Fishbones

The main reference photo I worked off of. 

This year for Sakura Con, i was commissioned by friend of mine to make a prop to go with a costume she was making. Specifically, it was Fishbones, the rocket launcher used by Jinx from League of Legends. Since I have had good results with it before, I decided to use this tutorial. I have previously used this tutorial to make a different project, to good results. I did not follow it exactly, as the "armor" pieces on Fishebones about an inch think in most places. Craft foam, however, is usually only about 1/16th of an inch thick. Instead, I actually used MMA floor mats that my friend and I ordered online. While this did lead to its own problems, it also delivered very good results in the end.

These are two of the floor mats that we ordered, fit together with the patterns traced onto them. The numbers and letters on each piece were to denote which section it would end up being. (A pieces are the jaws, Fs are fins, etc.)Mostly, this was just so that I could confirm that I had the right pieces

This photo actually represents a disproportionate amount of work. Because I used floor mats, the foam had texture to it that would have throw off the entire look of it. This meant that I had to sand every piece after I cut it. And that's how I spent my Spring Break. It was the single most tedious things I have ever done to make a costume. When I inevitably end up remaking this, I plan on buying or borrowing a sander, so I don't have to do this all by hand again. Also, I'll probably do as much of the sanding as I can BEFORE I trace and cut out the pieces.

Here are those pieces, shaped and with details and damage added. (Gorilla Glue was used to attach the pieces to each other at this step.) Foam is, fortunately, quite simple to shape: just heat & hold. When I previously used this tutorial with craft foam, my stove burners could generate enough heat to allow proper shaping. Since this foam is significantly thicker, however, a heat gun was in order. This allowed me more precise control over the temperature and direction of the heat. For most of these pieces, I went through several cycles of heat-shape-cool, gradually working them into the shape I needed. Most of the parts bent nicely into shape, after a little bit of finagling, though some took more time than others. By far, the hardest parts to shape were C2, D2, A1, and A2, as they just did not want to stay in the shapes that I needed them in.

This picture also shows the pieces part of the way through the sealing process, at about 1 and 1/2 coats of 6. When working with foam, sealing is usually a very important step. Otherwise, the foam will drink all of the paint you can throw at it, and likely won't have a nice finish. Oddly, however, this foam was rather non-absorbant, which I think may have been due to being much denser than other foams that I have used. (I had to use a scrap to help properly position B1. To help conceal it, I painted the scrap black without having the time to seal it. Even on the places that had been sanded, the foam took the paint) Because of this, I wonder if I could have reduced the number of sealant coats without affecting the results. And this, kids, is why we experiment with unfamiliar materials before using them. (I cannot emphasis this enough.)


Due to the fact that I was painting a dark material to a light color, I did a base coat of white acrylic paint. This is one of the places that I had a major deviation from the tutorial I was following. In the tutorial, they used Rub 'n Buff to "paint" it and a floor wax as a top seal, whereas I use acrylics and spray paint to paint it, didn't give it a top seal and added the base coat. Now, this has so far worked well enough for Fishbones, but I would never do the same if I was making armor for a person and not a prop. This is because a person's armor needs to be able to deal with that person's movements, such as twisting, bending, and sitting down. When spray paints dry, they just don't have the flexibility needed and usually develops cracks. Even on props, I have had bad experiences using spray paint on foam. (though, granted, that was on unsealed foam. I will be keeping a close eye on Fishbones as it endures more conventions.)

Regardless, this was in some respects a very opportune time. Because I had to layer the white paint to give it a consistent color, I could also use the paint to fill in small minor mistakes I had made earlier in the process, such as gaps between pieces and small gouges in the foam. (Care should be taken to not accidentally fill in purposeful damage.)

This is the last work in progress shot I have, showing all the pieces (including the base tube) after having been spray painted. This was less than 20 hours before we were scheduled to to leave for Sakura Con, so I was under a little bit of a time crunch. After getting the main color of it on, the next step is detail painting. As you can see, most of the damage does not show up very well in photos, so my first step was to fix that. To do that, I took some dark grey (to imitate shadows) and painted it into all of the areas that I wanted to look like battle damage. For the small indentations on B1, I used black paint to make them stand out even more. I also used it to detail the lightning bolt patterns near the eyes. For the eyes themselves, I used two different shades of yellow/orange to make them pop a bit more. These were all done in acrylics. Had I had more time, I would have tried to do some weathering, to give it a more well-worn feel. 

After this, it became time to piece everything together. To hold on the various pieces, I used hot glue (a cosplayer's best friend). There were some modifications I had to make at this point, mostly to C1 and D1. We had only ordered one thickness of foam to make Fishbones out of, the 1 inch foam. In retrospect, we should have also ordered some 1/2 inch foam as well, as C1, D1, and C2 (and possibly the Ts) all appear to actually be thinner than the other pieces. This meant that I had to cut C1 and D1 to make them thinner, as the current thickness on C1 was preventing B1 from resting properly. I also had to make a small V-shaped cut into C1 so that the end of B1 would have a place to sit without it bulging out weirdly. The rest of the process went smoothly, with the hot glue taking well to the materials used. Afterwards, Fishbones seemed very solid and sturdy, aside from B1, which ended up having to come off for transit anyway. This was the last thing I was able to at my own house. (For those keeping track at home, this was T-minus 7 hours until we were scheduled to leave.)

Later, in the hotel room in Seattle, we cut out the "leather" straps (actually vinyl) and wrapped them around C2 and D2. This was also the point at which F2a and F2b were attached, as they go over the straps. We also reattached B1 and wrapped another strap, with a buckle, around it and B2. Finally, I used some silver acrylic paint that I had brought with me to touch up some small imperfections in the paint job, mainly some pen ink from when I drew outlines for black lightning bolts on A1. With that done, Fishbones was ready for its first convention.

Below are some of the pictures we took on the second day of Sakura con, when my friend and I dressed as characters from League of Legends (her as Jinx and me as Arcade Sona). Even though there were about five other Jinxes there, I like to think my Fishbones was the best. That may just be me being egotistical, but Fishbones is one of the few projects that I've done that I'm truly proud of, so I'm going to indulge my ego there. Of the three photos below, the one on the left is my favorite. The posing is very well done, and it shows off Fishbones quite nicely.

Overall, I enjoyed working on this project quite a lot, even though there were some setbacks, and more of a time crunch than I would have liked. I do plan to go back at some point to redo Fishbones, taking what I've learned from from this version and using it to make an even better version. Truly, a cosplayer's job is never done. (I'd be lying if I said I don't love it, though.)