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How to make a chaos marine backpack




If you had seen and read through the thorough description of the making process of my Grey Knight Paladin armor, then you would have seen how I needed to make a giant backpack for my character.  The backpack is where the power generator and life support system is kept, on Space Marines, in the Warhammer 40k game world.  While working on the backpack for my Grey Knight Paladin, my wife was selected to come and do a panel at a con in Jefferson city called Cosplacon.  This was our first con where my wife was asked and invited to come, as an expert, and we got baby sitting and made our cosplays. 

I wanted to do something that was portable but practical.  So, I started by using the same template, of which I had already done for my other backpack.  This time adding flair to the sides and changing it.  I decided to go with an army that has pink and black as their color scheme.  How fun would it be, walking around with my wife at a con, with pink as her favorite color too!





















I used only HF Foam from SKSProps, because I wanted to test how strong their foam was.  I also used only super glue, to attach the foam.  I had purchased some 6mm foam, which meant that it was thick, but not too thick, and laid down the outsides and interior structure of the backpack.

 

 







I used pieces of foam to make side vents, a circular vent in the front and even some HD foam dowels from SKS Props, to make hoses and chords.  It was starting to take shape and use up glue bottles.  With super glue costing about $6 per bottle, it took well over 6 bottles to make this.

I then set it out for painting and purchased a light pink pastel spray paint.

 


I made a large cover, of the opening area and was happy, at first.  But the pink was so light and the natural gray color of the foam was so gray, that the pack ended up soaking up a whole can of the pink and didn't really look right.  So, I switched to Liquitex and purchased a few bottles of their magenta pink.  That with their black, for the edges and borders, made a nice look.

 

I made a foam Purity Seal, painted in purple, did the black accent areas and made a cloth parchment that has the name of the army chapter: the Angels of Ecstasy.  The main part of the backpack, was the fact that it could hold things.  The foam containment area had a coating of Creature Cast as a sealant which also made the area water proof.  This was later used to hold 8 large bottle of water and additional snacks.  The sides of the lid, on the underside, had strong velcro which all of the way around at the bottom of the lid had the hinge, in the black strip below the purple seal and above the black vent.  I used a piece of nylon webbing and attached it to both sides to act as a simple hinge.



Yes, I can hold enough materials to make smores for everyone!  But more importantly, I used the same parachute clips and webbing, as I did for my Grey Knight cosplay, as I did to make a harness with clips for this backpack.  That way it could be easily put on and worn.
  



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