Halo Reach Kat - Foam Armor *FINISHED* 10/31/11

[calladar]

lookoin good i like how you did the knee. those are the next parts i have to make. do you have any more ref pics of the lower legs / feet?

 

[HaloGoddess]

The seams look very clean and straight even though they show a bit.
Are you using any sort of hot wire or heat knife to bevel the edges of your joined parts or just slicing with an X-Acto?

I'm using a retractable blade. It sort of looks like a box cutter, but the blade is really long and it's the kind that you can snap off sections of the blade. Don't know if you know what I am talking about. XD There is a picture of it in one of pics when I started working on the 2nd shin.

 

[jdosko]

how much does that kind of foam cost?

 

[HaloGoddess]

lookoin good i like how you did the knee. those are the next parts i have to make. do you have any more ref pics of the lower legs / feet?

I only have what I got posted onmy facebook.

how much does that kind of foam cost?

You can get 4 2'x2' sheets from Harbor freight for around $10-$12. Those 4 sheets can make quite a bit if you fit your templates in right and take up as much space as possible.

 

[HaloGoddess]

Gah! XD Another double post.

Anyhoooo........I just wanted to give a quick update. No pics this time since I am so tired and feel burned out from working for the last 4 days and I have been using all my free time to work on my build and at this time, I feel real shaky. I think I need to eat something.....

Anyway, ForegedReclaimer redid the female thigh after I showed him how the outer side curves inward towards the leg and before he released it, he e-mailed it to me for verification to make sure that the model was top notch. haha I decided to unfold it myself since I didn't think anybody had got around to doing it yet and I wanted to get started on them.

At this point, I have ALL but ONE piece cut out for the right thigh. I will begin gluing later today. I got the day off work finally. XD

The knee pieces are 95% done. I still need to add a black wash to the second one I built. After that, the knees will be 100% completed and I can scratch those off my to do list.

I still need to make the belt, forearm, bicep, chestplate and finish up the prosthetic arm pieces. Then I also need to make the boot armor and figure out what else to do for the boot. Then there is also the daunting task of the helmet. I am down to 30 days left to get this done in time for the convention/b-day present.

 

[0235]

why do the shins look so comfortable? they look really awesome. i think that foam is impossible to work with, so its good to see when people are able to make awesome stuff. good luck with the rest of the build

 

[Brandon McClain]

If you need to borrow a helmet let me know.

 

[DETHANIEL]

everything looks excellent!! very well crafted and painted. and I am very jealous of those shin pieces, could not get mine to turn out right at all. am really looking forward to the rest of your work.

 

[HaloGoddess]

why do the shins look so comfortable? they look really awesome. i think that foam is impossible to work with, so its good to see when people are able to make awesome stuff. good luck with the rest of the build

The foam isn't really all that impossible to work with, but you DO have to figure out how to put more pieces together in pepakura to create templates because with the foam, it's VERY hard/difficult to cut out some of the small pieces that people normally have when doing the builds from cardstock. It can be tricky and if you don't really have a clue as to how to create a good template, then you might find yourself pulling you hair out! lol XD

And yes, the shins are pretty comfortable. I think if I had made those out of the cardstock and hardened with the fiberglass, the top area of the shin would have probably been digging into my leg and that would suck.

If you need to borrow a helmet let me know.

Yes! Yes! Yes!!! lol You have no idea how much that will help me out!

everything looks excellent!! very well crafted and painted. and I am very jealous of those shin pieces, could not get mine to turn out right at all. am really looking forward to the rest of your work.

hehe Thank you. The shins were pretty tricky and after I made the 2nd shin, I felt that I did it better than the first one and almost wanted to make a 3rd one to replace the first shin I made. XD I decided against it though since I just need to hurry and get this done.

 

[Achilla137]

nice work on those knee pieces! so after snooping around a bit on the internet, i found someone who ships to guam and their prices are ok considering i live on an island in the pacific. question is though, is this the foam you got?

http://cgi.ebay.com/16-Square-Feet-...876?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item483f7212f4

he has some that are like 2 pieces that are about 3ft x 3ft and then the link shows 2ft x 2ft in 4 mats at 1/2" thick. is that the size you're using or are you using bigger pieces? Thanks so much!

ps: did you ever solve your foam gap problem?

-Achilla

 

[HaloGoddess]

nice work on those knee pieces! so after snooping around a bit on the internet, i found someone who ships to guam and their prices are ok considering i live on an island in the pacific. question is though, is this the foam you got?

http://cgi.ebay.com/16-Square-Feet-...876?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item483f7212f4

he has some that are like 2 pieces that are about 3ft x 3ft and then the link shows 2ft x 2ft in 4 mats at 1/2" thick. is that the size you're using or are you using bigger pieces? Thanks so much!

ps: did you ever solve your foam gap problem?

-Achilla

Yes, those would be the foam pieces, but I had my blue foam sent to me by a member on this site. My black foam that I have been using was bought from the store. As far as the gap issue, I just did my best with the hot glue and it's not really so much the gap, it's the seams I am trying to cover because I don't like how after I paint it, you can see where I put the pieces together. I need the plasti-dip for that, but I don't have time to deal with that stuff.

 

[thorn696]

Looking really good, I can't wait to see how how this turns out.

 

[ODST Blue]

impressive...most impressive

 

[HaloGoddess]

YAY!!!!

Okay, I ended up screwing up the first thigh I made. I measured myself and since I forgot to double check my measurements for the width (I have some pretty thick thighs since I "worked out" when I was younger) and the part that wraps around my leg was too small and didn't allow the thigh to sit right. I should have kept that in mind when I made the thigh pieces for my hayabusa armor since I had problems with the thigh pieces then too. :\

Lucky for me I immediately re-scaled and double checked everything this time and I knew it would fit for SURE this time. After I built it again, I had a feeling it would be good. I tested the fit and it's perfect! If I didn't screw it up the first time, I would have BOTH done by now since I built both in one day. Oh well. :\

BACK VIEW:

SIDE VIEW:

FRONT VIEW:

SIDE DETAIL:

For the detail, I COULD have just kept that ridge area flat, but I didn't like that so I decided to take the time and cut the ridges. I thought about using the thin craft foam and fold it to make the ridges and then glue it in place, but then I remembered I had a better way of doing it.

This thigh is NOT 100% finished for the build though yet as you can probably tell. I only need to glue on 4 more pieces which won't take long. After that, I can get to work on the 2nd one.

Also a HUGE THANKS to Brandon for having a helmet for me to borrow along with the boot pieces! That's 3 pieces I can take off my to do list!! Knowing I have those out of the way, I think I m ight actually have a complete build done in time to wear to the convention and have a fun, early b-day present. YAY!!!!

 

[TyrDropProps]

The detailing on the thigh looks phenomenal.
Can't wait to see it fully finished.
And I noticed that you mentioned not having time for the Plasti Dip.
It costs about $6 per can of the spray variety and dries in 30 minutes though you may need more than 1 can as they are only stated to cover 5 square feet.
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
For blending the seems I would suggest a very thin layer of silicone caulking within the spaces, It should be flexible enough and can be hidden under paint.

 

[calladar]

wow that thigh looks great (feel like such a perv).... the detail is outstanding. the side detail is incredible. you are steadily catching up. you are working sooo much faster than i am. but i have like 5 different things going on at once. have you decided on a helmet or are you going to borrow one from Brandon?

 

[HaloGoddess]

wow that thigh looks great (feel like such a perv).... the detail is outstanding. the side detail is incredible. you are steadily catching up. you are working sooo much faster than i am. but i have like 5 different things going on at once. have you decided on a helmet or are you going to borrow one from Brandon?

LOL I will be borrowing a helmet from Brandon along with some boot pieces so that REALLY helps out. Once I have the thighs finished, which should be soon, I will still need to make the belt, forearm, bicep and chestplate and then finish working on the prosthetic arm.

 

[Traghatti]

Halogoddess,

Your foam build looks awesome thus far. I'm also working on a foam build, I actually might use your shoulder pieces for reference pics I know it can be frustrating, but keep up the good work!

 

[Arioch]

Ok, have ask... where do you find foam with a smooth side? And your work is beautiful btw.

 

[HaloGoddess]

Ok, have ask... where do you find foam with a smooth side? And your work is beautiful btw.

I've been buying my foam from Harbor Freight. It's basically floor mats and they look like big puzzlepieces because they can interlock.

BAD NEWS guys.

My computer has recently had something bad happened to it. DOn't know what. All of a sudden some window popped up asknig me if I wanted to run some program as it has done in the past, and I clicked cancle, but it would NOT go away! I restarted my computer then all of a sudden some Windows Recovery thing popped up and it keeps wanting me to buy something. I can't close the window and my desktop is blank. All the stuff that I had on my desktop is gone and I did a search to see if my stuff even still existed. It does...........but ALL the folders are apparently EMPTY!!! I have no idea what happened, but I disconnected it form the internet and turned the thing off. I am using my husbands computer right now.

It sucks because now I can't print out the templates for the other things I need for my armor pieces and until my PC problem gets fixed I won't be able to do anything. I just hope that whatever happened doesn't cause me to loose everything on my computer.