DIY Rocket Raccoon Costume Tutorial Part 2 – Rocket’s Armor

My friends and I attended Gen Con a few months ago, and for the first time ever we cosplayed!  Gen Con is a tabletop gaming convention located in Indianapolis, Indiana.  During the convention we dressed up as members of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.  It was a fun experience and in the following posts I want to share the details behind creating each costume.

This post is part 2 of 3 on Rocket Raccoon’s costume.  In today’s post, I describe the steps I took to create Rocket’s armor!

• Part 1 – Rocket Raccoon’s Rocket
• Part 3 coming soon!
• Star Lord Costume Tutorial

This post contains some affiliate links.

Tools and Supplies

The following items are some of the tools and supplies I gathered to create Rocket Raccoon’s armor:

Tools

• Scroll saw with foot switch (or a sharp box cutter or a hot knife)
• Heat gun
• Hot glue gun
• Dremel with sanding bits

Supplies

• Banner paper
• 1/2 in. thick EVA Foam floor mats
• Craft Foam Sheets
• 3/4 in. Black Polypro Webbing
• 3/4 in. Release Plastic Buckles
• 3/4 in. Triglide Slides
• 4 in. Half Sphere Smoothfoam ball
• Triple Thick Gloss Glaze
• Acrylic craft paints
• Mod Podge
• Thumb Tacks
• Super Glue 
• Gray Primer
• Wood Filler

Building Rocket Raccoon’s Armor

I stared at a lot of pictures of Rocket Raccoon to get a good feel for the basic shapes of the armor.  I wanted to keep the costume’s armor simple.

Step 1:  Draw a template of the armor.

I sketched a drawing of the basic shapes of Rocket’s armor onto a piece of banner paper.   The shapes included:

• A long oval for the shoulder pad
• A piece acting as the base of the back armor
• A piece representing the raised portion of the back armor

The shoulder pads includes a raised portion as well.  For this, I reduced the size of the original shoulder pad template.

Step 2:  Cut out the armor

I used my scroll saw, equipped with Flying Dutchman Polar blades, to cut out the pieces of the armor from EVA foam floor mats.  I used a sharp pair of scissors to cut out the raised portions of the armor’s shoulder pads out of craft foam.

I also cut a 4 inch hole from the center of the piece representing the raised portion of the back armor.

Step 3:  Glue the armor pieces together

I used a hot glue gun to attach the back pieces together and the shoulder pieces together.

Step 4:  Heat the foam to shape the armor

Next, I heated up the shoulder pads foam and bent it into a form that would rest comfortably on a person’s shoulders.

Step 5:  Add tacks to the corners

For added character and to imitate the screws on Rocket’s armor, super glue tacks to each corner of the back armor.

Step 7:  Seal the foam

Next, seal the foam with several layers of Mod Podge.  This will prevent the foam from soaking up all the paint.

Step 8:  Prime the foam

I used a can of white spray primer I had on hand to prime the armor.

Step 9:  Paint the armor

I used a 1:1 orange and brown mix of paint for the base coat of the armor.  I followed up with a black wash.   The armor paint job is the same I used when I created Rocket’s gun.

Step 10:  Seal the armor

It was too humid outside to use a spray, so I applied a few layers of Mod Podge to seal the armor.

Step 11:  Paint the styrofoam half sphere

To imitate the glowing blue orb on Rocket’s back, I first painted the styrofoam half sphere with a base coat of blue.  Once the base coat dried, I painted an ombre effect on the orb where the top was a really light blue and then transitioned to a dark blue on the edge.

Step 12:  Seal the orb

I really wanted to give the orb a bright glowing effect without using real lights.  To achieve this, I applied a nice thick layer of Triple Thick Gloss Glaze.

Glue the orb to the armor with a hot glue gun once the straps have been attached.

Step 13:  Add the armor straps

I used nylon webbing to attach the shoulder pads to the armor.  I used plastic buckles and triglide slides to make it easy to wear and remove the armor.

I used hot glue to attach the webbing to the foam.

The Finished Costume