The full Metrocop build.

I've wanted to build a Metrocop for years. Seeing other makers bring Civil Protection to life finally pushed me to start my own version.

The goal is to get as close as I can to the character's proportions and silhouette. My main reference is mb814's higher-resolution Metrocop model and textures: https://gamebanana.com/skins/141967. I prefer its look to the original in several places, although I'm planning to skip the lace-up boots.

Looking ahead: these later photographs show how far the costume developed from this starting point.

The helmet is my starting point. I split the reference model into two pieces to fit my Ender 3 and began testing the shape in print.

The first results made the limitations pretty obvious. A smaller bust helped me see the whole model, but the faceting was still too pronounced for the finish I wanted.

At this point, SketchUp was the only modeling software I knew. After an unsuccessful attempt to smooth the mesh in Windows 3D Builder, I paid an artist on Fiverr $17 to do it. That made a substantial difference.

This print is still a prototype: I made it too narrow to wear. One possibility is to turn it into a vacuum-forming buck, but getting the shape right is the first hurdle.

Sketching the vest helped me work out its construction. I don't need to copy how the game model is assembled; I need to reproduce how it looks.

My approach is to make each raised panel from foam, wrap the panels individually, and connect them from behind. That should give the vest the definition of armor rather than the softness of a quilted jacket.

I started with the center panels.

Short strips of cloth connect the foam cores along the back.

The first mock-up was too flat. The basic method seems promising, but the panels need more shaping before the silhouette works.

I'm deliberately avoiding sewing through a thick layer of batting for the vest. It isn't about avoiding the sewing machine; that construction simply wouldn't give me the defined panels I'm after.

Separate foam cores should let me control the shape of each section while keeping the connections flexible.

I set the fabric aside and focused on completing the foam panels. The covering can come later; first I need a structure that fits together.

I glued strips of cloth across the seams on the back, connecting the panels without filling the gaps between them.

The vest is starting to take shape. There are a surprising number of separate pieces involved.

With more panels connected, the vest is finally becoming a three-dimensional object.

I eyeballed the collar, and it still needs work. The reference flares outward more than mine does.

A quick test fit was encouraging.

Then I took it apart again. Photographing each panel on the cutting mat gave me a record I could eventually turn into templates.

For the next experiment, I salvaged upholstery foam from a discarded chair and used it to pad the panels before wrapping them. This is much closer to the surface I had in mind.

The first fabric covering is taking shape. This is spare cloth for testing the method, not the final material.

The collar was tricky to wrap, but it came together reasonably well.

The fit was a little lucky. Rather than measuring everything against myself, I scaled the panels by eye, comparing the width of the reference's center chest panel with the helmet I'd already printed.

Next are the underjacket, trousers, boots, and printed accessories. I'm considering adding a white stripe to a pair of green pants I already have, but the overall proportions will decide whether they stay.

I'm working almost exclusively from mb814's render. Sketching the vest helped me understand its construction.

I'll see how far I can take this prototype, but I plan to make another with proper fabric and more exact measurements. So far, almost the entire vest has been eyeballed.

The prototype's deep blue fabric and light red shirt don't quite capture the alien-space-police look yet. These are test-fit colors, not the final palette.

I put together a rough outfit from clothes I had available to test the overall silhouette. The new jackboots are a little chunkier than I'd like, and these trousers are only placeholders. I'm aiming for flat-fronted pants in cotton or twill.

Half-Life: Alyx has given me another set of references to consider. Its Civil Protection design keeps the familiar outline but changes several details.

The vest appears smaller, the boots fit more closely, and the jacket looks more like something I could adapt from an existing garment. This older comparison image, sourced from msleeper's blog, helps show the difference.

The white shoulders and chest reflector still need careful planning. I'm leaning toward a combination of the original design, mb814's interpretation, and selected details from Alyx, while keeping the finished costume recognizably Half-Life 2.

I've been studying Max Aristov's Civil Protection designs for Half-Life: Alyx: https://www.artstation.com/maxaristov/prints.

The biggest change is the vest. It's more streamlined, with broad straps in place of some rib and shoulder panels. The gloves have buckles and white stripes, while the boots have a closer fit, inside zippers, and white strips on the outer legs.

The mask and overall silhouette remain familiar. I like that continuity, although I don't plan to reproduce the chest cutout in the newer vest. For this costume, the older chest layout still feels like the right choice.

Finding the right jacket is a balance of material, length, pocket placement, and price. Some soft-shell options have the right surface but are too short in the body.

A longer field-style jacket with front pockets looks more promising.

One candidate was around $30, leaving some room in the budget for tailoring. It would need the zipper flap removed and possibly a rear center vent. At 6'1", I need enough length to keep the costume's proportions convincing.

None of these is an exact match. The pockets, shoulders, and torso length all involve compromises, so I'm checking the whole silhouette before committing.

I worked through an early budget to see where the money would go. The foam vest was inexpensive: an $8 pack of floor mats and fabric from my grandma. The first mask prototype added $17 for mesh work and roughly $6 in printing plastic.

My other estimates included $56.67 for boots, $32 each for gloves and a jacket, $20 for trousers, $8 for belts, $6 for printed belt boxes, and $8 for their electronics. Ribbon was another small expense.

These were planning figures, not a final cost report. Buying and adapting existing clothing looked more practical than making every garment from scratch. I could keep prototyping the helmet and accessories while spacing out the larger purchases.

The priority was to keep the build affordable without losing the character's silhouette.

I recovered the photographs of my original vest panels and collected them into a shared folder: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-1hiDVZVlkQkN3gTG1afJ1kh2x4ShLq0?usp=sharing.

These are raw reference images rather than finished vector patterns. They document the prototype, including areas I'd still like to refine. The later digitized templates are a better starting point for a new build.

I found a jacket that should work well with a few modifications. It fits well, has a suitable material, and was inexpensive. The buttons and button flap need to be removed.

I'm considering having a tailor add a rear vent to give it the slight flare of the Combine jacket.

The test-fit trousers are dress slacks with ribbon sewn down the legs. They work as placeholders, but I want something less formal for the finished costume, without the pressed front crease.

I've also replaced the first pair of boots. Their chunky shape was fighting the slimmer silhouette I wanted.

The way the trousers fall over the boots matters as much as the individual garments. I'm planning to blouse the legs to control that transition and keep the shape closer to the reference.

For the boots, I'm still drawn to a clean, slim profile. Finding practical footwear is one thing; finding the right outline is another.

A quick test fit brings the jacket and trousers together. I'm liking the silhouette so far; seeing the layers on a body is much more useful than judging each piece on its own.

I restarted the helmet using a different model purchased on Etsy. I'm glad I made the switch—the new mock-up feels like a better foundation for the costume.

The model creator isn't identified in my original notes, so that credit still needs to be confirmed.

The helmet is painted and assembled. I used masking tape to hold the outer pieces together while positioning the magnets inside.

The tape also kept the mating magnets separated during fitting.

With the finish applied, the individual pieces finally read as one helmet.

A test fit with the vest shows how the two largest components work together.

There is still plenty to finish: more detail on the belt boxes, paint on the stunstick, and white shoulder sections for the jacket. I'm considering padded shoulder pieces attached with hook-and-loop fasteners.

The trousers need their white stripes, and I'm still working on the drape around the boots. The motorcycle gloves are ready; the lower half of the costume remains the biggest fit challenge.

This test fit gives me a clearer view of the costume from several angles. The helmet, vest, and soft goods are starting to feel like a complete uniform.

The arch at the bottom of the vest is sitting higher than the reference. The fit photos make that easier to spot.

The front and back aren't attached yet, so I'm holding my arms close to keep everything in place. That may also be pushing the front outward and exaggerating the arch. I need to reassess the proportions once the vest can support itself.

At this stage, the costume feels surprisingly comfortable compared with my Scout Trooper and Mandalorian builds. Boots, trousers, a jacket, and a vest are a manageable combination, and visibility in this helmet setup is better than I expected.

I'm less certain about the blue lenses. They stand out strongly, so I'm considering silver mirror or black instead. Hot glue keeps them removable while I work through the options.

The jacket is an inexpensive Columbia field coat I found on eBay. Searching for “field coat” and “field jacket” helped narrow the options to garments with the front pockets, high collar, and longer body I needed.

For the clothing, shape matters more than finding one exact product listing. The jacket needed front pockets and enough length; the gloves needed a slim gauntlet profile.

Women's motorcycle gauntlets offered a more streamlined shape than many men's versions, although sizing required care. The boots I used were Harley Davidson boots bought secondhand. Round-toe riding, engineer, or harness styles can offer a similar outline, depending on the details.

These are the choices behind this build, rather than a current shopping list.

The prototype vest came together in roughly a day or two of hands-on work. Sketching it from several angles gave me a mental model, and I used the center chest square as a reference for the surrounding pieces.

I cut the foam panels, joined their backs with cloth strips, and tried the assembly on. Where it didn't fit, I trimmed; where it did, I moved on to heat-forming.

Once the shape worked, I took it apart, glued batting to the front of each panel, wrapped the panels in fabric, and reconnected them from behind. The pattern was largely developed by eye, so later revisions still had room to improve the proportions.

Another test fit shows the progress on the upper half of the costume.

I also built a voice modifier using an Arduino and a Nootropic Design Audio Hacker shield. This was my first Arduino project, and designing its enclosure was my first experience with Fusion 360.

The trousers and boots aren't part of this test fit; the focus here is the upper-body assembly and electronics.

The costume is nearly ready. A few fit adjustments, light weathering, and electronics are still on the list, but I'm pleased with how the pieces are coming together.

There are compromises. Visibility in this configuration is poor, and I leaned heavily on hot glue to keep the build moving. Some parts are properly sewn, but this version leaves me plenty to revisit after wearing it.

I wore the costume to WonderCon 2023. After years of prototypes and intermittent progress, taking it onto the convention floor was a real milestone.

Meeting another Combine cosplayer made the day even better.

The costume is wearable and recognizable, even if there are still details I want to refine.

The jacket began as a stock Columbia field coat. I modified it to bring it closer to the character, including adding the white stripes, but the underlying garment is still largely off-the-shelf.

The first wearable version took roughly four years from start to finish. That span included pauses, experiments, and a helmet restart—not four uninterrupted years of construction.

The vest method and the finished costume now give me a foundation to build on rather than another starting point.

The original baton used Lybos's Half-Life 2 Police Baton model: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2979528.

For the armband, I ordered a custom print from an Etsy seller who made roller-derby armbands. Adapting an existing product was a practical way to handle that detail.

I digitized the vest templates so the panel shapes would be easier to reproduce. This version was designed to be tiled using a PDF viewer's poster or banner printing option.

The 2024 template is preserved here for reference: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oePFsr_jsxR8EYwCccllMe73CXekyAdu/view?usp=drivesdk.

For a new build, use the revised template in the 2025 entry instead.

This early voice test documents the sound of the costume's voice system.

▶ Watch the original voice test on YouTube
Video opens on YouTube; no third-party player loads here.

The lenses are held in with hot glue so I can remove them; I changed them three times while refining the look. A simple U-channel rubber trim finishes the edge of the mask. It's the same general type of material sold as automotive door-edge guard.

The lenses came from a pair of dollar-store sunglasses. A small, inexpensive part ended up being the solution for one of the mask's most noticeable details.

I modeled the early belt accessories myself in Blender. Those files belong to an earlier stage of the project, before the later Fusion 360 redesigns.

The vest templates have also become useful beyond my own costume. Sharing the pattern gives other builders a starting point, while each new build offers another chance to refine it.

I've revised the vest template again. Use the linked PDF for printing; the image below is only a preview: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DWIzSIhPVoEUIBlLZ2qZyTu38QpTCS7x/view?usp=sharing.

Building more Metrocop costumes has given me opportunities to keep researching, testing, and refining the parts.

These component views show some of the filter and belt-box work from this stage.

I'm revisiting the component models in Fusion 360, with more attention to how the printed parts will actually go together.

The belt boxes are designed around functionality as well as appearance. Watching Will Cogley's work got me thinking more carefully about assembly, print orientation, and hiding visible marks from the printing process.

I also developed ventilated costume filter components to make the mask less stuffy on the convention floor. These are costume parts, not protective respirators.

The updated stunstick is based on Pixelitz's Half-Life 2 HD remake. I'm especially pleased with how it assembles and takes paint.

These versions were printed on my Bambu P1S. The Ender 3 that started the project is still around, but the newer printer has become my main machine for this work.

The Metrocop keeps evolving. A builder's LED stunstick effect has given me another idea to explore, and there are still parts of the costume I want to improve.

One of the most rewarding outcomes has been seeing the construction notes and templates help other people make their own versions. What started as a personal costume has become a much longer-running project than I expected.