First project - MC Mark VI HD Suit

[Axios8591]

Hello guys,

this is my first project (started some days ago) and i want to share it with you all.

Before the pics, a great THANK YOU to this community that introduced me to this hobby, plus i've found in this forum all i needed to get started. Thank you!

Less words, more pics now...

Printed pieces on card-stock 200g/m^2



I choose to cut all pieces first, leaving some paper around them to preventing them from breaking while moving and/or searching for a piece.



I started from the upper part of the helmet



First problem: if you look the visor in the right side of the picture, you'll notice that is not symmetrical, this because i glued a piece not really well. I just kept going paying more attention in applying the next pieces. I thought that it was going to solve itself once the back part of the helmet was complete.



Finished the front part.



Almost done pepping!



It fits! Also if maybe is a bit too small, i'd like your thoughts on that... (My roommate said that if i cut my hair it will be perfect but that's not an option! )




One question: when i'll resin and apply the fiberglass (i'll probably go for cloth one), the upper part (the 3rd pic) looks hard to work on, especially in the inside, so i was thinking to leave a spot open in the back, in this way i'll be able to see what i'm doing and where i'm applying the fiberglass. Is this possible? Or i'm worried for nothing?

That's all for now, i'll keep updating..

 

[edwardjlw]

Nice peppin so far, Keep it up! To me it does look a little on the small side but like your room mate said it might just be your hair that makes it seem that way

And if you feel more comfortable with the back section off, then I'd say go for it, but I think it's unnecessary. You can always use a stick or something to really push the cloth into place, or you could even go with rondo to harden up the front brim section instead of fiberglass. It's up to you though.

Good luck mate, lookin good so far

 

[Axios8591]

Nice peppin so far, Keep it up! To me it does look a little on the small side but like your room mate said it might just be your hair that makes it seem that way

And if you feel more comfortable with the back section off, then I'd say go for it, but I think it's unnecessary. You can always use a stick or something to really push the cloth into place, or you could even go with rondo to harden up the front brim section instead of fiberglass. It's up to you though.

Good luck mate, lookin good so far

Thanks! About the size and the "hair issue" i'll try to buy a cap or something that keep my hair down while wearing it.

Now i finished all the pep work, in a couple of days i'll buy the fiberglass cloth or the Rondo and i'll start hardening it. I also still have to buy all the safety materials like the organic vapor respirator. I will probably restart working on it from next week, and i'll upload more pics as soon as i'll start.

 

[Axios8591]

Update..

I've spent the last few days searching materials and a place where i could safely apply resin and bondo.
----
About the materials, here is what i've found (i live in italy so no "Bondo"):

1. Resin, is the one that you get when buying fiberglass in the complete kit, so i hope it will work fine (10,80 euro);



2. "Fake" Bondo, here is a bet, i have no clue if it will work or not, even the salesman couldn't tell me if it was good or not for that kind of work. I'll have to try it out and see. (4,50 euro);



3. "Fake" Spot Putty (3,50 euro)



If anyone (italian or not) can give me some feedback on the materials it would be great, i searched in 6 shop before finding those.
----
About the workplace, after an huge cleaning work i managed to free some space in my garage so now i'll be able to work there, but only for 1 hour in the evening (can't work during the day) and prolly not every day.

So since sometimes i'll have some freetime but i won't be able to work on the helmet, and since i'm not sure yet about what type of suit i want to build, i'll use that time to increase my pepping skills with some other pieces:

Scorpion Tank by Bevbor


And i'd also like to make a weapon, i'd like to start with a M6 (M6G is my favourite one), right now i have the .pdo file modeled by Spartan-279 and converted and unfolded by Carpathiavh99, sliced version. However if any of you have some suggestion about which pep file to use i'd like to see them aswell. For what i saw by searching in this forum, making a good detailed weapon is not easy at all.

 

[RobotChicken]

I don't think the Stucco you got for spot putty will work out (although I could be mistaken). From the photo, it looks to be the stuff used for drywall smoothing and texturing, which is more like a plaster than fiberglass putty. It will be crumbly and crack easily after drying. You might try shopping online for the Bondo products if they're not available locally. Helmet looks great, by the way.

 

[Axios8591]

2 Good news! 2 Bad news!

1st Good news: i applied the resin today and it is the right one, is not fully dry yet but seems fine.

2nd Good news: a girl told me i look sexy with the organic vapor respirator on.

1st Bad news: i think the girl was being sarcastic.

2nd Bad news: i don't like much the shape of the helmet, i tried to fix it with some support before applying the resin but i don't think it will work. Maybe i'll have to remake it.

So, for now i can only wait, tomorrow the resin should be fully dry and i'll see.

 

[morkar78]

Is the fact that the girl was sarcastic really more problematic that the possibility that you have to do your helmet again?

 

[Axios8591]

Update time! Now with pics!!

So, i finished to apply the first coat of resin, now i'm waiting for it to dry. I may have solved the problem on the helmet by correcting its shape with more supports and a thing that i'll call "the usefull little thing" (the red thing in the first pic).

I also already finished the hardener that came with the resin :angry i think the seller gave me an half empty one :/

Here comes the pics





----

Is the fact that the girl was sarcastic really more problematic that the possibility that you have to do your helmet again?

Sure! Ahahahaa

 

[Chernobyl]

Update time! Now with pics!!
I also already finished the hardener that came with the resin :angry i think the seller gave me an half empty one :/

Doubtful. Are you absolutely sure you haven't just been mixing the batches up too 'hot' by adding more catalyst than you needed? It's easy enough to make that mistake, I've done it plenty of times myself.

Looking good, either way - that's a rather ingenious anti-warp system you have there.

 

[Axios8591]

Doubtful. Are you absolutely sure you haven't just been mixing the batches up too 'hot' by adding more catalyst than you needed? It's easy enough to make that mistake, I've done it plenty of times myself.

Looking good, either way - that's a rather ingenious anti-warp system you have there.

Possible. But i paid much attention on % of hardener, plus when i opened the hardener for the first time i noticed that it wasn't full but, since it was the first time, i thought it was ok like that.
Anyway this saturday i'll return to the store and buy another one, i'll check if also that one will be not totally full, and in than case it will mean that it was my mistake.

 

[Axios8591]

So today i finally choose the type of suit that i'll build, and, since there aren't many of them on this forum yet (sarcastic uhuh), i'll make an HD Mark VI MC suit!!!
I'll maybe edit it a bit by adding some little detail from other suit, like a Knife on the chest (like CBQ) or on the shoulder (like Emile from Reach), and probably a case for my smartphone on the forearm, will have to see if i can and how do that while i'll pep those pieces.

Because of that today i started by printing and glueing a handplate of the Mark VI, here's the pic:



Do you think the size is good? To me it looks ok, considering also that i'll wear a gauntlet.

The helmet is finishing to dry, the weather is not my friend in those days

Now i see if i can edit the title of this thread, and i'll change it to First project - MC Mark VI HD Suit.

 

[Carpathia]

It actually looks a bit large. You're going to have a little trouble moving your hand upward with the forearm armor on.

 

[Axios8591]

It actually looks a bit large. You're going to have a little trouble moving your hand upward with the forearm armor on.

Mmmm seeing also your suit (awsome one by the way, i'd be really happy if i'll get any closer to your level of details) i guess you're right, i'll try to rescale it down. Right now Depth is 105mm, i'll try to make it to 95mm and see.

 

[Carpathia]

I believe mine were somewhere between 90 and 95, so that should fit you fine. Great job on the pep, though.

 

[Axios8591]

Resized the handplate to 93mm, it looks a lot better now



On the week-end i'll be busy so i'll continue the works from next monday

 

[Axios8591]

Back to work! I recently received a copy of the limited edition of Halo 4, so i can finally continue MC's story! This is also the reason that took me away from this project in last few days

But now it's time to show some progress, if there's any. The pic will explain itself... (also, sorry for the quality of the pics but i take them using my phone and i can't work on a nice background to show you because of the little space i have)



I'm going to remake the helmet because now that i cut and glued some pieces i'm sure that i can re-make a better one. So, till now all i have is 2x handplates and i started to work on the left forearm (with some problem at sizing it).
Not much progress as you can see, i'm going really slow. The good thing is that i don't have any end-date to complete the work, so i can take my time and get the level of details that i want.