Bones' MKVII build !

[barebones]

(Edited and rewritten)
Hi all, I'll be starting an MK7 build, Here is an overview of what I am looking to do and achieve. First off, I'm going for as game-accurate as possible, including the colors of the armor coating, armor proportions, and while it may not be totally accurate, try to get realistic weathering. This will be a fully 3D printed suit, with (hopefully) a full tpu undersuit. Here are a few images of what my end goal is, or at least close.

So yeah! I will be trying to replicate the Bluewood Bole armor coating as close as possible ! I will be using the Mkvii helmet for my start, and am not sure if Ill end up changing that or not. For attachments concerning the helmet, I think I want to try to make all of the attachments, but make them removable, so I can pick and choose which ones I want for a specific time. The visor will be as close of a match as I can get to the "noble" visor. For the shoulder plates I'll be using the Agathius shoulder attachment. I haven't decided on the chest attachment, but I would like to make that hot swappable preferably as well. For the glove plates, I really want to use the thermic plates from the new infection season, but I cant find anyone that has modeled them yet... I doubt I will use any wrist attachments, as I don't really like any of the mkvii ones. For the thigh attachment I will be using the AAP/ Ordinance pack mike. For the kneeplates, I want to use the type MX but I haven't seen any modeled around so I may go with a simpler option. Last but surely not least I definitely want my spades emblem on there. I will probably stencil it or or use waterslide decals.
That's it for now, stay tuned !

 

[barebones]

FINALLY ! Some progress on the mkvii !!! Okay so I finally got the helmet fully printed, along with the armet, which is a bit smaller, because I want to find a way to make it removable, most likely with magnets, so its a bit smaller so that it doesn't fit tight. The helmet is scaled to 96% and the file is from titlewavedesigns. Okay, so the reason it took so long is because the belt on my bigger 3d printer broke, so I ordered a new one from china, and so that took a few weeks to get here, and then I had to decide whether to buy files for the mkv(b) suit because I want to do that suit as well, probably more, but I think that I'm just going to finish this one since I already have all the files and am running a bit low on filament, so i will need to buy more of that soon as well. I am also currently trying to grind the heroes of reach battle pass on infinite to get the mkvii helmet so I can get some good reference pictures for the mkvii with the bluewood boyle armor coating, but if anybody has both already, and could send over some good reference pictures, that would be greatly appreciated. Anyways, should have some more progress soon if my printers keep functioning normally.

 

[JammedMite942]

Love the cat ears, looking great so far!

 

[barebones]

LOTS of helmet progress since last post. I've sanded, primed, and started painting the helmet, and I'll post those pictures in order below.
sanded 120

sanded 200+bondo

1 coat primer+a$$ load of bondo (I don't plan on using this much for my full suit)

2nd coat primer+bondo

bright silver base coat!

silver helmet w/ masking fluid(a wonderful invention)

darker "weathered" titanium for the darker back metal. It almost looks like it has a copic ink weathering already.

White paint went on, no masking removed yet

And white w/ the masking off and a temporary visor installed

At this point, I've ordered the blue paint, and after that gets her I will do a blackwash then copic ink weathering to darken the weathered titanium, as I don't really like how little contrast it has and how much lighter it is than in the game. After that i will clearcoat the entire thing in satin clearcoat. Printing the little bottom vents as well, hoping to get those done soon. For the visor, I am currently waiting for my resin printer to arrive, and then I'll print the visor in clear, sand it down, order some gold tint, and after I put that in, I will need to add padding and fans, then the helmet should be done! That's it for the helmet today, but stay tuned !

(I also updated the first post if yall want to take a look at it. Its much more detailed now.)

 

[barebones]

And everything is blue for him, And himself and everybody around...

Now as I print and post-process the vents, we start on weathering, looking at making my own alcohol ink and then doing some earth powders and an acrylic blackwash...

 

[barebones]

Sorry for the extended silence ! Like I said in my plasma rifle thread, life's been busy. Even so, I've made a bit more progress on the helmet and even more on the suit. I FINALLY printed out the vents, and I have them sanded to wet 320 and I have a layer of bondo drying on them now. Those should be ready for the silver basecoat this afternoon. Sorry the pictures are blurry but I think you get the general idea.

And we finally have progress on the suit as well ! I will make a spreadsheet in the near future, but here's what I've printed and what still needs to be printed:
Printed: Helmet, Biceps, Forearms, Thighs, Shins(kinda), belt/codpiece, AAP ordinance pack MIKE main plate, and grenades (by SkookumProps [ TurboCharizard ] )
Still need to print: Chest, Boots(Unsure of how I want to do them still), Hands(not sure which model I want, but preferably thermic from season 5 if I find someone to model em), miscellaneous attachments, and a gun, unsure of which one I want yet, but I'll probably go with the s7 sniper if I finish the suit in decent time.
I'm pretty sure that's it, let me know if I'm missing anything, but I'm pretty sure I got it all.
I currently have the thighs, AAP pack, and left bicep sanded to 220 dry.

Should make more progress today, but I think that's it, so I'll see you all later.

 

[barebones]

A bit more progress ! Most of the suit is sanded, primed, then bonded in problem areas, then sanded, then primed again. Doing the left arm first, and probably just the left side of the suit. I currently have one can of each of the paints needed so I think I will just order it as needed. I have mostly everything I need for strapping and the undersuit I should (theoretically) have by December. If anyone has any recommendations for the strapping, I'm looking at multiple solutions, but the most appealing is putting some button snaps on the strapping, and some on the hard parts of the suit, then that solution is semi-flexible, and should be pretty easy to put on. Anyways, that's it for today I'm thinking, lmk if you have any advice or recommendations!

(Also sorry for the terrible quality, currently saving for a better phone )

 

[N8TEBB]

For strapping I connect the thigh pieces to a belt that hides under the COD piece. The shins can either be connected to the thigh pieces or they can just sit there. I find that the forearms can usually stay in place pretty well with just friction. The shoulder pieces can be connected to the torso piece with a strap as well. That's how I did the strapping for my current suit. It seems to work pretty well.

 

[barebones]

For strapping I connect the thigh pieces to a belt that hides under the COD piece. The shins can either be connected to the thigh pieces or they can just sit there. I find that the forearms can usually stay in place pretty well with just friction. The shoulder pieces can be connected to the torso piece with a strap as well. That's how I did the strapping for my current suit. It seems to work pretty well.

yeah I think thats the general idea im going for. Though, for the shins, I do want to lift them up because I did that with my ODST, and hard plastic rubbing against my ankles all day at a con actually cut me in a few places. That suit did have a lackluster rigging system though, as I assembled it the day before the con . Also for the forearms, I may make almost foam molds of my arms so that I can do the friction fit. They will also have a big elbow TPU piece that actually helps keep my arm pretty in place as it is. One last thought, I'm also fitting this around a polyurethane undersuit so if I have to cut keyholes I will, and ill reinforce them, but I really dont want to because that would decrease the integrity and I feel like it would tear more easily. Anyeays, thank you so much for the advice its really appreciated ! Sorry for the random thoughts lol

 

[he4thbar]

This is what I did for my strapping since I didn't want straps exposed [TUTORIAL LINK]
I would say that you can use this method but probably need to adhere it with fiberglass or shoe goo to make sure it doesn't fall off the armor.

 

[barebones]

This is what I did for my strapping since I didn't want straps exposed [TUTORIAL LINK]
I would say that you can use this method but probably need to adhere it with fiberglass or shoe goo to make sure it doesn't fall off the armor.

Yup that was the main idea ! I was just unsure about rigging the polyurethane to the hard parts and if I would need to reinforce it with a metal or 3d printed plate, so it dosent rip. I was also looking at screw in button snaps but was unsure becuase I didnt want the plastic to snap or crack, but I think if I heated up the screw a bit it would be fine. Just my thoughts. Ive read through the tutorial a bunch of times and its really good so thank you for posting the idea on the forums !

 

[N8TEBB]

yeah I think thats the general idea im going for. Though, for the shins, I do want to lift them up because I did that with my ODST, and hard plastic rubbing against my ankles all day at a con actually cut me in a few places. That suit did have a lackluster rigging system though, as I assembled it the day before the con . Also for the forearms, I may make almost foam molds of my arms so that I can do the friction fit. They will also have a big elbow TPU piece that actually helps keep my arm pretty in place as it is. One last thought, I'm also fitting this around a polyurethane undersuit so if I have to cut keyholes I will, and ill reinforce them, but I really dont want to because that would decrease the integrity and I feel like it would tear more easily. Anyeays, thank you so much for the advice its really appreciated ! Sorry for the random thoughts lol

Sounds like a pretty solid plan! I probably should have mentioned that my suit is foam, so that definitely affects how things will sit. I can image how rigid shins might sit a bit differently than foam ones XD

 

[HydrationPatrol]

all the pieces look great. i definitely need to learn how to do weathering.

 

[barebones]

all the pieces look great. i definitely need to learn how to do weathering.

Thank you! theres a ton of great tutorials on the forums(I think) and an even larger amount of youtube videos ! Offearth 3d is a really good resource for all of these, he does a lot of really high quality odst costumes.

 

[CosmoCornelius]

That helmet looks incredible, love the color choices and of course the weathering. What is the brand of masking fluid that you used? And do you have a "method" for application, or do you just kind of go for it and see what happens?

 

[barebones]

Thanks ! And as for the masking fluid, im currently working on a full weathering tutorial and all the details and application methods will be described in detail in there stay tuned !

 

[barebones]

An update ??? Unthinkable... Anyways, we have a ton of progress, even though i really suck about posting on the forums (or any social media at this point). Most of the suit is fully sanded down, and more than half is painted ! I did run into kindve a large roadblock, and thats because my palm sander broke, the velcro part and the hard part that connects to the motor-driven belt broke off, just through use and wear i guess. Lots of sanding in my future... As far as printing, the entire suit is printed out excluding the tpu elbow pieces and the boot tpu pecies and the handplates, which im waiting for a modeler to be free so I can commission them, but everyone's been really busy or expensive. Anyways, heres some older pictures of some parts as well as a picture of the full suit that is fully up to date.

Also, these boot pecies are printed in petg, my first time too. They came out pretty well, though I dread sanding them because ive heard that petg is 10x harder to sand than pla so itll definitally be a challenge without my handsander... Heres a picture of the updated suit.

Honorable mention to zelda for photobombing lol

Definitly time for me to start thinking about rigging and how I'm going to wear this thing, I probably shouldve waited to paint till that was done, but I got excited. I think that I'm going to go with a version of the button snaps but maybe get some screw in ones ? Not totally sure yet, but if you have any advice, please feel free to lmk ! The undersuit is currently being made so that will be sick as well. I almost want to put this suit on pause until I turn 18 so I can get deployed with it... but I think that ill just finish this one and hopefully ill have made a new one by then. Anyways, thats it for now, if anybody has any advice on anything, it would be greatly appreciated !