Duke's Custom Reach Suit Pep +photos!! *COMPLETE*

Welcome to my build thread! This is my first suit, but I have completed a few other peps before. I try to record the steps that I take for each stage of the process, but they are not 100% my ideas. I have learned everything I know from reading build threads on the 405th. Some of the tips and techniques I have developed, but again I thank former builds for paving the way.

Scroll down, there is lots of information in this first post and helpful links in my second post.


Current Stage: FINISHED! (and still working on it. :/ )



Helmet: Commando/Carter Concept Varient by Crimmson
Chest: Collar/Grenadier/Jorge (without neck guard) by L3X BLU3R1V3R
R. Shoulder: ODST by Kirrou
L. Shoulder: Commando by @BMcClain
Bicep: Standard Mk. V by ForgedReclaimer
Forearm: Standard Mk. V by ErMaC
Arm Attachment: UA/Bracer by Ral Partha
Cod: Standard Mk V. by Roadwarrior
Thighs: Standard Mk. V by ForgedReclaimer
Thigh Attachment: UA/NxRA Tactical Hardcase by SJSUSPARTAN
Shins/Knees: Standard Mk.V with increased FJ Para knee by @BMcClain
Handplates: Standard Mk V (foam glove) by WandererTJ
Boots: Standard Mk V by @fat-hi555
Weapons: Seperate Thread


Color Scheme:
Primary: White (with battle damaged)
Secondary: Light blue
Emblems and Accents: Red/Orange and Black
Lights: Blue
Visor: Blue Mirror


Bio:
B-128: Zan (Pernicious Duke) || Spartan-III || Beta Company: Shield Team || Petty Officer Third Class || Washington

Name: Thorak, Zan
Service Number: B-128
Birthplace: Draco III
DOB: December 28, 2530
Rank: Petty Officer 3rd Class
Armor: MJOLNIR MK V variants White/Light Blue
Emblem: Saw and Shield
Gender: Male
Weight: 218 lbs.
Height: 5' 11" (6' 3" in armor)
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Blue
Preferred Weapon: M45 Tactical Shotgun

Taken by the Spartan III Program in 2537 as part of Beta Company at the age of 7. First deployed by Senior Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez on 27 June 2045 to the human colony Verent along with 3 other Spartans of Beta Company designated as Shield Team. All Spartans were outfitted with MJOLNIR and sent as a "non-combat" team to aid the people of this outlying colony. Their true purpose, only later discovered and sadly never utilized, was to set up an extraction point for Beta Company should Operation: TORPEDO need it. Shield Team was heavily equipped with defensive armor and gear.

During their weeks on Verent, Shield Team received numerous reports of Covenant invasions all throughout human-controlled space and were not happy to be waiting around as a relief effort. Shortly after Operation: TORPEDO was deemed a success, Shield Team learned that there were no Beta Company survivors and no one would be coming to Verent. Now hotheaded, the team's leader Zan learned that his home world, Draco III, was currently under Covenant control. They abandoned their post and joined up with the Spartan-IIs on Draco III in the retaliation attack. With no human civilian survivors and no Covenant forces remaining, the mission was again considered a "success." Tired of the UNSC's ideas of "acceptable loss," Shield Team decided to take more preemptive measures. After going AWOL, their last known destination was into Covenant-controlled space.

Spartan B-128's last known whereabouts are still unconfirmed and his armor, along with the rest of Shield Team have never been recovered.


Time Spent: (conservative est. 450 hours)
Scaling – 3 hr
Pepping – 149 hr
Hardening – 34 hr
Shaping – 128 hr
Painting – 35 hr
Rigging – 65.25 hr
Electronics - 16 hr

Consumable Materials Used:
Body Suit $22
Motorcycle Shirt Armor $45
Motorcycle Leg Armor $40
Used Military Boots $40
Shoe heel Lift - 2.5" $12
Tactical Belt $12
Load Bearing Suspenders $12
110lb Cardstock - 210 pages $15
Glue Stick - 94 sticks $10
Xacto knife blades - 34 blades $5
Popsicle Sticks, Tongue Depressors, Binder Clips (from Dollar Store) - 40 $4

Fiberglassing (Laminating) Resin w/catalyst - 198oz $100
Plastic Cups - 316 (most were for Bondo @ $0.05ea) $35
Respirator - 2 $11
Paintbrushes - 39 $15
Sharpie/Magic Marker - 2 $2
Gloves - 350 pair (I don't like to get too dirty) $50
Fiberglass Cloth - 21 sq feet $20
Acetone - 83oz $15
Paper towel - 2 roll $5
Bondo (Body Filler w/cream hardener) - 412oz $80
Putty Knives (spreaders) 4" - 10 $5
9" x 11" Sandpaper - 3@60, 1@120 $4
5" Sanding Discs- 31@120g, 19@60g $14
Oscillating Discs - 4@40, 22@60g, 50@120g $25
Oscillating Backing Pad - 2 $8
4 1/2" Sanding Roll by yard - 16@320g 1@120g $20
Spot Putty - 7 tubes $40
Rustoleum grey primer - 3 can $12
Rustoleum silver gloss - 1 can $6
Rustoleum White Matte - 2 can $8
Rustoleum Orange Satin - 2 can $8
Rustoleum Black Satin - 1 can $6
Rustoleum Flat Clear Coat - 4 can $16
Craft Acrylic Black Paint - 2 tube $3
Painter's tape - 2 rolls $10
Paintbrushes - 1 small, 3 foam
Vaseline- 1/3 jar $2
Craft Acrylic Brown Paint - 1 tube $2
Sanding Sponge - 6 @ 1000 grit $12
Water slide paper- 3 sheets $6
.020" PETG Plastic - 3 sheets $5
Air Dry Clay - 3lb $3
On/off switch - 7 $6
9v connectors - 8 $5
12v fans - 1 $9
Wire and shrink wrap $5
5mm White LED with metal holders - 19 $3
Krylon Looking Glass Silver spray paint - 1 $15
Krazy Glue .5 tube - 1 $10
Epoxy Putty - 2 tubes $12
1" Nylon Webbing - 4 yards $8
Lighter - 1 $2
1" Buckles - 11 $8
1" Adjustable webbing slides - 2
Nut, Bolts, Washers, Lock Washers, Hinge - lots $75
Nylon spacers - 8 $4
Vinyl - 1.5 yards $15
.020 x 18" Plastic - 1.5 yards $15
Magnets - 2 rare earth $3
Sugryu - 2 pouches $6
Loctite Gel - 2 tubes $8
Guerilla Glue - 1 tube $5
Velcro Hook&Loop - 2 ft x 2" $4
EVA floor mat - 1sq foot $1
Box cutter knives - 2 $1
Over spending due to last minute panic purchases $40
Trash bags med and lrg- 8
Shirt - 2
Jacket- 1
Pants- 1
Pajamas - 2 (yup, I got lazy)
Work Shoes - 1
Rags- 5
Now 1055 may seem like a lot, but spread out over two years wasn't bad, start saving now!


Tools Used:
Pepakura Designer 3 (Free Version, for printing)
ArmorSmith (Paid Version, for scaling)
Xacto Knife Set $17
Self Healing Cutting board $10
Pens (1 blue, 1 black)
Low Temp mini Hot Glue Gun $8
Rasp File
Fine Files and File cleaning brush
5" Orbital Sander
Dremel MultiPro 395 (cut off, grinding and sanding attachments)
Sonicraft Oscillating Tool
Compressed air (for quick cleaning)
Painting Stand (home made)
Vacuum Form Table (home made for visor)
Soldering gun
Heat Gun (for visor and foam and paint)
Drill Index (1/16" to 1/2" by 64ths)
Tweezers
Box Cutter




Future Purchases:
Patches/Stickers 405th 2/$5

Re: Duke's Custom Reach Suit with Bruteshot (with Step by Step) +photos!!

Didn't realize you hadn't made a suit yet! Congratulations and happy building!

Re: Duke's Custom Reach Suit with Bruteshot (with Step by Step) +photos!!

Good luck man, I'm with you every step
What colours?

Re: Duke's Custom Reach Suit with Bruteshot (with Step by Step) +photos!!
My Building Tips (Post # for this thread)-

Scaling/Printing Weapon (this post!)
Assembling Pepakura
Chest Scaling
Creating a digital mock-up
Hardening Pepakura w/resin (#66)
Hardening Pepakura Weapon w/rondo
Inverting a Pep file from Left to Right
Keeping your knife sharp (#137)



Helpful Links: (will update links soon)

Building a Vacuum Forming Table for Visor Making
Magnet Calculator
Adam's Painting Tut v2
Cereal Kill3r's pepakura walk-through

AtomicDeadlock said:

Didn't realize you hadn't made a suit yet! Congratulations and happy building!

Click to expand...

Thanks! Yeah, just the helmets and the pipboy so far. The links are in my signature.

Mesh said:

Good luck man, I'm with you every step
What colours?

Click to expand...

Thanks Mesh! I'm gonna hold you to that. Who else is going to show me the proper way to spell colours?


First up, Scaling.

Let's face it, even the alien weapons were made for the Master Chief. As such, I'm not going for game accurate scaling. I want my weapons to look appropriate to my size.
Here's what I figured.. Find MC's height, find my height and see the difference and then scale the weapons based on that difference. Since Pepakura works in millimeters I will keep everything in that measurement.

MC's Height (in armor) = 2184mm
My Height (in armor) = 1790mm
My Scale to Master Cheif is then 82%

When looking up the bruteshot's details, the dimensions should be 1811mm x 177mm x 537mm. Huge!
But, as this reference picture shows, it is supposed to be big even on the MC.

Scale that by 82% and I get 1485mm x 145mm x 440mm.... That's still so big!

I decided to go a little less and entered the depth of the pep file as 1400mm. For this weapon I will be using rundown 's file found here.
*UPDATE: I should have kept it at 1485 as my project turned out a tad too small*

Now to rearrange the 201 piece puzzle to fit on the pages.



Steps for printing Pepakura: (tips on printing oversized scaling, like this one, in a couple posts down)
1. Set Scale > change one measurement to my best guess.
2. Use the measuring distance option to see if openings are going to be wide enough.
3. Once I'm happy with the size, I check and change the "Paper and Printer Settings"
~a. Make sure paper size is correct for me, Letter=U.S and A4=Europe.
~b. Make top and side margins the minimum at 5mm
~c. Make sure Bitmap print is selected and transparency is set at 0%
4. I like to edit the tabs and fold lines as well.
~a. Change tab height from 5 to 3
~b. Change the fold line dashes to Mountain = 1.5 and Valley = 0.5
5. Move the pieces around or cut them in half to make them fit on the pages. I try to keep it as close to the original arrangement as possible for reference when I go to put it together (since I can't save the file).
6. Go to: 2D Menu > Check Overlapping Parts to make sure that nothing will get cut off when printing (highlighted in red).
7. Go to 2D Menu > uncheck Show Edge ID , the numbers can really get in the way of small fold lines.

Re: Duke's Custom Reach Suit with Bruteshot (with Step by Step) +photos!!

AtomicDeadlock said:

Didn't realize you hadn't made a suit yet!

Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing. I see Duke all of the forums cheering everyone else on and giving out pointers, I can't believe you don't have your own suit. Thanks for being so involved in the 405th community!

Looking forward to following your progress on this one Duke, I loved screwing around with the brute shot in-game.

Re: Duke's Custom Reach Suit with Bruteshot (with Step by Step) +photos!!

Seeing that you're starting with the Bruteshot just got me really excited. Best of luck on this. Glad to see you getting started on your full build.

Re: Duke's Custom Reach Suit with Bruteshot (with Step by Step) +photos!!

I'm just gonna subscribe right now before I forget....

Re: Duke's Custom Reach Suit with Bruteshot (with Step by Step) +photos!!

Ha ?! Just like AtomicDeadlock said, I had no idea you didn't have a suit yet ?!
Thumbs Up, good luck with the build ! You're in for quite a ride and we're happy to get to be allowed to look over your shoulder.

Re: Duke's Custom Reach Suit with Bruteshot (with Step by Step) +photos!!

Wha... What?!
You didn't build a costume before?! I was sure you did!

Re: Duke's Custom Reach Suit with Bruteshot (with Step by Step) +photos!!

kaween and CommanderPalmer ... What can I say.. I'm really good at pretending like I know what I'm talking about!
Lol. Just kidding. I really researched a lot before commenting on the 405th. I also deliberately picked small projects to start out with that I knew I could complete and that each gave different experiences/know how. Thanks for the compliments though for sure.

Jalean4 said:

I was thinking the same thing. I see Duke all of the forums cheering everyone else on and giving out pointers, I can't believe you don't have your own suit. Thanks for being so involved in the 405th community!

Looking forward to following your progress on this one Duke, I loved screwing around with the brute shot in-game.

Click to expand...

Super nice of you to say. I've been functioning off the rhythm of learn, help, build. Even though I don't know everything about building a suit I can at least share what I do know. And anyone can help just by giving encouragement so why not right?

Re: Duke's Custom Reach Suit with Bruteshot (with Step by Step) +photos!!

This is your first full suit??!! wow !!! Looks like you know what ur getting into!:lol anyway good luck with the build!

Re: Duke's Custom Reach Suit with Bruteshot (with Step by Step) +photos!!

Jalean4 said:

I was thinking the same thing. I see Duke all of the forums cheering everyone else on and giving out pointers, I can't believe you don't have your own suit. Thanks for being so involved in the 405th community!

Click to expand...

Yeah, and honestly, exactly that makes his name on the forum about the most ill-chosen one possible. I mean, "Pernicious" ? (I had to look it up !). Hardly ! More like "FriendlyDuke" or "CoolDuke" or "HelpfullDuke" or something.

Re: Duke's Custom Reach Suit with Bruteshot (with Step by Step) +photos!!

kaween said:

Yeah, and honestly, exactly that makes his name on the forum about the most ill-chosen one possible. I mean, "Pernicious" ? (I had to look it up !). Hardly ! More like "FriendlyDuke" or "CoolDuke" or "HelpfullDuke" or something.

Click to expand...

Ha! This is by design. In college I was part of a gaming/friend group called the Dukes of Stuen. When chosen to become a member there were two rules on picking a name. Before Duke had to be a big word, sesquipedalian if you will. The second is that the word had to be in contrast to your character. IllicitDuke never did drugs, VenerialDuke was a virgin, TempestousDuke was the most level headed.. you get the idea. We all still use them as our GTs.


Progress:
I've started pepping and decided to build out from the center of the gun to keep the ends from getting damaged. It would be really cool to get the center to spin, but this is already going to be a challenging pep so I don't know if I want to mess with it. By my calculations I'll have this thing together in 50 hours!! (15 minutes per piece) Oi vey.

Re: Duke's Custom Reach Suit with Bruteshot (with Step by Step) +photos!!

Tips for Scaling the pep larger than it comes

Since I don't use Edge IDs when I pep, it can become a challenge to assemble especially if I've scaled the file larger so that the pieces no longer fit on the page. Like with this bruteshot. I use the free program so I can't save the file that I scale, I have to use the original file, but when you go back to reference the pieces are no longer in the same place as what I printed making it time consuming to find them for assembly. I have a solution for this, but it might be confusing.

Before you do anything, note how many columns there are in your first row of pages (for this example let's say there are 8 pages/columns before the next row of pieces). First, obviously edit the settings to make the margins as small as possible. After scaling the file bigger your pieces should no longer fall nicely within the page lines. BUT, they should still be grouped as if they were still in pages, pieces squished together in what resembles rectangular shapes, ignore the dotted lines. For now we are just going to work on the first row of piece pages. Highlight everything lower than the first row of pieces and drag them much lower and out of the way.

Now we are left with a row of piece pages that don't fit on their own pages any more. Here's were the trick comes in. The first page we are going to separate so that the pieces fall on the first page and the one directly below it (page 9 in our example). Sometimes we have to rotate pieces or cut them into two pieces in order to do this, but try to keep them in as close to the original orientation as possible. Highlight the pieces to the right that are not a part of this page and move them further away. With some luck you should now have page 1 separated into two pages, page 1 and page 9. Continue this process: separate page 2 into page 2 and page 10, separate page 3 into page 3 and page 11 and so on. When you're done your one row of pages should be two. Repeat this process for the following pages, every page should be pulled apart with some pieces remaining and the rest put on the page visually below it. Be sure not to create more page columns than the original file.

Once I'm done, before printing, I click the "overlapping pieces" function to see if I accidentally covered any pieces up. After printing I write the page numbers on them, but not in the same way. As in the example when I separated page 1 into page 1 and page 9... I then write "pg 1 1/2" on page 9. That way I can put page 1 and page 9 (now page 1.5) together and when I go to reference the pep files all page 1 pieces are now next to each other.

Is this too much work?? Does anyone do something differently to help in this kind of situation? Does my way even make sense? (The Pepakura photo a couple posts up shows me halfway through this process and it took me probably 35 minutes from download to print)

Re: Duke's Custom Reach Suit with Bruteshot (with Step by Step) +photos!!

I like your squad's naming conventions, and wanted to say that your method of expanding parts is essentially the same as mine. Only difference is I have Designer so I can save xD

Re: Duke's Custom Reach Suit with Bruteshot (with Step by Step) +photos!!

Kyre Alrighty Mr Moneybags! Lol. No, that's cool. I just can't justify it. It is so expensive to make a high quality suit that I have to try to save money anywhere I can.

Speaking of money, I haven't had a lot of time lately while working two jobs (60 hour weeks :wacko ) But, I have made progress. Three day weekend now so I think I'll be able to push most of the pep out by the end of it. Stay tuned and keep building!

Progress:

Re: Duke's Custom Reach Suit with Bruteshot (with Step by Step) +photos!!

Brute shot is looking good so far! keep up the good work!:thumbsup

Re: Duke's Custom Reach Suit with Bruteshot (with Step by Step) +photos!!

Thanks Chief!

Just a little teaser till I get more put together tomorrow..

Re: Duke's Custom Reach Suit with Bruteshot (with Step by Step) +photos!!

Progress:

Not quite as far as I would have liked after three full days of pepping. Also, little disappointed at the size. The handle at the top is just big enough to fit my hand through, not gonna be pretty holding it with gloves on.. The overall length is going to be 4 1/2 feet though so I can't imagine it being much bigger. After resining I will cut the handle off and add some dowels in to bring the handle up higher.




I used popsicle sticks (tongue depressors) and small dowels inside as I went to help keep the structure.



It will be about a week until I make significant progress again. Thanks for checking it out! Starting to lose my gusto a bit on this one. :/

Re: Duke's Custom Reach Suit with Bruteshot (with Step by Step) +photos!!

Hell yeah!! Looks great! To bad thats its a bit small but its not visible to the naked eye you have to look closely to tell.