Halo 4 Orbital Armor build [first time + WIP]

[SirPalesAlot]

I don't know if this will work for what you're doing, but these people make a nozzle for Plasti Dip cans to help increase coverage so you don't have the pinhole problem. https://www.dipyourcar.com/product.php?productid=70&cat=13&page=1

You may be able to use a nozzle from some other spray can you have laying around. That might be worth a shot as well.

Also, if you want a smooth look you can also paint a layer of Krylon fusion paints on to the Plasti Dip, and then wet sand it until it's as smooth as you want it. I think this method combined with the dip nozzle from that site would produce the best results over all. You could get nice base coverage with the Plasti Dip, and then wet sand out any problems you have during the fusion stage. Then you could add whatever paint you wanted onto that with little to no problem.

I am not too sure how well the paint will hold up when the foam flexes, but it might be worth testing out. I know Krylon Fusion paints were designed to flex a bit as long as they were cured properly, but to what extent I am not sure.

 

[HammerE419]

Just a thought, Impact props makes some Halo suits and for the honeycomb pattern they use the mesh from laundry bags.
Heres an example

 

[statiktv]

Hey, thanks! The setting is actually kind of a (~) kind of stitch, so it took a lot of trial and error to line them up right and get the hex-ish pattern. There are still a couple of areas that look iffy, but it's a start. Seriously considering my next bodysuit in spandex with fleece backing to get the pattern, but I'll bake in that one, too. ... I bought the white aerosol plasti-dip when I first started working on this build since I knew I would have a white paint job, but I've since come across threads that have addressed the bubbling issue. According to what I've read, it's common with the white plasti-dip for some reason, and the black doesn't bubble nearly as much...

Your undersuit is coming along great! The pattern is killer. As for the plastidip, I'm pretty sure I'm going to roll with the brush on kind and use a foam brush. I'm still going to test a bit more, but I know i've had some good success in the past.

Might I suggest leaving the pieces to dry in the garage instead? The direct sunlight, and heat from this, could be causing the plasti-dip to cure too quickly, causing the pin holes...

Ahhh this is a great point. I don't have a garage, but I'm planning on making a covered area or something when I go into full paint mode. And thank you!

First off, thanks for the compliments And if you're talking about the undersuits for the reach builds I bought a motocross padded top. I took out some of the elbow pads because they ended up being covered but I mainly bought it for the spine...

So the indents on the shoulders and such are all from the motocross suit? It looks great, works very well!

I don't know if this will work for what you're doing, but these people make a nozzle for Plasti Dip cans to help increase coverage so you don't have the pinhole problem. https://www.dipyourcar.com/product.php?productid=70&cat=13&page=1

I'll have to check that out, thanks!

Just a thought, Impact props makes some Halo suits and for the honeycomb pattern they use the mesh from laundry bags.
Heres an example

Good effect! The raised look looks good. For this build I've totally committed to the stenciled look. In the future however, i'm definitely going to explore other options.

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BIG UPDATE - UNDERSUIT COMPLETE

Finally! The last few weeks i've been cranking on the undersuit. The pattern pieces themselves came together rather quickly for the lower body - however the accessories/details took a long time to build out of foam, cover in leather, paint, then glue/attach to the suit.

Pics!

A few detail pieces

And with some armor!

Again - Full build pics here if you want to see progress shots.

Next up:
- Probably going to start the chest

Comments/suggestions welcome as always!

 

[Xtremenoob]

Love the undersuit, it makes me want to start sewing

 

[cha0skn1ght]

@elusch99, @Leonidas1, @stryde - Thank youu! seriously



Very cool! See below, I just did a test spray to see how it will look. As for the undersuit, the planning was very necessary, however, plans changed dramatically when it came down to it. I have zero knowledge of sewing (still do haha) and I already know what I'm going to do different next time. For instance, I'm really not taking advantage of the spandex nature of spandex - I wanted it to be skin tight! However, it's just not that way because I did't know how to size the pattern I made in a way that would do that. I just found a rashgaurd in my closet that fits amazingly like what I wanted, so in hindsight, I probably should have used that as my base pattern and altered it. I'm going to do that with a pair of leggings actually for my lower body. I checked out your build, that undersuit is lookin killer. I love the "hex" pattern. is that an automatic setting on your machine? it looks legit!

QUICK UPDATE

I was excited to see how the painting would look, so I just spent the last few hours doing a test spray to see what it will look like and to start practicing with painting techniques.

First off was the plastidip. I could not get this stuff to work right for me! i used the spray can kinda and found if very hard to get adequate coverage that wouldn't have micro bubbles/pinheads in it when sprayed with spray paint. Below is what I'm talking about:

A - Two coats of spray plastidip, dried for a half hour in the sun, then sprayed with Montana Gold spray paint ("Marble" color)
B - Brushed on liquid plastidip, one coat, dried for a half hour in the sun, then sprayed with Montana Gold spray paint ("Marble" color)

A has the bubbles I was talking about. this I'm not a fan of.
B got the job done in one coat, but it will be hard to get an even coat here i feel (there will be tiny bumbs/brush strokes where the dip puddles)

That being said, I think I'm going to go with B. Its a cleaner, better option I feel. I simply don't want to risk the bubbles and with my light color, the black wash will bring those things right out and I will be displeased. I'd rather deal with a few brushstrokes than the hassle of the spray plastidip. Any suggestions here though?

comments/suggestions anticipated (especially around that plastidip issue... grrr...)

Same thing happened with me no matter what I tried, along with it making a grit texture. Which plastidip are you using? I was using white and couldn't prevent the little micro bubbles at all. I switched to black plastidip and I don't have a problem with them anymore. I don't know what difference there could be between black and white plastidip, but I know white has bubbles and black doesn't.
I talk about this topic in my build thread in my sig kind of early on.
ps, your undersuit is wicked good

 

[Apothacary]

Oh Ma Gawd, that undersuit looks amazing man! Nice work, seriously. That amazing, I literally am at a loss for words on what else could be said.

 

[Kinggoobero]

NICE! Adding on to your progress I see. Excellent work!

 

[statiktv]

Love the undersuit, it makes me want to start sewing

Thanks! Give it a whirl. Definitely a learning curve if you haven't done it or don't have anyone to teach you, but it's decently easy once you get the hang of it.

Same thing happened with me no matter what I tried, along with it making a grit texture. Which plastidip are you using? I was using white and couldn't prevent the little micro bubbles at all. I switched to black plastidip and I don't have a problem with them anymore. I don't know what difference there could be between black and white plastidip, but I know white has bubbles and black doesn't.
I talk about this topic in my build thread in my sig kind of early on.
ps, your undersuit is wicked good

I was using the black on both A and B - I think what it is is simply not enough coats or thick enough layers. I've since explored other options and have included a few notes about it in the update below. ps thank you!

Oh Ma Gawd, that undersuit looks amazing man! Nice work, seriously. That amazing, I literally am at a loss for words on what else could be said.

thanks man! i really appreciate it. your build is coming along great, love the colors! also re: seams - i've been using an acrylic heavy modeling paste. its a lot like caulking is my guess, only more epensive hah, but it's getting the job done really well (in case you needed more options).

NICE! Adding on to your progress I see. Excellent work!

much appreciated!

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QUICK UPDATE

I was sick all last week and then i was traveling the week before, so not much has been done. But i was able to crank out the elbow deflectors and knee pads this last weekend.

Also, I explored using rare earth magnets as an armor attachment method. i used 3/4" x 1/16" 48 grade neodymium mags from amazon. i recessed one side of the foam so they'd fit together like legos and not slide around. i then covered with a stretch liner and rubbed hot glue into the fabric to make it stiff, but not glue the actual mags down. upon testing, it worked well.

I could wave it around and it stayed on pretty well. however, when bumped into (which will most def happen at cons/crowded spaces) they came right off. i feel like in order for this to work, i'd need to double or triple the strength of the mags. theres something about velcro that i just don't like (perhaps its the crinkly sound it makes when it moves, sounds very cheap) so i'm going to keep exploring this.


And lastly, I experimented with a new sealer. I bought some flexible pH neutral PVA book binding glue from amazon as I heard that works well. The first go at it, i just brushed it straight on and did about 2 coats. The issue there was that you could see every stroke - no good. Also, it rubbed right off. so then i watered it down to more of a soupy consistency and did about 3-4 coats of the stuff on a test piece. the strokes disappeared, and it sealed the foam effectively. it also became quite durable and didn't rub off nearly as easily. below is a test paint spray using the PVA sealing method on some mock armor (foam bits glued together, not a final piece):

The paint pealed off on one side (i think one of my blue painters tape is WAY too sticky... also I am ridiculously impatient when it comes to letting paint dry. have to work on that.) the peeling will be avoided for next time.

Anyway, that's all for now.

Next up:
- Thigh foam construction

 

[harican89]

hey man, iam really impressed by your custom undersuit. i will copy some of these tricks for my undersuit too ^^
thanks for that... but anyway:

i think, that you are not statisfied with the result of plastdip and the efficiency of it in comparison with the price.
i have a little advise for you. last year i made a foam suit by myself and i didnt want to spend 60€ on plastidip. from xrobots (ironman build from UK) i get the adise to work with pva, which is the basic content of white wood glue. light coats painted on eva foam seals the surface and prevent these tiny bubbles in the paintjob.
you need several thin ayers and the varnish brush to paint simple white wood glue (which normaly includes pva) as a second thin skin for painting. but you cant sand this new skin easi00gly.
if you want to give it a try, spend 8€ on 500g of wood glue (water proof for the best). a few month ago i made a german tutorial for this. it has some crappy subtiltes ^^

btw: the paintlayer is still flexible with a pva coat. so your armor is still flexible like befor or with plastidip. ^^

hope this gona help you. if you want some "result" pictures i can capture some of my armor. the paintjob is really nice and plastidip couldnt create a better result in my opinion (sry for the bad english ^^)

edit:
here is one example. closeup of one of my shoulder pieces
3 layers of pva, then a final thin layers to prevent bubbles an light-sanding the last layer to get the primer on (you can use very light coasts of plastidrip spraypaint or sprayable primer for sure.

edit2:
btw what did you use to make these "detail" parts you posted on top of this page. leather and what? styrofoam?
And how did you stick them on your undersuit

 

[tabris89]

[/quote=statiktv]I could wave it around and it stayed on pretty well. however, when bumped into (which will most def happen at cons/crowded spaces) they came right off. i feel like in order for this to work, i'd need to double or triple the strength of the mags. theres something about velcro that i just don't like (perhaps its the crinkly sound it makes when it moves, sounds very cheap) so i'm going to keep exploring this.[/quote]

i was also planning on using maganetas, but unless they are strong-ass magnets or you have a pletniful amount, i dont think theyr as feasable as we would like them to be. problem is, when you start stacking them like you did, they get heavy. and like you said, when they get bumped, they slide right off

Most people with armors, from what ive seen , use side release buckles. thats what ill be using but i imagine the magnets could be used in the gap the buckles make to hold together there.

please dont think im trying to put down your methods here, you have obviously done an incredible job already ill be watching this thread to help with my own foam armor hope ive helped in some way!

 

[Halex]

One of the things I've found about those type of magnets is that they have to make perfect contact to hold well. With the stretch liner over top, I think that will greatly lessen their ability to hold in place. I recently bought some 1/2" x 1/4" from Amazon and I'm barely able to pull them apart. I will be using them to re-do the torso and cod connection points, and I'm concerned that once they are in place I won't be able to pull it apart again! j/k, but seriously they're strong. Might want to give that a shot, if it's an option.

 

[BHF Dark Phoenx]

dude you did an amazing job so far i cant wait to see the rest of it, and the body suit is amazing i will have to commission one from you(if you would do it of course lol) keep up the amazing work man

 

[SirPalesAlot]

If there was some way you could attach two snap fasteners/snap buttons to the armor pieces I think that would work well. Attaching them to the under suit would be easy, but the armor piece could get tricky. They are pretty cheap so it might be worth looking into.

 

[HellJumper149]

Your work so far looks amazing! Can't wait to see what more you create. What is the white on your foam pieces you've made? Is it just thin foam sheets layered on top of the grey foam? it looks really nice, and i want to learn as much as i can so the things i make can look even better.

Keep up the great work

 

[elusch99]

Your work so far looks amazing! Can't wait to see what more you create. What is the white on your foam pieces you've made? Is it just thin foam sheets layered on top of the grey foam? it looks really nice, and i want to learn as much as i can so the things i make can look even better.

Keep up the great work

Check the last post date before you post, if the last post was more than two months ago-ish than it's considered a necropost, we try to avoid those.

 

[ErMaC]

Wow. True work of making your own under armor. Great work.