Custom Gen-2 "NIGHTMARE" foam build

[Corweena]

Re: Custom Mk.VII Master Chief "NIGHTMARE" foam build

Real quick update. finished modifying the thigh templates, and assembled one thigh. I still need to do a few little pieces, but the overall piece is done and size correctly to me.






The project will be on hold for a week though, as I finish this up. I'm making it for a White Elephant gift exchange I do with some friends. Its a nice break from foam, and cardboard offers a new set of challenges to piece together correctly. I'll be covering it in craft foam, for a better texture. Should have light up eyes too.

 

[Reclaimara]

Re: Custom Mk.VII Master Chief "NIGHTMARE" foam build

Wow, I love these shoes

 

[Corweena]

Re: Custom Mk.VII Master Chief "NIGHTMARE" foam build

Wow, I love these shoes

Thank you! They were definitely a lot of work....I've spent more time on them than everything else combined lol.

 

[rainbow dash]

Re: Custom Mk.VII Master Chief "NIGHTMARE" foam build

Looks good! The cuts on the shins look a little dirty but the boots look great. keep up the good work

 

[Corweena]

Re: Custom Mk.VII Master Chief "NIGHTMARE" foam build

Looks good! The cuts on the shins look a little dirty but the boots look great. keep up the good work

Yeah, that was with Xacto blades....they got dull really quick. Switched to scalpel blades and got a much better result. Shin will be getting scrapped and remade slightly smaller, and with modified templates. And thanks again for your foam files.....they are great bases to build my custom templates from.





Build is currently on hold due to my busy schedule around this holiday/birthday season....should be getting back to it shortly. I've also been slowly piecing together parts for a Kylo Ren cosplay for a con in a few months. Since this armor is more of a long term project, no sense in rushing it.

 

[Austuck117]

Re: Custom Mk.VII Master Chief "NIGHTMARE" foam build

Nice job on the helmet. Those shins and boots are looking pretty darn good so far.

 

[Blondiebot]

Re: Custom Mk.VI Gen2 "NIGHTMARE" foam build

Thanks man! And yeah, I did research, and decided it wasn't worth it. I just bought a 100 pack of blades online, so that should keep me sharp for a while lol.

There are pros and cons to either way. I tried a hot knife for the first time this week, and my cuts were a lot cleaner, and(I use contact cement) the foam seemed to absorb less of the contact cement, so I only needed one application for each seam. The main drawback was that it was awkward to hold at first, since I was used to using a utility knife to cut foam on previous projects. The drawback to that of course was frequent need to sharpen and the cuts are not as clean. On my iron man build this was my knife of choice, craftsman snap off knife:

~~

 

[seeker01]

Re: Custom Mk.VII Master Chief "NIGHTMARE" foam build

Thank you! They were definitely a lot of work....I've spent more time on them than everything else combined lol.

ditto on the shoes... have you worn them a lot? I'd love to read your review on how well your glue holds up
I am doing a Spartan-inspired suit for my son, and I fear it won't hold up very well
I did chins and a belt, he used them one afternoon, and I had to do some repairs... foam started to rip already, lol

 

[Corweena]

Re: Custom Mk.VII Master Chief "NIGHTMARE" foam build

ditto on the shoes... have you worn them a lot? I'd love to read your review on how well your glue holds up
I am doing a Spartan-inspired suit for my son, and I fear it won't hold up very well
I did chins and a belt, he used them one afternoon, and I had to do some repairs... foam started to rip already, lol

I have not worn them much....the suit is on hold temporarily. The first half of my year and hobby funds are allocated to my car and meets and such....after June passes I'll get back into building the suit. I do plan on modding the boots a bit and cutting out the piece that connects the toe and heel. I think with walking it's going to be an issue. I plan on just cutting it do the pieces are separated, then attach each piece onto the shoe individually. More range of motion, and less moving foam.

 

[seeker01]

Re: Custom Mk.VII Master Chief "NIGHTMARE" foam build

I think the foot gear will get a lot of punishment... I was checking out Phil:
http://www.405th.com/showthread.php?t=39682
he did a bang-up job on his whole suit, and had a direct-glue to the shoe approach to his boots that seems to be working out well

 

[Corweena]

Re: Custom Mk.VII "NIGHTMARE" foam build

Time to dust off the cobwebs on this project and get the ball rolling again.

I wanted to get this thing going in July, but ended up getting a second job. Good thing is even though I'm working 2 jobs, my overall stress level and workload is less....I cut my first job (the crazy one) down to 20 hours a week, and the easy one is about 25 hours a week. Plus I finally got my schedules aligned so I have 2 full days off both jobs.

Anyways, last week I began brainstorming again. Gonna change a few things here and there with the overall build, but the "NIGHTMARE" concept is still a go. And I think i finally found a helmet to use, which in the past was the big limiting factor for me. I was randomly searching for halo helmets, and came across a Reach CQC helmet...in the past, it's existence had totally escaped me....all I remembered was the CQB, which is much more popular. Anyways, if you remember my sketch from the previous page, this one is very close to the overall shape of what I wanted.

Anyways, stay tuned, should begin whipping up new shins this weekend, since my old ones weren't sized right, and the build quality kind of sucked.

 

[Corweena]

Re: Custom Mk.VII "NIGHTMARE" foam build

Slow progress is still progress right? Been working on this 1 or 2 hours a night if I can. Taking longer, but its for the better.

Knocked out the base of my second thigh piece last week, so I know have both done. Currently leaving these as is, and will be adding details later.






My main focus has been on the shin armor. The previous shins I built using direct pep templates, were too large around my calves, but also the foot hole was too small. The set dimension from the file just wasn't right for me. So I set about designing my own templates. Here's a shot of the old one with V.1 of my new design of the shins. you can see not only is the sizing better, but I think I got the overall side shape closer to the real thing.


The back of V.1 however, lacked the level of shaping I wanted.


So on to V.2 its was. Shaping was a little better, getting beveled edges and such, but the cuts and gaps still were a bit sloppy for my taste. Not to mention the whole shin piece warped a bit because I assembled the pieces out of order.


Which brought me to V.3 of the shins, which may just do the trick. I focused first on the back portion, which is the trouble-spot for this particular piece for me. Think I'm finally happy with the shape I created.




I should be able to knock out the rest of the main pieces of the V.3 shins tomorrow night, Hopefully it all comes together and I get the shape I want.



This is my first time working with 5mm foam, which is a great in-between for the thick structural parts using floor mats, and the thin craft foam. Its taking a little getting used to compared to the regular thick EVA mats.


Stay tuned for more updates.

 

[SpartanZ913]

Re: Custom Mk.VII "NIGHTMARE" foam build

Wow. I'm new to the whole armor building thing, but this is amazing. Looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

 

[Corweena]

Re: Custom Mk.VII "NIGHTMARE" foam build

Wow. I'm new to the whole armor building thing, but this is amazing. Looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

Thank you! If you ever need any help with foam, I'm more than happy to lend a hand. It can be a bit of a steep learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, its a piece of cake.



___________________________________________________________________________________________________


Update time!


After a fair amount of work, I'm finally happy to have a completed shin piece......Version 3 was the lucky one, and overall, I'm very satisfied with how the piece came out. I have all the details done. I just need to design the top 2 pieces of the calf armor. Let me know what you think!

 

[SpartanZ913]

Re: Custom Mk.VII "NIGHTMARE" foam build

Thank you! If you ever need any help with foam, I'm more than happy to lend a hand. It can be a bit of a steep learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, its a piece of cake.

Thanks! I already have some basic knowledge of how to do things as I just recently made some foam leg guards for a Neptune Vasilias cosplay I'm doing (http://imgur.com/a/Kat5V). But going from that to a full suit of MJOLNIR is a big jump.

 

[WhenInMaine]

Looks good! I look forward to seeing more!

 

[Noomicorn]

Cool build. Does the contact cement work well for gluing the foam to the shoes? I'm not work with it much, just E6000 (which has a much longer cure time).