Making my FemShep armor was a mighty undertaking, but thankfully I could follow in the footsteps of many who have come before me. If you are starting of N7 journey I hope this post will help you find your way!
Source: Kotaku
First off check out my video walkthough, I go over how I made sections of the armor and then how it all goes together!
Then find the Facebook group “N7 elite Costume Group” – they are a treasure trove of resources and experts who can help you through your first or hundredth build.
Beyond that here are some specifics of what I did:
Materials
Armor
The majority of the armor was constructed out of EVA foam, this stuff comes in squares and rolls and various thicknesses. I used a roll that was 1/4 of an inch thick, and had the ‘carbon fiber’ texture on one side. I found it by chance on sale, but I know Sears sells one in the same thickness, and mats with the same texture (there are other online stores that you can fine similar ones at). Places to look online include Harbor Freight, Walmart and Amazon.
To get variations in thickness I used craft foam (from Joanns) in 1mm and 3mm. As well as one 1/2 in thickness matt.
Painting
I went with the Plasti-dip and spray paint method for painting. Because I like to be different, and because it was the color scheme I used on my in game armor I painted it metallic blue.
The basic method was 2 – 3 coats of plastidip, 1 coat black spray paint, 1 – 2 coats of blue metallic paints.
Details were added by dry brushing with silver, and black acrylic as appropriate for the design. To add some light weathering I used a water mixture with brown and black acrylic paint, I dabbed this on in the crevices and on edges. Other weathering was done with silver acrylic dry brushed on the edges/ other places to show wear, and lastly the scratches were just a line of black acrylic paint and then a line of silver acrylic with a tiny tiny brush.
Straps
This was a mixture of nylon webbing, velcro, buckles and lots of hot glue. All of the supplies were initially purchased from strap works, with refills as needed in other fabric stores.
Other resources
- Here is the specifics of how I made the chestplate.
- Itspreciosutime on tumblr has a great detailed post on how they made their FemShep armor, including wonderful shots of shows and a printable version of the undersuit texture!
- Freya Williams has a phenomenal build, and her post on RPF has some great information especially if you want to go the vacuum form and not EVA foam route.
- Troodon on has hands down the most helpful reference image of the armor (in fact really the only one I used), they also have plenty more in case you decide to do a different Mass Effect character!
- This video from Alwaystimstime, helped me finally figure out how to make the pattern for the pesky pauldrons!
- REDACH6’s video gave me the inspiration for how to assemble the arm sections including the weird elbow guard.
- Towering Props’s instructable provides a very good general guide to working with foam, including painting and heat forming.
- Along those lines Punished Props, Foamsmith ebooks are great resources for getting started on armor builds!
