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H T C B L & T C L

br> H BLOG H F

EVA F A C

A A 

Here are the pieces for the Garron Paduk boots. They have

been cut out using an X-acto knife. The sharpie tick marks are

to help me match up the pieces and to mark locations for

seam lines, center line, etc.

The next step for them will be to f latten the texture by

heating the surface with a heat gun.

After the texture has been removed, you can start to heat the

EVA foam for shaping. Keep the heat gun about 2"-3" away

from the foam, and keep the gun constantly moving. You

don't want to heat it up too much. If you do, you'll end upwith a burned/scorched spot.

I only use superglue for assembling my EVA armor. I know some people use hot glue & other adhesives, but I've found that my

coating/painting aheres better if hot glue is not involved.

Bill Doran of Punished Props did a video on his YouTube channel about the various super glues he uses for his props. I couldn't

say it any better, so instead of trying, here's his video.

These are the boot tops on my Marcus Fenix boots. I placed

them on the MF boots because I hadn't completed Garron's

boots yet. (the boots were on back order)

You can see that there's a fairly sharp bend in the front of theboot top. This was achieved by grinding out 1/4" deep channel

in the back side of the foam.

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This is the Doc Marten boot with the EVA shell applied. The

boot & boot upper will not be glued together. I attached an

elastic strap to the pull loop of the boot & velcroed it up high

inside the boot top. The elastic was able to stretch when I

walked, and pulled the boot top back down when I wasn't

walking.

Here are the main panel lines cut into the boot top. I used the

sharpie tick marks that I made earlier as a guide. Just take

your metal ruler & mark the line with a sharpie. Then use the

side of a Dremel 85422 Silicon Carbide Grinding Stone  to

cut the panel line. This is where having the flex shaft

attachment is very handy. You can lay the flex shaft along the

foam so just the edge of the dremel stone cuts into the face of 

the foam.

This shows the addition of the kneepads to the boot. As you

can see, the kneepad is made from two halves, that are heat

formed & then glued together. I could have made this from a

single piece, but the model shows a seam there, and making

it in two halves allowed me to replicate the shape of the curve

accurately for the two kneepads. Otherwise it would have

been trial & error to match the curve of the two kneepads.

Now I'm applying details made from 2mm & 3mm fun foam

(Silly Winks). The large pieces are cut & then applied to the

boot using superglue. I did not cut the slots into the kneepad

inset until after I had glued the piece down. I did a plunge cut

with the end of a dremel chainsaw sharpening stone to drill

each end of the slot, then went back with the same bit to

connect the two holes.

I used the same process for the slots cut into the face of theboot top just below the kneepads.

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Here's the boots just about done. It still need keepers to hide

the seam between the kneepad & straps, but it's just about

ready for Plastidip.

To find out more about simulating the stitching visit THIS

PAGE.

M A P I

Garron Paduk's pauldrons

Upper Right Photo: This is the shoulder paudron pieces after

they've been cut out, heated to remove the texture, and the edges

dremeled to give them a smooth rounded edge.

Upper Left Photo: The pauldrons have been heat formed. Robin

discovered that an old 2-5/16" hitch ball clamped in the shop visewas a perfect tool for forming rounded sections of foam. You heat the

foam up using the heat gun. You'll be heating both the front & back

sides of the foam, but really pay attention to the outer side for the

stretch/form. Once the foam is heated up enough, you'll pull/stretch

the foam down over the hitch ball. Make sure to move the foam

around on the hitch ball or you'll get an uneven curve.

Lower Right Photo: You'll need to remake/adjust the patterns for

your fun foam pieces after you've heat formed the main EVA foam. I

had to stretch the fun foam template by almost 2" due to the

stretching caused by the heat forming. Again, like the slots in the

kneepads, I did plunge cuts with the dremel AFTER I applied the fun

foam to the pauldrons.

Lower Right Photo: These are the pauldrons after Plastidip. They

are ready for paint.

<-Back to Cutting & Shaping the EVA Foam On to Plastidipping and Painting the Armor->

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© 2003 Brian Mead / Hardscrabble Farm

If you'd like to use any of this content on your website, please notify me via email prior to posting the content. Also, please credit the source as Hardscrabble Farm and if an author or

contributor is noted, please credit them too. Basically, if you want to swipe my stuff, I know I can't stop you...or it would be costly, time consuming, and definitely NOT fun to try.

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