I'm really starting to feel pretty good about my shiny finishes lately.  In this case, I painted the helmet with a gloss black single stage urethane automotive paint.  Once that had cured, I gave the whole thing a coat of Alumaluster from Imperial Surface Technology.  This stuff is phenomenal:


Since I was on a roll, I went ahead and painted three:
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The recessed area of the face was painted with a couple of coats of satin black and the snoot plate was glued in place.  Then the eye lenses were installed, a bit of foam padding was wedged into place, and it was good to go.

Then it was time to dust off all of the other parts and pieces and get them re-rigged:


This time around I decided to go with the Episode 8 version.  This meant more practical hand and finger armor as well as a more comfortable version of the ankles:


I also decided to finally spring for a set of fabric gaskets for the knees, elbows, shoulders and neckseal:


These pieces were made by Geeky Pink's Phantastic Gaskets.  The quality and craftsmanship were great and I can't recommend them enough.  Everything was made to size and built with all the necessary velcro to make rigging up the armor a breeze.  Smiles all around:

With Star Wars Celebration: Anaheim coming up fast, I had to do some triage.  I managed to finish every part of the build that would need smelly chemical processes or power tools and pack everything in a bin.  The rest we could do in a hotel room.

Most of the remaining work was just a matter of sewing the velcro onto the cape and attaching matching pads inside the neck of the armor to keep everything in place.  This was all done with time to spare so we could wander around at the convention and show it off.  Here's the Lady Shawnon wearing the complete ensemble and holding a key reference:


Seriously, that's her under all that: 

I suppose I could've made the helmet a bit smaller (in light of her tiny, child-sized cranium), but I happen to have molded the chest and arm parts for this costume in a larger size to fit bigger folks too, so I think this scale was a good compromise.  And really it looks pretty good:

That guy in the Major Vonreg costume is me.  Because I'll be damned if I'm going to keep making awesome costumes for my girlfriend and never get to dress up myself.

Plus, it was nice to be in theme when we ran into other First Order leadership cosplayers:

Still, the shiny chrome lady was much more interesting to look at:


Here's a shot of her out in the afternoon sun in all her gleaming glory:


I was pretty proud of the finish, right up until I spotted this chromed Fett helmet at the EFX booth.  Clearly I've got some more polishing to do:


Still we had a lot of fun at the show.  Especially when we ran across other folks taking their costumes a lot less seriously:

So that was all kinds of fun.  Now I just need to coat the cape fabric to give it the proper patchy shiny sheen, assemble and paint her blaster, and set up a proper photoshoot to get some good showcase photos.

Stay tuned...

Building Captain Phasma Part 4: Finishing!

If you're just now tuning in, you may not know that ever since her first appearance in a trailer for Star Wars, Episode VII, I've been slowly tinkering with a Captain Phasma costume.  That's this lady:


You can read about the first two parts of the build here:

Part 1: the Helmet
Part 2: the Armor
Part 3: Rigging

Those articles covered the making of all of the parts.  But they're all plastic and rubber.  So how do we make this:


shiny and metallic and awesome like this:


For details on that process and photos of the finished costume, read on...

Building Captain Phasma Part 3: Rigging

If you're just now tuning in, you may not know that ever since her first appearance in a trailer for Star Wars, Episode VII, I've been slowly tinkering with a Captain Phasma costume.  You can read about the first two parts of the build here:

Part 1: the Helmet
Part 2: the Armor

That pretty much covers the making of all of the hard parts.  But now it's time to make all of the pieces that hold it all together and make it wearable like so:


For more information on how it all goes together, read on...

Building Captain Phasma Part 2: the Armor

So a couple or three years ago I made a replica of Captain Phasma's helmet.  Here's how it came out:




Now I'm almost done with the rest of the armor.  At this point I've completed everything but the painting and rigging.  It looks like so:


To see how it was made, read on...

Star Wars Episode VIII Trailer is Here!

Here it is:


As usual, it looks pretty phenomenal.

For me, this is the important part:

It looks like we can count on seeing Captain Phasma return.  From what little I can see, her costume is unchanged and she still carries the same blaster rifle:

In other news, now I have an excuse to do a bonfire photoshoot somewhere...

Building Captain Phasma Part 1: the Helmet

Alright, so I have a problem.  I told myself I wasn't going to make anything from Episode VII until I'd actually seen it.  Then I made the Flametrooper helmet.  I'm pretty happy with it.

But it turns out I can't just leave well enough alone.  Mixed in with all of the other awesomeness in the trailers was this beauty:


A chrome stormtrooper?  I'm listening...

 Folks who've known me for any length of time know that I used to drive a little car that was chrome.  Not the whole thing, mind you, just the outside.  So when images of the chrome stormtrooper started popping up online, I started getting flooded with messages from folks asking me when I'd be starting this project.  Clearly it was right up my alley.

Still, I resisted.

Some time later there was a photoshoot which showed off a lot of the neat new things from the upcoming movie.  The best part was that they actors names were listed next to each of the characters.  This is when I found out that the chrome stormtrooper was named Captain Phasma and was being played by none other than Gwendolyn Christie.  If you don't know who she is, she's the actress who's best known for playing Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones:

So not only is this a chrome stormtrooper, she's woman.  A tall blonde woman.  And they didn't do anything silly to make the armor look sexy or feminine.  No nonsense, just the same gear that the rest of the troopers wear in a different color to make it clear that she's in charge.

Now I was hooked.

After that, all it took was having the Lady Shawnon offhandedly mention "I'd wear that." and I was off to the races.

So far the helmet is done: 

For details about how it was made, read on...