Borg Inspired Cosplay

I am attending my first ever star trek convention so I thought I'd buy a red star trek shirt and make some easily put on and off star trek cosplay gear. I searched the internet and watched a few videos and instructables for inspiration then decided to just jump in with both feet and make my first cosplay items ever!

Step 1: Finding Some Cool Junk to Use.

First one must grab up all the handy bric-a-brac that one can find. I had at my disposal lots of junk I hadn't gotten around to throwing out yet. I had an old am radio walkman, a broken sound card from my computer, a broken tv remote, some styrofoam, and lots of wire. Secondly, one must gather some additional supplies to make your cosplay. I bought some glue sticks for my cheap hot glue gun and some spray can plastidip. I used flat black. I also bought a tube of rub and buff in silver for the final touches.

Step 2: Go Creative Crazy.

I traced the outline of my broken sound card onto some styrofoam and cut the square out. I purposely left a few sides of the styrofoam a little beat up for the "battle damage" look when I painted it. Then I glued the two together. I next took apart the walkman and glued the insides to the headset. I made sure to keep it on the sliding part of the head piece. I then painted it all flat black and tried to see what was missing. I then added some wires to the sound card square and headed to the dollar store. I found a ball that lit up and a pair of swim goggles for a buck so I bought them and then tore them apart when I got home. I took some floral wire I had and doubled it up several times and wired it to one side of the goggles. Then I cut the two eye pieces apart and wrapped the empty end of the wire to the speaker of the headphone in a handy hole. Finally I glued the crap out of the wire to hold it in place. I then painted it some more (taking great care not to spray to actual goggle so I could see through it). While waiting for the paint to dry I cut into the ball and removed the led inside that lit up when it bounced. I glued it to the side of the goggle to hide the wire attachment. Also, it looks really cool when you tap it and it flashes. The hardest part was getting the wire to line up with the goggle in such a way that it actually came around to my eye so I could see. Trial and error was all I used. After a few tries, I was able to luckily get it right. Please make sure it fits your head well before applying glue to it! I marked it with a sharpie on the wire where it went to the hole for ease of gluing purposes.

Step 3: Fix Your Chest Piece!

I decided to add some wires to my chest piece to make it look neater. I also glued the headphone wire I cut from the headset to the back of the styrofoam and can actually jack it into the walkman guts on the head piece. I then touched up the plastic on the wires so that it wasn't a ugly old faded plastic color (once again using the black plastidip). When all the paint was dry I took the silver rub and buff on a small paintbrush to touch up the unit and make it look more metallic. I strongly advise using a brush over your finger so that you can get between the small electronic pieces and actually touch the board they are mounted on for a more even look. I found that dapping the brush with very small amounts of the silver and then poking it onto the electronics worked best. I also took the brush and gently swiped it over the ends of the electronics and resistors to make them "pop" from the black background. Make sure you paint the edges of your styrofoam as well for a more uniform look. Dont forget to apply the rub and buff to your head peice as well in the same manner!

Step 4: Additional Pieces

I also made an additional piece that I can strap to the back of my forearm or also safety pin to my shirt. It consists of nothing but old broken items that were in my recycle bin (bottle caps, screws, etc.). I glued them all to the inside guts of an old remote control and painted them. If I can find an additional old broken headset I may glue some scrap electronics onto it and paint it up and stick it on that for a second head piece for a friend to play with you and pose for some pics. :)

Step 5: Wear and Play!

Once you have it how you want it, simply glue some big safety pins to the back of the chest piece and then pin it to your shirt. Toss on your head piece and play!