Reply To: CogitoLudos#14 – Warzan's Cosplay Thread

[blinky465 17029xp 0]

Thermoplastics are great for simple terrain if you’re prepared to add detail/texture later. Sure, you can buy professionally vac-formed pieces that are super-detailed, but for the home/hobby user, you’ll need to add your own fine details.

A few years ago I made a vac-former out of nothing more than a shallow wooden box and a cooking/cooling rack (the type with the tight mesh honeycomb surface, not just a few bars). Cut a hole *just big enough* for the Henry hoover attachment and it works beautifully (I was using it just the other day to make camera enclosures at work).

A simple four-bits-of-wood-nailed-at-the-corners frame is more than adequate – staple the 1mm HIPS sheet to it, cover the staples with a bit of tin foil (to reflect the heat and stop the edges of the plastic curling) and whack it under the grill oven for about 45 seconds; easy, homebrew vac former….

The great thing about vac forming is it makes super-lightweight armour and you can also get a “pro finish” with either gloss or matt, without any extra effort. For Star Wars cosplayers everywhere, a country-bumpkin vac-forming machine is a must (for terrain fans it’s also a pretty cool tool to have too!)