Since it’s already spread over twitter, I’ll just leave the copypasta containing all of my tweets over here~.

■I will add a PS at the bottom.

But first of all, pictures of the finished product.



Some minor adjustments and fine-tuning might be necessary, but this is more or less how it is.

Now some pictures while having it equipped.



Also some photos after I did various adjustments here and there. This one’s the most recent status （＾ⅴ＾）



About the materials:

What I bought at Daiso

1 toy drum

2 cases of thumbtacks

a lot of plastic sheets [polypropylene (“PP-Sheet”)]

4 water hose tips that I found in the plumbing department



2 vises



4 belts for old people

3 black ropes that I found in the bicycle department

Amiami crocheting hooks that I found among gardening tools (to use for the trigger parts)



1 palm-sized flashlight

1 spray bottle (one that’s kinda shaped like Resesh)



and lastly, double-sided tape (the one you use for cushioning)

If you want to compromise on some parts of the design, you could get ALL the material at Daiso.

Since Lion Board isn’t very suitable as a material, it actually might be better to go with the minimum requirements here.

Also since it absorbs the coating and because it doesn’t give the perfect illusion of metal.

If you cover the small parts nicely in wood glue and let it dry before coating it with paint, you can create an effect like silver gilding (＾＾)

[Note: Lion Board is the older name for Koyo Soft Board, something like EVA foam or wonderflex. See also: [Link]. Since getting the exact same products outside of Daiso/Japan might be difficult, here’s some other suggestions:

styrene sheeting,

thermoplastic,

Sintra,

ABS plastic,

Wonderflex,

Worbla,

or a regular yoga mat.]

We’ll only use the silver part part of the drum.That blueish part there is the plastic sheet from Daiso (the thin part)

All of the fastening will be done with the hot glue gun.

(The ones they sell at Daiso are a little weak, so I recommend using an industrial model from a DIY hardware store, maybe)

Cut the fan out of plastic sheets and stick it together with the hot glue gun.

Stick PVC into the middle of the cylinder (fix the center beforehand by sticking styrofoam into the cylinder) and glue the fan wings (prepared out of the plastic sheets) on it.

With that you’ve temporarily finished assembling your 3D gear until it’s time for the basecoat.

I bought all the materials at the Daiso in Nipponbashi, Osaka (lol) for ¥ 2,800 [= $ 28]

The third layer of the black basecoat. It’s been stinking so much ever since morning (lol)

When I got back from work, I added the finishing silver coating and wood grain pattern.

Additional material that I bought at Daiso for ¥ 800 bring the current cost of our threedimensional maneuver gear up to ¥ 3,600 [= $ 36] (lol)

3 sheets of Daiso Color Board (a type of foam), etc. [I previously translated this as “cardboard” due to a lack of knowledge. I am sorry for any inconveniences this may have caused!]



We’ll make the scabbards out of these.The one thing that I wasn’t so sure about if it was good to use for the 3D gear was the plastic sheets from Daiso.The blue ones are thin and easy to use, but the yellow ones are thicker and you need more force to cut them so I can’t really recommend those.I cut them into the desired shape, then heated them over a lighter and molded them.

Stick the double-sided cushioning tape from Daiso at the parts with 0.75 thickness and glue it some more with the gluegun at places where more strengthening is needed.

When you scorch away the burrs with a lighter at the end, it’ll feel really smooth.

Since scissors and paper knives are good for cutting, it’ll be easy to injure yourself while crafting (lol).

This also held true for me.

But since they don’t sell these at the Daiso in Shinsaibashi or ATC, the Daiso in Nihonbashi which sells them is king (lol)

When handling Lion Board, you’ll need some ground work and experience, but it will still strongly deteriorate and you’ll definitely get mad at how it’s hard to adjust (lol)

So my recommendation is to spraypaint the plastic sheets along with the strengthening just as they are.

The trick is to bend the plastic sheets with a lighter.

Second day of building 3D gear for the recon squad.

I’m finally getting in the mood of engaging some titans.

My supplies are still nothing but Daiso (lol)

I plan to fix the trigger part, as soon as I find better materials for it.





For the woody part, paint a wooden pattern as seen above with a calligraphy pen.

For the silver coating, I chose Asahipen spray in the tone Silver Plating.



Looks pretty metallic now. It’s a little more expensive, but the color spreads nicely so I was able to coat it without using all that much. I think you could use one bottle for about 5 sets of 3D gear (lol)

But be careful with the stuff you use for foundation. It can be really sticky sometimes.

I still remember how the the foundation and coating had the WORST compatibility when I made Larissa.

Today, I bought belts and suspenders (although I only needed their metal fixtures) like an adult in large quantities at the Daiso in Houfu.

I also bought a sheet of vinyl. But I got really worried when I saw it, because it’s definitely gonna wear out if I don’t fixate it.

So I used that transparent vinyl sheet to fixate those kinda parts.

Since it doesn’t come out that well on the photo, I plan to fixate the recon squad’s thigh belt on the hip belt.

Maybe the scabbard and gas bottle won’t get supported sufficiently by just the two leg belts and the belt in the back.

For the fixation of the scabbard, I put a transparent vinyl sheet into the inside of the scabbard and stuck that with a safety pin to the pants. But since that’s still not enough to hold it up, I bound the vinyl sheet to my thigh with a nylon string [alt: fishing line].

It may not be all that stable, but I can always attach and remove it with the safety pin.

Now to make the tip of the gas bottle.

I attached the bottle and penlight I bought at Daiso to the PVC.



And with that, the 3D gear’s gas bottle is finished.

Since I wrote this down last night, I only have photos from before the coating for now ( ´ ▽ ` )



And that’s more or less how you make the 3D gear’s scabbard part.



3D-gear before and after coating.

The coating goes, silver plating → black silicone lacquer spray → silver plating → hand-drawn stains with a calligraphy pen.

Oh, and I ultimately changed the trigger part into a bicycle break.

A set of two cost me ¥ 2,000 [= $ 20].

The foundation material was an A3 sized sheet of styrofoam from Daiso. (I already had this one lying around at home)

I was asked how I attached the 3D-gear to my hip: I used a sheet of vinyl.

It’s transparent so you can’t see it all that well on the photo ( ´ ▽ ` )

When I put the Daiso Color Board together with the scabbard, it dissolved on the discharge part (which is cut off in this photo) thanks to the metallic spray. So I had to cover it all up in wood glue. Since wood glue also adds to the overall stability, it receives the honorary prize for best material. And on that note, since I put it on before using the metallic spray, it totally didn’t dissolve at all (lol)

[Important note: foam and spray really don’t go well together. You’d need to put on a primer first!]



As for the part that’s stretching from the hip tube all around the hip: Use a belt from Daiso and fix it like this.



When you equip it with the finished costume, it’ll look kinda like this.



That’s aaaall.

I left out a lot of explanations and didn’t take photos of everything. This is just a collection of tweets.

(originally posted May 16th, 2013, 19:30)