Creating a G.I. Joe "Duke" Halloween Costume
Intro: Creating a G.I. Joe "Duke" Halloween Costume
Inspired by the new summer flick "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra." This instructable will show you how to create the "Duke" Armor.
So my wife and I love to go out in costume for Halloween. I usually lean more on the side of gross and mutilated, as I have studied Special Effects and Make-up Artistry. My wife, on the other hand will dress up as whatever, as long as it’s fun.
This year we are going to Vegas on Halloween to celebrate our 1-year wedding anniversary. We got married there and thought it would be fun to go back. We thought that since it would be just the two of us this time, we should dress up in a way that will compliment one another. We thought long and hard and finally came up with G.I. Joe characters (from the movie). If you have seen my wife, she is a dead ringer for Siena Miller’s “Baroness”. And me? As long as I have the suit on, I might, sort-of look like the Channing Tatum’s “Duke”. Maybe.
Items you will need:
•Hot glue gun
•Spray glue
•1 can silver spray paint
•1 can black spray paint
•Sewing machine or a needle & thread (add about 40 more hours!)
•Ruler
•Blue Painter’s tape (wide)
•Self-healing mat
•4 yards black fabric
•4 yards green fabric foam
•1 roll of black craft foam
•2 sheets of thick black craft foam
•Cardboard (for patterns)
•Sharpie
•White fabric chalk
•2 yards velcro
•4 yards black belt strap
•4 yards black elastic
•2 side release backpack buckles
Total price for materials: $87.00
Total hours worked: 30ish?
Let’s start off my examining the production shots of Duke’s armor carefully. I tried to build it as close as I could but I had to take some liberties based on my experience at this. But I did, however, want to make it somewhat functional.
We will be making three parts to this suit:
•Vest & Armor
•Arm Gauntlets
•Shoulder Pads
STEP 1: Making the Pattern.
Orange – Top layer of thick foam
Pink – Bottom layer of thin foam
Green - Thick foam
STEP 2: Real Men Know How to Sew!
STEP 3: Adding the Padding.
STEP 4: Strapping the Vest Together.
There you go! You have just created a pretty realistic looking bullet-proof vest. Just don’t go out looking for trouble.
STEP 5: Creating the Armor 1.
STEP 6: Creating the Armor 2.
STEP 7: Creating the Armor 3.
Looks good so far.
STEP 8: Creating the Armor 4.
STEP 9: Creating the Armor 5.
STEP 10: Creating the Armor 6.
I printed out the logo, put blue painter’s tape onto a self-healing mat, placed the print on top of the tape and used a blade to carefully cut out a negative of the logo. I carefully removed the tape and placed it where I wanted it onto the chest. Then I covered the rest of the vest with plastic leaving the logo cutout alone. Then spray painted the logo with black spray paint that I had lying around. After it was dry I pulled off the tape and did touch-ups wherever necessary. Here is what it looks like.
And another look at the back. (Just because it is cool looking)
STEP 11: Creating the Arm Gauntlets.
STEP 12: Doing the Shoulder Pads.
Shoulder pads are back baby! This is my least favorite part of the suit but I think it adds a little bit. I think the design is right but I think the execution is flawed. I wanted it to form around my shoulder but while doing that, it created a bit of a peak. Oh well. I may go back and adjust it a bit later on. So, just like the gauntlets, I followed the same process. Cutting out the foam with the pattern I created, then masking with blue tape the areas I wanted to keep black. Then I used a combination of hot glue and spray glue to adhere the shapes together. I then sliced and curved the top of the pads, and glued those flaps together as well. Lastly, I added some velcro to the underside of the pad and to the corresponding top of the vest so that they could come on and off as I pleased.
I also, like I usually do, sketched out how I thought I would create the shoulder pads. I have included that sketch below.***Update! I have recreated the shoulder pads. My firefighter buddy had some extra foam shoulder pads lying around and gave them to me. I have painted similar patterns shown below onto them. I also printed out the GI Joe logo in color onto Inkjet fabric paper. I cut them out and spray glued them onto the shoulder pads. Man, they look so much better now. Check out the pictures are at the end of this Instructable.
STEP 13: Putting It All Together!
And now you know. And knowing is half the battle. Add some cargo pants, a turtleneck, weapons and black gloves and you’re done. I have also created more logos on the fabric paper to adhere to the gloves, just as an extra touch.
It was my first time doing a project like this so I hope you got some insight and enjoyed this tutorial.
You can contact me with any questions you may have.
I will be putting the vest, armor, gauntlets and shoulder pad patterns up for sale if anyone is interested.
And depending how the suit makes the trip back from Vegas, I will be accepting bids for that as well.
Thanks for viewing!BTW:
*The vest, armor, gauntlets and shoulder pad patterns up for sale if anyone is interested.
**And depending how the suit makes the trip back from Vegas, I will be accepting bids for that as well. Please email me at icongfx@gmail.com for prices.
15 Comments
SpicyPandaCreations 10 years ago
icongfx 10 years ago
CementTruck 13 years ago
Cool Instructable. I made my son Jango Fett armor last year using the plastic from a 5 gallon bucket. Similar idea.
tete311 13 years ago
icongfx 14 years ago
Thanks!
crinal123 14 years ago
rorpen 14 years ago
how much for the templates?
icongfx 14 years ago
$100.00 for:
•Vest
•Armor front
•Armor back
•Shoulder Pads
•Tricept Pads
•Forearms
Kaiven 14 years ago
icongfx 14 years ago
Kaiven 14 years ago
icongfx 14 years ago
Kaiven 14 years ago
a_traceur 14 years ago
8th picture is sweet! Great ible!
Papai 14 years ago