First Armor Wip Mark Vi
- Thread starter momoss
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I've seen some people completely remove the inner thigh and use craft foam. I'm in the process of doing it to my daughter's MK VI thighs, and if I like it well enough I might do my own. You might want to check into it. I hear it is way more comfortable as well. I think I also added a tiny line of craft foam across the top and bottom of my shins/thighs to take some of the impact, and it worked out great here at a local con. It also stopped that annoying clacking sound when walking.
Looks AWESOME! i keep getting more and more stoked for my suit! and THANK YOU!!! for the tidbit on a matt clear coat, i had thought about doing it to remove the gloss, but had not heard of anyone trying it or their luck, so thats what im going to do since im using two gloss blue colors on my paint job (when i get to it)
Sgt chibi usagi
New Member
Hey! I've seen you lol
momoss
Active Member
Dragoncon is coming again and its time to drag my suit out of the depths of that chest in the corner of my room! Time to get to some issues!
First of all those toe caps are a pain. Last year they did not stay on at all and made me miss the parade! Dx So this time I'm not going to cut any corners and go all out to make sure they stay on. No hotglue oh no...I'm going to use Great Stuff and Shoe Glue to keep those things on from another WIP build I saw. Not sure how im going to keep the garage door liner attached to the boots, I may either attach them with great stuff or end up nailing them in there. Hope the nails dont mess up the soles.
Another thing thats been bothering me is the visor on the helmet. Its not flush up against it like I've seen with other peoples helmets and its annoying and makes it look less nice. I haven't thought of a way to solve this problem yet and would like some advice on it.
Thats how the visor has been installed, the hotglue is holding but I think im going to end up putting great stuff in there to permanently fix it in there. The hotglue is starting to weaken. Also a double visor would be nice if I could get a hold of another one before Dragoncon. If I do I'm going to cut up the older one because the tint is cheaper and I can see myself through there sometimes lol
I have some other things to work on after this. The thighs and shins need some repair work. The inner plates of the thighs need to be removed and replaced with something a bit more flexible like thick craft foam. The shins need to have the damaged parts trimmed off in the back where it was clashing with my thighs. Paint scratches will be touched up to look like metal scratches, I'll do that every year with the suit lol 24 days to go!
First of all those toe caps are a pain. Last year they did not stay on at all and made me miss the parade! Dx So this time I'm not going to cut any corners and go all out to make sure they stay on. No hotglue oh no...I'm going to use Great Stuff and Shoe Glue to keep those things on from another WIP build I saw. Not sure how im going to keep the garage door liner attached to the boots, I may either attach them with great stuff or end up nailing them in there. Hope the nails dont mess up the soles.
Another thing thats been bothering me is the visor on the helmet. Its not flush up against it like I've seen with other peoples helmets and its annoying and makes it look less nice. I haven't thought of a way to solve this problem yet and would like some advice on it.
Thats how the visor has been installed, the hotglue is holding but I think im going to end up putting great stuff in there to permanently fix it in there. The hotglue is starting to weaken. Also a double visor would be nice if I could get a hold of another one before Dragoncon. If I do I'm going to cut up the older one because the tint is cheaper and I can see myself through there sometimes lol
I have some other things to work on after this. The thighs and shins need some repair work. The inner plates of the thighs need to be removed and replaced with something a bit more flexible like thick craft foam. The shins need to have the damaged parts trimmed off in the back where it was clashing with my thighs. Paint scratches will be touched up to look like metal scratches, I'll do that every year with the suit lol 24 days to go!
Roughosing
New Member
hey if its not too late , about the warpped helmet , what you could do is before resin-ing it cut it at the corner of the helmet where the brim meets the part near the ear , and just fold one side over the other until the Brim looks right!! it works its what i did , just use it like a flap , hope it helps!
momoss
Active Member
Hmm I might give that a try since I have a lot of that stuff. It'll leave a rubber black border around the bottom of the visor but I gotta get rid of them gaps! Thanks for the advice! Oh and Roughosing, I've been fixed the warp a long time ago by just mashing the helmet down on one side before I resined it. I noticed that the brim on my helmet comes down a little more than it should because of that and makes my visor look slightly smaller than it should but thats okay, im a short person xD
Roughosing
New Member
Hey just a quick question , what was the scale of your helmet? , bcoz it seemed to fit nicley
gmstrowabarton
Active Member
Monicator On my boots last year I use the same rubber stuff and I used screws to hold it on the shoe screwed right into the sole. I also thing if you get some epoxy putty that might help with the gap on the helmet.
momoss
Active Member
Its the default scale for the HD helmet, unfortunatley I dont remember what scale that was at all now, and I cant seem to find the txt document where I listed all my scales at Dx As soon as I find it I'll let you know.
momoss
Active Member
Well I put some Shoe Gloo into action and heres how the boots look now...
It turns out that the Shoe Gloo is strong enough to hold the garage door liner in place so screws were not necessary. My dad convinced me not to use screws because he said that it will eventually wear down the soles and stab me in the foot xD Do not want Lol I need to use that Great Stuff on the toe caps today. Right now they are only being held on by a bit of Shoe Gloo where the toe caps come in contact with the boot itself. I need expanding foam to fill in the gaps and secure it for good, then they should be convention worthy. I may use the great stuff on my handplates too because one of them came off after the first day of Dragoncon last year. The gorilla glue I put on it held for the rest of the con but I dont feel like having wardrobe malfunctions this year lol Ive seen a few WIP with epoxy putty being used on the helmet and I think I like how those turned out. I want to try it though the gaps on my particular helmet are huge in comparison and its gonna require some repainting...I should have done that when I was building my helmet D:
It turns out that the Shoe Gloo is strong enough to hold the garage door liner in place so screws were not necessary. My dad convinced me not to use screws because he said that it will eventually wear down the soles and stab me in the foot xD Do not want Lol I need to use that Great Stuff on the toe caps today. Right now they are only being held on by a bit of Shoe Gloo where the toe caps come in contact with the boot itself. I need expanding foam to fill in the gaps and secure it for good, then they should be convention worthy. I may use the great stuff on my handplates too because one of them came off after the first day of Dragoncon last year. The gorilla glue I put on it held for the rest of the con but I dont feel like having wardrobe malfunctions this year lol Ive seen a few WIP with epoxy putty being used on the helmet and I think I like how those turned out. I want to try it though the gaps on my particular helmet are huge in comparison and its gonna require some repainting...I should have done that when I was building my helmet D:
ARMYofONE2469
Member
I liek ur booties! 
Keep it up!
Keep it up!
momoss
Active Member
Wouldn't you know it, I go to the local motorcycle shop today to see their selections of replacement helmet liners and visors and its closed Dx Better luck tomorrow I guess. The boots are sturdy and good to go, they just need to be repainted in the areas where the Great Stuff is showing. On to the next task!
I covered the visor in plastic wrap and then covered that with aluminum foil because I dont trust plastic wrap alone, could rip and then my visor will be exposed to the elements Dx The plan here is that im going to masking tape up the outside where the gaps are and then from the inside apply that Great Stuff foam to seal the gaps and make a good foundation for the visor to be glued on the inside as well as for the filler on the outside. When the foam is cured I will remove the tape on the outside and apply either epoxy putty or that wall spackling of my dad's (Since it worked so well in the bondo phase) and sand it smooth. Then I'll paint those parts like the rest of my helmet and that should get rid of the gaps. If I can afford another visor I will be cutting up the old one for the dual visor effect. Then all it will need is some padding and maybe a fan...maybe lol
I covered the visor in plastic wrap and then covered that with aluminum foil because I dont trust plastic wrap alone, could rip and then my visor will be exposed to the elements Dx The plan here is that im going to masking tape up the outside where the gaps are and then from the inside apply that Great Stuff foam to seal the gaps and make a good foundation for the visor to be glued on the inside as well as for the filler on the outside. When the foam is cured I will remove the tape on the outside and apply either epoxy putty or that wall spackling of my dad's (Since it worked so well in the bondo phase) and sand it smooth. Then I'll paint those parts like the rest of my helmet and that should get rid of the gaps. If I can afford another visor I will be cutting up the old one for the dual visor effect. Then all it will need is some padding and maybe a fan...maybe lol
momoss
Active Member
Its getting there...
A few updates!
Trimed out the back of the shins a bit so they dont clash with the thigh armor when kneeling or doing other exaggerated movements. Yes I'd like to be able to do all those cool poses too xD They were pretty banged up and damaged in the back which was the other reason why I trimed them. It makes the shins look less cool in the back though, I may pad it up with some craft foam and patch up the bodywork with more of that drywall stuff! Lol Im out of bondo and I dont plan on buying any.
Removed the first 2 inner thigh plates on both thighs. I decided to leave the last one in there cause it was not damaged and it would make for more space to attach the foamies to.
Damage damage damage Dx Those things had to go, the codpiece did a serious number on them. If it wasnt for the holes and warping I would have just repainted them. Going to replace them with that craftfoam you see there. I think that foaming video tutorial will come in handy now, I will use hot glue to rebuild the look of the inner thigh plates and I will attach them to the thighs via hot glue and Great Stuff.
As for the helmet, the visor has been removed and the gaps filled in with great stuff and all purpose joint compound (Love that drywall stuff!). It takes 24 hours to dry though which means Im done working on that piece today. Tomorrow I will sand it smooth with fine sandpaper and start painting it to make it look like it should have last year. I'll hold off on reinstalling the visor though. I really want to do the dual visor this year.
I popped in my Halo 3 so I could see all the details up close, now I have a better idea on how to make my template.
Right now im rebuilding the inner thigh plates out of foamies, gonna be a bit im kinda new to the whole gluing foamies together to make awesome armor thing. Cant wait to attach them to the thighs, they look funny without all their inner plates right now.
Edit: Oh Roughosing, I found the scale I made for the helmet. It is indeed default at 26.5cm, but unless your short in stature or have a small head I would go with something a little bit larger. I had to trim the bottom a little bit to be able to get my head through.
momoss
Active Member
All purpose joint compound is great xD
The gap is officially gone. Even with the visor not in there yet the helmet looks a lot better to me. I cant even tell where the bondo ends and where the compound begins.
Inner thighs are foamies now except for the last one at the bottom. I need to mix some glue/water together and start sealing them so I can paint them, unless someone has a better way on how to seal these things.
I decided I didnt like how the shins ended up looking in the back, so I'm going to rebuild the back out of Great Stuff and carve in its old shape...thats going to be fun! Going to use those taped up foamies as a ghetto mold of sorts lol I'll also reinforce the top area with more Great stuff, and maybe spray some of it at the bottom too so it can stop scratching my foot when I put them on.
The gap is officially gone. Even with the visor not in there yet the helmet looks a lot better to me. I cant even tell where the bondo ends and where the compound begins.
Inner thighs are foamies now except for the last one at the bottom. I need to mix some glue/water together and start sealing them so I can paint them, unless someone has a better way on how to seal these things.
I decided I didnt like how the shins ended up looking in the back, so I'm going to rebuild the back out of Great Stuff and carve in its old shape...thats going to be fun! Going to use those taped up foamies as a ghetto mold of sorts lol I'll also reinforce the top area with more Great stuff, and maybe spray some of it at the bottom too so it can stop scratching my foot when I put them on.
Vigilnt sniper
Jr Member
looking great my friend. cant wait to see it all on you.
momoss
Active Member
10 Days till Dragoncon, the big countdown starts now! I ordered my secondary visor online today it better come this weekend >__<
I greatly improved the look of my shins by rebuilding the damaged pep out of Great Stuff and foamies. Sadly with that, Im out of Great Stuff now. There was a little bit left in the can but the nozzle got stuck and wouldn't come off and it clogged itself shut inside...bummer.
I also redid the padding inside my forearms using hot glue this time. It stays on much better than the spray on glue I used last year and cutting the foam in strips was better than just jamming it in there. Less foam with the same padding strength!
I went scavenging in the basement and found this cpu cooler. My dad says it can run off of a 9v battery so I think I found my helmet fan! Though I dont have to worry about my visor fogging up anyway when the new one comes from Amazon.com, that one is anti fog. Would make it nice for air conditioning though, I know how hot the armor can be outside Dx
While test fitting last weekend I ran into a little problem. The hot glue gave way on my belt box's straps....again! This happened last year at Dragoncon, the only thing keeping those things on me when that happened was the pressure between me and the belt Lol Those straps take the most stress out of the entire costume mainly due to those thigh straps that sit right next to them on both sides. Im not putting up with that crap this year, Im resorting to Gorilla Glue! I'll be damned if they come off again. I will eliminate ALL weak spots in the armor!
I threw the visor in there just to show you how much that gap went away. Its actually still there a little bit, I guess it cant really be avoided but its A LOT better than what it used to be. I wont do anymore to it, its my first armor after all its not going to be perfect.
Old Look
New Look
Going to seal the foam on the thighs and shins in the morning and repaint a few things where the original paint scraped off and the paper is showing, I guess I didn't have enough clear coat last year. If I can get some more foam padding I would love to pad the back of the chest. The chest needs some serious padding. It keeps sliding foward and hits the back of my helmet Dx I kept having to adjust that thing every 15 minutes last year so I could move my head around better and I dont want to have to do that again. Im thinking a crap load of padding in the back will fix that problem cause right now it has none lol
I greatly improved the look of my shins by rebuilding the damaged pep out of Great Stuff and foamies. Sadly with that, Im out of Great Stuff now. There was a little bit left in the can but the nozzle got stuck and wouldn't come off and it clogged itself shut inside...bummer.
I also redid the padding inside my forearms using hot glue this time. It stays on much better than the spray on glue I used last year and cutting the foam in strips was better than just jamming it in there. Less foam with the same padding strength!
I went scavenging in the basement and found this cpu cooler. My dad says it can run off of a 9v battery so I think I found my helmet fan! Though I dont have to worry about my visor fogging up anyway when the new one comes from Amazon.com, that one is anti fog. Would make it nice for air conditioning though, I know how hot the armor can be outside Dx
While test fitting last weekend I ran into a little problem. The hot glue gave way on my belt box's straps....again! This happened last year at Dragoncon, the only thing keeping those things on me when that happened was the pressure between me and the belt Lol Those straps take the most stress out of the entire costume mainly due to those thigh straps that sit right next to them on both sides. Im not putting up with that crap this year, Im resorting to Gorilla Glue! I'll be damned if they come off again. I will eliminate ALL weak spots in the armor!
I threw the visor in there just to show you how much that gap went away. Its actually still there a little bit, I guess it cant really be avoided but its A LOT better than what it used to be. I wont do anymore to it, its my first armor after all its not going to be perfect.
Old Look
New Look
Going to seal the foam on the thighs and shins in the morning and repaint a few things where the original paint scraped off and the paper is showing, I guess I didn't have enough clear coat last year. If I can get some more foam padding I would love to pad the back of the chest. The chest needs some serious padding. It keeps sliding foward and hits the back of my helmet Dx I kept having to adjust that thing every 15 minutes last year so I could move my head around better and I dont want to have to do that again. Im thinking a crap load of padding in the back will fix that problem cause right now it has none lol
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