Spitfire22V's LD Mark VI build - Now Completed

The weather cleared up the other day like I hoped, and I managed to finish the sanding of the chest piece. Like Longshot said, it was indeed a beast! At least 2-3 times as much work + time as any of the other pieces. Which was to be expected I suppose....

Here is the chest piece, all finished being sanded. I also cut out the shoulder vents to add in my own detail pieces I constructed a while back. (Forgot what page of this thread it was EDIT: Page 12).


Lots of cleaning up had to be done after the rough cut.


I also added even more cardboard detail pieces on the stomach plate. These had to be added after everything was sanded down.


Glued in the shoulder vents, and filled in the gaps with Bondo.


Spent quite a bit of time sanding and smoothing the joint.


To reinforce the vent pieces, I fiberglassed them from the inside. This is the first time fiberglassing a piece since I finished hardening everything, and you know what? I don't miss it!


First coat of primer on.




A uniform coat of paint really helps blend in the vent pieces. Worth all the effort? You be the judge!


Right now, I'm awaiting the plastic buckles I ordered. Until then, no more work on the chest can be done, so I'll have to find other stuff to work on. (Like the pistol maybe?)

Thanks for stopping by! :cool

Looking sweet, But thats a norm around you. You're project is coming along great. It will be nice to see this one done up in paint.

hhmmm this looks pretty HD for a LD build this is awesome Spitfire!!

thorn696 said:

Looking sweet, But thats a norm around you. You're project is coming along great. It will be nice to see this one done up in paint.

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Haha, thanks! To be honest, I sometimes feel like I'm posting the same thing, since recently it's all been the same work, just different pieces. I can't wait to see this bad boy done up in paint too. I will be adding some stencils to detail it since there's so much room.

matth101 said:

hhmmm this looks pretty HD for a LD build this is awesome Spitfire!!

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Thanks! I like to consider my build a kind of HD/LD hybrid build. :cool I'm pretty sure I will end up with a rather unique Mark VI in the end, and I can't wait!

Btw, is that a Citation (CJ2 or CJ3?) in your avatar? I'm a huge aviation fan!

This is looking fantabulous! How does it fit with the stomach plate attached? I'm trying to decide if I should make mine one piece or have the stomach plate attached by webbing so it can flex.

I see your chest piece is slightly edge around the breast muscle looking part. Not sure if that's intentional, but it looks really cool, picks up the more edgy Reach-vibe
And the vent-pieces look great, too!

Looking great so far! Sorry for haven't post for a long time. I've gone for vacation with my family lol. Can't wait to see more progress!

Bexi said:

This is looking fantabulous! How does it fit with the stomach plate attached? I'm trying to decide if I should make mine one piece or have the stomach plate attached by webbing so it can flex.

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Thanks! To be honest, I don't know what I'm going to do about the ab plate. Ideally, I want to keep it one piece for strength, but the more I look at it, I think I'm going to have to separate it. :confused We'll see when I get to that point, which should be soon. I'll be sure to post details of what I do if I separate it.

ventrue said:

I see your chest piece is slightly edge around the breast muscle looking part. Not sure if that's intentional, but it looks really cool, picks up the more edgy Reach-vibe
And the vent-pieces look great, too!

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Haha, yeah that's not really intentional, just a consequence of using the low-def chest piece! Still, I'm happy with how it turned out.

Constrictor said:

Looking great so far! Sorry for haven't post for a long time. I've gone for vacation with my family lol. Can't wait to see more progress!

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No worries! Where did you go? I'm waiting on some ordered items to really keep going with the build, but I have a few things I can work on until I receive the stuff.

Speaking of that, I did receive one of the packages I ordered: a big bag of plastic side-release buckles! I got 25 of them, all 3/4 inch wide, but I should only need about 20 of them.


I cut up 3/4 inch strips of the vinyl material to use as the strapping. The buckles are single-side-adjust, so I simply secured a strap to one end of the buckle, and threaded it through the other side. The loose side will be secured once I adjust it to the desired length. Everything is secured using hot glue.


I will also probably reinforce the attachment point with more patches of vinyl for extra security, even though it seems plenty strong at the moment.


Here's a thigh and shin piece clipped together.


I also bought a cheap set of elbow and knee pads to bulk up the joints in between armor piece. This also serves a secondary, awesome purpose of really securing those straps and buckles! :cool


Well, I had to try it all on to see if it fits and works right! In these following photos, keep in mind that the shins and boots are not padded at all yet. The boot piece will sit higher on the real boot, and I need to determine the length of and cut out a segment of corrugated piping to cover the ankle.


Seems like I could have made the thigh pieces a little taller, but they will work as is. I really like how much the armor bulks you up! lol


Trying the helmet on because I can! (You can kind of see the knee pads in action in this photo).


"Hmmm, where's the rest of my armor?"


That's it for now. I will pad up the shins, and maybe the boots. But I'm awaiting elastic nylon for securing the boots, and the larger plastic buckles for the chest piece. And I obviously can't strap or pad the arm pieces until the chest is 100% finished.

Stay tuned, and thanks for stopping by! :cool

Nice to see your face " What a handsome Spartan!". Wow your suit almost finish and it looks great.

Looks amazing! Can't wait to see it finished.

sandy1973 said:

Nice to see your face " What a handsome Spartan!". Wow your suit almost finish and it looks great.

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Echo 199 said:

Looks amazing! Can't wait to see it finished.

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Thank you guys very much! I usually prefer to not show my face on internet forums, I don't know why. :$ Maybe I'm a bit paranoid, considering I have a Facebook page...lol :rolleyes

*crosses fingers for more packages to arrive tomorrow to continue work*

I went to Singapore for a week XD yeah, pretty tired but got a lot of fun lol! I'll get back to work on my armors as soon too

have i mentioned that i love the way that you take the basic low detail peps, and then modify them to look amazing?

Spitfire22V said:

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With just the "pants" and the suspenders this looks like the coolest set of over-alls of all time!

I get the feeling that it's kind of fun playing with all the buckles and straps and figuring out how to make them work. Those elbow/knee pads look perfect. Would you mind mentioning where you picked them up?

0235 said:

have i mentioned that i love the way that you take the basic low detail peps, and then modify them to look amazing?

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Thanks! I really enjoy scratch-building little details, and it really makes this suit of armor my own! :cool It's really not that much extra work, and anyone can do it. I hope to show with this thread that it's possible to go the low-def route and still have a great Spartan suit in the end.

Satchmo III said:

With just the "pants" and the suspenders this looks like the coolest set of over-alls of all time!

I get the feeling that it's kind of fun playing with all the buckles and straps and figuring out how to make them work. Those elbow/knee pads look perfect. Would you mind mentioning where you picked them up?

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Aren't they?? haha To be honest, so far I'm not a big fan of the buckle and strap work. I suppose I'm just pretty apprehensive about it since this is what really makes-or-breaks the suit. If I can't figure this out correctly, then the suit will not be durable when worn. :confused I don't want it falling apart in the middle of a con or something.

The elbow and knee pads were found in the bike section at Wal-Mart for around $10. They're "Bell" brand; sorry I don't have a direct link to them. I just wandered around until I found something that seemed it would work.


Well, I got another package today: the large plastic buckles for the chest piece attachment, and a roll of elastic material that will be used on the boots, handguards, and maybe the shoulders.


Another thing I really don't want to mess up is the chest attachment method. I plan on having a buckle at each of the 4 attachment points. The lower ones only really have one location to place them.


In there:


However, the top ones I'm unsure about since I don't know how the Mark VI chest piece sits on the body.

So this is where I need your guys help! Anyone with Mark VI chest experience, where do you think is the best place to put the buckles? And do you think I will have enough space to reach them once I'm wearing it to un-buckle them?



Hard to tell, but the top one is in a deeper recess than the bottom one. However, it would enable a straighter cut than the bottom one.


Thanks in advance for any help/tips/advice you can provide!

For a cleaner final appearance, I would actually use one buckle, and split the chest piece at the top between where you have the buckles placed in the photos....then epoxy a short length of strap from each buckle half down to the armor itself. This will make a more rigid connection less prone to sliping one peice under the other or twisting out of alignment. One the builds I have done, you wouldn't be able to readily reach that location, and the only reason to use a buckle there would be to disconnect the chest and back for easier storage.

Nice work so far. Sorry I had to hijack your photos. But let me illustrate what I did with my kid's custumes. Hope I can be some help. I did the split above the red lines on my kids chest piece. I suggest that you split where I placed the red lines. That is usually where most members cut.


Keep in mind that after you cut it, the chest piece is no longer supportive. Even if you attach them using the clips, they will wobble. I cut a piece of cardboard and resined it in place inside the chest (see red square). This provides a tab to hold two pieces together. You could also opt to use wooden dowels, which I've seen some member did on their MKVI.


Good luck.

for an LD build. this is really good, handplates are awesome!

Thank you guys for the comments and the advice! I've been away for the past few days, and went to Andrews AFB airshow yesterday, but I got back today to continue work on the chest piece. I've taken the advice to heart and used your suggestions with success. I decided to use a "hybrid" method for attaching the chest piece. Strapping top, hard point attachment on the bottom.

Spase, I went ahead and used your suggestion of strapping the buckles on the top side (can't believe I didn't think of this myself).
CoolC, I did in fact split the chest on the top side where you suggested, and then used Spase's buckle attachment method. I will also add some alignment tabs to keep the split pieces from moving around.

For the bottom part, I fabricated some plywood attachment blocks for the buckles and epoxied them in. The photos will explain everything.

(Also, I was surprised to see this thread moved out of the Noob forum! I got a little worried when I couldn't find it! :confused Thanks! )

The open clam shell.


Close up of a lower side buckle.


View from the outside.


Here are some close-up photos of the modified buckles. I had to cut out some slots for the screws and blocks so that the buckle would still close.


I basically just glued + screwed on the blocks to wherever I could on the buckle, and formed them to align like a puzzle piece.





The top side buckles attached with vinyl strapping.


Finally got to try on the chest piece!


It mostly fits fine, except it's a little tight on the stomach due to the inward angle of the ab plate. It also pushes it into my back and away from the front of my torso. See here:


I will have to cut out the ab plate and reattach it with strapping for more flexibility and breathing room.




**Bonus Photo!**
I will probably create a thread to display more airshow photos, but here's a teaser!


Once I strap the ab plate and clean up the cuts, I can finish painting, padding, and strapping the chest piece.

Almost finished!
Thanks again for the help guys, and thanks for stopping by!

Great job on the strapping, Im doing the same stuff on my build, did mine with magnets, but i like the way yours turned out, looks like we may finish our builds around the same time