Foam latex and Evangelion plugsuit cosplay.

Lina Freedom Cosplay

Hello fellow makers, I am attempting to make my own plugsuit from anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. Picture for refference below. I was thinking for a long time how to make those 3D parts and stick them to latex sheeting. Silicone is out of the question so I went with the foam latex from monstermakers.

I recently finisched one of the molds and would like to ask some of you who worked with foam latex if it looks ok. I used a ceramic plaster which is really close to ultracal that I cant get my hands on around here. The dark red insert is heat resistant silicone which is heat resistant upto 250C it should give it pretty good life span. I used the silicone to get nice and smooth finish at the front and the plaster core at the back where I dont really care about the texture for allowing the mold to "breath" while baking to prevent gases being traped inside.

Do you think it will work? How many runs do you think I can get from this mold? How to treat it so it gives me best result and what release you recommend that doesnt clog the abbility of the plaster to "breath". Ohh, and the mold is for one of the breastcups if It wasnt clear.

Chris Ellerby

The mold should work, you may just want to test different baking parameters (temperature and time) to get the best results out of it since steam buildup is a concern.  How many runs you can get is not something I could really speak to, since there are so many factors and the stone mold material is not a known factor to me.  If you take good care of it, you should be able to get many runs, as that silicone should last quite well.

Excited to see how your castings turn out!

/Chris

Lina Freedom Cosplay

Thanks, I will post the result when I get to finish it. I plan on experimenting with the material and casting methods. True about the number of runs. Stupid question from me. Sometimes it is hard to tell even when knowing all the variables.

Since this will be a part of wearable suit, I thought it might be good idea throw into the mold some stretchy mesh fabric to reinforce the foam to prevent wear and tear. Might even spray or dip it over with latex milk to seal the surface some more and make the skin of the part tougher. I also read about adding zinc oxide powder to the foam mix to toughen the material. Any recommendations in that regard? I will be using monstermakers foam and it is all kind of new to me so the additives to achieve certain effects with the foam still escape me.

Chris Ellerby

Adding a stretching fabric to reinforce things sounds like I good idea.  I've never done that with foam, as I mostly work with silicone, but I imagine it would help a lot.

I've heard of people adding zinc to their foam, but I've not experimented with it.  Some foam formulas will have  zinc oxide in them already, so I would check to see what the manufacturer is using.

/Chris