Work in Progress

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  • This thread is for progress photos or stories of all kind, be it the fabric you bought, the armor you're working on, your new helmet or other props, progress you made in sewing your costume etc.

    Please feel free to share your steps with us!

  • So this is what it's gonna be:
    [IMG]http://i59.tinypic.com/2afal4j.png[/IMG]

    And this is what I have for it so far (minus the glasses, because my mum bought them, and will give them to me shortly before the con):

    [IMG]http://i59.tinypic.com/142hgrn.jpg[/IMG]
    -Gaburevolver, Plezuon Jyudenchi (Normal and Spirit Ranger version)

    [IMG]http://i58.tinypic.com/296lqpl.jpg[/IMG]
    -brown wig (it's darker in reality, but I took that one on a sunny day)

    [IMG]http://i60.tinypic.com/2wgae52.jpg[/IMG]
    -heavy, grey-ish cotton and dark violet cotton for the jacket, white sateen and white chiffon for the skirt

    [IMG]http://i60.tinypic.com/2mhzz2s.jpg[/IMG]
    - berry-colored cotton for the cuffs on the sleeves, artificial leather for the boot covers, zippers for the jacket and boot covers, silver buttons.

    What's still missing:
    The Plezuon emblem for the shoulder (I still need to decide on a way to make it, though atm, I consider trying to stitch it on), materials for the belt, a suitable hairband.

  • Good choice on color I am just wondering what they will do with the US version of kyoryugers.

  • Thanks. I don't even want to think about it. It's bad enough what happened to Goseiger...

  • Or even Gokaiger right now hell they plan to bring in Gokai Silver on episode 6 plus the are skipping Go busters and bought the rights for kyoryugers and are calling it Dino charge with the villains as bounty hunters.

  • I have several things in progress, as those who've been to the Toku Cosplayers Assemble! thread have seen. (Too many things? Time will tell.) On the Kamen Rider front, I have for sure a Kurenai Wataru in the works, and that's posed a few problems belt-side. So for those who are interested in belt modding, here is the frustrating difference between brand new belts (Wizard and Fourze, the two others we have in the house to compare) and Kivat....

    I think most of the most modern belts work like the Wizard one. Both sides clip off with squeezy clips, and there are a scant six screws to remove in order to get inside. Inside, the belt has three holes in it that fit neatly over posts. It looks like this:

    [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Ef17rFp.jpg[/IMG]

    Top to bottom, that's obviously one end of the belt as it is assembled, unscrewed so you can see the works, and then just the belt bit, removed from the clip assembly. So really, this one is incredibly straightforward. You just need strapping of the right size - use whatever you like - and then you can trace the three holes using the removed plastic belt, cut/drill/melt/punch/whatever the holes in your new belt, insert over posts, re-assemble the clip and boom... New adult sized belt, there you go.

    The only tricky thing as I see it is that the belts (all three we have here, at any rate) are all 1 3/4ths inches wide, which is.. shall we say, a non-standard size for many colors and kinds of strapping you might want to use. It's 4.5 centimeters, so I'm sure it makes total sense on the manufacturing end. And 1 3/4th inches seems to be a military strapping width from what I've seen thus far, as a bit of trivia! It just might limit your options in terms of color, weight and material is all (if you're in the US... I have no idea what's available overseas as of this writing). The Fourze belt is identical:

    [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/wpxiGDs.jpg[/IMG]

    I didn't disassemble this one yet, but it's got semi-transparent casing, so you can kind of see that the three holes are the same. Incidentally, you cannot clip the Fourze belt ends into the Wizard driver - the spring posts are different sizes, though the belt straps are the same. (More trivia!)

    The problem I ran into with Kivat was, well... take a look:

    [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/oshT5Me.jpg[/IMG]

    Only one end of the belt clips into that main plate (not pictured). The other is affixed to it permanently (pictured). While the unclippable one is very similar to the Wizard and Fourze hookup, instead of three holes fitting over three posts, it wraps around a metal post much like a watch band. (Visible on the affixed end, on the right side of the photo there.) I despaired at first, seeing that I would have to completely dismantle this whole red thing - there are fourteen screws on that - and I was concerned about destroying the belt.

    Good news, Kivat owners (who have, I'm sure, learned this [i]long before I did[/i]) - there isn't anything inside that red bat-holster there. All the electronics are inside Kivat himself. Phew! So it's really only a matter of keeping track of all those little screws.

    A word of caution to anyone modding belts - not only are those screws [i]tiny[/i], but they are [i]soft[/i]. They are very easy to strip. Do not force these things to go in, and they won't always want to go back in (after examining these several times, taking them apart and putting them back together, I have learned), but just keep re-angling them till they screw [i]easily[/i]. I mostly stripped one screw on the Kivat clip side before I learned how easy it was to do. Hopefully that one will still play ball so I can do this easily.

    I'm somewhat concerned I might have to use more than just the attractive red strapping with grey/silver chains ([URL="http://www.strapworks.com/product_p/pewut2.htm"]http://www.strapworks.com/product_p/pewut2.htm[/URL] - it's on the bottom row) in order to support the weight of Kivat... but it might have more to do with how tight you're willing to strap the thing to yourself than the firmness of the belt? Anyone done this before?

    That, so far, is the only piece I really totally have for the costume... I do have fabric and patterns for just about everything else, but... it's not sewn up yet!

  • I have a couple of vest shots up now, from my Daigo costume:

    [URL="http://www.cosplay.com/photo/3472940/"]http://www.cosplay.com/photo/3472940/[/URL]

    That's the front, and

    [URL="http://www.cosplay.com/photo/3472941/"]http://www.cosplay.com/photo/3472941/[/URL]

    That's the back. I did little writeups about the construction on there, too, if you're interested. No in-costume pics yet... I did wear a sort of 'finished on the cheap' version to a Halloween event last year, but it's hardly what I'd call "done". I'm redoing the shirt and accessories, and likely making new pants... I'm planning on trying a zip-off pattern where you can convert to shorts, to deal with the potential heat... not screen accurate, I know, but sometimes there are health compromises to be made. I'm feeling iffy about going to Anime Expo in July after all the bad stuff I've been reading about them on the con forums here at Cosplay.com... it was going to be where I wore this, hence worrying about heat, but... maybe I should wait for another con? I'm not sure. The toku fans seem to go to AX from what I can glean.

    Anyway, regardless of where it debuts officially, there's the vest! And as of 2 days ago, I have a Gaburevolver in hand, with a total of 4 zyudenshi, so I'm set on that front. Have to say, the thing is way bigger than I thought it'd be, and I have to re-evaluate the holster, now!

  • Oh wow, I love it, great job on that. I've seen the photo on the front page and was like: Awww yeah, King is on the way :D Good job!

    I don't really know about cons in the US. The only one I actually know for tons of Tokusatsu Cosplay is Katsucon, but that was last weekend. I could ask some friends though, someone might know.

    I probably won't be able to make a holster, but so far, the other's won't have one either, so that should be okay. But yeah, the Gaburevolver is huge for a Sentai toy. Before I had it, I always thought the Tensouder was the biggest changer there is, but yeah, seems I was wrong xD I'll be getting the Toq Changer soon and I'm really hyped for it, not just because I love Toqger, but also because we'll have a FULL group of Toqgers for this summer <3

    Anyway, back to current projects, here's my skirt ^^
    [IMG]http://i58.tinypic.com/2a7bc7r.jpg[/IMG]

  • [QUOTE=MirniMausi;4832011]Oh wow, I love it, great job on that. I've seen the photo on the front page and was like: Awww yeah, King is on the way :D Good job!



    I don't really know about cons in the US. The only one I actually know for tons of Tokusatsu Cosplay is Katsucon, but that was last weekend. I could ask some friends though, someone might know.



    I probably won't be able to make a holster, but so far, the other's won't have one either, so that should be okay. But yeah, the Gaburevolver is huge for a Sentai toy. Before I had it, I always thought the Tensouder was the biggest changer there is, but yeah, seems I was wrong xD I'll be getting the Toq Changer soon and I'm really hyped for it, not just because I love Toqger, but also because we'll have a FULL group of Toqgers for this summer <3

    [/QUOTE]



    Thanks! That vest was my first major sewing project in a looooong time, and I took advantage of a visit home to my parents to abuse my mom's sewing knowledge! (And her [i]super nice and very expensive[/i] sewing machine...) I finished the thing back home after carrying "the Precious" as my mom dubbed it, back on the plane very carefully - that was [b]not[/b] going in checked luggage, thank you very much. It murdered my old, crappy sewing machine (the stupid thing actually threw a part at me but to be fair, it was already so broken I had the casing open to frequently tweak things...), but not before it was done, thank god. One regret I have about it that I didn't write about is that I couldn't find a yellow zipper in the right length. The problem was, they do exist, but not in the heavy-weight kind in that particular length. If I had NOT altered the hemline, and if I was NOT short, I probably could have found a yellow plastic zipper instead of a white one that ended up not taking the dye that [i]said[/i] it would dye plastic.. but because it just happened to end up the length it did, which was non-standard, I was up a creek. Couldn't even find one online. Oh well!



    I've been basically googling con names and then popping in "tokusatsu" and there are a [i]couple[/i] that at least... have had gatherings in the past. However, Anime Expo has a huge freaking article about how the toku fan presence is growing there, there are more dealers for the stuff, and a photo gallery of a bunch of people cosplaying, so it seems to be [i]the[/i] destination, and it is right here near where I live. At a distance that is travel-each-day prohibitive, yet close enough that we [i]could[/i] do it without actually paying for a hotel, or parking (yay trains) which.. yikes, to say the least (I saw the 'con rates' for the hotels and was like THOSE ARE THE DISCOUNT RATES??). However, if you happen to hear anything... I mean, the negative stuff seems to be mostly from people who were there for things we would not be: competing, seeing panels, etc. Our goal (my partner and I) is to go wear costumes and meet like-minded people, and that seems to be highly rated still as far as AX goes, though apparently just don't... expect the staff to not be jerks? I mean, the stories I've heard about that just sort of make me not want to support a con that's run that badly, even if it's the place for what I'm looking for. It's a rough choice.



    The size of the Gaburevolver was just kind of shocking to me, I dunno. I swear they don't even look this big on the show! (Either that or everyone is bigger/has bigger hands than I imagine..) I have this feeling it might look semi ridiculous strapped to me, but I'm going to attempt a holster, at any rate. I have to say the device has shamed me... I feel like I ought to be able to work it as easily as I picked up Kivat and the Wizardriver... (by the way, my mind and hands rebel at forcing that into a single word...) But no. Unlike Kivat where basically it just had to tell me how to turn it on and where the little plastic buttons were, and after I figured out how to release him from the belt itself (there's a little clip release), I pretty much had that down, just from seeing it done on screen. (Toei knows marketing, clearly.) It's pretty much the same deal, minus the bat being alive and me understanding a word he's saying. All I needed from the Wizardriver was to figure out which 'side' wanted which rings, and that you do actually need to pull your hand/ring (despite small hands and thin fingers, I cannot wear the rings at the small size, I need to buy adapter rings thanks to knuckles that look arthritic but aren't) away from the thing to let it finish the effect. Got it. Beast driver? Got it. (That was a surprise gift.) Jam ring in the right side. Boom, just like the show. And honestly, I'm sure the revolver is the same way, minus that fiddly little button that releases the 'tail' to pull... except I cannot for the life of me remember what order to do things in, even after seeing 48 weeks of it being done. What is [i]wrong[/i] with me? And maybe mine's just... sticky? But the top battery never wants to actually go IN on the first go.



    ... I admit I did pick up Ovirappoo just because it makes it scream "POOOOO" when you use it. I'm not usually a fan of that sort of humor, but I defy people not to laugh at this one. After seeing it on a toy review, there was no question what zyudenshi was on top of the list after Gabutyra (which it comes with, so yay!).



    Gotta say I'm not sold on ToQ yet, though I did like the bits of train procedure that were in it, for some reason. The bad guys having to observe standing behind the white line in spite of that honestly not being to their tactical advantage just cracked me up. ("Dude, what are you doing?!? GET BEHIND THE WHITE LINE, OMG YOU CAN'T CROSS IT!!!" <-- Not remotely trying to be a direct translation.) And since we have "TAP cards" for our train transit here, and they are constantly reminding you that your TAP is not valid until you tap it, Red getting denied till he put his pass through was pretty funny. But I think I'm still mourning the loss of Kyoryu... it was my first Sentai, and I just can't see any others as as good, and I'm not a big fan of... transportation... things? I don't know how else to phrase it. I was never the little boy who loved trucks and trains and planes. I had dinosaurs and My Little Ponies (before it was cool, y'all, this was the 80s). But, it is cool you've got a full group together, because no matter what you're doing, getting a full group of [i]anything[/i] is tough, and ToQ [i]just[/i] started, so it's extra impressive! Just, so far, ToQ, for me, is suffering from the rebound, since it was only like 2 weeks ago I was actually crying over the finale of Kyoryu. (Damn, you, show... why'd you have to be so [i]good[/i]?)



    Wow, hey, that skirt came together fast! And the fabric looks right - I mean, not that it wouldn't be, but it's hard for me to judge sometimes when I just see the fabric and not the garment. Looking good, and looking forward to seeing it all put together!

  • Power Morphicon is happening in Pasedena CA in august.. although technically a Power Ranger con, I have a friend organizing a Showa Kamen Rider group and there are many who know the "sentai" the last con was two years ago and there was a Gokai Green and Yellow suited cosplayers and a guy dressed as Gai complete with all the keys.

    One of my nieces is VERY disappointed they are skipping Go Buster.

    I am planning two new cosplays this year. I may have one or both ready for Anime Expo in July. Doctor Ulshade from KyoRyuger and Tetsu from Deka. And after seeing Yuuko henshin if I can find an Ankydon Jyudenchi I may make one of her as well. It's the "ayumi kinoshita" connection since Jasmine is my second fave character in Deka after Hoji.

    There were two gatherings of Tokusatsu at AX last year. The one on Saturday was bigger, and I didn't go. Met up with my friends later and they told me that I had to go to the Sunday one IN MY SUIT, as there are not enough girls represented and I have a season that doesn't have a large following. I have Bouken Pink (Operation Overdrive)

  • Uploaded some progress pictures to my costume folder. There's still so much to do, but I'm pretty sure that it will be finished soon. I'll finish the jacket tomoroww and then take care of the belt, bloomers and boots (triple b xD). I'll do the rest of the wig styling and some smaller stuff on the jacket at my mum's place (still have to tell her to get me some stuff for when I come around- I can't go shopping anymore because shops here are closed until the day I'll go >,>). The con is the week after that, we'll go Saturday and Sunday (15th and 16th), I still have to help Ucchi out with his wig before that xD Soooo much stuff to do ^^'

  • Hello and greetings! I'm hoping to be able to finish Hikaru's outfit from Magiranger in time for AX this year. Currently I have the jacket and a shirt which is a passable of yellow but at some point I'd like to replace it with one that's the proper shade. So I'm focusing my efforts now on finding a pair of pants. My preference would be to try and find someone that imported a pair all those years ago. But that's quite difficult and I don't have many contacts who are sentai and/or toku collectors. If anyone has any leads please do let me know. I'd love to acquire an official set if possible.

    But in the mean time, I've been searching for a pair of slacks that match the shade of the jacket and maybe I'm just too picky, but it's kinda hard to find a pair with just the right shade of blue. In any case, it shouldn't be too hard to add the gold trim and the embroidery so that's the plan if I can't find someone willing to part with their pair.

    As for his accessories, I have a grip phone, no magilamp yet but they are pretty readily available. Since my attention is focused on the pants right now, I'm not going to worry about the chain or ring just yet. Completing the 2 piece suit is the priority now.

  • Hello and welcome, Luminous! Glad to see there's still Toku people around after the forum turned so quiet.

    Sadly, I do not know anyone collecting official clothing either, but I hope you succeed in finishing your cosplay anyway.
    It's great there's still people who like Magiranger. It was my first Sentai ever and is still very precious to me ^^ I still haven't given up on cosplaying Houka at some point, but I couldn't find an affordable Magiphone so far :(

  • YES A TOKU FORUM.

    Hi everyone! I am currently pulling together a costume for Hino Eiji from Kamen Rider OOO that I will be taking to AWA this year! I've got the Driver on it's way here as well as a set of core medals.

    [URL="http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n276/s-teh-geekpimp/tumblr_lkpn6d3QSJ1qdodsno1_500_zps8eb2481f.jpg"]http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n276/s-teh-geekpimp/tumblr_lkpn6d3QSJ1qdodsno1_500_zps8eb2481f.jpg[/URL] this is the costume that I'm putting together! I've basically got all the fabric and i've started on the pants.

    [URL="http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n276/s-teh-geekpimp/1pWIu04YeLBob1eQVNv0mQ_zps86679e99.jpg"]http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n276/s-teh-geekpimp/1pWIu04YeLBob1eQVNv0mQ_zps86679e99.jpg[/URL]
    [URL="http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n276/s-teh-geekpimp/ocbAx9MXkjtMJt7nsYkgI_zpsa5392778.jpg"]http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n276/s-teh-geekpimp/ocbAx9MXkjtMJt7nsYkgI_zpsa5392778.jpg[/URL]

    also the most important:

    [URL="http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n276/s-teh-geekpimp/IMG_0138_zps0ae93bf3.jpg"]http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n276/s-teh-geekpimp/IMG_0138_zps0ae93bf3.jpg[/URL] PANTSU FABRIC.

    My biggest undertaking is going to be the hoodie he's wearing which is patched together with two different color squares alternating. I also still need to get my hands on a shirt that closest matches the one he's wearing under the hoodie- which I haven't done yet. ANYWAY that's what i have so far.

  • I hope to cosplay Mitsuzane soon (his team Gaim hoodie is something that I would love to make), if my sewing machine gets fixed. :(