Greetings 405th,
First of all I just have to say this website is... well... Phenomenal. So now that I have said that after using it and never posting for five months or so. Enough said, onto the build.
Especially because this is the third time I am writing this since I lost the first two drafts on the forum due to various features like having too many pictures in one post. So now I am writing in another program before writing on forums.
It was around August when I found this website and I was amazed by what so many people have done. So I of course was drawn into it and within a week or two I had looked around and decided to start pepping an ODST. I thought that ODST's were more of a minority (which I guess they somewhat are) and there weren't many. At this point that is easily false. But whatever. I chose to use Hugh Holder's files because it is simpler than others for a first build and I am also still growing (or so they tell me). Part of the reason though that they are simpler is because they are ODST files from Halo 3 and not from the game Halo 3: ODST. So anyways thanks to Hugh Holder for the files and mkshane and Zero202 for the unfolds.
I started with the Gauntlets and pepped 3 versions. One too big (pepped), two good sized, and one wee big (I laughed when I saw the size of the piece of paper supposed to go where the gap for your hand is). I was never really happy with that piece because there are no gaps for movement near the elbow because it is modeled off the game. A little bit of research and I saw that many builds had a gap opposite the shoulderpad extension (including the ODST live action trailer I believe). Scaling parts for someone one whole foot less than it was made for can be difficult. But of course I am not the only who has trouble with scaling.
Soon I was pepping more and more files. A few setbacks in sizing lead to more work on my part but it is all just learning (and who knows, maybe I can grow into them someday). I was sidetracked many times but always ended on the pepping board. At least one of the times I was sidetracked I pepped out an SMG. Then around November or December I had pepped all the main plate armor components (none of the spine stuff or anything) except for the shins, knees (pepped undersized), boot cover, and the helmet (which was never my first priority). It was/is a snowy and cold Winter and it seemed that there was no easy solution for traditional resining. So I settled on getting a big old gallon of wood glue because it was relatively cheap and had no evil little toxins to deal with indoors. I was a little hasty at first and put too much glue on for one coat so it might have collapsed and little and lost some detail but I am still happy hardened result. Also as I first time build I am curious comparing wood glue to traditional resins. I know I am layering the glue many many times per piece. For one thing though, my armor is therefore being waterproofed by the glue, so who knows (I'm curious if the paint would be though).
So enough talk of the build and time to show some pictures already (assuming you even read the paragraphs above).
A bunch of stuff
The circle untility belt thingie was originally glued to the chest piece but took that off now. In better perspective of course
Commonly know as the voodoo monkey mask in my house
Trying to balance the upper arm pieces and yes I know the shoulder base should be higher up but it kept sliding down
Leg pieces and again the thigh piece kept sliding back down
Imagine test fitting the Flak Jacket (or whatever you call it). It needs to be cut in half after hardened
More imagining
ANY AND ALL FEEDBACK IS APPRECIATED. PLEASE VOICE YOUR OPINIONS AND ANY OTHER THING YOU WANT TO SAY.