Mk 6 suit part 2

Hickeydog · Oct 2, 2010

Okay then. Since my first suit (which I just barely got done for Reach) wasn't that great, I'm going to be building another suit. Things I am doing differently this time around

1) All HD parts. I got a Silhouette SD so cutting the little pieces out isn't a huge deal

2) LOTS and LOTS of hardening material. I plan on using both Rondo and fiberglass to harden my suit. 2-3 layers of Rondo plus 2-3 layers of fiberglass. This suit is going to be heavy, but it will NOT fall apart like my first one.

3) Use Rondo for detailing instead of strait up Bondo. I was so sick of sanding by the time I got done with the suit. Plus, I'm going to start out with 40 grit on the mouse sander and work my way up to 250 or maybe 300.

4) Deadline for suit completion is Dragon Con 2011, so I won't be in such a time crunch as I was for the first suit.

5) Work on 1 piece until it is absolutely finished, and then move on to the next one. I found myself moving from piece to piece and I wasn't getting the results I wanted

My goal here is to try to come close to the awesomeness that is Thorsolli's MK6 build. I may not get the level of detail that Thor has, but I'm going to try.

So.......PICTURE TIME!!!!!!

Lots and lots of pink boot parts. Yay. Oh yeah. Since I started with the helmet on my previous suit and worked my way down, I'm going to start with the boots and work my way up. Lots of sanding in my future. But that's okay.

As soon as I get my camera fixed, I'll be able to post better pictures. For now, I have to use my Droid.

mmmmmmm...nice little pile of toxic boot parts. Yum.

Hickeydog · Oct 2, 2010

Hmm....edit function doesn't seem to like me.

Well, first boot was too small. Scaled it to a height of 170 cm, and it's way too small. Anyone who wears a size 8 want a half-finished boot? My size 12 won't fit.

So......I built a new boot. And in my brilliant wisdom, I scaled it too big. I'm beginning to feel like Goldilocks here. First one was too small. Second was too big. Third one WILL be just right.

But, I'm getting some good practice with gluing HD parts together.

This boot pretty much goes half way up my calf. Anyone wear a size 33 on this forum? Kidding. It will probably be Monday before I can build a new boot. I have too much homework (stupid college) to do tomorrow to work on my suit.

Hickeydog · Nov 1, 2010

Okay then. Long time, no update....fortunately, this update has a ton of update.

After the first two failed boots, I built 2 more boots. 2 layers of Rondo and 3 layers of glass to harden them. Heavy, but very strong. Too strong as a matter of fact. However, not nearly heavy enough to warrant scrapping them. However, I wasn't happy with the way the top pieces met with the heel. Inherent warpage due to them being 3 piece boots. I liked the idea of the three piece boot because of the way I have planed for the whole boot assembly. But you will see what I have in mind when I get around to mounting them, which should be later this week.

So, due to the grand total of 4 failed boots, I have built two more. One of which is almost done. Just need a few touch ups on the paint job (another coat, a little sanding, and scratch marks, not necessarily in that order). Other boot has a layer of Rondo for hardening and a layer for sculpting. I will be adding more fiberglass and Rondo tomorrow, once my resin warms back up. I left it out in the garage overnight, and it now has the consistency of soft ice cream.

In addition, I pepped one shin, turned out to be WAY to small, so I pepped another. On my first suit, I scaled the shins to 420mm. I had a terrible time getting my feet through them, so I scaled these at 450mm. I'm 6'4" with freakishly long legs. You can see in one of the pictures, my fingers are right on the top of my knee cap.

Enough typing. Time for the pics.

Waynehead · Nov 10, 2010

LOL..........for one nice work man keep it up i will def be following this thread.
i have had the same problem with the scaleing of it all my first helmet came out big enough for 3 people my second one waf just alitle small but workable and my armor i have 4 hand plates 1 low def forarm 2 hd forarms and 2 sholders but it just makes me keep going i dont get discuraged. Quick question how do you like the craft cutter i have been thinking of getting one but am unsure because of some complaits with it not working properly? and where did you get yours? and for how much if you dont mind me asking??

WEEZY

Hickeydog · Nov 10, 2010

Waynehead said:
Quick question how do you like the craft cutter i have been thinking of getting one but am unsure because of some complaits with it not working properly? and where did you get yours? and for how much if you dont mind me asking??

WEEZY

I absolutely love it. I did a thigh last night (of course, it was WAY too small), from nothing to finished, in just under 3 hours.It's a little tricky to get set up and working properly, but once it's up and going, it's a real finger/blood/time saver. I got mine from Amazon.com for $200.

No picture update (sorry), but I got a sample of Smooth-Cast 320, and I'm quite impressed with it. It hardens FAST. Much faster than resin or Rondo, and it's REALLY strong. It's a little more flexible than I'd like, but it doesn't crack like rondo and fiberglass will. You have to bend it REALLY far to get it to break.

I did 2 shins and used up that pint of Smooth-Cast. Definitely going to get the gallon size once my job starts. I got let go in August due to the company shutting down, and money is getting a little tight. Fortunately, I can still build up pieces because I have a nice stock of cardstock and resin, so I can still build up pieces and get a few layers of resin on them while I wait for the new job to start.

Oh yeah. Speaking of the shins, I learned a very important lesson about Smooth-Cast. It WILL leak through your armor if you only do one layer of resin. First time I poured the stuff into the shin, it went through the cracks and ALL over my work bench. I probably lost half of it to leaks. So, lesson learned. Do a LOT of flayers of Resin before attempting to smooth-cast. It will work out much nicer.

I'll have pictures (and hopefully a correct sized thigh) by tonight.

Edit: I forgot I had a few pictures of the smooth-cast fiasco.

Waynehead · Nov 11, 2010

ya i thought about trying that stuff. prolly will now and will also be buying a cutter as well i get paid on friday and will prolly order it then well good luck on the build

WEEZY

OptimusWang · Nov 11, 2010

How is the smooth-cast on weight vs rondo? Maybe I went too thick on my first suit but everything weighs a ton.

Hickeydog · Nov 11, 2010

OptimusWang said:
How is the smooth-cast on weight vs rondo? Maybe I went too thick on my first suit but everything weighs a ton.

It's a lot lighter than Rondo for equivalent strength. It is a little more flexible than Rondo, which is a good thing because it will bend instead of crack. It takes a lot more layers of the stuff to harden a piece, though. It's a LOT more viscous than Rondo. It pours almost like water, so each application leaves a small layer. But, it hardens VERY fast. I was adding a layer every 15 minutes. It takes about 5 layers to get a piece hardened to the point where it will be very durable, but it's a lot lighter than Rondo. Maybe even fiberglass.

I'm going to crunch some numbers and figure out which method (Rondo, fiberglass, or Smooth-cast) is the cheapest after I do some more pieces and figure out just how far a gallon of Smooth-cast can go. But from what little experience I have, I think Smooth-cast may be the cheapest way to harden a piece. You will still need resin and Bondo, but I think it may be cheaper overall.

Road Kill · Nov 11, 2010

prwtty sweet armor man

, it is looking awesome

OptimusWang · Nov 11, 2010

Thanks for the head's up. So are you doing layers of resin to just the outside, or both sides? I'm just trying to figure out how to work with it without making a giant mess... The joys of armoring on an apt porch and all that

Hickeydog · Nov 11, 2010

OptimusWang said:
Thanks for the head's up. So are you doing layers of resin to just the outside, or both sides? I'm just trying to figure out how to work with it without making a giant mess... The joys of armoring on an apt porch and all that

I'm just resining the outside. I really don't see a point to doing the inside. Plus, is allows the first coat of Smooth-Cast to soak in. Not that it really makes a difference, but it satisfies my OCD, therefore, it helps the armor along.

Okay. So small update. I did a thigh. Scaled at 400mm. AND IT'S TOO SMALL!!!!! *sigh*. Curse me and my huge biker legs. If I was a skinny teenager and about 6" shorter, the thigh would be perfect. But no. I'm a 6"4", 220lb behemoth who can't scale his armor correctly. Excuse me while I go bang my head against the wall for about 5 minutes and print out another thigh.

I realize that I have the thigh in about the right position. However, I would like to ride it up a little higher, and have a little more room. I had to rip the bottom edge of the pep work just to get it up that high. There was NO way that it was going higher. Plus, it required major warpage of the piece. So, this thigh is unusable for my armor build. Wonderful.

ballzy · Nov 17, 2010

i've looked at acouple of the armor builds on 405th and this is looking good so far. it must be a real pain in the neck geting the sizing of the armor right. i've been thinking about it for a wile now and i might have a crack at building my own armor. hope i will not have no delemers (very much dought it) but best of luck any way. i think i might follow this thread.

p.s. yay my first post on 405th

Sky Dragon · Nov 17, 2010

You've got some good clean pepping work there! As for the scaling, I'm 6'3 and a hair over 200lbs, with big hockey legs

Therefore, I'll probably check on this thread once in a while to see how you're doing because i'm almost the same size. I was wondering what your scale was for the boot that turned out the right size, since I pepped one that's fairly small and I don't remember what I scaled it at, but I also wear a size 12 shoe.

Hickeydog · Nov 17, 2010

Road Kill said:
prwtty sweet armor man , it is looking awesome

Thanks. It's nice to know that I can create something nice. I'm generally not the most creative type.

ballzy said:
i've looked at acouple of the armor builds on 405th and this is looking good so far. it must be a real pain in the neck geting the sizing of the armor right. i've been thinking about it for a wile now and i might have a crack at building my own armor. hope i will not have no delemers (very much dought it) but best of luck any way. i think i might follow this thread.

p.s. yay my first post on 405th

The sizing can be tricky. I recommend building up a low def model to see it you scaled it right, and then use that to scale the high def pieces. After a while, you get a good eye for scaling, and can just go strait to the high def pieces.

Sky Dragon said:
You've got some good clean pepping work there! As for the scaling, I'm 6'3 and a hair over 200lbs, with big hockey legs Therefore, I'll probably check on this thread once in a while to see how you're doing because i'm almost the same size. I was wondering what your scale was for the boot that turned out the right size, since I pepped one that's fairly small and I don't remember what I scaled it at, but I also wear a size 12 shoe.

The new boots (I dunno if I uploaded pics or not) are scaled to a height of 153mm, and the thighs are scaled to 450mm. Keep in mind that I have no midsection. I go strait from leg to rib cage, with rather long legs.

Oh yeah. I got the space diaper (sorry, no pictures) built and 1 coat of resin on. Unfortunately, the weather turned cold and I can no longer resin do the garage being about 45 degrees. Resin doesn't like cure when it's at 45 degrees. It cures, but it takes a long time. Plus, I've been overloaded with college work. So that means I have everything from the waist down constructed. In addition, I have the left bicep built. I scaled it a little on the big side because I want the top to come above my shoulder.

Okay. Enough babbling. Pic time.

I just realized that the bottom of the left thigh (where the two notches are) is much higher than the right. I'm going to have to cut that out once I get them hardened. Which means that I need to get more Smooth-Cast. Which means I need to wait for my winter job to start. *heavy sigh*. Oh well. At least I can take this time to get the pep work done. And once I get that gallon of Smooth-Cast, I'm gonna spend a day just casting everything I have pepped up to that point. Which I anticipate being everything except the chest and helmet. Possibly everything. I'll have lots of time over Thanksgiving and the first part of Christmas break.

tmccarty23 · Nov 17, 2010

Looking very good so far and I agree, your pepping is very clean and crisp. Keep us posted.

@ ballzy Welcome to the 405th.

ballzy · Nov 19, 2010

thanks tmccarty23

Hickeydog · Nov 19, 2010

Well, I was going to build up a forearm tonight, but I ended up peeping out a new model, so I'm all pepped out for tonight. Gonna build one up tomorrow. But, I'm going to resin a few new pieces. I have both biceps pepped out, and they're going to get their first coat of resin tonight. And while I'm at it, the space diaper is going to get another coat as well. At the rate I'm going, I should have everything pepped out and resined by the time Christmas break rolls around. Which means I may have to dip into ye olde savings account to get a gallon of Smooth-Cast 320 to harden this stuff. Perhaps I can squeeze $100 out of the budget and get the stuff.

Anyways, enough rambling about my shrinking funds. ON TO THE PICS!!!

Funny, they look similar.....

Had a little problem with the pep work. But nothing a little Rondo can't fix.

LongShot X · Nov 20, 2010

I like your work attitude and persistence.
Excellent progress.
Good pepping. Clean folds. High def pieces. Yes bondo can help fix warping.
Lots of pics! Very good.

Glad to see that your posting your booboo's and over coming them.

I'd have to say that if you continue like this, you will come out with an epic suit

Keep up the awesome work!

Hickeydog · Nov 20, 2010

LongShot-X said:
I like your work attitude and persistence.
Excellent progress.
Good pepping. Clean folds. High def pieces. Yes bondo can help fix warping.
Lots of pics! Very good.

Glad to see that your posting your booboo's and over coming them.

I'd have to say that if you continue like this, you will come out with an epic suit

Keep up the awesome work!

That has got to be the nicest post I have ever gotten on the internet. Thank you very much.

So I pepped out a forearm last night, and, well, it didn't come out quite the way I had hoped. There's just SO much detail that needs to be added. I think I might make it a little bit bigger to ease the construction contest. But to ease the pain of failing at pepping, I built up a hand plate.

Hmm.....looks like an ordinary hand plate.....

But NO!!!! It's a BIG hand plate.

A BIG hand plate that I'm not so sure about.....

OH NO!!!! IT'S ATTACKING MY FACE!!!! GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GET IT OFF!!!!!

On a more serious note, I'm note exactly sure I got the scaling right. It may be too big...but the more I look at reference pictures, the more I think I got it right. Ehh....who needs flexibility??

Edit: So the first one went so well, I built another one, and timed myself. From printing to finished pep took 34:35. About 5 minutes of that was waiting for my Silhouette SD to cut everything out. If you plan on doing multiple suits, I HIGHLY recommend picking one of these things up.

So more pictures. Everyone loves pictures, right?

ventrue · Nov 20, 2010

That's what I thought about Longshot's post as well ;-)

About that forearm: I've had problems with it as well, but I wouldn't make it bigger. It (Edit: I mean the model in general) looks ridiculously wide as it is. What you may want to try is HaloGodess's female forearm. It's slimmer, and more importantly, it's a LOT easier to build. Don't ask me how, but she's somehow unfolded it differently. I don't know how it's going to look combined with the rest of the suit, but if the girls can look good with it, why shouldn't we? Be careful with the front opening though, it's smaller than that on FlyingSquirrel's model.

Also, you're right about the hand plate being a bit too large (although I have to say: You did pep it really nicely!). It should end flush with your knuckles (your actual knuckles, not those of your gloves) and be no longer than up to your wrist on the other end (there's one corner that ends precisely flush with that large thumb muscle, if you want to be that precise). For practical reasons, I'd scale it a bit smaller than what would be "right", so it doesn't interfere with your forearm piece too much. I've taken a few screenshots from the Halo 3 trailer, have a look:

Mk 6 suit part 2

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