ZGMF-X10A Gundam Freedom
Chris Clarke
https://www.facebook.com/clarkecosplay/
Chris Clarke is a cosplayer from Denver, CO, who builds using EVA foam, shows lots of behind the scenes shots, and provides cosplay guides and tutorials. Since he started cosplaying back in 2016, has made some amazing work!
“This cosplay comes from the Japanese television series Mobile Suit Gundam Seed and Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny. Though there have been countless variations of Gundams over the years, the Freedom is one of the most powerful and one of the most memorable. Most Gundam cosplays are built using corrugated plastics and Sintra plastics, but I chose to build mine entirely out of EVA foam, with the exception of the wings, which I built using blue XPS (extruded polystyrene) home insulation foam.
Popular Gundams like the Unicorn are more easily made because pre-existing templates are relatively easy to find. My Freedom is different in that no templates exist so I had no choice but to build it from scratch, and I did so by hand-drawing my templates instead of the popular route of using computer software. In the end, the cosplay took me two and a half years and over one thousand hours to build.
Each part of the Gundam was meticulously designed and built, all 28 pieces in total. Unlike plastics, EVA foam is somewhat flimsy, so internal reinforcements were required. I used carbon arrows for this because they are extremely light and stiff as steel.
The feet of the Gundam are actually 8??? platforms, built using bed risers and blue XPS foam. Though heavy duty bolts hold the shoes I wear to the bottom of the risers, I used Foam Fusion to help secure the XPS foam pieces together, thus creating a solid structure. Pieces of EVA foam were then adhered to the XPS on the sides of the platforms using Styrogoo. Internal spacing and padding was added to key areas by adhering upholstery foam to the suit with Styrogoo.
The biggest challenge of the entire cosplay was the wings. They needed to be 7 feet long yet be able to transport without requiring a large rental vehicle, and I needed to be able to wear them without them crushing me under their weight. XPS foam was the obvious choice because the material is very stiff yet extremely light. There are two different varieties available at my local stores: pink XPS and blue XPS. Pink XPS foam is the lightest and easiest to cut and carve with a blade but is also more prone to damage and breaking. Blue XPS is denser, making it much more damage resistant. It also makes it much more difficult to cut, thus requiring the use of a Hot Wire Hot Knife to carve it. I needed higher stiffness and damage resistance so I used blue XPS and, even at seven feet long, I did not need to reinforce it. To seal the foam, I used two coats of Bounce, lightly sanding each layer with 320 then 400 grit sandpaper after dried, then painted over once fully cured. Bounce has become my favorite sealant for XPS and I have even used it several times to seal EVA foam, including the gloves on my Gundam. When Bounce is applied to EVA or a fairly non-porous surface, sanding is not required. Bounce creates a much more damage resistant surface than many other products used in cosplay and can even be used as a highly protective clear top coat, as I have done in another cosplay. Acrylic paints also bind very well to Bounce. In the end, each set of wing blades weighs a mere three pounds, fits in an average car, and are very easy to attach to the suit.
You can see how my entire suit was built in detail by visiting my Facebook page and going to my photo albums.”