Diablo Demon Hunter – Worbla Thermoplastics

Demon Hunter – Automatic Crossbow

Posted on January 19, 2015January 27, 2020 by Amanda

Chrix Design shared this detailed writeup covering the Chest Plate, Leg Armor, Pauldrons, Helmet, Shield and Bracer, and Crossbow of her Demon Hunter from Diablo.

For my stage show I needed something with a “WOW factor”, and an automatic crossbow would be amazing.

But to be able to make it open automatic at stage I needed a spring mechanism. This cheap umbrella open automatically when the release button is pressed. Hmm, I can definitely use this.

Because of the mechanism I had to redesign the prop, so it could move freely along the axis. That means that the awesome horns that swirl around the extended ” arms must be tweaked.

Let’s go! I started by stripping the umbrella and adding cardboard details as a skeleton and a little foam to build up the form. After every bit I added I tested to see if it could still be opened and closed.

Thin foam strips (2 mm) were added to created the ornamented details.

YES! I can still close it.

To keep it lightweight and cheap I used cardboard to create the scales of the horns.

The only part of the bow where I have used worbla is the skull face on front, since the form was so organic. The worbla sheet was sculpted by hand to get the shape I wanted.

More movement tests

Then I need to slap some paint on it and add a few LED

In the end the prop turned out great! And if you want to see it in action, here is a youtube video of the spring effect.

Demon Hunter Shield and Bracer

Posted on January 19, 2015January 27, 2020 by Amanda

Chrix Design shared this detailed writeup covering the Chest Plate, Leg Armor, Pauldrons, Helmet, Shield and Bracer, and Crossbow of her Demon Hunter from Diablo.

The Bracer
Since I did take some in progress photos I might just add a write up of this piece also. For the smooth surfaces I used cardboard as a base, with foam details in layers. The end piece is only foam.

I wanted arrows to stick out of my shield, but to be able to pack and transport the costume I need to be able to take them off. For this I embedded M5 nuts into the cardboard and secured with worbla, while the corresponding bolt where attached to the arrows (You’ll see later)

Then I gradually covered the top with worbla (only the top) and wrapped it around the edges.

Since I was going to cover up the underside with fabric anyways I thought I would save a little by only using worbla on one side. The ornamented back piece would not be covered with fabric, so I tried to blend the surface using paper mache again, and it worked beautifully.

I also made a bracer and a claw for the other arm.

Demon Hunter Pauldrons

Posted on January 16, 2015January 20, 2020 by Amanda

Chrix Design shared this detailed writeup covering the Chest Plate, Leg Armor, Pauldrons, Helmet, Shield and Bracer, and Crossbow of her Demon Hunter from Diablo.

This have to be the most iconic piece of this armor and I wanted to make sure the looked badass – The pauldrons.

Again I would use worbla, but I wanted to see if I could make the base out of cardboard and then cover it up with worbla and details afterwards. Also on the larger pauldron I needed to make horns and a mean skull face. All this without making the shoulders too heavy (as mentioned before, I’m weak and don’t want to carry more than I need).

Small pauldron
I covered a balloon with paper mache and added details with cardboard.

When it had dried I added details in foam.

Tha pauldron has several indents, created by just cutting away some of the cardboard.

When done I covered it up with worbla, bringing out the foam details as I go along. I used a small wooden stick to press down the worbla (e.g. a pencil or chopstick. I started on the top and worked my way to the sides.

All wrapped up

Thin strips of worbla was added along all edges to create dimensinon.

Under the pauldron there are a couple of smaller armor pieces which were made much like the leg armors, by covering foam with worbla and shaping ot over a ball.

This a part of the leg armor

Large pauldron with horns
With the larger pauldron I had a little more touble to the the basic shape. But same method by using paper mache over a balloon and adding foam details in layers was essentially used.

To get more depth to the mouth.

Starting to cover it with worbla.

Here I just used a blunt pencil to press in the worbla and bring out the details

For the skull piece I first made the form out of clay, then used that as a mold to shape the worbla, so I would end up with a light weight shell.

A hollow skull shape

I filled the space with tin foil to help keet the shape up while I added the rest of the worbla.

Before we move on with the skull details we need some horns. I build a basic grid out of cardboard.

Filled that with expanding foam

And carved out the shapes.

To be able to get the horns off the pauldron when needed, I added bolts to the horn base. Then I could screw them in place when needed.

Testing

I used all my small left over pieces of worbla for teeth. The pieces were heated and shaped.

Priming with gesso and glue, since I needed to get this peice pretty smooth.

More testing with the chest piece I made earlier.

I needed a small piece under this shoulder also.

Painting will be covered in a seperate tutorial eventually.

Until then, enjoy the full effect of these enormous shoulders, I have to go sideways though the doors in our apartment.

Demon Hunter Chest Plate

Posted on January 14, 2015January 20, 2020 by Amanda

Chrix Design shared this detailed writeup covering the Chest Plate, Leg Armor, Pauldrons, Helmet, Shield and Bracer, and Crossbow of her Demon Hunter from Diablo.

This is one fierce lady with full cover armor, so of course I had to make this costume. Demon Hunter from Diablo 3. This will be my first big armor costume and I will most probably use mostly worbla for the construction since the shapes of the armor is very organic.

Worbla is a thermoplastic sheet which can be heated with heat gun or warm water. The material then gets flexible and can be shaped, bent or molded in any way, and even better remolded if you need the materials for something else later. You only need scissors to cut it, and all leftovers can be molded together so you don’t waste any material.

First up is her chest armor
I figured that I could build the chest in layers and not use foam in between to save a little money. So I started of by making a one layers base shape.

The Worbla is heated up and shaped over acrylic hemispheres. Careful not to stretch it too thin.

With by basic shape done I added masking tape to draw up the patterns for the next layer. With focus on using as little worbla as possible I will only add details in visible areas. Other worbla makers such as Kamui often make whole pieces that the almost completely cover up with the next layer, therefor spanding way more material than necessary.