Dustin Mclean, Claire Max, and Benjamin Martin,
experts in the world of cosplay and D.I.Y.,
masters of duct tape, cardboard and hot glue.
Together, they are the D.I.Y. Costume Squad.
- Hey, what's up? I'm Dustin, and today,
I'm going to be making a very D.I.Y. Captain America costume.
I'm making this for an upcoming episode of Homemade Movies.
So, it's going to be very scrappy and
homemade and D.I.Y using some stuff I just found in some thrift stores.
So, let's give it a shot.
Okay, so Captain America, specifically from Civil War.
It's a pretty straightforward costume when you really look at it, but
I want to fancy it up using some foam, put some of these little panels and things.
I'm going to just paint a shirt and some pants with blue and
then there's some straps, the belts, gloves and then the helmet, of course.
That's probably the trickiest part, really, is the helmet.
And then there's the shield, too, but we'll get to that in a little bit.
So I'm going to start with just kind of the base of the outfit,
that's going to be blue.
So here's all the goodies that I got.
This is the fun part.
(Sound) So for the first piece here, I found a jacket.
This was $10 at a thrift store.
Figured this was kind of like a nice plain canvas to start with.
And then I'll add some pieces on top of it and then paint it blue.
It's a pretty sharp jacket.
Okay, let's start by just trying it on and marking out some shapes.
Because I'm doing this for an Homemade Movies episode,
it's going to be our friend Michael.
He's playing Captain America, so I'm going to make it so
it will kind of fit me and the I'm hoping that he can squeeze into it also.
So I'm going to attach some various panels of different shapes on here, and for that,
I'm going to use craft foam from the craft store.
These are $0.99 a piece.
Super easy to cut.
Super easy to glue.
So I just printed out a star from my computer and
that will just serve as a guide.
(Music)
I'm kind of just making this up.
I'm looking at the pictures, but I'm making up a lot of the shapes myself too.
There, that's cool.
So I've kind of made like a negative shape around where the star's going to go.
So I'm going to trace these to make the mirror image so
I'll have the other side as well.
(Music)
There.
Okay, so, I'm going to glue these pieces down.
Hot glue works really well on this EVA foam and
it works really well on fabric, too.
It hust soaks right in.
So this bottom piece, I'm only going to glue halfway, so
that we can open the zipper later.
Yeah. (Music)
So I'm just moving onto the arms.
It's a lot more of just kind of looking at the shapes and kind of just faking it and
drawing the shapes out here, cutting them out, and gluing them on.
I'm saving the red ones for later, but
all the ones that are going to end up being blue, I'm just gluing right on.
Definitely shield, you can tell by the geometric pattern.
(Music)
I think that's the last piece of the armor, but what I'm going to do for
the arms is, I'm going to cut a seam right down the forearm.
And then, I'll line these edges with tape so that I can just tighten it down on
my arm and put my hand in the glove and it will all kind of stay in place.
All right, now that all the foam pieces are in place, it's time to paint it blue.
I picked up a handful of these blue paint cans, there were $3 each.
So let's head out to the paint station.
(Music)
All right, so while I'm painting this blue,
I'm also going to paint the pants which I picked up at a thrift store for $6.
I made sure that these were kind of the same color as the coat so that way,
the paint will sort of sit on it the same way.
All right, so we've just gotta wait for all this paint to dry and
then I'll pick this back up tomorrow.
Okay, paint is all dry.
It's looking pretty good.
I've got my pants and my jacket.
So, what I need to do is start adding in some of these other pieces that
are going to really make it pop.
So, there's the star and then I've got the abs, this red and
white stripes, so I'll just be continuing on with craft foam.
I'll just trace this on here and then cut them out.
(Music)
Here we go.
Okay, I think those are all the pieces.
So now, I'm going to glue them in place.
(Music)
Captain who?
What, I don't, it's the star that really sells it.
All right, so he's got this little Avengers emblem on his shoulder.
So I'm just going to cut that circle out of some red foam, and
then draw on the A with a white paint pen.
It's like a Necco wafer.
(Laugh) Okay, so I'm going to paint this star silver.
I already have some old silver spray paint, but
usually it's around three bucks.
Bam, ooh, that looks nice.
The finishing touches on this jacket are going to be to draw on a few of the extra
details using a black marker.
I'm just looking at the pictures and
kind of figuring out where some additional lines should go.
(Music)
All right, so now it's time to add in the Velcro.
I have a little, tiny bit left.
Usually, you can get a whole roll of this for like, I think two bucks.
(Music)
Sweet.
Okay, there are a few red pieces on the pants too so
I'm just going to cut some pieces and glue those on.
Right, so next up, I'm going to move onto some of the straps and the belt.
So, I bought a handful of miscellaneous belts and things.
They're around $3 each from a few different thrift stores.
Got different sizes.
All right, before I go too much further,
I'm going to paint all three of these brown.
(Music)
I really like the little metal buckles on this black belt, so
I'm going to attach those to this belt.
All right, I'm going to make this little buckle piece in the back,
just out of one solid piece of cardboard.
Cardboard that I recently used, so I'll just draw out the shapes and
cut it out and then paint it.
Okay, the buckle is ready.
I'm going to be attaching the belts to them.
(Music)
All right, I think that's ready to go.
I'm going to move on to his belt.
I'm going to make the buckle out of cardboard, of course.
(Music)
I'm going to do a very light coat of black on here.
This is $0.99.
Just to darken it and make it a little dirtier.
(Music)
His belt has a bunch of little pouches and pockets all along the sides.
So, I'm going to use this fabric belt and cut them and just make a bunch of little
folds, and that will kind of look like his little pockets.
All right, I'm going to start with gray primer.
That way when I paint the brown, you'll be able to see it better.
(Music)
I'm going to glue all these really flat and then glue them all to the belt.
(Music)
I'm just going to hit those with brown real quick.
(Music)
I love these pouches.
Okay, I'm going to move on to the gloves.
I found this pair at a thrift store for $5.
And I'll cut the fingertips off and then paint them brown, and
I think that's pretty much all I need to do.
(Laugh) It's like a bloody fingertip.
The most unexpectedly morbid thing.
(Music)
I think he's actually wearing black boots and then there's some long, like,
spats I guess.
So you could just pick up a pair of black boots, but
I'm going to use these to extend my black boots and make them even taller.
Okay, so I've got two more belts here.
I'm going to cut each one of these into three pieces and then glue them on here.
I'm just going to spray paint these all the way black so
they don't look like Edward Scissorhands.
(Music)
All right, now I'm going to attempt to make this helmet,
which I think is going to be the hard part.
So, I bought this foam pirate hat from the craft store.
It was $2.50.
I also bought this party mask, and I think it's actually like papery.
This was $3.
So, between that and one more skinny belt,
I'm going to see if i can put this together.
You know what?
Forget Captain America, I'm just going to, there.
That's my costume.
Cool, ready for the party.
I'm going to use the heat gun very lightly, which can probably soften this.
(Music)
It's really working.
(Music)
I'm just going to change the shape of this eye a little bit with some tape,
that's better.
It's not quite so doe-eyed.
(Laugh) This is a Darth Vader with a tiny face.
(Music)
Okay, I think that's it.
So I need to paint this blue, and then I'm going to add in a few straps.
So first, I'm just going to spray paint the whole thing brown, and the A,
and then I think that might be it.
(Music)
Okay, so the mask is dry.
It was sticky for a little while, so I let it sit overnight, but
I'm ready to finish this up.
It's looking pretty good.
I'm going to put the straps on.
I just need to cut it into some pieces.
(Sound) It's on the small side, but that's pretty much it.
So I picked up some more Velcro.
I'm going to have these two pieces actually attach in the middle.
(Music)
I'm just going to make a little buckle out of some galvanized steel wire.
(Music)
All right, so I'm going to make this little chin piece.
I'll probably just going to use some craft foam and
cut out some shapes right here and glue it on.
(Music)
So I'm just going to add the final details.
A for the top.
There's some little wing things, draw in a few more details, and then that's it for
the helmet.
For a while there, I thought this helmet was not going to work at all, but
I'm feeling pretty good about it.
All right, so I think that's everything for this suit.
But there's one last thing that Captain America needs, and that is his shield.
For an episode of Homemade Movies,
Ben made this awesome Captain America shield out of a trashcan lid.
If you want to get real D.I.Y. with it, you could do that.
But I'll show you how to make one just out of a piece of cardboard as well.
All right, so I have this big piece of cardboard.
Everyone always asks where do you get your cardboard?
Well, I save big pieces.
This was left over from like a TV that I bought a while back.
So, here's a trick for making nice circles.
Take a piece of string, use that for the radius.
And then from your center point, you can draw a circle all the way around.
(Laugh) All right.
So what I'm going to do is add a little bit more curve to this by making a few
slits along the outside edge so that it can kind of curve down.
(Music)
So I don't think I need to actually glue those after all.
I'm just going to tape all of them, one by one, and
then I should have a nice curved surface.
All right, just going to make a little handle back here.
(Music)
All right, time to paint.
(Music)
I'm going to use my string again and do a series of circles, and
then I'll mask it off.
(Music)
All right, time for silver.
(Music)
Okay, I've got a few touch ups I gotta do, but not bad.
So I was going to just paint this inner circle blue, but
the masking kind of takes forever and it's peeling, so
I'm just going to make a separate piece of cardboard.
Plus, since this is a little flat,
maybe that'll give it a little bit more dimension.
All right, I'm just going to paint this blue.
Blue.
(Music)
So the very last thing I'm going to do to the shield and to the costume,
is to do a very light layer of black paint, just to kind of dirty it up and
make it look like it's really worn.
(Music)
I don't know if the back of it's black or not but.
(Music)
All right, I think that's it.
I think it's time to try it on.
I always get the baggiest pants ever.
Remember, I had to make these a little bit big so
they could also fit Michael who is much taller than me.
Nice.
(Music)
Okay, so I'm just going to tape these into place like that.
Okay, lastly, the helmet.
Here we go.
Okay, I guess all I need now is my shield.
(Laugh) All right, I think it's time to go show the squad.
- Hey.
- You're not Ben.
- I am not Ben. Ben and
Bianca just had a baby as you might now, but
I'm going to reveal to you the Captain America costume.
Here comes Captain America now.
- What!
- Woah.
All right. - Wow.
- Yeah with shield, all right.
- Looks fantastic.
- Looking good. This is Michael, and
he is playing Captain America.
- Hi, guys.
- In the upcoming Captain America: Civil War Homemade Movies episode,
which comes out next Tuesday.
Claire plays Black Widow in that as well.
It does fit on you a lot better than it fits on me, I gotta say.
This is actually took a lot longer than I expected.
- It's very detailed.
- I really start getting into the nitty gritty of like, wait, no, this one fits,
this one fits with this one.
Does it feel like you could like fight crime?
- Yeah, this is like glued to my body.
(Laugh) - It really was a tight fit.
- Which is ideal for crime fighting.
- Give us your best poses.
- We've got a breeze coming off the shield.
- Yes.
(Laugh) All right.
- We're back in business.
- Nice. - Very cool.
All right, well thanks for
watching this special episode of DIY Costume Squad and check out
the Homemade Movies episode on Tuesday. That's Captain America: Civil War with
these guys and this costume. Be sure and subscribe,
and let us know in the comments whatever costumes you want to see.
And we'll see you next year.
All right, best Captain America, pose it!
(Laugh) - And holding, and click.
(Sound)