The Daft Trooper - 9336 takes on Daft Punk!

[Rebel Doughboy]

Hello gang,


3134b by TK9336, on Flickr


daftpunk-1 by TK9336, on Flickr

As some of you know I have been toiling away at a project to recreate the helmets from the DJ duo Daft Punk. It has become the biggest, most audacious project I’ve ever undertaken. New materials, concepts and builders we’re the tip of the iceberg. This is also is the most expensive. Without chrome this project has cost well above 2,000+ and I still have more stuff to get. But let’s take a chronological view with this.


the-evolution-of-daft-punk-helmets-30392-1293637007-2 by TK9336, on Flickr

I will divide my work into V1.0 and V2.0. Those at Wizard World 2011 would’ve seen me running around in my spray painted Pinki Guy-Man cast. This whole thing hatched as the good idea fairy visited me listening to their music. Pepakura, it was too easy! Of course I can do this! The mentality that grips most propmakers. Well in the summer of 2011 I bought a cast from MrPinski for Guy-Man and made my first v1.00 and v1.20 Thomas pep helmets (the first being a visor that was too big.) Ultimately the pep file I was using for Thomas sucks and I already reached the bondo stage. However, that helmet is effectively scrap (or a Zombie version of the helmet.) It was an expensive and steep learning curve but I am confident with pepakura to cross into different mediums like Halo. That’s for a different post. I rushed my Pinksi Guy-Man by spray painting it to come to Wizard World Chicago and be able to romp around as one half of Daft Punk before leaving for Norwich University Senior Military College.


My beloved Midwest Garrison Family and me @WWC 2011 by TK9336, on Flickr


118 Pointing at my Pinksi Guy-Man @ WWC 2011 by TK9336, on Flickr

It was a blast but I knew this isn’t what I set out to create. The project remained stagnant for a full year until I came home after Infantry OSUT in August of this year. In September I decided it was time to strip the crappy paint off. It was lacquer based paint, so a lacquer thinner was needed. I had stripped the helmets before elbow grease and was a LENGTHY process that didn’t really get all the paint off. This time I let it soak in $50 of thinner in a little bath.


561715_4533106122902_1282295312_n by TK9336, on Flickr


404158_4533100562763_583367314_n by TK9336, on Flickr


252418_4533096842670_1268509226_n by TK9336, on Flickr

I was devastated. I had never seen $500 disappear, of flake faster. It was in that moment after posting the shame to facebook my old SGT posted, “What happens when we fall Mr. Skiera?” I was in too deep to pull out now (giggity.) It was a major setback. But from the ashes, and Phoenix is said to rise. It most certainly did.

This drawback actually completely re-energized the entire project as a whole. I went from “meh” to “Leeroy Jenkins.” Like a madman I have been obsessed with this project. I saw a new cast of Guy-Man had arrived on RPF. This IS the single most accurate DP lid ever made. It put Volpin’s (the foremost authority and trailblazer on Daft Punk props) to shame. This IS the standard. I went at it and got a cast last month in September. Not bad timing considering he only made a limited number of casts in late August. I also got Pinksi’s Thomas Bangalter helmet, and Firewire’s Daft Punk handplates.


20121005_223613 by TK9336, on Flickr


404038_4591160574227_1657992080_n by TK9336, on Flickr


7549127806_0b81c7ea15_o by TK9336, on Flickr


6a00e398210d13883300e55 by TK9336, on Flickr


7549127038_df7049348d_o by TK9336, on Flickr


daft000b-thumb-500x620_large by TK9336, on Flickr


7549125544_e78d12d47c_o by TK9336, on Flickr


tumblr_le6vt5b0wz1qc85kpo1_400 by TK9336, on Flickr

The real I have unwavering respect for Sorenzo, is that he was done with his sculpt and was ready to cast when someone pointed out a flaw. He noticed his cast lacked the square front of the iconic helmet; he also went and COMPLETELY redid the back swoove of the helmet. This is what every other fan sculpt has missed. This is what makes it the closest, and best sculpt out there in Daft land.


7313747080_c83e3d05eb_h by TK9336, on Flickr


7486832356_dea5fb9575_h by TK9336, on Flickr

Both helmets will need filling, sanding, and cutting to prep for chrome. Notably in the top visor lip in Pinski’s Thomas cast. Sorenzo’s has small air pockets which will be annoying to do, but I should happy I get to work on it. While that is in the works, this project wouldn’t be eye popping without the LED lightshow (really it’s more like a Who! concert laser show.) Let’s first start with Guy-Manuel. Here are the printed circuit boards (PCB’s) from Julio Rios aka tekparasite: http://plasmado.com/pro2.tutorial.php


Guy Man PCB's from Tek parasite. by TK9336, on Flickr
Besides that, A LOT more is needed to create the most complicated LED display in any prop helmet, ever. No deadmau5, get out of here.

Guy-Manuel de-Honem Christo:

100 x Resistors 1K Ohm 1/4W 5% Carbon Film
http://www.ebay.com/itm/221034432386...84.m1497.l2649

100 x 2N3904 NPN General Propose Transistor
http://www.ebay.com/itm/320631934989...84.m1497.l2649

200 x Resistors 220 Ohm 1/4W 5% Carbon Film
http://www.ebay.com/itm/320913417014...84.m1497.l2649

200 x 5mm White LED 20000 mcd FLAT HEAD WIDE ANGLE 10mm
http://www.ebay.com/itm/260483177381...84.m1497.l2649

20 x 0.1" (2.54mm) Crimp Connector Housing: 1x8-Pin 10-Pack
http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1907

50 x 0.1" (2.54mm) Crimp Connector Housing: 1x2-Pin 25-Pack
http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1901

50 x 0.1" (2.54mm) Crimp Connector Housing: 1x1-Pin 25-Pack
http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1900

160 x 0.100" (2.54 mm) Breakaway Male Header: 1x40-Pin, Right Angle
http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/967

3 x 8LED-2C Chaser by Donnie for Tek’s PCB’s (link at the bottom of http://plasmado.com/pro2.tutorial.php)

Still needed: RCA jack female, 2 x 5mm round green and 2 x 5mm round red LED’s, plastic sign to make the housing for the rainbows, rainbow cable, controller box, and battery housing (plus a poop ton of AA’s since when this fully running 8 AA’s will give 2-4 hrs of lights). I obviously have more than I need, but versus the rest of stuff bought, it was pennies. Seriously, that stuff is pretty cheap. Assembly required, however. Crimping and soldering will be my life once the lids are off to the chromers.

All that together makes this-


DSC03026 by tekparasite, on Flickr


helmetFront by TK9336, on Flickr


Inside guy Volpin by TK9336, on Flickr

Thomas:
2 x 8 LED Chaser Beacon PIC Microcontroller Light Show Strobe - (8x 5mm LEDs) (For the Ear pucks)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI. ... 0811470211

320 x 5mm round red LED

1 x Fully rigged and programmed system ready to install thanks to Sandiskduo (aka Alex S over at TDC). It’s going to be pretty freaking sweet. I am not trying to reinvent the wheel here. Great price and that much less work I have to do.


TK_9336_2 by TK9336, on Flickr

However I am still at a loss on how to make the side bars pictured here made by Tekparasite:


Colors! by tekparasite, on Flickr


ThomasColors by TK9336, on Flickr

So I am hoping I can reuse parts from making Guy to make that very small array. I’m pretty sure after knocking out that behemoth these side bars won’t be a challenge save finding the right chaser, programming it and finding those little color box things. Hopefully someone here can point me in the right direction!

So with ALL that out of the way there is the question of making the leather suit worn by Daft Punk. Of course they wear formal wear but I already own that, and finding the other normal articles of clothing they wear is not hard. However, what they wear pre-dominantly is custom “Riders” by French fashion label Dior. So I got resourceful. Volpin commissioned Cathy over at God Save the Queen’s Fashion (QSTQF) to make the suit. 8,000 he had a custom fitted suit. Well I don’t have money to do just that. I did the next best thing by getting the patterns from her, spending exactly 602.31 on materials to make my own. The most unique was finding premium lambskin leather from a small farm in Italy. Etsy thank you for making 66 ft of the stuff available. Here’s a nod to Etsy! I can provide a list of all the materials used but I’ll do that after it’s finished. The wonderful Heather Frelichowski accepted the challenge and it will be done this weekend!

Discovery/Human After All Jacket panel by Heather Frelichowski:

393736_4203193115779_1927063802_n by TK9336, on Flickr


4183432 by TK9336, on Flickr

A LOT more pictures are on my flickr at- http://www.flickr.com/photos/51122238@N05/

Criticism/advice welcomed with both arms.

[teach42]

No criticism or advice here. Just stunned admiration. That's some wicked project.

[Rebel Doughboy]

I hope I can get the same response when it's finised!

[iceburgh]

Me likey! I wet my pants a little.

[Rebel Doughboy]

You still have dibs to wear the silver helmet as I said wayyyyyyy back when I thought I could it done for WWC 2011. Officially premiering at C2E2 2013!

[iceburgh]

Awww thanks!!!
We will see what 2013 brings, and if I go, you are on.

[Rebel Doughboy]

electro by TK9336, on Flickr

Electronics

Pictured: Plasmodo PCB's; 16 Color Gels; 200 220ohm resistors; 100 1k resistors; 160 break a way male headers; 200 female crimp pins; 200 flat white 5mm LEDs; 3 LED Chasers by Donnie; 2 RCA female jacks; 2 RCA jacks silver end; solder kit; 2 proto boards; 100 2N3904 NPN General Propose Transistors; and crimp housings 1x8, 1x1, and 1x2.

Still need crimping tool; 100 Red, green and yellow 5mm rectangular color LEDs; 4 blue and green 5mm round tip round LEDs; 2 red and green round 5mm LEDs; 2.54 rainbow cable; 16 3mm LEDs for the EKG; battery box; (maybe chasers for EKG); and a project box that had the on/off switch. Waiting on the 8 LED rings from ebay for Thomas' Ears.

I have no idea what the parts are called to make a project box housing the switches and such. Not sure what battery packs I will need either. Leather jumpsuit should be done this week. Was going to be done last weekend but Darth real life does his evil work! Daft Punk patches also coming (thought the jacket and pants need them on the inside.) Stay tuned. Advice MORE THAN welcomed!

[Rebel Doughboy]

I ordered another lovely $52 worth of LED's, selector switch, and rainbow ribbon cable. Only things left to get electronics wise is a project box, battery holder, another one of Donnie's chasers for the EKG's, possible arduino for my own Chin equilizers on Guy that way I can re-use Donnie's chaser on my Thomas side bar lights. Oh, and re-chargable batteries, I have feeling when this is going it will have a appitite for batteries like I do for oreos. I can post links if anyone need's em to get thier own. I will have LED's left over for the EKG and static green and red next the RCA jack on Guy for those who'd like to pursue that as well.

Total (Guy's Center Matrix and Thomas's Main Array not counted [though my Thomas will have 320 5mm in the main array.])

• Rectangular Red 2x5mm LEDs=44
• Rectangular Yellow 2x5mm LEDs=72
• Rectangular Green 2x5mm LEDs=48
• Green Round 3mm LEDs=32
• White Flat 3mm LEDs=18
• White Flat 5mm LEDs=90
• Red Round 5mm LEDs=2
• Green Round 5mm LEDs=2
• Bi-color Round 5mm Blue/Green=8

Guy's LED's

• Chin (Rectangular 2x5mm Red=24; Yellow=36; Green=24) (Round 3mm White=18)
o 18 Yellow Rectangular LEDs (36)
o 12 Green Rectangular LEDs (24)
o 9 white flat LEDS 5mm (18)
o 9 white 3mm LEDS (18)
o 12 Red Rectangular LEDs (24)

• Center Matrix (All 5mm) bi-color in other versions that produces the smiley face/heart?
o 14x35 Matrix = 490 LEDs
 5x5 Green Matrix = 25 Green LEDS
 4x22 Yellow Matrix = 88 Yellow LEDS
 9x5 Red Matrix = 45 Red LEDS
 5x12 Green Matrix = 60 Green LEDS
 3x5 Red Matrix = 15 Red LEDS
 187 White Clear LED’s (420-233)

• Color Bars (all flat 5mm) 8 Bars total
o From Top to bottom-
 Purple, Blue, Light Blue, Dark Green, Green, Yellow, Orange, and Red
o 5 Clear White flat LEDS/Bar (80)
 Tek’s 4 White flat 5mm (64)

• EKG (Round 3mm Green=32)
o 16 Green 3mm LEDs (32)

Thomas Side Bars LED's

• Color Bars (White flat top=8)
o Red, yellow, green, and blue
 1 flat 5mm white LED per cell. (8)

• Equalizer/Chin (Red=20; Yellow=36; Green=24)
o Vertical Bars 2 rows of 4
 From top to bottom-
• 2 Red 2x5mm Rectangular LED (4)
• 2 Yellow 2x5mm Rectangular LED (4)
• 2 Green 2x5mm Rectangular LED (4)
• 2 Green 2x5mm Rectangular LED (4)
o Horizontal Bars 7 rows of 4
 From top to bottom-
• 4 Red 2x5mm Rectangular LED (8)
• 4 Red 2x5mm Rectangular LED (8)
• 4 Yellow 2x5mm Rectangular LED (8)
• 4 Yellow 2x5mm Rectangular LED (8)
• 4 Yellow 2x5mm Rectangular LED (8)
• 4 Green 2x5mm Rectangular LED (8)
• 4 Green 2x5mm Rectangular LED (8)

o Center 5mm LEDs (Green=4; Blue=4) (Note in the original it is a bi-color flat top 5mm)
 2 Green 5mm LED Diffused (4)
 2 Blue 5mm LED Diffused (4)
• Bi-Color Green/Blue (8) [What I ended up going with.]

Thomas' side referenced here from a promotional video highlighting the helmet's lighting systems, screen cap'd off of Youtube. The video resolution was 720p and one of the few videos showing the side bar's up close. Good shots of Guy are in there too!


Thomas Screen cap 8 by TK9336, on Flickr


Thomas Screen cap 7 by TK9336, on Flickr


Thomas Screen cap 6 by TK9336, on Flickr


Thomas Screen cap 4 by TK9336, on Flickr


Thomas Screen cap 3 by TK9336, on Flickr


Thomas Screen cap 1 by TK9336, on Flickr


Thomas Screen cap 2 by TK9336, on Flickr

[Rebel Doughboy]

A few updates. Darth Real life strikes again! My pursuit of being a US Army helicopter pilot has been more a priority than this project lately but here's some news.

Some new bits. More in the mail. Everything pictured here is for Guy-Man. I need to buy another switch. Grrr. This thing is really adding up far beyond what I have put aside for it. It's like if you give a mouse a cookie it needs x, y, and z. The leather suit went in to have the correct zipper pulls put on. Hopefully it comes through...


New Acquisitions by TK9336, on Flickr

The 3mm LED's are for the Chin equlizers (white) and the EKG's (green.) The red and green diffused LED's are for the sides on Guy man. If anyone wants some just let me know. I have extra, obviously. The crimping tool got in the shot, as did the 8 LED microcontrollers. Video of them below, I am really happy with them. Especially since I that has to be done with them is finding opaque plastic disk to put them in, like Volpin's. Nice little simple video that took few minutes to do, cause everyone loves music in a video! (Yes I see the enter text box, grrr. Whatev's...look at the blinking lights.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxC-Me7E ... e=youtu.be

[Rebel Doughboy]

Hi all an update.

After getting ripped off by the Chinese supplier getting a sponge instead of my Top Tens I got a refund and tracked a pair down. These are EXTREMELY hard to find. So thinking I could squeeze into a 8 (which I wear for running shoes, but with sz 9-9.5 feet for normal kicks) I eagerly put them on today. They are a tight fit, and after closer review, Nizza Hi Tops in all black are a MUCH better match than Top Ten's. I can't believe I overlooked the Nizzas. I will have to paint the white bottoms but atleast they'll fit


20121025_131545 by TK9336, on Flickr


20121025_131524 by TK9336, on Flickr


20121025_123230 by TK9336, on Flickr


20121025_131508 by TK9336, on Flickr

I'd offer them here, but they are $80 and I doubt anyone wants them. Return and burn time baby.

Nizzas- (Need to paint the white part but I am thinking black matte paint would be fine. Also put some shoe polish on them to make them shiny as in the reference pictures.)


G60917_06 by TK9336, on Flickr


G60917_05 by TK9336, on Flickr


G60917_02 by TK9336, on Flickr

The real deal-


shoe_zps590df151 by TK9336, on Flickr


daftpunkadidasproof by TK9336, on Flickr


395036728-1-2 by TK9336, on Flickr


147ce643 by TK9336, on Flickr

[Fleetfang]

I wonder if they have fans in their helmets...

[Rebel Doughboy]

I think so back in the Discovery Era of the helmets when they had full LED arrays. Nowadays they haven't had any lights, actually since 2007 they just wear the helmets with visors. Alterian made the originals (and still do) and they had to have small squrril fans to cool off the electronics since air circ will be the same a scout or TK lid. I am DEFINITELY getting ones for both helmets. Recommendations?

[Fleetfang]

Haha... I can't give you any recommendations on fans, dude. My buckets have been fanless since I joined up. And when I borrowed Patterson's Vader for ChiTAG last year, I went out of my way to break the fans' battery pack just to make sure that I wouldn't be getting any air flow anywhere inside that helmet! Hahaha! Nah, I'm kidding -- breaking the battery pack was a complete accident.
Orlando actually gave me a little 9v squirrel fan, but I haven't mounted it in any of my helmets, yet. Now that the cold weather is here, I should really get around to that...

[Rebel Doughboy]

I've never used fans before. I am doing this to cool the electronics, not my face. Never been a issue.

[Rebel Doughboy]

Finally got working on this project for the first time in a long time. Take that college! Friday at 10:30PM I decided to teach myself how to solder. 5 hours later I was cracking on light bars. I ran out of solder but all the light bars are done, plus one of the chin equilizers has everything on it save the LED's. On the Flickr I did a step by step to making one of the light bars should you make your own using proto board. I plan on making my own PCB's in a program called Express PCB (it's free!) I am making tek's supplied chin equilizers as a back up, but I want my helmet to be unique and seperate from all the others out there, and the accurate chin equilizer is how I am going to do it, and not be just another a copy, paste, and cut replicator. Nice thing about ExpressPCB, is that it calculates and adds connections where you'll need them based on what you create. I don't have a template yet but stayed tuned.


20121027_235934 by TK9336, on Flickr


20121027_035733 by TK9336, on Flickr

Two bars need to get changed because I put the wrong resistor on (220) where a 1k should've gone. Always check and double check your work...not to mention test them.

In related news. I am going back and forth on making the LED's next to the RCA jack on the Guyman helmet 3mm instead of 5mm. I ordered red diffused 3mm LEDs to compare.

I overnighted the Adidas black/black/white Nizza High Tops. They'll be here Monday :/ (turds took more days to process my order and now I wasted $15 bucks.)

My Discovery-HAA leather suit is DONE! YES DONE. Heather was going to hand deliver it today but sadly she had to go to the hospital. She did this project for me with a baby girl growing (I am going to get her a little baby Daft Punk shirt, instant cool kid points.) So I expect to see it soon, but after 9 months in the making the excitment was intense LOL. Since the last third party action to be taken on the suit was replace the zipper pulls (which the only person who has done that is Cathy on Volpin's suit.) The cobler did something to the studs and they all had to be redone by hand with a flathead, since the really thin prongs don't work with the tool to place them in the leather; (which lambskin being the premium is really delicate so you can't roll around and expect it to not look like sandpaper was generously applied to the grain.)


Timely by TK9336, on Flickr


Studs displaced...:/ by TK9336, on Flickr

Be careful when you have studs on your back, least they get caught on stuff and can tear out.


Easy goes it by TK9336, on Flickr

3 Hours to do one word. This is the second time she's done it. I am one lucky guy!

I need to get some stuff for soldering and some more protoboard but I will update as news comes in. Like my Daft Club card which comes next week from England...SCORE! That'll certainly add to the costume factor (like people holding the card if they want a picture. Cool stuff.)

[Glass]

Great stuff Kevin. When I'm all said and done with R2's new dome, I may have to build one.

[Rebel Doughboy]

One does not simply make just one part of a duo by TK9336, on Flickr

[Rebel Doughboy]

More good news. Like awesomely awesome news.

Scored Electroma and Interstella 5555 in HD. A little while later, I have 121 screen caps, in high resolution. Behold the wallpapers and just fantastic quality! 110 Electroma caps, and 11 caps of DP's cameo in Interstella 5555.

Also the new shoes arrived today and I am EXTREMELY happy with them. If you somehow missed the post above, and my thread "Daft Shoes," they are Nizza High Tops black/black/white. I was bummed because they no longer customize them. However they have white rubber sides. This will be done by dying the white parts in a bath of RIT dye (same as the visors,) using this method http://www.ehow.com/how_8750128_dye-rubber-soles.html

Why ya giving me that weird look? Dye rubber? Well normal paints is like putting a layer of plastic on top of the rubber. When you walk it will crack. I read a sharpie works. I don't want streaks either. This method seems the safest, and easiest. It's been before and I aim to do well on these.

Best part about these kicks? You can order them straight from Adidas in all sizes and variations. Spill your heart out.


More arrivals by TK9336, on Flickr
(Some ribbon cable came today too, woo! I think I will need more...we'll see.)


20121029_124456 by TK9336, on Flickr


20121029_142213 by TK9336, on Flickr


20121029_142224 by TK9336, on Flickr


Electroma 41 by TK9336, on Flickr
(Fresh from my copy of Electroma)


Half the accurate tracks by TK9336, on Flickr
(I thought about correcting the curve like on the actual shoes, but I am happy with the way they are. Makes these personally mine, not a blatant complete rip off DP )

So before sending my top tens back, I'd figured I do a comparision of the two. Volpin is the only costumer I know who uses them, since they are rediciously hard to find. I fell in love with the Nizzas since they just hit so many points of the real ones.


Side by Side by TK9336, on Flickr


Nizzas vs. Top Tens by TK9336, on Flickr

Daft Club card not in yet. I am now trying to score the Daft Punk Coca Cola bottles on eBay. I like it since that is just friggin unique and I like the look.

But on a related note my leather suit is now basically done. Thanks Heather's husband's friends in EOD (Army, and I love those guys when they don't take all day to show up,) replaced all the zipper pulls on my suit with the ones provided. I am one happy puppy. Seriously. Italian lambskin leather, each panel corded and sewn individually one by one. Every zipper is the correct style. A labor of love. I am supposed to get this week, and I can't wait to show all you how friggin awesome this turned out. It truely is, one of a kind. Even more so when I make some custom tags to put inside! Oh, and sorry...after doing this she doesn't want to make another based on all the extra work she did with mine (like water proofing, sealing, double stiching, reinforced fabric panels...seriously I love this woman.)

Check out the flickr for the screen caps. You'll be happy.

[Rebel Doughboy]

Since Disney bought Star Wars...I've turn completely to doing this project. I'm putting Star Wars aside for awhile. That's all I am saying on that. I will continue posting progression updates for anyone interested how I did something, or how it could done differently.


20121031_015924 by TK9336, on Flickr (Sorry on the bluriness of the picture!)

I can't say enough about getting copper braid and having that copper sponge with soldering. A wet sponge is bad and destroys the top of your soldering gun pretty quickly. In the background are my prototype EKG's. I will need a arduino make them run. Infact it will do what Slinkytips is doing right now.


20121031_012737 by TK9336, on Flickr

Placing those 3mm LED's took 2.5 hours. It was like a really hard complicated puzzle. The only difference between mine and the actual one is that mine have 2 more LED's in the middle line (I tried for 30 minutes placeing 4 LED's in various patterns to completely replicate the actual ones used. It didn't look right. The actual one has a custom board for it, I am content using protoboard since this is a minor detail. Plus it will do what it needs to do and may even look better?)

Since being a transfer student in college sucks and I have zero parties I will attending it appears we have another night of soldering with me, myself and I!

[Rebel Doughboy]

Update time again. This one is all about da shoes. Seems simple enough, I had Nizza Hi tops with white rubber soles (think Chuck Taylors white.) So they needed to be flat black, and thankfully the bottoms were already black as well.

Easy enough right? So after doing more research on the topic than I care to admit scouring a number of message boards (mostly cosplay) about doing it. After reading that acrylics would crack I immediately turned towards doing it with RIT dye, which I am using for dying the visors which is already more than proven to work well. Finding a “How To” with pictured Chuck Taylor’s I followed the instructions and giddy at the mere simplicity of the project. It really was simple enough, prepare a bath of dye and let it sit two hours and bam you’re done.

These were the results on my brand new pair of Nizzas-


20121101_192732 by TK9336, on Flickr

I was really unhappy, as those sat for two hours. However it did say in the tutorial for additional dying sessions to achieve a darker color. Well at this point I was already in so let’s do this. There is absolutely no information on doing this on the soles on a pair of shoes. Dying fabric shoes like Chucks is very straight forward and works well. Not what I was doing. I saw what a fella did for dying plastic wheels for a RC car, it was done over heat.

I was ready to try anything at this point. I wanted nothing more than to finish these shoes so I could 1) replace my worn out shoes and wear these comfy ones (regardless if they are for my Daft Punk costume) and 2) Move onto doing the important parts of the costume.
I bought yet MORE dye and more pans. Did another session at my buddy’s house here on campus (he had a stove). Sat for 30 minutes until a roommate got really hungry. The results were pretty good and I was determined to keep doing this until I got the color I wanted.

Fast forward to past Saturday at another friend’s house. I got more pans at Wal-Mart. One pan was cracked and until it was FULL of dye did I know this; plus this stuff will forever be burned into my memory of its difficulty to clean up. Windex works REALLY well, spray immediately and wipe right after. Otherwise your F*&%’d, this stains WHATEVER it touches except what I actually need it to dye of course. Eventually I used my buddy’s old pans he was going to toss (since the pan was cracked). Important to scrub them with soap and water so not to get unwarranted results in your shoes. Same with the shoes, otherwise you get blotches. You gotta sand that crap, and it looks awful. Thankfully being factory fresh I only had one discoloration.


20121103_210633 by TK9336, on Flickr

This time it was on low heat for 3 hours. Then figuring might as well keep going to get a rich deep pure black color I left them off heat overnight until I awoke 8 hours later. If you like math, it’s 11 hours total. Plus 2.5 more and you have a cumulative 13.5 total hours dying rubber soles. This is the current state of affairs.


20121104_162125 by TK9336, on Flickr

20121104_162052 by TK9336, on Flickr

Do I think a few more dying sessions would eventually reach the color? Sure. But I think the best I will get is a really dark purple/grey and that already black strip between the midsoles and soles will still stick out. This costume when done is getting professionally photographed by 2nd Story Photography by a fellow Punk. Sure would it be acceptable from a distance? Yeah. But up to the scrutiny of the professionalism I going for on the rest of the build (and the amount of money dumped on this project to LOOK professional, well I refuse to skimp out now.)
So I have come up with other solutions- remember, acrylics paints are out.

• Plasti-Dip: Saw a recommendation on a costume site for a cosplay. I researched heavily into it. Primarily used by car people for rims, exterior logos. Easy to work with but ultimately as the can says- it’s not permanent. Plus if it gets punctured it peels en masse. I bought a can but held back on doing it. I am promptly taking it back. I got really excited since it is rubber but a massive waste of time.
  
  VHT Epoxy All Weather paint: Also looks promising. Flexible and used for a myriad of surfaces. Plus it would harden and be impregnable. Give it the cure time it needs and seems really promising. Sadly I cannot find any examples of it actually on something. Not very forgiving it seems, but this seems to be the toughest spray paint out there.
  
  Krylon Fusion Paint: After googling “spray painting shoes” and some critical analysis I think I might run with this choice. Little to no prep and on Krylon’s site shows a pair of shoes spray painted with the stuff and looks good. The whole key here will be to give it a crap load of curing time. Basically spray and forget for a month (48 hours will cure, but not touching them for a month, and those will be fully adhered to the top layer of rubber and be fully hardened.) Additionally it’s water resistant, corrosive resistant, etc.
  
  Rustoleum Truck Bed: The attendant at Lowes recommended this paint. I read that people liked the results with the Krylon fusion over the Rustoleum. Plus it would leave a texture I am sure. Not looking for that.
  
  Sharpie: Thought about it since it be really easy, and permant. Plus who hasn’t taken a sharpie to their Converse Chuck Taylor’s before? While it be cool on fabric, it’s a no go on the rubber (I tested a part of the bottom of the shoe, it looked amateur to me.) Would it work? Possibly. Could it work. Most likely. Do I want to risk my $100 Nizzas? No. Plus it would fade over time and have to be redone (from what I read.) Does it help I have a dark base to go off of? Yes. It could work, and I haven’t fully canceled this out as a viable option…yet. Meaning, if I am going to spray paint them matte black anyways it wouldn’t hurt to try. Holding back for now though.
  
  Permanent Paint Pen: Tried. Massive fail. Just too runny and could dry unevenly without it being smoothed out with a paper towel (or used painter’s tape in my case.) I didn’t like it at all on the rubber. On fabric I am sure it work much better. But again, not what I’m trying to do here.
  
  Save Your Soles: http://www.saveyoursole.co.uk/shop/shoecare/10 This is really expensive (at 19.99 UK Pounds) but is made for touching up designer shoes. I am not sure those expensive shoes' soles are rubber. I emailed them today with my inquiry. Far too expensive for my tastes for what I am doing (since I will be spray painting, but correctly with a lot of cure time). Just tought I'd cover all available bases in the off chance someone does this too.

So where does that leave me? Well. A trip back into town to take stuff back and buy a can of Krylon Fusion Matte Black spray paint. Then a very, very long curing time. I am estimating 2-3 light coats in 15 minute intervals, and then letting it dry FOR-EV-VER and get back to the actual parts of this costume while this is in curing purgatory.

If you have any tips, or advice…or have done this before please don’t be shy! If I am doing this completely wrong…let me know I am not made of money and absolutely want to finish this time vampire.