I was wondering how teams made “closed” bumpers without any openings in the middle. How would you attach the fabric without a visible seam? Something like the cad rendering I found.
Sewing
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Specifically-- you sew a closed loop, making it loose at first, and then progressively take in the seam until the loop is tight around the noodles.
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CAD models are great for making things in impossible ways (such as no seams)
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I washed and machine dried our bumper fabric after it was sewn up, thus shrinking it a bit (1000 denier Cordura) and tightening the fabric up some. The black bumpers above we made using cosplay fabric, which looks great stretched. I don’t think cosplay fabrics would be frc legal (depends on the inspector I suppose) but they are lots of fun to work with.
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Strange that they cad a seamless loop of bumper (which is actually possible if it’s knitted btw), but model those big honking knots in the lumber. If you’re going to use lumber (rather than plywood), at least get smoother-grained wood!
Edit:
Whence dost thou source such fabrics, noble one? I would fain follow thine example.
Deal with it
And yes, I know that the familiar second person with “noble one” isn’t truly period. This is about cosplay, not historical linguistic accuracy.
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Joann Fabrics, among other sources. Yaya Han is the name of their line, which is what the black fabric we used last year is. I’ve also got some from Colorado Fabrics, which is just a (great) local shop.
Thanks! I guess I need to get over there and look better. I think the last time I was in the fabric section of the local Joann was to buy the green fur (and some of the other bits as well) for Oscar in 2015. Hobby Lobby is closer, but not that much closer.
[OBTW, if you’re wondering, Oscar’s head is built around a motorcycle helmet procured at a yard sale, with bits of pool noodle forming the structure of the eyebrow ridges and lower jaw. The black inside of Oscar’s mouth is actually several layers of rather fine mesh Veronica is looking through. Her recycle bin is an official 2015 game piece with a really big hole in the bottom and a few smaller ones to hook the “suspenders”, which are flat bungee straps. If you look closely you can see that the game piece lid is behind her, held in place by the bungee suspenders.]
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Somewhere I have a picture of our Thneed bumpers from 2016. We were Dr. Seuss themed that year and had Truffula Trees in our pit at Champs.
You could use upholstery vinyl. Make it as tight as you can then use a heat gun to heat it up (you can heat it a lot more than you will think but be careful not to burn the vinyl or the noodles) It will shrink to fit as it cools down.
If you play with it enough, you might even be able to fit those round corners without any seam or pleat either. (That’s how I make a single piece just ski seat)
I would even think upholstery vinyl would be durable enough to pass inspection if you decided you wanted to use it. But have tape because it tends to be easy to slice.
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