Half-Life 2 Hev Mkv Suit

eternallydusk · May 6, 2010

THIS PROJECT HAS BEEN FINISHED- FINAL PICTURES HERE

Original thread is below

Summer has sprung upon those fortunate few high school seniors lucky enough to graduate this early, and with it comes plenty of free time. I've been interested in armor-making for awhile, but recently, a friend showed me this- (null).exe's valiant, but apparently doomed dream of building the HEV suit that Gordon Freeman wears in Half-Life. That link led me to hours of exploring the topic of Pepakura armor-making, and as a result, it has become my goal of crafting this suit myself, with a deadline of the end of summer, that being the time when I head off to college in Boston, where I'm sure my dorm-mates won't approve of my armor-making in their vicinity.

The main problem with crafting this suit is that everyone connected with the project seemed to burn out midway. To try and improve my chance of success, I'll be going at it slowly, so please don't take my slow pace as lack of interest. :3

Here's a ref (stolen from null's thread) of the suit in question:

Here's the peps I'll be using: http://405th.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12691&view=findpost&p=301912 (modeled by Nugget, scaled by null)

To start off, I'll be acquiring the most basic of essentials (cardstock), pepping sections at a time, and ensuring they are scaled to my size. null seemed to be roughly the same build as I, but he was quite a bit shorter, so I'll be adjusting everything accordingly after I try it out once.

If you have any words of advice as I go through this project, please share them. I'll need all the help I can get.

-Connor

box o crayons · May 6, 2010

good luck the trickiest part of that suit is getting a accurate undersuit the rest isn't very detailed just going to take some bondo to completely smooth out

Podthegod · May 6, 2010

I'll be watching this thread

good luck

eternallydusk · May 7, 2010

Just got 250 sheets of white 110lb cardstock, which should last me awhile. I've printed out the pepakura for the belt. When I printed it out, it scaled it down slightly, but it should still be fine, because my waist is roughly 29" compared to the 32" null scaled it to. I'll start cutting it out and folding it, might have it done by tonight (fingers crossed).

Thanks for the remarks, guys.

eternallydusk · May 9, 2010

Happy Mother's Day! Hate to double post, but I have some content.

Here's the pepped belt.

I used hot glue at first, but it was far too volatile so I switched to tacky glue. I'm considering whether or not to reinforce it with hot glue right now or to wait until later. I tried it on and it was just a bit loose, so it should be fine when the under-suit is in place. I'll also be sewing rare earth magnets into the under-suit to further keep it in place.

I'll probably do a leg piece next.

Anyone have any suggestions to keep the general form in place when I fill the inside with hot glue?

Gallard · May 9, 2010

Id suggest just going to your local walmart and buying a little 4 pack of liquid super glue.

I is VERY strong and is fast to work with and keeps shape well. Its less than $1.20 per pack.

This should be a lot more efficient than your tacky glue or hot glue.

EDIT: Youre filling this with hot glue?

Nintendude · May 9, 2010

When you get to where you need the crowbar I have one in my pep collection you can use.

eternallydusk · May 9, 2010

Gallard said:
Id suggest just going to your local walmart and buying a little 4 pack of liquid super glue.

I is VERY strong and is fast to work with and keeps shape well. Its less than $1.20 per pack.

This should be a lot more efficient than your tacky glue or hot glue.

EDIT: Youre filling this with hot glue?

Not actually sure quite yet how I'm going to fill in the interior. This is how the model looked in Pepakura, and it's my first one. I might fill it in with something and then cover it with bondo or resin (ie, hot glue first and then resin it over) but nothing is certain yet. I barely know what I'm doing.

Thanks for the tip about the super glue. I'll have to head over tomorrow.

My one concern I just realized is how I'm going to ensure it's tight enough around the waist. I realize it's supposed to be loose because the undersuit will be a bit thicker than my shirt, but I'm worried it'll be stuck *too* loose once I resin it. It's really only a concern for the belt piece, the rest will be held together in pieces with rare-earth magnets to won't be too much of a concern.

Nintendude, I was just thinking about the crowbar. I don't think conventions would let me in with a real one, haha. I appreciate that, thanks.

Also, I've made the committment that if I complete this, I will die my hair (both facial and head) like Gordon Freeman's, and grow out a goatee.

Gallard · May 9, 2010

With the belt, an idea would be to invest in some flex foam. Ive seen some vets use it around her like Ithica for his

Mk6 codpiece. And then the belt could be attached to the undersuit permanently to save you time and hassel for it.

And for the filling part if you dont fel like flex foam then what i was going to do to

take up room in some of my pieces is just go a craft store or walmart and buy some foam

padding which should fill that space quite well.

eternallydusk · May 9, 2010

Gallard said:
With the belt, an idea would be to invest in some flex foam. Ive seen some vets use it around her like Ithica for his

Mk6 codpiece. And then the belt could be attached to the undersuit permanently to save you time and hassel for it.

And for the filling part if you dont fel like flex foam then what i was going to do to

take up room in some of my pieces is just go a craft store or walmart and buy some foam

padding which should fill that space quite well.

Looking into flex foam, it might work. My concern is that the foam will expand past the limits of the cardstock- what measures are taken to prevent that? Thanks for the advice!

Gallard · May 9, 2010

What do you mean by expand? And I probably should've asked this earlier, but are you going to fiberglass it?

eternallydusk · May 9, 2010

Gallard said:
What do you mean by expand? And I probably should've asked this earlier, but are you going to fiberglass it?

Doesn't flex foam expand in the medium it's placed in?

And regarding fiberglassing... I don't know. I'm still new to the whole process, but if I understand it, after you pep it, you resin it, and then fiberglass it? Or is the fiberglassing part of the resin stage? I need to read more into it. So to answer your question, no idea yet. I'd need to run it by my parents, too, though I'm sure they'd be fine with it if I was taking the necessary precautions regarding safety.

Bigalt424 · May 9, 2010

I typically resin AND fiberglass the piece. First, I put a coat of resin on the outside, and fiberglass the inside (to retain details). The stickies in the pepakura and cardboard armor section and the videos on it help a lot if you look through them.

eternallydusk · May 9, 2010

Oi, that was a n00b move on my part, I passed right over those threads (read them, but didn't really read them). I've reread the key threads and I understand now. Resin the inside and outside, then fiberglass the inside. Then, bondo or rondo (rondo might be applicable in this situation) the outside. Got it.

I'll still focus on just pepping everything first, though. I'll buy the stuff for resin-and-fiberglass when I get to that point. :3

In any case, I'm going to do the lower right leg tomorrow. It's relatively simple, so it's not too much of a difficulty increase from the belt.

Gallard · May 10, 2010

A good step that may help oyu a lot, is that when you get enough parts made and have enough of an idea of what to do

then many people should be throwin good ideas out there to help you.

Im a noob, so I know little on any of this stuff. But my only advice about resin and fiberglass is to run your plan by us

first, because the belt is made to be flexible and once that fiberglass is in youre done for.

eternallydusk · May 10, 2010

I did a quick skeleton of the shin piece, but to my disappointment, it was kind of an odd fit. (I cut it down the middle and retaped it once it was on my leg.) According to null's original thread, he went the route of hinging it and keeping it snug. However, I'm skeptical how well that will fit- in your experience (read, anyone who is reading this), do you think it's better to be loose than snug? I think I might slightly scale it upward and hinge it, and use velcro or something to keep it attached to the undersuit. Iunno, I might just go to another piece of the armor that is more straightforward, like the gauntlet, and return to the shin piece when I have more experience.

Thanks for the continued advice, Gallard. At this point, resin and fiberglassing seems so much easier than the initial stages. Pepping gobbles up time like a fat man on Thanksgiving.

Gallard · May 10, 2010

haha, i know what you mean! ive been workin on my mk3 iron man and the glue is rippin skin off my fingers!

and for the size of the shin, how much room do you have on each side if youre leg is centered inside it?

eternallydusk · May 10, 2010

I just checked, and there's enough room where's it's sliding down my leg. There top section is pretty much hugging my skin, whereas the bottom is much looser. I should say the skeleton is missing a small part of the top (that shouldn't made too much difference) and the rings around the top and bottom holes. Those rings should make most of the difference- I'm considering not even including them, because people on null's thread seemed to say that the bottom ring dug into their skin when they walked, but it was also seems necessary to keep it held up. Maybe I should just use magnets or velcro to keep it held up, and not use the rings at all? Might save me some trouble. In any case, I'll have to repep it, seeing as I cut this one down the middle. If anything, I know by cutting it down the middle that making it bigger is the only option. I just have to decide whether or not it's worth it. :/

In other news, I think I won't fiberglass the inside of the belt and just resin it. Then, I could glue in magnets and sew them into the undersuit in three places (left hip, right hip, above the gluts) so that it stays up, and tight.

eternallydusk · May 11, 2010

Apologies for the double post, but content! Whew!

Boom, right bicep is done. Fits like a glove, pepping was cut and dry (har har har).

(crappy webcam pic, camera is out of commission)

Should be easy to attach to the undersuit, magnets or velcro or whatever. It has plenty of room to wiggle on, but I think I'll still probably hinge it (after resin / fiberlass) to make it easier to put on / take off and to match the rest of the suit. I'm delegating the shins to the end, before the chest piece. I'll take care of the left bicep next, should be finished by tonight or early tomorrow. Feels good to have a piece done so quickly.

Gallard · May 11, 2010

Good work! I think your ideas for magnets and velcro are good as well. I dont know how well the magnets would work if you wanted it tight to your undersuit though... Velcro seems like a faster alternative, and if you lose weight the belt will still fit like a charm! :lol

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