Undersuit question: the "leather" flaps on arms and thighs?

[ChromePoet]

Here's a photo of my Cylon as it is now, and the white rectangle showing my current problem: the "leather" flaps around thight and arms..

Originally I sewed the artificial leather flaps directly into the undersuit, but because the material was quite thin and elastic, the result showed way too much folding. So then I decided to use detachable artificial leather flaps that were more rigid, but also that resulted into ugly sagging. In the final iteration I taped some plastic strips into the underside of the flaps, but this did not work out too well (see the sagging highlighted in the image).

Any ideas or hints how these flaps should be constructed or attached into the undersuit?

What kind of materials should be used?

(and as a side note: my gun in the image is almost finished - only the side decorations are yet missing (to be 3D-printed later..))

[Centurion Eric]

First let me say I'm really impressed by your armor, suit, and laser rifle!

I'm just getting started on the armor, so I don't have direct experience with the under-suit. However, I did have a similar experience sewing a Space: 1999 uniform. The uniform pants and tunic are made from a very stretchy knit material. The left side of the uniform has a heavy upholstery zipper running nearly the entire length of the of the leg and another running from the neck, across the shoulder, and most of the way down the sleeve. The pant leg gave me the most trouble. I found the zipper tended to buckle and sag with a mind of it's own instead of hanging like I thought it would. I think this was due to the difference in linear mass. Instead of the drape of the fabric pulling the zipper straight, the zipper won the battle and pulled the fabric along it's trajectory. The only remedy that worked was to reinforce the zipper with a seam along each side. This encouraged the zipper to run straight down along the leg.

I imagine, the lighter the material used for the flaps, the better. I would think a very thin vinyl sewn to the leg would tend to pull down less on the leg material. I would also suspend the pants of the under-suit from the shoulders with suspenders, as you would a pair of hunting wading pants. Perhaps even make them more like a pair of bib overalls. Then wear a turtle neck style shirt over them for the top.

[GoldCylon]

Welcome on board. The material is a vinyl like material. I notice you have them, and referred to them as flapps. This isn't the correct way to attach them. They need to be back with a material firming (thickening material) to make the bends when you walk more of a mechanical hinged look. These are killer robots that have a stiff type of walk, and not a fashion statement. The tubing material used is the same for the patches, and the trim around the gloves. It is a mostly black material with a touch of gun metal to the finish. It has more of a shine to it than a dull look. Now on the other hand the colored Cylons used flat black for the patch areas, and tubing.

[ChromePoet]

Thanks for the insights! Originally I did use the same material for the patches as was used with tubing/welting, but I did not understand the need for firming.

Apparently in the original costumes the borders of the patches are also tubed/welted, but I was not quite sure how to do this.

So, would I be correct if I assumed the construction of the patches would be something like:
1. have some vinyl-like material for stiffening (still not quite sure how stiff/thick this should be..)
2. put the tubing fabric over the vinyl
3. cut holes to the underlying fabric (a bit smaller than the patches)
4. have the same welting cord as used with the other tubing, and with it sew the patches with the vinyl to the underlying fabric

..or something else?

One approach that comes to mind would be to leave the undelying fabric mostly untouched, except for some slit/hole via which you could slide in the stiffening-material, but does not feel like optimal solution.. And it's difficult to figure how the border-tubing would be attached to the fabric in this case..

There were quite helpful video about the welting/tubing, but I did not find any practical hints for the patches.. So any helpful visuals / video would be highly appreciated!

[Jenne]

My latex parts are sewed. But they are not big enough like yours.
Like your Cylon