I am making my first cosplay, a Quarian from the video game series Mass Effect. As this is my first time, I am sort of learning as I go so hence why some things look a little rough here and there, most of these crafting materials I have never used before.

Here I have reached the next phase of construction which is adding the first major thermoplastic bits to the helmet. This is the firm time I have ever used thermoplastics before so it looks a little rough, particularly the forehead visor bit (which I am considering removing and redoing) but all in all it looks ok I think. The main job of these pieces is to act us proper structure for additions I will be adding later on, but the first part will be adding foam to fill out some of the details.

Not seen in this picture is that I knocked out the visor buck and set it aside, I only really needed it this early to get a feel for the proportions. I am currently toying with the idea of using a cutting shield for the visor instead of the far more difficult creation of a vacuum form machine from scratch in which case I would use the buck to create a proper shape. The benefits to the cutting shield would be that it is already tinted for use in acetylene torch cutting so I wouldn't have to tint, it also is made of a sturdy plastic, and finally it is also curved generally the way I would need it but it is not curved enough and is a little short length wise so I will need to do some non-cannon changes to the "mouth" area of the helmet; but I have come to the conclusion this helmet is a non-cannon and can be explained away as some sort of older version that we did not see in game.

Oh and lastly the thermoplastic I used was MicroMark brand, not Worbla brand, it is over half the price of Worbla and seems to heat just fine, but I have not tested it against Worbla to tell if one is better than the other.

Keelah se'lai!