The Making of a Legendary Armor Suit: A Behind-the-Scenes Look

As we gaze upon the magnificent armor suit, it's hard to believe that it was created by a team of skilled artisans and engineers who poured their hearts and souls into its development. The suit is estimated to weigh between 30 to 40 pounds, with some parts being incredibly light and movable, while others are imposing and heavy. Our conversation with the creators reveals the intricacies of this armor's design and construction.

The armor's sculptural details and finish have been described as "frosted" due to a unique combination of materials and techniques used by Nick, who sourced specialized costume effects from a hobby store. The clear Worbla was applied over a framework, and then lightly kissed with a blue airbrush to give it a frosty appearance. This attention to detail is evident in the way the paint finish on top of the hydro chrome armor has a subtle metallic sheen, with sparkles that make it feel "lived-in" and "patina-ed."

One of the most impressive aspects of this suit is its use of specialty costume techniques used in Hollywood films. The creators have employed various methods to achieve a realistic patina on the armor, including smearing browns and blues and using micaceous iron oxide. These techniques not only add definition but also wear down the cape and fabric, giving the armor a weathered appearance.

The creation of this armor involved an impressive array of 3D printing technology, with some parts being printed in massive scales using a giant meter-by-meter 3D printer. Others were output on SLA or PolyJet printers, which allowed for more precise details. The team also used molding and casting techniques to create certain components.

Gary Assembly played a crucial role in assembling most of the armor's pieces, and his attention to detail is evident in the way he hid buttons that trigger smoke effects. These effects are not only visually stunning but also add an immersive quality to the armor.

The creation of this suit was a true team effort, with 15 people contributing their skills and expertise over several months. Malachi Keller and Gary Crawl were instrumental in shaping the armor's design and construction, while Nick Bonhomie provided expert advice on costume effects. Eddie Coleco Band Plowman, Justin Gregory, Robert Vinter, Gordon Tarpley, and Lorelei Leigh all played key roles in various aspects of the suit's creation.

As we spoke with the creators, it became clear that this armor is more than just a costume – it's an immersive experience. The attention to detail, combined with the use of advanced technology and specialty effects, makes this armor truly one-of-a-kind. As we gear up for comic-con and potentially future conventions, it's exciting to think about how this suit will be showcased in various settings.

In the coming months, we'll be releasing more behind-the-scenes content, including videos that delve into the hydro chroming process, brush-up molding, and sculpting techniques used on this armor. These videos will provide a deeper look at the craftsmanship and expertise that went into creating this legendary suit. For now, we're grateful to have had the opportunity to showcase this incredible creation to you, and we can't wait to see how it's received by fans of comic-con and cosplay enthusiasts alike.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey everybody its norm from testa and Frank from Tosh can we have a special friend here it's Arthas the Lich King the Lich King well it's our friend Steve Knight there yes she's wearing as the lich king this is an amazing costume that some of you out there may have seen at mine those are use it in a commercial yeah they got a couple of commercials that they're running and there's an activation that's going to be happening at San Diego Comicon annual Comic Con which i think is happening this week we're a little before Comic Con right now we're down a frank shop to learn about this costume because yes this is an incredible build oh my god a lot of work we built this in about five weeks and seeing it up close the detail really holds up there's so much going on here where do you want to start and tell me how did you start just sculpting the costume well the first thing we did is we foam fabricated this whole costume not any different than anybody else does but this helped us get the right proportions and scale and kind of make some adjustments and how things are going to end up fitting and then what we did is we did a set a brush-up mold which we did a clay press into and then we ree sculpted everything to put all this great detail into it so underneath here the basic forms are all patterned with its bubble yeah it was patterned with foam and then sculpture is done and then mold it again and then all of these armor pieces are made in a material called polyuria which is more commonly known as truck bedliner oh yeah yeah right to spray yeah so you take these big giant molds so this there's a couple of places that do it here in LA and they spray in this truck bedliner and then it makes these really durable pretty lightweight part and then we're able to pay them it doesn't look lightweight at all there's a real heft to it and I think that comes from the sculpture and also the finish yeah like there's detail here that give them from the skull let's tie these the spice and the shoulders like the characters from blizzard games have these massive physique than Matt Sicilian pauldrons and it doesn't hurt that see here the the big guy yeah we button six six six six five and then up to here it's about seven - so it's larger than life it's awesome and then there's also the finish so polyuria it's come out black yeah it's like it's a black urethane so we prep these pieces like we do anything else you hit them with a catalyzed primer and then we ended up spraying them with this stuff called P chrome it's a hydro chrome process from peacock Laboratories and it's awesome we hit we did a whole video on that yeah we're going to go in depth in the future with some of these processes but really building an armor you know it's like a very elaborate cosplay allows you to experiment with different properties well yeah different I mean these are some materials that we've used before and then just adding some of these things all together the really tricky part is getting the heaviest piece of this armor on it can you guess what the heaviest part is on this guy this is the helmet this cape it is okay but yeah hey so to get a cape that the drapes and flows and feels it's got to feel like it's like the curtains or something like that but I wanted this really heavy fabric so that it lays really nice and has a great texture to it you can't just pin that to your shirt where I have to have a whole under structure in there so Steve is wearing this whole harness so that the way that the Cape is held is on these hooks on this harness so that it's not tugging at his armor or tugging it anywhere else it evenly distributes all the weight so you have to think about the infrastructure before you start putting all this stuff on there right it's not just slapping on phone I'm just doing the whole thing way you think we're guessing around 30 pounders yeah 30 to 40 maybe yeah Steve Destin 30 to 40 we haven't weighed it but it's really not that heavy and or is it movable like how much can you actually perform in this Dave pretty well I've got a lot of I mean I can say that I can stand it I can't touch my own face that's about it these giant palm turns make it hard to kind of be movable and but everything else there's no can't go up but I can go yeah everywhere else and you can definitely be imposing I mean it's just so much sculptural details and also the finish here there's this frost on here all these little icicles are made out of clear worbla and then they're finished off with it's like we know when you build little miniature models and you glue on the little snow looking stuff Nick went over to the hobby store he found this stuff and we just started gluing it on over there and then we lightly kissed it with a little bit of blue airbrush to kind of give it that frosty kind of feel Wow and as the paint finish on top of your hydro chrome has a little bit of a missile metallic you have that little sparkles on there you need to feel lived in and feel like it's got some like patina and somewhere and so we you know we we ended up smearing a lot of Browns and blues and this micaceous iron oxide and all these like really great colors to make make everything pop and give a little bit of definition and also wearing down the Cape and the fabric as well yep all those specialty costume techniques that people are using in Hollywood for film yep is being put into this armor now in addition the armor you also made from or ah this is unbelievable Holy Smoke he talked a little about the process of making this the storm this is not much different than the way that Alicia Bellamy made her Frostmourne this was all three models as a matter of fact when I saw Alicia's I said hey can you come help on ours and she was able to give me a couple of days and then Eddie took over here you guys have met Eddie before he's our other 3d modeler at the shop and and he finished this whole thing off and most of this is printed 30 printed 3d printed we printed the blade on that 3d P that giant meter by meter 3d printer we have a lot of these other parts were output on SL azor or poly jets and then we molded parts and cast them but all that is painted with the Hydra chrome although that isn't sand there's so much detail here I love the finish has you have a cut leather the up here it's a great pattern and with not only lighting effects but also got smokin its motor effects so Gary assembly assembled most of this stuff and there's see that little rivet right there okay that little rivet is the button for the smoke so we've even we hid all the buttons in there too so nice meting smoke specialist back yes so your name dropping a lot of name because you work with a big crew here we had about 15 people on this whole 14 people yeah want to give a total shout out foam fabricating in the very beginning was Malachi Keller and then Gary crawl has been with the process all the way through sculpting and molding and all that kind of stuff we had our regulars here at the shop there was Nick bonhomie Eddie Coleco Band Plowman justin gregory robert vinter Eddie and Gary were pretty instrumental in that sword and putting all that together Gordon Tarpley is the one that sprayed all the chrome on this and then Nick and Eddie finished off all the little details and the fun stuff Airy ended up doing all the little leather work Lorelei Leigh who has done all of our you know cutting so stuff like when we did the merlocks and everything she did all the fabric part and I forgot miss monstermouth sculpted this cauldron Wow big team effort of course DA's here gets to have the fun of wearing the costume yes we've been trading off between Steve and Kirk Carly but it's been Steve most of the time huge congratulations to you and your team real big team effort yes it is this is costume and cosplay really taken to the next level thanks for having us here to check out this suit as you gear up for comic-con and the suit may make it out the future conventions that people could of course see it in blizzards hearthstone video yes and we'll have more in-depth process behind the scenes videos about things like the hydro chroming and the brush-up molding and sculpting on tests in the future thanks a lot Frank thanks guys Thanks thanks Liz Chang thanks Martyhey everybody its norm from testa and Frank from Tosh can we have a special friend here it's Arthas the Lich King the Lich King well it's our friend Steve Knight there yes she's wearing as the lich king this is an amazing costume that some of you out there may have seen at mine those are use it in a commercial yeah they got a couple of commercials that they're running and there's an activation that's going to be happening at San Diego Comicon annual Comic Con which i think is happening this week we're a little before Comic Con right now we're down a frank shop to learn about this costume because yes this is an incredible build oh my god a lot of work we built this in about five weeks and seeing it up close the detail really holds up there's so much going on here where do you want to start and tell me how did you start just sculpting the costume well the first thing we did is we foam fabricated this whole costume not any different than anybody else does but this helped us get the right proportions and scale and kind of make some adjustments and how things are going to end up fitting and then what we did is we did a set a brush-up mold which we did a clay press into and then we ree sculpted everything to put all this great detail into it so underneath here the basic forms are all patterned with its bubble yeah it was patterned with foam and then sculpture is done and then mold it again and then all of these armor pieces are made in a material called polyuria which is more commonly known as truck bedliner oh yeah yeah right to spray yeah so you take these big giant molds so this there's a couple of places that do it here in LA and they spray in this truck bedliner and then it makes these really durable pretty lightweight part and then we're able to pay them it doesn't look lightweight at all there's a real heft to it and I think that comes from the sculpture and also the finish yeah like there's detail here that give them from the skull let's tie these the spice and the shoulders like the characters from blizzard games have these massive physique than Matt Sicilian pauldrons and it doesn't hurt that see here the the big guy yeah we button six six six six five and then up to here it's about seven - so it's larger than life it's awesome and then there's also the finish so polyuria it's come out black yeah it's like it's a black urethane so we prep these pieces like we do anything else you hit them with a catalyzed primer and then we ended up spraying them with this stuff called P chrome it's a hydro chrome process from peacock Laboratories and it's awesome we hit we did a whole video on that yeah we're going to go in depth in the future with some of these processes but really building an armor you know it's like a very elaborate cosplay allows you to experiment with different properties well yeah different I mean these are some materials that we've used before and then just adding some of these things all together the really tricky part is getting the heaviest piece of this armor on it can you guess what the heaviest part is on this guy this is the helmet this cape it is okay but yeah hey so to get a cape that the drapes and flows and feels it's got to feel like it's like the curtains or something like that but I wanted this really heavy fabric so that it lays really nice and has a great texture to it you can't just pin that to your shirt where I have to have a whole under structure in there so Steve is wearing this whole harness so that the way that the Cape is held is on these hooks on this harness so that it's not tugging at his armor or tugging it anywhere else it evenly distributes all the weight so you have to think about the infrastructure before you start putting all this stuff on there right it's not just slapping on phone I'm just doing the whole thing way you think we're guessing around 30 pounders yeah 30 to 40 maybe yeah Steve Destin 30 to 40 we haven't weighed it but it's really not that heavy and or is it movable like how much can you actually perform in this Dave pretty well I've got a lot of I mean I can say that I can stand it I can't touch my own face that's about it these giant palm turns make it hard to kind of be movable and but everything else there's no can't go up but I can go yeah everywhere else and you can definitely be imposing I mean it's just so much sculptural details and also the finish here there's this frost on here all these little icicles are made out of clear worbla and then they're finished off with it's like we know when you build little miniature models and you glue on the little snow looking stuff Nick went over to the hobby store he found this stuff and we just started gluing it on over there and then we lightly kissed it with a little bit of blue airbrush to kind of give it that frosty kind of feel Wow and as the paint finish on top of your hydro chrome has a little bit of a missile metallic you have that little sparkles on there you need to feel lived in and feel like it's got some like patina and somewhere and so we you know we we ended up smearing a lot of Browns and blues and this micaceous iron oxide and all these like really great colors to make make everything pop and give a little bit of definition and also wearing down the Cape and the fabric as well yep all those specialty costume techniques that people are using in Hollywood for film yep is being put into this armor now in addition the armor you also made from or ah this is unbelievable Holy Smoke he talked a little about the process of making this the storm this is not much different than the way that Alicia Bellamy made her Frostmourne this was all three models as a matter of fact when I saw Alicia's I said hey can you come help on ours and she was able to give me a couple of days and then Eddie took over here you guys have met Eddie before he's our other 3d modeler at the shop and and he finished this whole thing off and most of this is printed 30 printed 3d printed we printed the blade on that 3d P that giant meter by meter 3d printer we have a lot of these other parts were output on SL azor or poly jets and then we molded parts and cast them but all that is painted with the Hydra chrome although that isn't sand there's so much detail here I love the finish has you have a cut leather the up here it's a great pattern and with not only lighting effects but also got smokin its motor effects so Gary assembly assembled most of this stuff and there's see that little rivet right there okay that little rivet is the button for the smoke so we've even we hid all the buttons in there too so nice meting smoke specialist back yes so your name dropping a lot of name because you work with a big crew here we had about 15 people on this whole 14 people yeah want to give a total shout out foam fabricating in the very beginning was Malachi Keller and then Gary crawl has been with the process all the way through sculpting and molding and all that kind of stuff we had our regulars here at the shop there was Nick bonhomie Eddie Coleco Band Plowman justin gregory robert vinter Eddie and Gary were pretty instrumental in that sword and putting all that together Gordon Tarpley is the one that sprayed all the chrome on this and then Nick and Eddie finished off all the little details and the fun stuff Airy ended up doing all the little leather work Lorelei Leigh who has done all of our you know cutting so stuff like when we did the merlocks and everything she did all the fabric part and I forgot miss monstermouth sculpted this cauldron Wow big team effort of course DA's here gets to have the fun of wearing the costume yes we've been trading off between Steve and Kirk Carly but it's been Steve most of the time huge congratulations to you and your team real big team effort yes it is this is costume and cosplay really taken to the next level thanks for having us here to check out this suit as you gear up for comic-con and the suit may make it out the future conventions that people could of course see it in blizzards hearthstone video yes and we'll have more in-depth process behind the scenes videos about things like the hydro chroming and the brush-up molding and sculpting on tests in the future thanks a lot Frank thanks guys Thanks thanks Liz Chang thanks Marty\n"