First armor - Making my Halo:Reach armor

[EddieLadson]

So this is my first post My name is Eddie I am 20 years old and I live in Montana. I am not working right now and living at home so I have plenty of time. I also like to blacksmith and I really enjoy leatherworking so I have experience making stuff. And that is my preamble for you lol.

I have always wanted a set of halo armor since I first played CE when I was six, but up until now I haven't really known how and just recently after seeing a post of someone's armor on the halo subreddit (can't remember who it was sorry) I started looking into it and eventually found the 405th.

Sorry about the foot I forgot to crop it lol

I started with the forearm, since I have had zero experience with foam this was tough but eventually it got there it took about 3 days of working about 2-3 hours per day.

I then started the second forearm. This took far less time and I think it turned out much better than the first. Since I didn't want to redo the first I added the tacpad to it so it wasn't so obvious that they were so different. I probably will redo the first but I'll wait to do that.

I then made the boots these came together very quickly to my surprise. I started using contact cement with these rather than hot glue and man does it work so much better.

I also got this cart from michaels and man is it great it holds everything I need it to i strapped a power strip to it so I can plug in my hot glue gun and charge my dremel. Sorry about the mess surrounding it, I'm a very messy person lol.

That is everything so far I am taking a break and making a reach magnum in the meantime but I kind of want to get back to the armor lol. I hope to have an update here in the next few days

 

[marinesniper]

Welcome the 405th. and if this is your first ever build man you are off to a great start. as far as the mess goes it means your still working on something at least thats what i tell my wife. and the cart is a awesome idea i will be watching this build and if you run into any snaggs just yell for help one of us on here will do what we can to help you figure it out..

 

[EddieLadson]

Thanks marinesniper it means a lot. The cart is a gramercy cart at michaels, it doesn't roll well on carpet but it works for me. I started on the bicep but I made it too small so I had to rescale it. I should have an update with pics later tonight or tomorrow with the new bicep.

 

[MrJamin]

I agree with marinesniper - the cart is a really good idea. I might have to look into picking something like that up.

 

[Deadman627]

Welcome to the 405th glad you joined us. The build looks really good keep up the good work.

 

[EddieLadson]

Update:

I decided I wanted to make the shin rather than the bicep because I was a little irritated I got it too small. I got one shin done. It took me about a day to finish and I stayed up late last night to finish it and get it glued up I ran out of contact cement so I switched back to hot glue to finish it up.

This is the shin with the boot and I am starting to get very excited with this armor I can start to see it being finished. I really enjoy working with foam it is much more forgiving than pep in my experience atleast. Today I am going to make the second shin and hopefully finish it. So I can get to bed early lol. I'm not sure what I'll make next I'm thinking ill go to the thighs so I can get the legs done but idk

 

[EddieLadson]

Also this is the armor I plan on making.

Not 100% on the color scheme but this is what I used back on 360 reach other than the helmet. I used to use recon but recently I have fallen in love with the odst helmet so I think that is what ill make

 

[EddieLadson]

Another Update:

So I have finished shin #2 I am still out of contact cement and wished to keep trying different adhesives. So this time I tried super glue with hot glue reinforcement. I think I like the super glue the best out of the three, if contact cement didn't smell so darn bad i would prefer that. I will probably continue experimenting.

Shin # 2 is on the left.

I still have to fill in seams on both shins but other than that they are done for now

Not sure what to work on next to be honest but ill figure that out. If anyone has any tips for me I would greatly appreciate it. And turns out I didn't get to bed early last night lol. It's 6 am my time. I think I am enjoying this too much lol.

 

[ButterBacon3000]

This looks like its gonna be awesome! And its your first build? It looks pretty great for a first build dude! Also yay! Another halo reach cosplayer!

 

[Tannerj9876]

that looks great, I like the idea of having fully armored boots but I'm curious how they feel walking cause they look stiff?, I hope to see more of your project in the future

 

[EddieLadson]

ButterBacon3000 yes this is my first build but I have a lot of experience working with my hands. And hell yeah Reach is my favorite Halo other than 3.

Tannerj9876 the boots seem to be easy to walk in they slip on over my normal shoes and don't impede my walking as far as I can tell I havent done much testing but I will probably do that today because now I'm curious lol.

 

[Tannerj9876]

yeah let me know how that goes cause i may implement something like it in my build

 

[RandomRanger]

You're off to a really good start! This is soooooo much better than my first build!

There's a chance you saw something I posted on r/halo, I do that from time to time.

Welcome to the 405th!

 

[EVAkura]

Your work is great for a first-timer! Very symmetrical pieces, and the overall look is fantastic. You asked for any advice, so here I go A sharp blade is your best friend! I am noticing a bit of tearing where your cuts are. There are two ways to alleviate this. One is to constantly sharpen your blade (which is definitely preferred). I use an X-Acto, and keep sharpening my blade with a barrel sharpener (like the butchers use) every 12" of cutting or so... whenever I feel the resistance of the blade as it cuts the foam. Doing this will make a massive difference! The other is to use your Dremel with a barrel sanding bit. Once you have removed the rough bits, remove the sanding bit and just use the rubber barrel to finish the foam. If done correctly, it will look just as good as the untouched surface (after using a heat gun to heat treat the material). I hope this helps! If you have any questions about what I said, I can gladly link you to a few videos I created for this info! Keep up the great work, and Axios!

 

[Sean Anwalt]

I can't believe it took me this long to read this build! This is looking awesome! Way better than my first piece, for darn sure.

I will echo what EVAkura stated about the sharp blades and so forth, definitely a necessity, for sure.

Welcome to the 405th, man! And feel free to reach out to myself or anyone in mountain regiment staff with questions or what not. We'd love to have you formally in the regiment!

 

[EddieLadson]

Tannerj9876 so I tested the boots and I can walk just fine i cant fully rock forward on my toe but that is because the shoes I'm using as a base are very warped.

RandomRanger yes I do believe it was your armor that I saw. So for that thank you because otherwise I probably wouldn't be on here showing this build.

EVAkura thanks for the advise I was getting a little impatient towards the end of cutting so some of those pieces came out pretty ratty. I didn't know about using just the barrel of the drum from the dremel. And could you send me a link to the sharpener your talking about when I search barrel sharpener I just get pencil sharpeners, could you be talking about like a kitchen knife honing rod?

Sean Anwalt yes I definitely will reach out if I need to and I would love to join the regiment but I gotta get those 50 posts first lol.

I have a small update:

I made the gungnir knees for now because I couldn't find the fj/para knee pep files so if any of you have a link that would be great. The right one was the first one I made, but I cut in a bevel in the wrong spot so I might remake that one because it curves more than I would like.

 

[EddieLadson]

Small update:

I started on the right thigh. I had a lot of trouble with the layered pieces on the inner thigh so I went to harbor freight and got some thinner foam for that. I havent attached it yet but here is the progress pic.

The piece that is sticking up is something I had to add to make it actually fit my thigh I just haven't trimmed it yet I will need to do a lot of filling on that piece because the dremel got a way from me a few times. I still need to make the ribbed piece that goes on the super detailed area.

 

[RandomRanger]

Still doing great!

I did notice you have a little seam gap on that thigh piece though. There are many ways to fix that, but one of the easy ways is using a $3 tube of Kwik Seal adhesive caulk to fill in the gap and then smooth it out. It takes 24hrs to dry, but it's (lightly) sandable after that

 

[EddieLadson]

RandomRanger yea I need to go to lowes one of these days to pick some up. Ive been using foam clay on the other pieces but I'm not a big fan of it, it is kind of a pain to work with.

 

[RandomRanger]

I haven't worked with foam clay yet, been meaning to try it out. Lemme know how it compares to kwik seal if you do pick some up