My Son's Noble Spartan - NOW COMPLETE - Pic Heavy

This has been an Awesome journey. It is winding down now, because it is pretty much complete. But not too sad. I invite you all to join me in my personal journey, as you have my son's, when I start my personal build in the next month or so. At this point, I'd say we're at the 99.7% complete rate and have definitely made the Halloween deadline. Just need to button up a couple things and come up with a different system on keeping the magnum on my son's leg to be a little more on the accurate side. Thanks to everyone that has commented, made suggestions, lurked, found any of the info here useful in your own builds and enjoyed this build. Also, thanks to all the wonderful 3D artists and unfolders out there on the site. Without y'all and the support of this community, I don't think that this build would have been possible. I wanted to take some time to update this first post with the progress to date. I will not change much else, because it described how the journey began. Again, thanks to everyone that has followed along and I look forward to seeing y'all when I begin my own build.

Helmet: Completed
Biceps: Completed
Forearms: Completed
Gloves: Completed
Torso: Completed
Cod: Pep Version - Completed
Foam Version - Completed
Thighs: Completed
Knees: Completed
Shins: Completed
Boots: Completed. . .
Undersuit: Completed
Weapons: Combat Knife Completed
Magnum Completed

What all that stuff above looks like to date. . . . . Finished Build Pics On Page 10



In an effort to make finding the files used in the final product for this build they are on Page 26

And so it Begin's . . . .

My reference for this project.


My son came to me with an idea about three months ago. He said "Dad. I really want to be Iron Man for Halloween". Well I started to look into everything that I could to help him out and then he came up to me after completing an Iron Man Helmet and said, "Dad. I really want to be a HALO Guy for Halloween instead" Gotta love 9 year olds (then 8 years old) and the attention span. LOL

So, anyway. I couldn't figure out why HALO, because we don't own a XBox at all, and have never played HALO. But gullible me said OK. I started to look into HALO characters and found this website through Google. First and foremost, I would like to thank everyone on this site. The information that I have found here in this community of builders and modelers is second to none and you all have given me inspiration in your own builds and accomplishments. So much to the point when I finish my son's build, I will start one of my own.

I've always been interested in FX and costuming, but nothing like this. I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I told my son "Yes, I should be able to do that". The stuff I have done in the past was usually make-up and clothing. I'm looking forward to completing this project and moving on to my own, hopefully soon.

Some info on the build:
Method: Pepakura /Some Foam (Best-Step Anti-Fatigue Foam Flooring)
Method of Enforcement: Smooth-On 321 /Fiberglass Cloth
Supplies Needed: None. Everything Purchased to this point.

A special shout out to Thorn696 for giving me some files that I needed for this build. Thanks so much for you helping an utter noob and going above and beyond. Your build especially has inspired me to complete this.

With that being said, I started this build about a month or so ago. To me it has been slow going, because I have never really messed around with pepakura. (More like NEVER) Didn't even know what it was until about three months ago. LOL. I was going to wait to post anything until I was almost done, but my son came up to me today and asked me to start a thread on the progress on his suit.

I would like to apologize for poor picture quality in advance. I'm not big into pictures and don't really have a HD camera to take any with. I'm also not a forum guy and have no prior experience in posting pics in them. Took me for ever to figure all this out. SO please bare with me. :$

Here's what we have so far.

That's it! LOL Just kidding.
JUst wanted to show my kid's duct tape dummy. . . .
Overall of what I have to date displayed on that dummy:

Helmet

I couldn't get the little things in the back of the helmet so I just left it open holes and I'll dremel it out for venting later. I plan on putting the visor in the helmet before I actually reinforce it to avoid a lot of warping issues. My kid just likes to put it on right now and walk around. LOL

On to the arms:
Right Bicep and Forearm

Forearm:


And a shot of the left side


I have everything I need to start reinforcing the parts. The Smooth-On, fiberglass cloth and Bondo for the outside. I guess I just want to get all of the parts built, or at least finish the chest piece. I'm in the process of doing the chest now. Got all of 8 parts for it cut out. LOL.

Anyway. . . . If anyone has any feedback, comments or suggestions, please share them with me and help me to complete this.

I will post what I can, when I can. I work 10 hour shifts and am usually working on my days off too, but I have vacation coming up in a week and am hoping to push through the other parts that need to be completed night and day. While I'm on vacation my wife and son will be gone to Germany visiting family and I will hopefully have loads of free time and no Honey-Dos.

The only other thing I have to hope for is that my son doesn't hit an abnormal growth spurt and out grow the parts I made so far. I tried to give a couple inches just in case.

Hope y'all enjoy what I have so far and please let me know what you think. And please be kind. . . . This is my first build ever.

Sorry for the double Post but I Almost forgot to put some pics of my son in the armor.


We're trying for the "Hero" look. . . small head and big Body. Mainly because he has a BIG body and small head. LOL.

Do y'all think this looks proportionate as it is? I was also trying to leave a little growing room too. All feedback is welcome and appreciated. Thanks so much.

The helmet is the one unfolded by BMcClain
http://www.4shared.com/file/e0lDA-vr/MkV_B___2__Helm_unfolded_by_BM.html?
The Biceps are by ForgedReclaimer and Unfolded by BMcClain
http://www.4shared.com/file/XcqB2UYu/Reach_Right_Bicep_by_ForgedRec.html?
The Forearms are by Rhinoc
http://www.4shared.com/file/pqZas4EV/ReachForearm_Rhinoc.html?

Looking great so far, always glad to see a parent make a suit for their kid, and glad to see yours is scaled perfectly!

Awesome looking pep. You're lay out looks great. And finely, It's good that you added some space to it, you never know when you might just want to add underarmor I'm subscribed so if you have any questions let me know. And thank you for the shout out.

Side note: try this for thumbnail pic's --> http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/30673-How-to-use-Photobucket-to-include-pictures-in-your-threads it's better space management
Till next time, I hope you have fun building that Dream armor. :cool

for a guy who's had no real prior experience with pep, you have some sweet hot skills going on there. like psqiddy said, it's good to see a parent on board with their kids build. i like that. keep up the amazing work... oh, and welcome to the forum ...

Thanks everybody. I appreciate the feedback.
I don't think that there will be an undersuit for this project. Even if there is a little extra room, I've already accepted the fact that this suit will be a one time deal. I'm pretty sure that my son won't get but a few months out of it before he outgrows it. I might look into making him an ODST suit or something later on that can be just armor plates or something so he can get more use out of it.

A little update. . . I have most of the torso pep'd out and I have come to dislike the little detail pieces on the chest. . . . LOL
I might've been close to finishing it out, but my son has been home sick the last couple days with fever and a cough. Went to the Doc's office today and found he has bronchitis and a virus that's been going around. Maybe I can get up early tomorrow and get the back pieces cut out and started.

I'll post some pics later tonight or tomorrow . . . Until then, thanks again and keep the comments and suggestions coming.

OK. Here's what I have on the torso so far.

I especially hated these details


The rest wasn't so bad I suppose. I still need to make the ab plate on the file for this, but for now I'm debating on whether or not to even cut out the pieces that would be part of the undersuit on this file. Mostly because I know I'd just cut the off anyway, because that is where I want to use the foam. Any thoughts??????

I'm not intending on doing the collar portion either, because I am planning on making it freehand out of foam also. The opening on this file with it scaled to my son is just way too small. My plan is to reinforce the pep work with dowel rods and the braces from the file before I put smooth-on and fiberglass cloth on it.

I really just can't see myself wasting the time cutting out all the other stuff that will just not be used anyway. Do y'all think there would be any issues doing it that way?

The torso file that I am using is this one: http://www.4shared.com/file/WIXD2lwO/Reach_Torso_V3.html?

I'll be returning to work tomorrow, so this will most likely be it for a few days. I work 3pm - 1am and that pretty much ruins your day as far as the costume goes. I'll try to bust out the rest of the torso by next week though and post some more pics to show my progress.

Until then, I hope you enjoy and PLEASE leave comments, suggestions and /or feedback.

What visor to use????

I was looking around at different visors and trying to find out if anyone has used this one I found on eBay:http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gold-Iridium-Shield-Visor-for-Shoei-CW-1-X12-RF-1100-/200635205708?pt=Apparel_Merchandise&hash=item2eb6ca484c&vxp=mtr#ht_895wt_1396

If anyone has used it or knows anything about it, please let me know. I'm just wanting to know if the tinting holds up to dremel work when it's cut. It's $27.73 after S&H but I really like the way the colors are on it in the pic. Thanks again.

Wow man, this looks great, your kid is gonna have the best holloween costume on your street lol.
Ill be keeping my eye on this

Pep is looking great. As to the part the you going to foam out, it sounds very comfortable. Those parts do define the pep chest plate tho, so watch you'er lines and it should work out great. Seeing as you already said you were going to brace it, I figured that you have worked out a way of keeping square. You're really moving threw this, and I can already tell it's going to be awesome just by how much thought you're putting into everything. so I'm just going to sit back and watch the fun.

Mstruvmgc said:

Wow man, this looks great, your kid is gonna have the best holloween costume on your street lol.
Ill be keeping my eye on this

Click to expand...

Thanks a bunch.
You don't know how right you were by saying that. LOL. We live out in the middle of no where on 10 acres, and my kid is one of three within a 1/2 mile. LOL!!!

thorn696 said:

Pep is looking great. As to the part the you going to foam out, it sounds very comfortable. Those parts do define the pep chest plate tho, so watch you'er lines and it should work out great. Seeing as you already said you were going to brace it, I figured that you have worked out a way of keeping square. You're really moving threw this, and I can already tell it's going to be awesome just by how much thought you're putting into everything. so I'm just going to sit back and watch the fun.

Click to expand...

Thanks Thorn. I was planning on trying something like what is in the pic below for the keeping the lines on the chest plate. That's the best reference pic that I have been able to find for the way that stuff comes together.


Again, all comments and suggestions are appreciated and definitely encouraged. Thanks.

Spartan_127 said:

Thanks Thorn. I was planning on trying something like what is in the pic below for the keeping the lines on the chest plate. That's the best reference pic that I have been able to find for the way that stuff comes together.


Again, all comments and suggestions are appreciated and definitely encouraged. Thanks.

Click to expand...

I have several suggestions for that, I am using car rubber floor mats, about $6 at walmart for 4(enough for about 2 spartans) and there are several patterns and such that can be easily modified to fit this design.

very nice pep work there to bad my dad never did stuff this cool for halloween.

oh well keep up the good work

Davik said:

I have several suggestions for that, I am using car rubber floor mats, about $6 at walmart for 4(enough for about 2 spartans) and there are several patterns and such that can be easily modified to fit this design.

Click to expand...

Thanks Davik. I didn't think about car mats for any of it. My plan was to try the best-step foam flooring that I have. I bought two rolls of it, because that's all I could find at the time I was going out for materials. And at the time I was planning my builds, I didn't know if I wanted to go foam or pep out all the parts.

If the foam doesn't work out, I'll definitely stop by Wally World and pick up a set of floor mats. I'm there all the time any way. LOL

Thanks a lot for the idea!!!!

Oh yeah, how did you get the alignment for your pieces to go so well?

DagothDraal said:

Oh yeah, how did you get the alignment for your pieces to go so well?

Click to expand...

I don't really know. LOL . But this is what I found works for me. . . .
1. I take my time cutting everything out to make sure I cut right on the lines. I free hand all my cuts w/ an exacto (because that what I know how to use). I tried scissors, but had no luck with that route. I've found my speed has increased dramatically through the course of the build with the exacto knife.
2. I lightly score the valley and mountain folds with the exacto. (I tried the whole color coded pen thing too and that didn't go so well). When I score my valley folds, I poke little dots with my exacto down the line to give me reference for scoring. Then, I turn the piece over and score it from the back side. Again, that's what I found works for me. Be careful not to score very deep, or when you glue it the little tabs can come off. (I've learned this through trial and error). I still sometimes get the occasional paper separation, but the tab is left there and I can just add more glue.
3. Before I ever attempt to glue anything. . . . I line up the pieces I'm working with and reference the 3D model on pep designer to see how they were intended to look. After I've figured out how everything was intended to look, I do my best to make it look like that and add the glue.

That's how I do it, but everyone has their own way to some extent.

I've had my issues with alignment on the parts that I've done. You need to fix it as soon and you realize that there's an issue. On some parts it doesn't hurt as much as others, but I found that if you don't fix it ASAP, it can throw your whole part off. All you have to do if you're using hot glue (Again, something I'm used to and familiar with) is put the tip of the glue gun down on it to warm up the glue again and then move it till it lines up where you need or want it.

There are some parts in pep files that I have found you have to modify to make it work. If you look at the pics I put in for the chest file I did You can see a couple of them I'm talking about. It's in the one's below "I especially hated these details" on page 1. If you look close at the rectangular parts on each outside part of the chest, there is a little gap between the recess and the part. . . I'll try to put a pic in to show one. The way the part was unfolded, it didn't leave any tabs to glue to the other part. .. so I had to make my own little part to cover it up and did my best to fill in the gap with hot glue. But I'm using that torso file, because it looked the most accurate to me from the reference pics I have found for Noble 6.

This is the part I was referring to above with having to modify. I had to cut them differently than they were marked and make my own little piece for all four of them to get it to look right. :angry LOL


I hope this helps you out in some way, and I hope I've answered your question. As I said in your thread. Don't get discouraged and keep on trying. Eventually it will come to you. My wife keeps telling me that I don't have any patience and that I've got OCD and I'm ADHD (I've never been diagnosed. At least that is my defense. . . LOL) So, I guess what I'm saying is, if I can do it, you can do it. Keep up your good work and I'll be watching.

Hey guys. . . No real updates to this point. Just wanted to stay active on this.
I got some pieces done on the shoulders and the top of the back the other day just to make sure that it would fit my son. It looks like it's going to work and for now, there is a lot of room to work with. I hope it stays that way.


I'm going to try to see if I can't get something more done on it tonight and tomorrow night when I get home from work. That'll be dependent upon whether or not they need me to stay late I guess. Otherwise, I'll have to wait until Monday morning or Tuesday before I'll be able to finish it.

Please, Let me know what you think.