Soft Parts Halo Reach (near) Game-accurate Neck Seal

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FlyinPhil

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Hey guys! So one thing that my suit has been lacking (and something my next suit will need) is a decent neck seal. I had originally made a sort of tube sock that slipped over my head and covered my neck, but it didn't look all that great, and was a pain when removing or putting on my helmet. I'm not very accomplished when it comes to using a sewing machine, so this was made 100% without one. The only materials used are craft foam, a scrap piece of spandex, hot glue, super glue, and a couple rare earth magnets. As per my usual building methods, this is all scratch built without any templates.

So my small goals for this quick project (quick being about 4-5 hours) are as follows:

1. Looks like the in game model. Not too tough here, the reach neck seal isn't too complicated in shape or design.

2. Needs to be easy to put on and remove. Rare earth magnets with super glue to adhere to the foam helped me here.

3. Needs to be flexible, comfortable, breath well, and hug my jaw line. So my whole design sort of covers this, as you will see in the photos.

So pardon my messy work space, I just liked a bunch of stuff on the kitchen table and went to town on this one.

So first off, I needed the basic collar. This was the easiest piece to make. I did some sizing in the mirror, picked a shape I thought would work, cut it out, and formed it with a heat gun.

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Next, I had to make the vertical strip for the collar. In this pic the two pieces are already glued on. They were far harder to find the shape for, as they are not just straight strips, and have a constant inward curve. Again, lots of looking in the mirror and accurate guesstimating to get these perfect. On the left is the upper part of the collar that will hug my jaw line.

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So now I needed that separate collar to hug my jaw line and support itself. I did this by using four thin craft foam strips. These strips hug my neck, but also flex with it when I turn or look around. Overall it is quite comfortable. On the backside (unfortunately I didn't take any pics during the process) I super glued a couple rare earth magnets to the foam on both the top and bottom collars, so the whole thing will separate for removal. Once the magnets were initially glued on, I glued a piece of foam over top of each one as well, making sure the magnets were completely secured. Only the edge of the magnet that contacts the other magnet is exposed.

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Lastly, I had to add a spandex piece to fill in the empty void between the collars, as well as add some detail with my hot knife. This was probably the easiest part of the build, it just took some time, flying the spandex 1" at a time.

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And a rare bonus shot of me without a lid on.

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Thanks for reading!
 
Hey that's pretty neat looking! And seems simple enough to make, I think I'm going to make one like that myself! It'll sure beat the balaclava I use now....hate those things in warm weather...plus the bonus of wearing it under a helmet makes it even worse.

Thanks for this awesome idea!
 
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