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Registered: 02-2004
Posts: 1200
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'89 Leg Armor Tutorial


I have to post this here because I'm getting PMs regarding this. Most of you have read this, so this is for the newcomers.


89LEG ARMOR TUTORIAL

Basically it's just cycling shorts wrapped with thin sheet of rubber from the stomach section all the way to the hips.

I got the rubber sheet from a local shoe repair shop who special-ordered it for me.
This is thin, but thick enough not to tear up or get brittle in the long run.

MUSCLES

I used 1" thick foams - these are used in kayaks. Northwest River Supplies.

They're not flimsy and don't accumulate bad odor, unlike ordinary foams. They're thick enough so withstand any kiddie punches and kicks. The best part is that you don't have to freeze them overnight to shape them - all you need is Dragonskin Steel Sanding Sheet which can be bought from the same website... plus of course your skilled hands!

To make the muscle shapes, it's up to you. I made mine in 3 pieces:

- One large oval for the side muscle.

- One tear-drop shaped for the inner part just above the knee.

- One trapezoid-shaped.

Cut the shapes on large pieces of paper before cutting the foams. Measure your cuts against your legs. If you're satisfied with the paper shapes, use them to trace-cut the foams. Then sand the foams and to create the final 'bulge' shapes.

Test it again (in front of the mirror) and see how they all look combined. If all is ok, glue the foams to the shorts. I used Goop.

THE FINAL COAT

I let the muscles dry up for a day before taking the shorts to an automotive shop (friend of mine who's an expert in spray painting cars). Liquid latex was sprayed on the shorts, layer after layer. This was a whole day affair.

For the waistline, masking tape was laid first on the waistline and then cut afterwards creating the 'low-waist' look. The back/rear part of the shorts was not sprayed so the skin could breathe. Before spraying, i had the short stuffed with rugs shaped to my measurements.

I let it dry up in the garage for days to remove the smell.

On wearing it, I had to buy suspenders to avoid sagging or 'falling down' while making lots of movements. since I have David's wraparound 89 chest piece, it's easy to take off and go to the bathroom.

There you go!

As you can tell, the entire process is helluva tedious! It's not rocket science but rather, too many steps to follow and there's little or no room for errors. But then again, you've seen the results.


-bernie

Last edited by Deadly Lemur, 7/9/2009, 8:38 pm
5/18/2004, 1:44 am Link to this post  
 


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