Looking for larp armor

[salvage_doom]

anyone know how to build foam armor.if they do,have they considered making some.I need some specific armor but have a tight buget.So i need to find out how much it would cost.if no one knows how could you give me allternatives.

[whitefalconiv]

I've never heard of foam armor. What is this foam armor you speak of?

[Dmitri]

I've seen armour made from foam. Usually camp mat foam cut in shapes and skinned with duct tape like weapons...

Looks REALLY cheesey...

Then there's cool Latex over foam armour...

http://www.fantasticart.net/Wantasticart/shop-fantastic-art/dyn/acc.php
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Dmitri Vladescu
Lupescu Vodja
Wolfgaard Armoury & Supply
"the wolf is fed by his feet." - Russian Proverb

[whitefalconiv]

it seems to me that foam armor would not be able to stand up to more intense hits or last very long.

[RyanPaddy]

We have a few bits of foam armour, mostly helms. They can look alright, but generally not as good as a good steel. I haven't seen cast latex helms in person, but the ones I've seen online look pretty nice too. Foam helms last pretty well, as long as there aren't bits sticking out.

We picked up our foam armour techniques from Xena/Hercules, which were produced here in NZ. Most of the extra's armour was foam on those shows. You take sheet foam (preferably grey), curve it (using a heatgun if you want tricky curves), glue it to itself, spray it with black rubberised underbody car spray, then drybrush it silver. It gives a reasonably metallic look if done well.

It's a cheaper way to make a lot of matching armour quickly. We used it for town guard types.

[Ottosson]

no one uses foam armor here, its steel and leather all the way

[Ismaels-Legacy]

If you're going for foam armor, I'd go with cheap camping mat foam and then cover it with some form of leather (Soft leather for 'the look' or Tooling Leather for protection). You can generally find decently priced soft leather at www.hideandfur.com. Beef leather is good stuff, but rather commonly used so it's gooing to be a bit more expensive. If you want some durable stuff that's really nice to work with, I recommend Elk Hide (Specifically moccasin weight elk hide)

http://www.hideandfur.com./inventory/1110.html

That's just an example of black elk hide and you can see that the cost goes as low as $3.95 a square foot. The people that run this company are great and the ladies that answer the phone are more than willing to help with requests and examining the piece before you order it (Sometimes they'll do this over the phone with you)

[Gath]

I mentioned this in another thread, but you can get leather goods at yard sales and second hand shops (like the local Salvation Army outlet) and with a small investment in leather working supplies and som imagination, you can make some really cool stuff.

[Gaeldun]

Here is a link to an Amtgard LARP forum that has a lot of armor making resources.

http://www.electricsamurai.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15466

[eldritch]

We've made latex over foam armour in the past but generally only for stage use. I wouldn't think it would stand up to anything much in an LARP setting, especially if your encounters are pretty full on. Of course, if you have a non-combat character who still wears armour for some reason, that would be different.

We make leather armour but we use serious quality heavy duty Italian leather, so it would take some saving up for. Perfect for characters who can't carry much metal though.
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[phoenixlipo]

hi...

Looks REALLY cheesey...

Then there's cool Latex over foam armour...

http://www.fantasticart.net/Wantasticart/shop-fantastic-art/dyn/acc.php
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Phoenix Lipo

[BaronBlackRose]

[quote="phoenixlipo"]hi...

Looks REALLY cheesey...

Then there's cool Latex over foam armour...

http://www.fantasticart.net/Wantasticart/shop-fantastic-art/dyn/acc.php[/quote]

Very true.. Some people have made professional looking foam armour. It's like the real thing. I myself would rather have the real thing.
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[Maria]

Using foam can be a good way to make high-fantasy armor for non-human or super-human NPCs. Given the right amount of craftsmanship, it can LOOK surprisingly good.

(sorry, you'll have to C&P the link because of the asteriks)
http://api.ning.com/files/TnSflZ5qBfi5Jy4vwYuomtNbuDxXFDAO*wEeDYlnocr5cab0TZzwSNCYp5pIi67I8tSxVdXOp11Sw*aZk5k8BcRwpxn8CfG6/IMG_3854.jpg?width=737&height=491

Warhammer 40k inspired Big-Bad-Boss-Armor. The structural basis are hockey shoulder pads and moulded glass fibre plates.

[BaronBlackRose]

[quote="Maria"]Using foam can be a good way to make high-fantasy armor for non-human or super-human NPCs. Given the right amount of craftsmanship, it can LOOK surprisingly good.

(sorry, you'll have to C&P the link because of the asteriks)
http://api.ning.com/files/TnSflZ5qBfi5Jy4vwYuomtNbuDxXFDAO*wEeDYlnocr5cab0TZzwSNCYp5pIi67I8tSxVdXOp11Sw*aZk5k8BcRwpxn8CfG6/IMG_3854.jpg?width=737&height=491

Warhammer 40k inspired Big-Bad-Boss-Armor. The structural basis are hockey shoulder pads and moulded glass fibre plates.[/quote]

Looks pretty awesome.

But I bet it's uber expensive too.
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[Maria]

@BaronBlackRose: Your quoting doesn't seem to work. Wrong tags or my browser?

Nope, the foam armor I chose is definitely not uber-expensive. You pay for the the foam plates (closed-cell foam, the kind you use for latex weapons), latex, paint and coating - my guesswork would be that you can do something like that for under $200 (including the pads).
Trade-off: It's work-intensive. Two guys worked 6 afternoons to complete it.