Halo 3 Mark VI, first build WIP

h00pla · Jan 22, 2013

A few months ago, one of my friends (JetFireRR on the forums) secluded himself away on a secret project while his girlfriend was out of town. When he finally emerged from his self-imopsed exile he had a very good looking MJOLNIR chest plate sitting on his coffee table. Feeling incredibly jealous, I chose to start making my own armor with his help. It's gone pretty well so far, though there's still a lot of work left (as my checklist continues to remind me).

The forearms

The handplates

The chestplate (I've got the paper form completed, I'm just hesitant to move forward and risk wasting the 16 hours it took me to get to this point)

Me, hard at work rocking out to the Halo 2 soundtrack to stay in the proper mood

I'm hoping I can get this to look at least close to some of the other builds I've seen here, they're pretty amazing.

Skilander · Jan 22, 2013

Progress looks good, have you started the helm yet? Like'n the way you supported the chest.. just might steal that

Good luck!

h00pla · Jan 22, 2013

No, I've noticed over the years that a lot of helmets seem to look a lot bigger in comparison to the armor, so I want to wait and get the armor right and then get the helmet to match. I also want to try and figure out a way to get the helmet as comfortably tight to my head as possible.

Skilander · Jan 22, 2013

Sounds like a great plan, it really is a bummer to have to redo anything because of scaling or overall size. Looking forward to more. Good luck.

JetFireRR · Jan 22, 2013

Looking good bud! Can't wait to see how everything looks together. +1 on the bamboo chopsticks.

DBmike · Jan 22, 2013

Have you been watching Dexter? There some to be a lot of plastic coating in your workshop!

Nice work so far and the supports are great!

Gamma442 · Jan 22, 2013

Yeah, I like the idea of the wood support sticks glued inside on your chest piece. I may do that for my piece as well.
Great work so far.

h00pla · Jan 22, 2013

Not my workshop, but a friend's, though mine will soon look similar when I start sanding at home.

LongShot X · Jan 22, 2013

Your off to an excellent start. I have to say that I really like the fact that your using the proper personal safety equipment right from the start. Workspace is also looking well prepared and controlled.
With that kind of preparedness and attention, i have a feeling that your going to have a very well constructed suit.

Kudos on the chopsticks!

spartansonny · Jan 22, 2013

you look like you are well on the way to a fine piece of work. hope to see it progress soon

WELCOME TO THE 405TH

JetFireRR · Jan 28, 2013

How goes the progress master Hoopla?

h00pla · Jan 28, 2013

Most of the detail work on the handplates is done. I just need to get some spot putty to fill in a few air pockets I found putting in the details. Started rondo-ing the shoulders, I've cut them into three pieces, the bicep, the pauldron, and whatever you would call the rest of it. I'm hoping to make them adjustable and increase my range of motion this way, though I think the difference it makes might be pretty slight.

h00pla · Feb 2, 2013

Work on the shoulders is coming along, though I'm still trying to think of a good way to attach them all together flexibly. After getting the detail work set in and fixing some minor warping, I'll be starting on the chest plate, the first piece I pepped and the most intimidating part in my mind.

My Workshop

My current muse (Bridget Reagan from Legends of the Seeker, also my guilty pleasure TV show)

Left Shoulder inside

Left Shoulder outside

Right Shoulder inside

Right Shoulder outside

hobbitdude13 · Feb 2, 2013

I've never seen a shoulder piece done in seperate pieces like that before. How do you plan to attach them to your undersuit?

JetFireRR · Feb 2, 2013

Looking good bud! That Everglass really does have a different hue to it. Bring on that chest plate!

h00pla · Feb 18, 2013

The chest plate is being brought on. Also, freaking Comic-Con is confirmed! My Nerdvana await only mere months away!

Back to the chest. I don't know exactly how I'm going to work the shoulder pieces. I want to attach the bicep plate to the shoulder frame piece with a strap attached to a buckle, allowing for adjustment and to help it stay tight on my arm, but I'm not sure how to attach the strap. JetFire had a good idea involving seat buckles for the pauldron, but we're putting that aside in favor of working on what I know how to do.

The chest piece:
Front

Back

Side

The strut system holding it in shape, courtesy of JetFire's modeling abilities

I still have to resin along the bottom side parts, but the heavy lifting part is mostly completed. I'm considering putting another layer of resin down, at least in some place to help it hold its structure while rondo-ing.

JetFireRR · Feb 18, 2013

Looking good bud; Keep 'em coming!

h00pla · Jun 12, 2013

Image dump! It's been a while, so I've some stuff done (no where near what I'd like to have accomplished, sadly)

Beautiful looking rondo inside the chest