Build Materials & Sources
EVA Foam – 4mm & 6mm, TNT Cosplay Supply
Foam Clay – C4 Foam Clay, TNT Cosplay Supply
Styrene Plastic Sheet – TNT Cosplay Supply
Aluminum Chainmail Coif (Split into 2 pieces for Kael’s Helmet and Sorsha’s Chainmail Collar)
Faux Fur – Part of my winter coat that I didn’t need. It was removable.
Leather, Gun Metal Colored Rivets, Stainless Steel Screws
Patterns Used:
Chest Base – Evil Ted’s Basic Male Body Armor
Facemask – Kamui Cosplay’s Villian Mask (Modified)
Helmet Base – Evil Ted’s Viking Helmet (Lower Half, Modified)
Gauntlet – Freehand cut from 4mm TNT EVA Foam with scrap leather buckles.
Shin Guards – Freehand cut from 6mm SKS HD Foam
Build Process
The helmet was built as a combination of two templates. The funny part is that the 2 pieces I used for the base were just laying around from some practice builds. A little bit of trimming and adjustment and I was able to fit a pivot point for the mask to flip up. Hardware was later changed to stainless steel since I have a nickel allergy.
Facemask – Kamui Cosplay’s Villian Mask (Modified)
Helmet Base – Evil Ted’s Viking Helmet (Lower Half, Modified)
General Kael – Helmet Base Construction
I had the bottom half of one of Evil Ted’s helmets, which I modified a little and attached a facemask to it after finding a suitable pivot point.
General Kael – Facemask Reference
I used auction photos, as well as other reference photos to sculpt the facemask. The base is Kamui’s Villain Mask with a foam block added at the bottom to fill out the jawline. My understanding is that the mask is a Troll skull, like the ones crawling all over the Castle at Tir Asleen.
General Kael – Facemask Sculpting with Foam Clay
It took several applications to sculpt the mask fully. I went a little thick and it took a while to dry. This part was really a lot of fun and easy to carried away on. In this case, the sculpt was a little less symmetrical but pretty close. I think this added to the organic look of the skull.
I used TNT’s C4 Foam Clay for this mask. The texture is softer and is more pliable. I think they use some sort of flexible PVA in the formulation. I really like it. Pixiss has a similar formula to TNT’s and is sold on Amazon, if that’s easier to get.
The density of the Foam Clay sold by Foam-Mo and SKS Props didn’t feel right for this kind of sculpt. The formulation of these two brands are very similar, if not the same. I used this foam to make the spikes for my shoulder armor. This foam can get brittle.
General Kael – The Troll Teeth
I can’t tell you how much fun it was to sculpt Troll teeth with the foam. I ended up making a generic upper and lower jawline before added the teeth. I rolled the teeth out individual and smoothed them into the upper and lower sections. It was fun making the broken and impacted teeth as well.
General Kael – The Helmet Fins
I had less than stellar results with the original fins. I used a thermoplastic sheet that had a lot of flex. I later changed this to a Styrene sheet, also from TNT Cosplay Supply. I curled it using can of some kind, if I remember correctly, and a heat gun.
General Kael – Helmet Features
The details were fun to put together. I think the leather strip along the center line could have turned out a little better. I used scrap brown leather for this part. After this, I added tassels of hair, made from a cheap, black wig and bead crimp loops.
The strip under the leather weave and along the bottom is 2mm EVA Foam, folded over on both sides of the lip of the helmet. There’s a section of clothes hanger wire inside to prevent the chainmail rings from tearing through.
General Kael – Helmet Features
This poorly smudged out photo (I’m definitely not a great graphics person), features the helmet flipped up. You can see that I’ve fully commited to the part, replicating Kael’s shaved moustache center and I let my beard and hair grow wild.
