Does it come in black? Part 2

"And then, quite separately, we place another order to a Chinese company for these."
"Put it together ourselves."
"Precisely."  – Alfred Pennyworth and Bruce Wayne

 

Recently I have lamented quite a little bit about my attention being split from side projects, and some of them having caused significant delays in creating the batsuit, but these things are not altogether without their own merits.



Things being what they are, and crazy being crazy, they are still moments in my impossible schedule where I manage to derive great pleasure from my somewhat less-than-philanthropic efforts.  Besides working on my very first commissioned costume piece, which was already featured in the previous posts, I've also found some time to help build a Halloween party location in Campbellville, as well as a haunted Halloween maze at the PhatBoys Halloween Bootique in Mississauga (pictures forthwith).



Secret Wishes Thigh-High Boot Tops



The flipside of course, is that the clock is still ticking, and I have only 15 days left to finish all the work necessary.  That is an extremely uncomfortable timeline, and I am immensely grateful for anything that would help speed up for simplify the work at this point.



So naturally when I saw that PhatBoys carries boot tops, I couldn't resist picking a pair up for myself. Afterall as great as my boots are, they are only 10 inches tall, and by no means do they cover my calf to the knee (as would be accurate to the Nolan costume).  So, these Secret Wishes "Thigh-High Boot Tops" seemed like a great idea at the time.

Comparision - Stock boot top vs. bare 10" boot

Little did I remember in my excitement at the time, that Secret Wishes is in fact a Rubie's Costumes brand, and well, I've already had to repair one item of theirs (namely the cowl) stemming from faulty manufacturing.

First of all, credit where credit is due:  PhatBoys carries a lot of amazing products, and, had I purchased these boot tops to be used for their original purpose (which is to turn a pair of ladies shoes into thigh-high boots for a day), I'm sure they would look great.  Not so much, when I'm trying to hack a single-purpose product for unintended use.



Modified boot tops - side view

Put side-by-side with the original boot, the general sentiment was, that "it looked like an old man's booties from the hospital".  I'm sure even Bruce in his old age would find this wholly unacceptable, not to mention the hordes of Batman fantatics out there that would run screaming like little girls.

So the wheels of deliberation, enginuity, and reverse engineering spins.  I present modification plans to my mother, and we spend a couple of hours hacking the piece to specifications, chopping off the top and bottom, and seaming the trunk back together, all the while complaining about the bad workmanship of "Made in China".

And voila.  No more old man's booties, the full glory of the 10 inch combat boots (or at least the shoe part of it), and the now- knee-high boot tops blend in exactly the way they should, looking like they could even pass for part of the shoe itself.  All I have to do is replace those scrapped inner gauntlet pieces for a stock sheet of 6mm EVA.

Hack win.



Modified boot tops - front view

Does it come in black?

There's never been a huge amount of talk about Batman's boots.  Yet another little-attended part of the costume, Batman's boots has always been regarded as simply a part, or an extension of the suit itself.

Batman's Boots are essential to crime-fighting

That having been said, Batman's boots are an essential part of his crime-fighting outfit.  As the caped crusader swings through Gotham's treacherous terrain, dodging gunfire, knife cuts and various types of assault, the boots must be durable and comfortable.  Not to mention that the recent animated and Nolan film incarnations have begun to add various hidden gadgets inside and as part of the boots themselves.

This had me thinking quite a long time about the boots.  The original intent was to have a durable, stylish pair of boots that would fit both the bill and the budget.

Unfortunately, the process for tracking down the RedHead Front Zip 10" Waterproof Lined Rubber Boots had been notoriously difficult.  In fact, it was excrutiating to the point of absolute ridicule.

As an internet marketer myself, I must say that Bass Pro Shops has majorly failed in delivering in customer experience, satisfaction, and product availability.  The boots currently appear as a clearance item online, but every size is out of stock online, and the product is indicated to be available in stores only.

So I decided to visit my only local Bass Pro Shop to find the product.  After searching through the footwear section, and consulting two associates and a customer service representative, I was told that not only does the Vaughan Canada store not stock the product in question, but that they simply do not follow their own corporate website at all.

My friend in Mesa Arizona had pretty much a similar experience at his local store, finding nothing in either the footwear nor clearance sections, and was told that the product was not in stock when he called a day later.

Edit (18-Jun):  From an online support ticket...

Response (Debbie)06/15/2012 06:39 AM
Derek,
Thank you for contacting basspro.com. Your business is truly appreciated.I am sorry, however, this boot has been discontinued and is no longer available.
Best regards,
Debbie
Bass Pro Shops
2500 E Kearney
Springfield, MO 65898
1-800-BASS-PRO

All that trouble for one simple, lousy pair of rubber boots.



Bat Boots... Begins

After a few more searches and generally disappointing results, I ran into some dumb luck.  A local shoe store was holding a closing sale, and they carried a 10" nondiscript pair of black leather boots, allegedly made by a local footwear company.

I ended up bagging these at 50% off for $45 + tax, which is a little bit more than the cost of the RedHeads, but the fact that they are genuine leather, is more than worth that price.  It will probably need some kind of sleeve to extend the length of the boot, but they will do nicely I think.

Portability

"... And men fear most what they cannot see." – Ra's Al Ghul

 A few more weeks of templating, acquiring materials and planning had me suddenly thinking.  In the 1990's incarnations of Batman movies and animated series, Bruce Wayne had made it possible to pack up his entire batsuit inside a suitcase, that could easily be transported in the trunk of one of his luxury vehicles, or delivered to him by Alfred, enabling the Caped Crusader to be able to "suit up" on the fly, in the comfort of his rear seat.  This function of portability seems to have been lost in the recent Christopher Nolan films, with the more rigid and bulky looking batsuits.

That being said, there was probably more than one reason that Wayne wanted to have the batsuit redesigned with more modularization between Batman Begins and Dark Knight.  On film, his primary reason was that he required more range of movement with his suit.  However, modularization also comes with the double edged sword of being easier to pack for carrying, weighed with its increased exposure to weapons penetration.

This had me thinking about portability and response time issues.  How realisitically can a Dark Knight styled batsuit be packed into a suitcase without possibly damaging the suit's features, and how easily can a suit be donned?  Typical response time for a typical metropolitan emergency department is around 5 minutes.  Can Batman make it to the scene of the crime before the police do reliably?

In the effort of exploring these ideas, I had dug out a rather old carrying case for an antiquated casette camcorder.  First impression is that this case should be about the same size of a regular carry-on suitcase, and should be the kind of size that the batsuit would have to fit into, given the requirements for both portability and anonymity.  It wouldn't do to lug around a few luggages the size of bodybags every time you're near the scene of a crime.

The great part of this is... This carrying case is actually quite durable.  In fact, I think it's made of some kind of polyurethane or hard plastic.  They don't make stuff to last like they used to, that's for sure.  The question now remains...  Will the suit fit?

An old VHSc Carrying Case

Interior with foam inserts removed

Range of Motion

One of the major issues I've been contemplating was the matter of having semi-rigid armor and still being able to provide range of motion.  After comparing the several different designs between the Batman Begins, Dark Knight and Dark Knight Rises film costumes, and finally decided to go with the Dark Knight / Dark Knight Rises design.  While it does not offer neck protection as high up as the Batman Begins batsuit, and probably leaves a larger throat area open, it seems to offer a good range of motion if propped out properly.

The neck ringscales should ideally be held together with some kind of semi-flexible backing, and I realize that foam would not be the ideal medium for this, since with sustained extreme flexure, foam is likely to tear.  I'm currently contemplating a rubber material to be used for this section, and possibly for some other sections of flexible assembly backing.

I've seen a tutorial out there that uses bicycle inner tires for the entire kit and kaboodle, so I might go that route, if no other economical options present themselves.  That said, here's the neck template pieces and paper fitting.

Neck Paper Template

Neck Ringscales Fit

Edit: After much deliberation, I've decided to separate the neck piece at the collar from the rest of the suit, and velcro it onto the compression suit during "suit-up".  This decision was made to ensure that there is a good, tight fit and such that I can easily fit my head through the suit's collar.

Prototyping Begins

Whether it is your first or your nth DIY, it is important to know exactly what you're doing before cutting into your material, in case later you should come across an "oops".  For me, this is especially important, as not only is it my first time even creating a foamcraft costume piece, I also have very little to go by in the ways of detailed blueprints and other such good things, other than some fairly decent templates and instructibles on various websites and forums.

So, that said, the first step of course then is to create a prototype, using an easily workable and fairly inexpensive material: paper.  While paper is not great for bending complex curves and simultaneous 2-axes deformation, it is a great place to start, so you can get an idea what some pieces should look like.

I've decided that my first paper template should be a fairly easy piece of the armor, the bracers.  So without further adieu, here's the result of the papercraft today.

Gauntlet Paper Template

The Spike Assembly

Front View - Right Gauntlet

Left Gauntlet Fit

Left Gauntlet Inside View

Left Gauntlet Spike Detail

Foamies Templated

A Question of Reliability, Answered

Reliability and durability is an issue that I've grappled with for years, even before taking on this project. Coming from an engineering background means that sometimes you tend to overthink certain things in a design process. The common train of thought is that even if you cannot make something to be perfect, the goal should be in getting it to the point where it is close enough, that it is virtually unrecognizeable from being so.

So naturally, the question of "how well can this suit take a hit?" entered my brain as soon as I set down to the planning process.  Multiple things (like protective gear for hockey and soccer, metal plating, and flexi glass for example) have been sourced out and compared initially in a physical thought experiment.

While all of those might be great things to use and try, pre-made sports protective gear doesn't offer the customization that I wanted, and working with rigid stamped/casted sheet material is just too cumbersome and time consuming.

Enter James Bruton from xRobots.co.uk.  I accidentally came across this gentleman's video on plastic casting a foam item.  Lights went off and I said, "This is perfect!"  I can shape the foam easily to create the armor pieces I want, and then cast each piece in plastic, and voila!  I have plastic armor, without having to worry about the possibility of someone punching ol' bats in the chest and denting the foam.

After watching his video tutorial, I decided to contact James, and he was kind enough to give me some tips on how to make the whole process work within the specifications of my project.  That was very awesome of him to do, so here I would like to share his video for all of you as well.

The keen-eyed will notice that in the previous post, I've already included the Smooth-Cast 65D Roto Liquid Plastic Compound in the shopping list, which is actually a semi-rigid polyurethane plastic.  Perhaps in the future I will experiment with a rigid plastic compound also.

Planning is key

"To conquer fear you must become fear, you must bask in the fear of other men, and men fear most what they cannot see." – Ra's Al Ghul

 

So, the first step of course in planning out a DIY costume, is to measure the body measurements.  Most people look at you like you're some kind of monster if you even ask them one measurement.  I'm doing 44.

Actually, this hasn't been the most horrific experience in my lifetime.  I've been getting back into my ab-focused circuit for the past few weeks so I was pretty confident of the results from a measurement.  However, the process is still a little daunting, and I'm not even sure I'd actually end up needing all of the measures.

For what it's worth, I'll never have to worry about picking up a piece of measuring tape ever again.


Measurements

• Throat: 16.5"
• Neck: 17.5"
• Shoulder to Shoulder
• Fore: 16"
• Back: 18.5"
• Armeye to Armeye
• Fore: 19"
• Back: 19.5"
• Chest: 38.5"
• Waist (at Navel): 31"
• Hips: 32.5"
• Thigh: 22.5"
• Above Knee: 14.5"
• Below Knee: 13.5"
• Calf: 14.5"
• Ankle: 8.5"
• Instep Girth: 12.3"
• Arch: 10.5"
• Instep to Knee: 13.5"
• Instep to Ankle: 28.5"
• Instep to Floor: 31"
• Circ. of Armseye: 18.5"
• Bicep: 12.5"
• Forearm: 10.5"
• Wrist: 6.5"
• Waist to Hip: 4"
• Waist to Below Knee: 25.2"
• Waist to Floor: 42.8"
• One Shoulder Length: 7"
• Shoulder to Elbow: 13"
• Elbow to Wrist: 10"
• Shoulder to Wrist: 23"
• Armpit to Wrist: 21"
• Armpit to Waist: 14.5"
• Midshoulder to Waist: 19.5"
• Top of Shoulder to Waist:
• Fore: 22.5"
• Back: 19"
• Neck to Waist:
• Fore: 19"
• Back: 19.5"
• Midshoulder to Bust: 10"
• Neck to Floor
• Fore: 55"
• Back: 58"
• Side: 57"
• Crotch
• Stride: 22.5"
• Girth: 60"
• Depth: 7.5