Halex's MkVI Build (WIP)

[Halex]

Awesome build Halex. I like your approach to the undersuit parts. Looking forward to seeing this come together!

As for the magnets, would you ever use them to keep armor in place? I'm using webbing/clips to hold major parts together, but then securing with strong velcro - but your post made me consider having mounted magnets in my undersuit and on an armor piece in key places to secure. Like holding up gauntlets or bicep plates in place. Think they would be more secure than velcro?

Thanks statiktv! It's a minor piece of work compared to that amazing undersuit you have, but it works for an H3 build. Magnets in the undersuit is an interesting idea, but I think straps/velcro are traditionally used for a couple of reasons. First is that they're easier to secure to an undersuit with stitching than using some type of adhesive to attach metal to cloth. Second is that a magnet is strongest when horizontal movement is minimized, whereas they would have to be flush with your skin on an undersuit. This seems like it would leave them prone to sliding, and it's almost always easier to slide magnets apart than to pull them. If you were able to have a slightly recessed magnet in one piece and a raised one in the other, that might work though. Perhaps using a couple layers of foam? Just thinking as I type here... certainly could work, and with a foam build everything is so much lighter than a pep one anyway so you might not suffer as much from strength loss with horizontal movement.

Your build is amazing! Very inspiring!

Appreciate you looking in steveo, thanks for the comment!

True, the existing hot glue is too rubbery and thick for the scrawny sewing machine motor to push a needle through. Even if you do get it to work, the needle will gum up with glue. How do I know this? Been there, done that.

Yep I was fighting with that the other night; thanks for confirming my suspicions. With that avenue gone, do you know if I would be able to pre-crease the vinyl along the edges with an iron on the lowest setting? I don't want to damage it, but not being any good at sewing I need to have the piece pre-shaped, which was the previous function of the glue.

 

[RobotChicken]

With that avenue gone, do you know if I would be able to pre-crease the vinyl along the edges with an iron on the lowest setting? I don't want to damage it, but not being any good at sewing I need to have the piece pre-shaped, which was the previous function of the glue.

Vinyl is not very easy to press, but doable. Start low and work the temperature up until you get a crease to hold without damaging the plastic. Practice on scrap pieces. You'll need to have the crease pressed as it cools so it retains its new shape (a wood board works good for this as it will sink the heat and not burn your hands - but might want to wear gloves too). I've done this and it works okay. Quicker is to cut the pieces with extra seam allowance, hot glue or double-side tape the hem away from the stitch line so the needle isn't going through it, then after it's top-stitched (which you'll want to do for keeping the seams nice and flat) trim off the excess seam allowance (or just leave it there because nobody will see it anyway). Don't use pins, though, because they'll leave holes that will slowly get bigger over time.

 

[Levity]

I like the colour of your visor. Where did you get it?

 

[thorn696]

Awesome looking work.

 

[statiktv]

...If you were able to have a slightly recessed magnet in one piece and a raised one in the other, that might work though. Perhaps using a couple layers of foam? Just thinking as I type here... certainly could work, and with a foam build everything is so much lighter than a pep one anyway so you might not suffer as much from strength loss with horizontal movement.

Interesting - i've actually ordered a few rare earth magnets to play around with. you're right about the straps/velcro - but i'd love to find a way to do something different. the recessed idea you have is a really good one. i'm also thinking using multiple magnets and secured in place with a thing sheet of vinyl (vinyl on vinyl is a bit sticky) - but that may weaken the hold. experiment time for sure. if i end up doing something with mags, i'll post in my build thread. thanks for the ideas (and the complements)! keep up the great work.

 

[Halex]

Vinyl is not very easy to press, but doable. Start low and work the temperature up until you get a crease to hold without damaging the plastic. Practice on scrap pieces. You'll need to have the crease pressed as it cools so it retains its new shape (a wood board works good for this as it will sink the heat and not burn your hands - but might want to wear gloves too). I've done this and it works okay. Quicker is to cut the pieces with extra seam allowance, hot glue or double-side tape the hem away from the stitch line so the needle isn't going through it, then after it's top-stitched (which you'll want to do for keeping the seams nice and flat) trim off the excess seam allowance (or just leave it there because nobody will see it anyway). Don't use pins, though, because they'll leave holes that will slowly get bigger over time.

I'll probably give this a shot this weekend with the glue bead farther from the stitch line and see how it goes. Appreciate all the help and pointers, hopefully the second time around will go a little more smoothly.

I like the colour of your visor. Where did you get it?

Thanks Levity, it's two HJC motorcycle visors from Amazon (CL-16 model, I believe). Lower is the mirrored silver, top is mirrored blue. The lower one usually looks gold because of lighting, but it's actually not.

Awesome looking work.

Thanks for looking in, Thorn!

Interesting - i've actually ordered a few rare earth magnets to play around with. you're right about the straps/velcro - but i'd love to find a way to do something different. the recessed idea you have is a really good one. i'm also thinking using multiple magnets and secured in place with a thing sheet of vinyl (vinyl on vinyl is a bit sticky) - but that may weaken the hold. experiment time for sure. if i end up doing something with mags, i'll post in my build thread. thanks for the ideas (and the complements)! keep up the great work.

You got me thinking about how to do a recessed magnet connection scheme for any future projects... nothing concrete yet but then again I still suck at 3D modeling. Basically thinking of a rectangular piece, curved to contour to the bicep/deltoid, with a recessed circle in the middle sized to accept a particular neodymium magnet. If the shoulder had a matching piece, it should fit nicely and still have the ability to move a bit since the attachment point is circular. Add in a few hooks/slots to loop nylon webbing through and it'd be theoretically functional.

 

[RobotChicken]

I'll probably give this a shot this weekend with the glue bead farther from the stitch line and see how it goes. Appreciate all the help and pointers, hopefully the second time around will go a little more smoothly.

No problem. Forgot to mention - when pressing vinyl you don't want to get the iron too hot or you'll be buying a new iron. Why? Once that plastic melts from the iron being too hot it will stick to the iron and there's no getting it off. I personally use hot glue away from the stitch line in my vinyl work. All you need is a very thin layer on the canvas side. Be sure to use heavy duty thread with your stitching, like upholstery thread, because the regular cotton thread will just break on you. It's not strong enough to pull the vinyl seams together tight.

 

[statiktv]

You got me thinking about how to do a recessed magnet connection scheme for any future projects... nothing concrete yet but then again I still suck at 3D modeling. Basically thinking of a rectangular piece, curved to contour to the bicep/deltoid, with a recessed circle in the middle sized to accept a particular neodymium magnet. If the shoulder had a matching piece, it should fit nicely and still have the ability to move a bit since the attachment point is circular. Add in a few hooks/slots to loop nylon webbing through and it'd be theoretically functional.

so I tried something like this out recently (just posted full details in my build thread, link below) - i think you need some pretty strong mags, at least for anchoring armor to an undersuit. armor to armor connection however, might work (in place of clips, like on a cod or something, to secure it around your waist). but i still think you need really strong ones. the 3/4" x 1/16" ones i got just didn't cut it - even using a 2x2 formation. i think you'd need to go thicker (1/4" possibly) and maybe even wider (1" perhaps). then you'd be talkin somethin serious. im def going to keep exploring though. i'll be ordering stronger mags soon.

 

[Halex]

So I've been steadily working on this and wanted to give a small update, even though there's not much to show for it yet. Almost all the time has been spent on the boots, which were the piece that actually kept me from making it to DragonCon. The incomplete undersuit and neck seal could have been set aside, but it's hard to go to a con without boots! As I sat looking at them this week I became more and more unhappy with how they turned out. The bondo work wasn't up to par with what I know I can do and I wasn't satisfied with the finished product. I know it was because I rushed for the con, but it was time to fix it up for Halloween. I took them out to the garage last night and started the sanding. After an hour or so I had made some good progress on one of them.

I was able to round out the flat paper faces that make up the curved sections and fill in some of the smaller divots in the heel area, as well as clean up the seams and edges. A little more smoothing and I'll re-prime and paint them.

The straps to hold shoes in are mounted, and I've made a covering for the area between the "buckle" section and the toe cap. The foam sections are complete and have a base coat of paint on them, and fasten/remove easily. They're not as smooth as I'd like, but considering I haven't worked with foam before I think they came out okay. I should be able to cover any glue lines with some good weathering. I'm able to walk in them, even if they are a bit "moon boot" -ish. I did find that while moving they tended to dig into the Achilles a little more than I'd like, but there's not a lot of room for moving the shoe around.

I'll post more pictures when I can, but lately I've been distracted with my Reach build a lot of nights. This will be finished by Halloween though!

 

[Halex]

I get to double-post because it's my thread, bwhaha!

Updates! Been working on this quite a bit, what with "Halo"ween approaching and all. Put the Reach suit on the back burner for a bit and knocked out the boots:

Much, much cleaner than before. Really glad I sanded it down and fixed up some of the bondo work. Puss in Boots got an upgrade!

Next up was the shins. I was so, so very tired of having to struggle to get them on every time. Solution? Rotary tool cutting wheel.

Five minutes of cutting and a few more of sanding/fastening hinges in place and the problem was resolved. They hinge nicely and fit very well. Once I re-spray the back, the hinges will be barely noticeable and the cut lines will (mostly) disappear. I'll fasten them while closed with small magnets, much like the forearms. The last modification was to the torso. Having the bolts fastened to the back torso piece was causing a lot of issues with binding as I tried to take the piece off, so after much thought, I came to an easy solution... flip them!

With the nuts now being attached to the back piece, I'm able to set the front section cleanly in place and get the bolts in without too much difficulty. On the bottom connection point, I also switched from my pair of small Neo-magnets to one large one on the front and a screw on the back. The screw is set in place so that if I want more connecting power, I can back it out, bore out the top of the hole a little more, and attach a larger magnet to the top while keeping perfectly parallel to the 1/2" x 1/4" neo-magnet mounted in the front section. I'm 99% sure I'll need to do this, as it still tends to pop apart on its own a little more easily than I'd like.

I tried to put the suit on Wednesday evening, and much to my dismay it went horribly! The old bicep/shoulder harness connection consisted of two parts: the backpack/parachute clip on the harness, and velcro holding the clip onto the shoulder piece. I had envisioned the velcro as a nice quick-release way to get them off, while being able to secure the female end of the clip to the velcro, then snap them in place after sliding the piece up my arm. However, after widening the arm bands a few weeks back, I'm able to get in and out of the harness with relative ease, even when the shoulders are attached. Taking the velcro out provided a much more solid bond and they now stay up without issues. I also discovered the handplates were separating from the gloves, so I had to peel them off and re-glue the plates to the gloves. Hopefully they'll hold this time, but only time will tell. The last difficulty was padding in the forearms. While they were nice to wear solo, it made them far too difficult to put on with the rest of the armor in place. I took out the upholstery foam and substituted some EVA in place. It works almost as well but allows me to get them on much more easily.

Fortunately and unfortunately, I'll be on vacation visiting family next week. It'll be nice to see them again and I'll be able to get some help wrapping up the undersuit from someone much more experienced with sewing than I, but I'll also have very little time once I get back to wrap up any remaining structural work before the first party on the 26th. Ah well, I'm sure I can get it done in time.

'Till next time!

 

[Spartan_127]

I know I've been away for a while, but all caught up now.
I love the foam work for the undersuit details. It came out looking awesome.
Everything looks like it is coming together well.
Keep it up!!!!

 

[robospartan]

looks very good love the lichts in the armour

 

[Halex]

I know I've been away for a while, but all caught up now.
I love the foam work for the undersuit details. It came out looking awesome.
Everything looks like it is coming together well.
Keep it up!!!!

Glad to see you back and around again! Unfortunately despite my best efforts the foam undersuit didn't work out too well. I ended up compounding problem after problem, but eventually had to re-do most of it in 100% vinyl. On the plus side, it did give me some ideas for future projects...

looks very good love the lichts in the armour

Thank you! Still have to add them to the torso, then it'll really glow at night.

--

So! I had no idea it'd been two weeks since I had updated this. As I mentioned in my last post, I spent a week visiting some family and had the good fortune of borrowing my mother's sewing skills. I had her sewing machine previously but couldn't get the tension settings right to have it do a nice stitch. Fortunately she figured it out in a matter of minutes and was able to help me fix up some of the issues with the undersuit and neck seal. Without further delay, I present the old and new neck seals.

I'm sure you can tell which is which. The new one uses the same pattern from Blue Realm, but is much better put together and has a concealed zipper on the back for ease of use. Next up were the actual front and back undersuit sections. Here we have the new front, now with no hot glue or foam.

The large center section is now sewn but has the same basic feel it did before with more flexibility and less bulk. The back underwent a complete redesign since the old way I had hidden the straps wouldn't work anymore. I came up with a shape, cut it out, and my mom stitched it all together. It also helped remove all the hot glue seams; they were simply cut out and another pleat was added in their place. Again, not canon but I felt like it kept with the same basic feel as the rest of the suit. The peak of the middle is hidden by the torso when I wear it as a unit, but the majority is still visible. The buckles visible at the top snap it into place on the harness.

The back straps are adjustable and held together by a "tri-glide binder" on the inside. This allows me some great flexibility if I manage to shrink myself some more before it gets worn to the next convention. Once this was all set up, I decided to try everything on at once and see what was left to fix.

Overall not too bad! The biggest disappointment was that the torso REALLY didn't fit with the full undersuit, but that wasn't entirely unanticipated. Other than that, I noticed a few issues.

1) Problem: Shins kept falling down.
Solution: Attach a tri-glide binder to the back of the shin, giving a nice smooth loop to feed a nylon strap through. Attach other end of strap to inside of thigh. Nearly invisible and firmly attaches the two pieces together.


2) Problem: Boots hurt like a... something family-friendly that hurts a lot.
Solution: Glue a piece of 5mm foam to the back of each boot where it was rubbing my Achilles raw.


3) Problem: Cod didn't stay together.
Solution: Attach a small center-release buckle to the inside. It doesn't get in the way of anything else, but should be enough to hold it together along with the magnets and post already in place.


4) Problem: Forearm trap door opens whenever I turn my wrist.
Solution: Glue a piece of elastic to the inside that brings the door close enough to shut by magnet after I move my wrist. They're a little too small overall, but will have to do for Halo-ween. Might consider rebuilding them afterwards.


5) Problem: It's really, really hot in there with the neck seal in place.
Solution: Ongoing. Cutting some vent holes in the helmet is my starting point though. Unfortunately the helmet is too small for an actual fan system so I'll have to see what I can do without that option.

Lastly, I present a small series of pictures as to my torso expansion project. I just began this around 5:00 last night and was done by 9:00 so there's not a lot of time into it yet, but again I'll have it ready to wear this week and can fix up what needs it afterwards.

1) Secure the spacer (white mat board) in place with some bondo hair. This stuff is awful to work with like this, but it has great structural integrity and won't chip away/crack/flake off like regular bondo. Plus it basically stays where you put it once applied.
2) Build up hair around the alignment posts and screw, which acts as the attachment point for the magnet in the front piece.
3) Get the basic shape with a rasp from the hair once it's sufficiently solid.
4) Add regular bondo on top and sand until it looks like it should be there.

The pictures got worse as the lighting left for the day, but you get the idea. They're solid and should be sanded enough to put on tonight as a test fit. I also had to re-do the upper attachments (again) since the angle changed. I'll put up some more pictures once I know it all works.

Also, one closing picture. My affinity for Halo has not escaped the notice of my co-workers, and the suit has actually become somewhat of a novelty among the team I work with. When I came back from vacation, I found they had decorated my cube for me...

They went to great lengths to make it look as if a grunt's head exploded with confetti inside my cube, even to the point of adding party hats to all the desktop backgrounds and having the Halo theme playing as I walked into the office. As you can see in the background, the other guy who took PTO at the same time I did got his cube filled with boxes. Vacation is dangerous around here...

Anyway, let me know what you guys think! Always excited for feedback. Looking forward to posting the next update!

 

[Halex]

Well it's been a long road and I certainly have some more work to do yet, but I was able to get the suit put together and ready for "Halo"ween! Even managed to take home second place in the office costume contest and net a nice little prize. Shown below with my friend Sean who was very helpful in making sure I didn't knock anything over and general movement around the office, as well as translating what people said since I couldn't hear a thing!

I'll probably be taking a little bit of a break from working on any of the Halo costumes for now, as I could use some unwinding time. I'll still be around lurking on the forums though, and will be back to update the thread when I begin repairs and modifications for Dragon*Con 2014.

Wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone who has helped, supported, and commented over the last year. It's been a ton of fun, and I look forward to sharing more projects in the future with this amazing community!