Building Your Marine Kit

So you've decided on dressing as a Marine and purchased one of my kits, or you just want to see what goes into assembling a set. First off, congratulations and thank you! I'll be updating this as I work on better ways to put this all together.  Let's go through how to turn this:



Into this:


For a full walkthrough of my build process, keep reading.

Vacuum Forming on a Budget

For an average cosplayer and costumer, shelling out a couple thousand dollars for a vacuum former just isn't feasible. Making one out of some pegboard and 2 by 4s works and I've done so in the past:

The problem with that though, is I'm limited to what I can fit in my oven and even if I can, it's preferable not to have your food taste like plastic. Through some Google-fu I found tk560.com. He set up a table top vacuum former and heavily documented his build process here. 

My build process isn't nearly as in-depth but some of the pictures I took are pretty.

The machine in all its glory:

Want to know what happens when you underestimate the power of homemade circuitry? Keep reading, I was in for a jolt!