1st Build Halo Reach Foam Build (Complete)

[PokProps]

Okay well I pretty much finished the second pair thighs today. This was really hard, but it taught me a lot. Less trim, but I like the inner thigh better. Overall not much a difference in terms of fit. It is narrow on the inside, but still need to cushion it at some point. I need to add the details to the coffin shape in the middle of the outer thigh but that is very simple.

I think if I were to re-do thighs, I would not close the circumference and then work on putting the inner thigh layers on. I would probably do all the layers of the inner thigh along with the major pieces and then close the circumference.

View attachment 301271 View attachment 301272

Edit: Clarity

those thigh pieces are clean, they look really nice. do you plan on adding LEDs to them in the future

 

[scorch]

those thigh pieces are clean, they look really nice. do you plan on adding LEDs to them in the future

Thank you! I received some very cheap LED lights in the mail today that I ordered over a month ago. Today I think I will tinker with seeing if they can work somehow...I don't know how to make my own LED's yet. I saw a tutorial to use Christmas lights that are battery powered but I have yet to find any in a store or even online. These cheap ones I got were from wish.com lol.

 

[scorch]

It has been several exhausting weeks so I have not been able to update.

A while ago I purchased a kit from Rock Lobbster to try a shot at assembling kits on my own to see if I can handle the process. His work is beautiful . Let's see how much of his fine work I can retain with my hand at this!

Here is most of the kit. The scope is not included in the picture.

Since this is my first time doing this I ran into a lot of odd road bumps gluing this together. Super glue did not work on most of the connections even after cleaning and sanding the surfaces with the exception of two pieces. Every now and again I find that Gorilla Glue doesn't hold, even for foam pieces. I haven't figured out what is going on.

The middle of the rifle snapped into two, shattering the internal square guide rod being shattered. I sanded down the guide rod and switched to a plastic bonder epoxy. I had more success with this but it left much more of a mess. This gave me practice at sanding.

Below is also what happened after ample plastic bonder/epoxy did not hold.

I sanded down the surfaces that didn't bond with the epoxy again today and attempted gluing them together again.

I am going to let this set for several hours before I attempt to glue the scope or sand down the surfaces. To prepare for tomorrow I went on a goose chase that took 4 hours to find this product:

I have 100, 120, 150 grit sand paper and some sanding sponges. I am going to try to wear down the print lines, fill the gaps with wood glue or some alternative, then finish with this bottle and then repeat sanding a bit. I'm hesitant to use the mouse sander but I may use that first.

 

[Rock Lobbster]

that is the longest clamp I have seen to date

 

[scorch]

I think I like sanding despite feeling like I butchered this thing. Time flew by today and it was pretty fun actually. Can't tell if I went too far, or stopped too early.

I couldn't get every little corner, and when I tried using the mouse sander I would shear off angles.

This is what I feel like using a mouse sander.

This is after 2 coats of that product that was recommended to me above. I won't have time to sand this coat today. After coating it with this stuff most of my concerns disappeared. Pretty cool.

 

[scorch]

Okay I made progress today. I could have probably kept working on filling and sanding the seam lines and the joints. I decided to stop since I realized I would probably not attain enough satisfaction in a timely manner.

I guess next I have to 'prime' it for paint.

 

[scorch]

Since I can't prime or paint anything yet I figured I would experiment with something.

I wondered if I could make the lower pieces on the chest armor that connect the front to the back better with larger pieces like I did with the other armor parts.

I used my old stencils and taped them together. This went by a lot faster. It seems a lot cleaner. Some of the joints have a bit of a step because the pieces stuck instantly. Overall I am much happier with these. I am also surprised how fast it went as opposed to doing multiple pieces. This was a lot easier.

I didn't glue in any of the hollow parts. In case I make another full set of chest armor maybe I can use lights.

 

[Rman240]

It has been several exhausting weeks so I have not been able to update.

A while ago I purchased a kit from Rock Lobbster to try a shot at assembling kits on my own to see if I can handle the process. His work is beautiful . Let's see how much of his fine work I can retain with my hand at this!

Here is most of the kit. The scope is not included in the picture.

View attachment 304448
Since this is my first time doing this I ran into a lot of odd road bumps gluing this together. Super glue did not work on most of the connections even after cleaning and sanding the surfaces with the exception of two pieces. Every now and again I find that Gorilla Glue doesn't hold, even for foam pieces. I haven't figured out what is going on.

View attachment 304449

The middle of the rifle snapped into two, shattering the internal square guide rod being shattered. I sanded down the guide rod and switched to a plastic bonder epoxy. I had more success with this but it left much more of a mess. This gave me practice at sanding.

Below is also what happened after ample plastic bonder/epoxy did not hold.

View attachment 304450

I sanded down the surfaces that didn't bond with the epoxy again today and attempted gluing them together again.

View attachment 304451

I am going to let this set for several hours before I attempt to glue the scope or sand down the surfaces. To prepare for tomorrow I went on a goose chase that took 4 hours to find this product:

View attachment 304453

I have 100, 120, 150 grit sand paper and some sanding sponges. I am going to try to wear down the print lines, fill the gaps with wood glue or some alternative, then finish with this bottle and then repeat sanding a bit. I'm hesitant to use the mouse sander but I may use that first.

Holy cow that seems like a process and a half. Any idea from why it wasn't bonding properly? Maybe the clamps were to tight causing friction to the structure causing it to break? I'm glad it's working for you and I hope you can give some more insight on projects like these thanks!

 

[scorch]

Holy cow that seems like a process and a half. Any idea from why it wasn't bonding properly? Maybe the clamps were to tight causing friction to the structure causing it to break? I'm glad it's working for you and I hope you can give some more insight on projects like these thanks!

Honestly I have no clue why the superglue or the epoxy didn't hold on some segments.

It didn't snap while clamped or immediately after unclamping. It broke when I was fidgeting with it. I was kind of "stress testing" it by holding it and doing some movements that were not very forceful.

I wondered if it was because the temperature was maybe a tad too low. I wondered if it would have been the same if I had done this on a warmer day with less humidity in the air. Running into this same problem with 2 kinds of adhesives makes me feel confident that it wasn't either glues fault.

I did notice that when I clamped the pieces together very tightly with the epoxy it ended up holding together quite well. I clamped the hell out of it...The glue would end up spilling outside from the junction because of the pressure though which made a mess. I haven't figured out how much glue is too much. I won't lie what I did was probably overkill

 

[scorch]

Making another chest rig. Most of the work is done it seems with this new method it is a lot easier. This are some random pics of what I got done.

Having this stuff lay around with my other pieces is driving me insane. I need to get this all coated once the weather warms up here.

 

[BlackbirdCos]

Those edges are beautiful! What's your secret?

 

[scorch]

Those edges are beautiful! What's your secret?

I think I have just been doing these same pieces over and over (and over) again. I appreciate it!

The biggest tip I received from Spidermonkey60 was to angle my blade when I cut pieces out of the foam initially. This is was different than what I was doing before I started this thread months ago, which was just cutting the pieces out, and then stabbing at an angle.

 

[scorch]

Well here is some more that I cut out. This new method seems to help a lot. I experimented some more with combining pieces.

I made this piece below and then wondered if I could do it differently. This was partly inspired because I messed up the other side. It's a bit of a different look but it makes assembling easier I suppose.

This is as far as I got today. Maybe I'll finish tomorrow? Then hopefully I can just leave this be until I can plastidip some stuff. I have way too many unfinished pieces hanging around my living area.

 

[scorch]

Got very close to finishing today until I ran out of glue, and it also seems like my hot glue gun is malfunctioning.

Some very rough spots but overall I think this is stronger than the last unit I made. Each time I do this I learn more and more of what i would do differently. Drawing the line here though after this one .

 

[scorch]

Got this far yesterday. I hope the rough edges buff out with coating, paint, or battle damage effects.

 

[SpartanSweed]

It’s looking great!

 

[Dire]

I feel bad for the lower back right and left side of that suit, cutting out those shapes was really hard, mine turned out horrid and cause me to well do a simpler armor, but yours looks clean and awesome!

 

[scorch]

Okay this is practically done. I took some artistic liberties - instead of making some things hollow, I used another layer of thin foam to make the detail similar. This new way I approached this took this down from 1 month to 1 week about. May have been shorter if I wasn't cleaning up and setting my station up for work over and over again.

I think I will go with my last one that I made but this was good practice.

 

[scorch]

I feel bad for the lower back right and left side of that suit, cutting out those shapes was really hard, mine turned out horrid and cause me to well do a simpler armor, but yours looks clean and awesome!

Thank you kindly. Those parts were very hard for me the first time I did it. The more detailed chest I made before this had a very very rough spot that encouraged me to try a new simpler approach like you mentioned.

 

[scorch]

I am really happy so far. I can't believe this is coming together. I have learned so much.

I got around to seam filling and using plastidip. I can see what filling seams can do to remedy some cuts that aren't as smooth.

I also learned how plastidip can make some "nlemishes" not so apparent.

Forearm and Belt:

Upper Arm:

Thighs:

Legs: