Saint Celestine- The Living Saint

The Saint Celestine project was conceived and implemented hot on the heels of my SoB build last year.

Primary reference was from this illustration found on the official Witch Hunter codex.

Other references were glimpsed from online images of painted mini figures and various fan arts.

After keeping the project under wraps for almost an entire year, the finished product was finally revealed at HobbyCon 2010, held in CityMall, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

 

With the rest of the team

(photo credit: David Shia)

Yus, our Dark Angel, won 1st place in the solo cosplay competition.

(Photo credit: Colvin Teo)

The team won 1st place in the group cosplay competition.

And here are some pics from an outdoor photoshoot done a week before HobbyCon 2010:

Detail view of the costume parts:

 

Halo, Pauldrons, Collar & Breastplate

Back view.

The strips between the wings are parchment inscribed with declarations and prayers.

Purity seals can be seen on the skirt.

 

Right Pauldron with illuminated red ruby

 

Finger Gauntlet and Ardent Sword

 

Purity seal, Cuisse, Greave & Poleyn

 

Cuisse, Greave & Poleyn

 Sabaton & Shackle

Construction credits:

• Halo spikes base structure: Richard Nelson Sokial
• Finger Gauntlet & Ardent Blade base structure: Neo Nova Craft Production
• All raised details (except wings on Poleyn), cloth parts, purity seals, parchment, flower for Ardent Blade & weathering: Joanna

Here are some WIP pics to provide some insight on how certain parts were constructed:

 Collar and shoulder support structure

 

Beginning of the Vembraces

 

Cuisse with unpainted Fluer De Lise

Front & back parts of the Greaves

And for those who are wondering how much the wings costs, here's an example of what others charge for something close to what I've made:
Huge Feather Wings from dragonwings.net

Updates:

Dec 18 2010: Featured in Cosplaygen

Dec 22 2010: Featured in Otakuzone, The Star
Dec 22 2010: Featured in another Star reporter's blog

Dec 28 2010: Featured in BANDWIDTH Street Press (page 30 & 31)

The HIC

Decided to take a break from the other prop builds (all of which are urgent) and finally tackle the beast that is the 'HIC'.

Although this is an extremely large project, it is relatively simple work wise, compared to some of the other much smaller projects I'm working on right now.

I've had the front panel (cut up in 5 sections for ease of shipping) for a few years now, but have kept them in storage all this time.

The first task is to assemble and secure the 5 panels onto a ½ inch thick plywood so that I can finally stand it up to save on storage space, and to make working on it easier.

Took me over two weeks to get to this stage, not because it is difficult, but because I simply couldn't decide on what to use to secure it to the plywood. Contact adhesive is out, since it lacks the tensile strength, and would deteriorate with time, AND could come undone if moisture should get to it. I thought about using epoxy, but a structure this size would require a LOT of epoxy, and mixing that much of two-part epoxy is not really I look forward to doing.

And then it hit me; I have 4 litres of resin sitting right here, and resin is like the stickiest and strongest stuff you can get. PLUS the panels are made from a kind of flexible resin, so it should work beautifully.

And voila, the panels went on firm and secure!

(angle grinder is there for scale to show that this ain't no miniature :P)

While the resin cures, I heated areas where the panels come together to make them pliable so I can level and line the edges up as perfectly as possible. This way I'll have less work later sealing the seams to make one panel flow smoothly into the other.

The next challenge is to get my thick-headed carpenter to make the box exactly to specs =_='''

SoB Backpack Upgrade

Finally manged to install the LED strip with custom circuit board made by my friend Chow.

And here is the end result.

With that, the backpack is now officially 'activated'.

Frank Cerney Jedi Training Remote

Go here to see how Frank built his JTR:
Frank Cerney's JTR Build Page