First build: Thom A293 based concept armor

[Thom A293]

And now I double posted .
Did not mean to do that.

 

[Thom A293]

Been working some more on the suit and I had made one of the biceps, but sadly it was too small. For some reason I wasn't going off of the sizing template I made, so it looked way off. Instead of remaking it immediately, I made the two thigh pieces and wow do they fit really nicely. As another little addition, I went in with a sharpie and marked points on all of my armor pieces. I then dremeled holes for screws I will add later on.

I want the suit to look as realistic as I can, so I will be adding a lot of detail like rivet/screw holes, wires on the under suit, joint assist units on most of the joints, more detailed spine piece, etc.. I just really want this suit to look realistic, if that means I take some extra time, I'll do it. For the detail on the suit, I am looking up a lot of HALO concept art, fan art, and halo 5 concept art, just to see added detail and see what detail a lot of the suits have in common and try to implement that into the reach suit. The reach suits are just not the most detailed. Not to much however that it ruins the iconic look of the suit, just enough.




Here is what my idea is for my neck seal and the joint assist units. The joint assist wouldn't be as big as this, just noticeable:


I do really like this style of joint assist though out of the few styles I found.

A lot of this will be hopefully done later on, right now I just want to get the basic pieces built out, then I can go in and add to them and build the undersuit! Really excited for this build, get all intricate with detail but hopefully not overboard. Too much and its just a mess and it will loose the Halo reach look. Ok, second try at the biceps...

 

[Thom A293]

So made the biceps. I thought with having the first one (the one that was too small) as a template, I could make sure I got the two proper sized ones looking right and not having the mistakes, but what ended up happening was a different assortment of problems and issues that rose up when building. I am just happy they are done and I know they will be somewhat covered with the shoulder pieces that I will make later. I also added the rivet holes in the biceps just like what I have done for the rest of the suit.




Sorry about the bad picture quality, the camera seams to like close-ups and not really anything else .
Also none of the parts are sitting on me right except the thighs and maybe the forearms. I will add padding inside all the parts and there is still the under suit that will add thickness.
I really got to stop putting the chest piece on like this since its not meant to be something you squirm into.

A question I got is at what stage should I add the magnets to hold the two half's of the chest together when I do split it? Is that a do now thing or do it after sealing?

 

[StayFrosty]

Are you going to be glue sealing the armor? If you are, It probably would be better to split the armor afterwards. I don't think it really will make a huge difference either way though. Great work! You've been moving really fast!

 

[vivalablake89]

Biceps look Great, I remember having a lot of complications when I did mine as well, I think they are very difficult to size because biceps have more of a width difference between people then a length which is most of the sizing issues I've been hearing from people.

Overall this build is looking amazing can't wait to see what else you have in store for us. Also those extra holes for the bolt effect looks killer bro!

 

[Thom A293]

Are you going to be glue sealing the armor? If you are, It probably would be better to split the armor afterwards. I don't think it really will make a huge difference either way though. Great work! You've been moving really fast!

I wasn't thinking of glue sealing it, if by glue sealing you mean hot glue. I don't want to put the glue down and re-heat up some other glue pulling the seams apart. I have Kwik seal that I will use to fill it in. Yeah I didn't really know, I just thought I would ask. Sealing it first so I make sure it keeps its shape is probably best.

Biceps look Great, I remember having a lot of complications when I did mine as well, I think they are very difficult to size because biceps have more of a width difference between people then a length which is most of the sizing issues I've been hearing from people.

Overall this build is looking amazing can't wait to see what else you have in store for us. Also those extra holes for the bolt effect looks killer bro!

Yeah, the sizing was pretty hard, the issue I had was the center side of the bicep piece, where the shoulder plates would attach. Each one of the biceps I made I had to do some modification of adding or removing foam. The shoulder pieces will cover some of it and draw the eye away so I think it will be fine.

 

[Thom A293]

Update time:

I have been taking a slight break on the rapid fire foam building and am doing some 3D action! I bought pepakura and transferred the pep armor pieces to blender (free modeling software). I haven't finished scaling them to make sure they are the right scale I need, but they roughly are and are also in the basic spot they go.

The first thing I did was make the chest piece modifications I wanted. I think it looks pretty good but I still have to make the over the shoulder unit (probably will create today). Here are some before and after shots:




The helmet from the concept art I am basing my build off of I am happy to say that I have finished it! I also have imported it into pepakura, unfolded, and organized the 2D pieces. The unfold isn't perfect, somehow in the transfer from blender to pep, it messed up two parts. One is a east fix, just draw a line, the other might have to be freehanded, but it is a small piece. Right now I just don't know how to upload it ! I don't want to go the 4shared way but would like to upload it directly onto the 405th, like how a lot of files are. If any of you know how, I'd love to know.


Another thing I am kinda excited about is that now that I pretty much have my Spartan armor in the digital world, later on I can use the 3D model as a paint tester to get the pattern I like. I also might mod the crotch piece to make it more like the concept art, idk.

 

[kaween]

That looks brilliant ! Very nice, very very nice indeed. *super-human sized big thumbs-up*
As for uploading stuff, contact Chernobyl, she'll sort it out I'm sure. I kinda simply use a shared link of my onedrive myself for the stuff I make available but I agree, a direct located-on-405th is always preferable, certainly in the long run.

 

[PerniciousDuke]

Wow, great modeling skills too! This build is looking outstanding. Are you left handed? I ask because in your first 3d model you switched the shoulder pieces from the concept so that what I consider as the firing guard is now on the right shoulder.

 

[Schankerz]

My jaw literally dropped at the chestpiece, superb work on that and I cannot wait to see you build those add-ons! I'm also looking forward to your M73 Light Machine Gun, will you be making a pep file for that too now that you've shown us you've got the skills to do so.

 

[mblackwell1002]

Hey, man! great work!

as a fellow modeler, as well as others, I've had the same upload problem.
Here's the steps:
1: click the folder in which this armor belongs(MJOLNIR Mk V Armour)
2: at the very bottom left there's a little upload button.
3: click it, and follow the instructions on-screen.

The only hindrance is that you need 90 days and 60 posts:cry

after that, it's upload galore!

I really think this concept armor's great!

 

[Thom A293]

Wow, great modeling skills too! This build is looking outstanding. Are you left handed? I ask because in your first 3d model you switched the shoulder pieces from the concept so that what I consider as the firing guard is now on the right shoulder.

Yes I am left handed . Even after all the thinking I have put into this so far it was not that long ago I realized I needed to switch the shoulder and forearm pieces around!

My jaw literally dropped at the chestpiece, superb work on that and I cannot wait to see you build those add-ons! I'm also looking forward to your M73 Light Machine Gun, will you be making a pep file for that too now that you've shown us you've got the skills to do so.

Yes I will be making a pep file for that too. The helmet I currently did for foam, but all it needs is some simple work in pepakura to make it paper worthy. I don't really know what I will be making it out of so it could be a foam pep or a paper pep, but no matter it will have all the pieces so if need be whoever can re-organize in the 2D menu.

That looks brilliant ! Very nice, very very nice indeed. *super-human sized big thumbs-up*
As for uploading stuff, contact Chernobyl, she'll sort it out I'm sure. I kinda simply use a shared link of my onedrive myself for the stuff I make available but I agree, a direct located-on-405th is always preferable, certainly in the long run.

Contacted, thank you! I contacted before mblackwell1002 replied! Now I learned how to contact people though! I was good for Christmas, maybe Chernobyl will let me upload even though I am under 60 posts??

Hey, man! great work!
as a fellow modeler, as well as others, I've had the same upload problem.
Here's the steps:
1: click the folder in which this armor belongs(MJOLNIR Mk V Armour)
2: at the very bottom left there's a little upload button.
3: click it, and follow the instructions on-screen.
The only hindrance is that you need 90 days and 60 posts:cry
after that, it's upload galore!
I really think this concept armor's great!

Thank you, now I know how to upload the file, I just need to either have a lot more days on the forum or more posts. I will do it! For Narnia!

 

[Thom A293]

Ok so my computer was down recently but I got some stuff to show . First off I made the 3d model for the over the shoulder tactical unit thingy.

I probably will have to modify the chest to get it to fit, but it shouldn't be to hard. I think I will also have a more powerful light in it than what will be in the helmet, more of an actual flashlight.

I also made the first of the two concept shins! The other one I am making now and am about to start gluing it together. I pretty much just modified the concept shin 2d menu, connecting certain faces and dethatching others to make it foam worthy. I was pretty surprised how well it was in how I didn't have to mess with the model or anything.

Last little thing I have been working on is the M73!
The first rendition I had looks ok but I know it needs some tweaks to it, so for a comparison I am making a second version of the front part and seeing if I like that one better.
Old:

New:

There is a level of detail difference cause I just haven't gotten to that yet on the new version.
I will also be redoing kind of the rest of the old model from the front back. Trying to clean it up and making it a bit more model worthy since I first was just trying to copy the concept art.
I'm going to try to take a lot of parts from the reach rifle too since this M73 is being used in that time frame. My finished result will hopefully be a mashup between them.
Here is my reference for the reach ar:

 

[Thom A293]

Abb wrap and knees are modeled out:

 

[ArmoredAmir]

The "tactical unit thingy" (Whatever it maybe called. It could be like a communicator/radio extender not sure) looks awesome! I can't wait to see your build completed! The shins are looking sexy as well. Then you gotta do the knees which shouldn't be hard at all.

 

[Thom A293]

Did some work on the helmet, I am hoping to finish it here really soon. Tonight I gotta be quiet so no power tools . But I will print another template and get to work on it!

 

[vivalablake89]

WOWWWWW!!! You never seem to disappoint that helmet is coming out amazingly and those shins whew I'm getting Goosebumps over here! Also the M73 is coming out beautifully, can't wait to see all your stuff assembled.

 

[Schankerz]

I....I've got nothing....just keep building and let me sit here in awe some more....

 

[Sturmwulfe]

Mate, I've been waiting for someone to build that gun for ages. <3 Looking awesome!

 

[Thom A293]

I tried seeing if the resources were more complete and would allow me to add files, so I tried to make one for the helmet but it didn't give me any spot to add the file... Soooo I am guessing that it wont be approved since it doesn't have anything in it, oops.