Project_mjolnir://mark_iv

Issued November 27, 2525, the Mjolnir Mark IV exoskeleton , weighing in at half a ton, features an outer layer of multilayer alloy plates with a refractive coating to disperse energy weapon attacks over intermeshed layers of matte-black metal. The gel filled layer underneath contains biomonitors, regulates temperature, fit and can reactively change density. The most important part of the suit: the inner structure composed of reactive metal liquid crystal that supplies the amplified speed, strength and reaction time of the SPARTANs.

And when the UNSC made SPARTANs public in 2547 to boost morale, this was the image men and women on the battlefield saw when they encountered a SPARTAN. Mark IV Mjolnir was worn by the SPARTAN-II’s for 27 years until replaced with the Mark V in August 2552, so to me, that’s what a SPARTAN is, despite how popular Master Chief‘s Mark VI armor is, and that‘s what I want to build.

This will be my second attempt, and looking back, my first attempt was doomed to failure. I had too few references, and unrealistic time frame and little to no time to work on it. Honestly, I thought I’d have to put this off for another year, but since I was able to get out of the Navy early, I’ll actually be on land and able to work on it instead of being overseas on deployment.

Luckily, I still have all the old pep files by Abgates I downloaded from my first attempt. Sizing is done, and I have plenty ready (or almost ready) to resin.



The deluge today may have stopped me from resining, but the forecast for tomorrow is clear skies and progress!

Such nice and clean folds! I envy your patience with pepping out forearm and shoulder pieces. I only use pepakura for my helmet and torso. I'll be keeping an eye on this

Good luck mate and thanks for your service. Go Navy, beat Westpoint! I was Army, and West Point isn't the same thing. My father in law who is still Navy thinks my outlook is entertaining to say the least.

I'm about to start on a new project, my first time with working on the pepp myself, so I'm digging your work here. If I can make one comment, and I say this because I too am partial to the Mk IV over the V, it's that the pepp is a guide. It isn't the end all. I love those grills on the front of the helmet, but if your eye and reference photos say the pepp grills are longer than they should be (I'm already plotting on how much of the Grenadier helmet I will have to chop down, just like I did with my Recon helmet project to get it right), then go with your instincts and don't be afraid to fill in some of the area with bondo.

Best of luck, stay patient, and remember...

So, it seems I forgot one crucial detail while working on my project: Winter is COLD! While I may not be buried in snow, there have only been a few days where the weather is warm enough to resin my project. I'm only lucky that I have a garage, because the warm days are also wet days. However, I was able to get the outside of a lot of my pieces resined and got a coat on the inside of some of them, too. Maybe it's the old resin or the cold weather, but I've been lucky enough to have little to no warping.




Probably should have taken a picture of them before I flipped everything upside down. Oh well. But since the weather's been cold, when I wasn't distracted by pepping a Marine helmet (I'm very distractable), I did some foam work for the boot. I haven't gotten far, and the back is missing the large piece that will surround the little green ones, but extra large foam sheets are on order, and I should be able to finish the back without a seam.




And of course, what's a SPARTAN without a weapon? Actually, still pretty damn scary, but I can't go fight a war without at least a sidearm.



Obviously still a work in progress. To keep all my foam pieces laying flat, I've been using the same Aleene's Quick Drying Tacky Glue I use to pep on the foam. It works great on everything except connecting the textured side of EVA floor mats. For that, I've been using Loctite spray Adhesive and weight to smoosh it all together. I just need stuff to dry, before I attack it with sandpaper.

awesome job! I like your work.
I'm also working on a Halo Wars MK IV! There are not many of them out there. I think it is bada** looking. Out of curiosity, what are you doing for the thighs for the MK IV?

soucekaboose said:

awesome job! I like your work.
I'm also working on a Halo Wars MK IV! There are not many of them out there. I think it is bada** looking. Out of curiosity, what are you doing for the thighs for the MK IV?

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Glad to see that there are a few of us out there. As far as the thighs, it looked like WingedAvian was making a pep file for it, but I don't think he's been online for about a year, and I haven't seen any others. I'll either have to try molding one or I'll try to make it out of foam.

Some nice neat pep work there.... Luckily here in South Africa, snow isn't really an issue...

You have some beautiful stuff going on there. Your pep work is fantastic, and your EVA/foam work is brilliant. I can't wait to see more!

soucekaboose said:

awesome job! I like your work.
I'm also working on a Halo Wars MK IV! There are not many of them out there. I think it is bada** looking. Out of curiosity, what are you doing for the thighs for the MK IV?

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I'm unfolding the thighs as I speak (the files I purchased from one of the best custom pep designers I have ever seen). Give me a couple more days and I'll post them.

Praying for some heat I see? Opposite in Australia LOL!

Not much to report this week. I resined more pieces, finished that distracting Marine helmet (it's too big)... and worked on more of my pieces.

Most of my resined pieces are on their second coat of resin, inside and out, and I'll probably start reinforcing them tomorrow. I still have a few pieces that are still paper. I'm having trouble figuring out how to reinforce my forearms so the bottom opening (wrist) holds the right shape, and I'm still trying to figure out how to connect the knee pieces to the shin. I've also kept it inside to keep proportions right with the boot. I also put together a bit of the torso. Just the ab plate, but it's got it's first coat of resin drying right now.



I've also worked on sanding and shaping my pistol. While bulky before, now that the grip as been beveled, it fits very nicely in the hand. I'm especially satisfied with how I was able to round out the butt. It'll need a little bit of putty to fill out a dent from the original cut, but it came out as well as I ever could have wanted. I also made the trigger and guard, but I don't want to attach it until I finish sanding down the front.



And finally, I finished the heel of the boot! The first one was too tall, so I made this one shorter and tacked on the details. Now I just need to glue that and the ...strap? together. The biggest pain was that back bit on the top. There was no real way to make a template for it. It was just a lot of cut and glue and trial, but I'm happy with the result. I'll post a picture to give and idea of what the working one looked like before I glued and trimmed it.



Otherwise, it's just been many, many, many failed attempts at making the toe of the boot. I've been getting closer every time, but it's still pretty bad. But there is good news! Jason-078 was great enough to get and post Mark IV pep files made by Rundown. They are absolutely gorgeous and you can find them here.

Obviously, I'm not going to use all of them. I've already made a lot of parts, but I can't wait to get started on the thighs, and I think I'm going to give his boot a try (at least the toe!)

Afraid no pictures this time. Worked on related (and unrelated) pep files while the weather was cold. However, on the few warm days, I was able to not only finish resining a few pieces, but I got most of them reinforced with rondo as well. If nothing else, it was fun as hell to play with, but it did warp a few pieces. I also did my first bit of Bondo work. I only did a small bit on one of the shoulder pieces, but the more I work on it, the more this project seems doable.

Hoping for some better weather this week, and next time, I should have pictures.

Sorry for taking so long to update, but between the cold weather, snow storms, and loss of motivation from afore-mentioned weather, I did not a lot of progress. Not that the weather is taking a turn toward the warmer side, my morale is back up and progress is being made. First off, a few pictures from the rondo work I did as previously mentioned:



The rondo was fun to do. Sorta reminded me of a DQ Blizzard as it started to thicken up in the cup. Also, tried applying a bit of Bondo on the left shoulder... then found Cereal Kill3r's videos. Wish I'd seen 'em first, but I can still apply what I learned when I put on the next layers.

Also, since my original bicep pieces warped so badly after the rondo (did not expect that) I decided to redo them. And trust me, this was not a case of just a little bend or dimple that could be salvaged. I'm not sure what happened, but basically, the "wings" of the pieces curled in on themselves until they were almost touching. Thinner coats in the future. Either way, the new bicep pep is ready, and I also figured out how to reinforce the shin rig.



I'm mostly worried about resining the shin. There are a lot of large panels. I reinforced them as much as I could. Now, all I can do is go slowly, do it in parts, and hope for the best. The weather's warm tomorrow, so I will be outside resining these, and maybe a thigh if I can finish it tonight.

Hmmm! Shaping the thing ...

This is looking good, man! Are you planning on going with a custom paint scheme?

AGENTREGENT said:

Are you planning on going with a custom paint scheme?

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I'm still debating. I was either going to go with an olive drab suit that would be a bit more traditional or black and silver to be Black-2. Since I plan on ultimately casting the pieces, maybe I'll just make one of each. Either way, I will have my own emblem.

tomboy said:

I'm still debating. I was either going to go with an olive drab suit that would be a bit more traditional or black and silver to be Black-2. Since I plan on ultimately casting the pieces, maybe I'll just make one of each. Either way, I will have my own emblem.

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Whatever you choose, I'm sure it'll look good! Good luck!

Very nice foam work, can't wait to see it all come together, will you be paint your foam OD/Sage green? Or just keeping it the same?

Sgtpearce said:

Very nice foam work, can't wait to see it all come together, will you be paint your foam OD/Sage green? Or just keeping it the same?

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Thanks! This is my first time doing any sort of foam work, and I have to do it all from scratch.

All the foam work will be plasti-dipped and primered before it's cast. The only exception would be the cod-piece and that will be painted.

Whoever is in charge of the weather: Thank you! It's finally getting warm and staying warm. I'll be spending some time in the garage this weekend working on more resining and maybe even some bondo if I feel brave enough. I should probably find a simple piece or scrap to practice on.

In other news, while there's been plenty of work done, there has not been much progress. I built Rundown and Jason-078's Mark IV thigh, and the first time is was too small. Really small even though I thought the scaling was right. So I upsized the piece and built it again. While it's the proper height on the inner edges and fits comfortably around the leg, the outer height was still too short and not because it was sized wrong. Comparing the piece to some of the really good (and big) reference pictures I have, I feel that the pieces were not angled high enough. Between that and other inaccuracies I saw, I have discarded the pieces and have gone back to the original plan of making the thighs out of foam.

Rundown, Jason, you guys have modeled and unfolded a beautiful piece. Don't get me wrong. It's just that with me, you're competing against a 3 ft tall poster, action figures and the Halo Encyclopedia. Also, the constructed pep files still helped me get an idea of how the final piece needs to come together that I did not have before. Thank you.

Sorry there are no pictures of the thigh pieces, but when I pushed them from the table to the floor, the cat decided it was something new and exciting to explore/smoosh/break.

However, the week wasn't a total loss. I got the handplate made, and it only took 3 tries.



The first was too blocky, the second was too angled, but the last try I got just right. I'm glad I flipped through the Encyclopedia. I had a great picture with a good view of the hands at an angle my other references didn't have or my action figures were too small to adequately get across. It also helps that I finally used a heat gun to get that smooth curve rather than just trying to score and fold it.

Finally, made a little more progress on the M6G.



And that is shot from it's good side. I'm having some trouble figuring out how to put the back end together, but I will eventually figure it out! Another thing I think I'm going to have to do is use some putty or bondo to finish and smooth it all out. While the layers of thin foam sheets add up, they just don't quite add up to the same thickness as the rest of the gun's body. I blame my dad and many years of wood working. I can feel that it isn't flush, and it drives me nuts. On the bright side, evening it all out with bondo will give me a chance to do a better job with the "engraved" words.

Until then, I've got foam thighs to construct and pieces to reinforce.