Halo Reach Mk V armor - My first foam build

[SI3RRA 117]

Well your stuck with spartan skittles no matter how much paint you put on it lol. Painted parts look great in the dark . Im impatient and enjoy he painting most and paint pieces as I finish them as well. In all seriousness tho looks like your making great progress and your foam skills are quite impressive. Seams are so clean are you using a contact cement for adhesive? Look forward to the next update

 

[Jesse]

Lol thanks SI3RRA 117. Woke up to a super smooth and dry helmet this morning.
Definitely making progress - trying to trooper through so I dont lose my motivation. I don't have much in the way of time constraints - theres a con in Oct but prob wont make that one as I'll be juggling a newborn! Next one I know of is next May... so yeah, plenty of time til then.
Back to your question, I'm using super glue for all joins. Seems to do the trick and is very quick setting.

 

[Dirtdives2424]

What brand super glue? I tried the original Crazy Glue brand and the foam started to smoke so I stopped using it.

 

[PaiganBoi]

Yes what brand do you use? Does it come in large volumes? Considering how much you have to put together you must have gone through a lot.
Dirtdives, seriously?? It's started to smoke on contact??? That is some scary stuff.
This is the stuff I use for small areas and details.

 

[Dirtdives2424]

It gave off a very acrid smell.....

 

[Jesse]

Hey PaiganBoi Dirtdives. In all honesty, it's just a cheap superglue brand from my local hardware store. Here's the link Number 8 Super Glue - Adhesives | Mitre 10™. I have used the Bostik brand as well which is a bit more expensive but just as good. Not sure if that is available in your part of the world. Through my experience with wargaming I've found that some other superglues can be quite acrid smelling and also more prone to leaving a white powdery residue around the contact area. I've never had anything melt or smoke though! Scary stuff mate. And yip, I have used a fair amount of glue! Lol. I tried hot glue initially but just couldn't get the joins to meet clean and tight...so I opted for the SG. Hope that helps.

Btw, I have ordered some plastidip cans - some matt blue and matt black...hopefully they arrive by the weekend!!

 

[PaiganBoi]

Have you tried using contact cement? Barge is the most popular among foamsmiths. But it's not available is some parts of the world. You can buy it off Amazon but it can be a bit pricey.
Lucky for me, I recently discovered a cosplay supply store here in my neck of the woods that sells it. I will try buying some once my supply of cement runs out

 

[Jesse]

Nah, havn't tried contact cement PaiganBoi. I had a look online at local products...if I'm looking at the right stuff does it come in smaller bottles or tubes? I've used contact adhesive in a spray form...you spray on both pieces, leave to become tacky and then press together for a strong bond.
May look into something different for future builds...

 

[Jesse]

Hey hey everybody! Exciting times over this weekend...my plastidip arrived!
Super stoked at how a few coats has turned out! Is smooth to the touch and has really finished off all my seams quite well. After the first spray I was a bit shocked at how bright the colour is...but once the additional colours, markings, shading and weathering is done it'll no doubt tone it down a lot. Comparing to my Vanity scheme too I'd say it's a pretty good match.

Sprayed a forearm in black too...I may actually do all pieces in blue plastidip and then handpaint secondary colours and details to avoid the tedious task of masking up.

I've also gone back and made some alterations to my chest piece. Was never quite happy with the square-edged "arm-holes". I felt they needed to be more curved and after seeing a few other peoples' builds I decided to change mine. I ripped off my skittle foam and dremeled the egded til round and smooth. I then used 2mm foam and made larger pieces that wrapped over the egdes. Much happier with the result now.

On another note my supply of super glue has run out... =( will stock soon as I have cut out all the parts for both biceps. The upper body is coming together!
Til next post peepz!

 

[SI3RRA 117]

Helmet turned out great. Haha definitely a skittle blue. Chest improvements looks great too.

 

[Jesse]

More exciting progress tonight! After painting the black and grey areas on the helmet I did a black wash over the blue, followed by selective grey drybrushing and silver weathering. C&C appreciated...should I concentrate weathering any further on particular areas? Or does it look OK as is? I didn't want to overdo the look...but can easily add more. I put the temporary test visor in to see how it looks. Will finish it all up with a matt varnish.

 

[PaiganBoi]

Ooooooooooooh. The black wash really helped take down the brightness of the blue. The weathering looks nice.
In my opinion, I would add a little more of a chipping effect on top of the scratches, with the metallic paint. Just to make it look more beat up.

 

[Jesse]

Haha skittle blue...thanks SI3RRA 117...I just had to go for that blue. Thanks for the feedback PaiganBoi. I was hoping someone would say add more...so I'll do just that! So do you mean add more/bigger silver chips? Or maybe like some sort of black edging on the chipping like on your weathering tut? Black wash definitely did the trick too. I use the same technique when painting wargaming miniatures to good effect.

 

[PaiganBoi]

I would go with more and bigger silver chips.

 

[Dirtdives2424]

I agree. just keep in mind of where they would be rather than just random locations.

Taste the HALO......Eat the HALO....

 

[Jesse]

Small update. 90% finished construction on the left bicep and have cut out all parts of the right one. Intermediate matt clear coat on the helmet to protect paintwork to date - still a few details to add. Got some 2mm thick clear acrylic sheet - will attempt to heat and curve a custom cut visor some time soon. In the meantime did a quick size/fit test (photos curtosy of my wife) of all the upper body parts - helmet and arm pieces are still a little loose fitting and free spinning until I sort internal padding and some sort of harness system to keep it all in the right place. (PS - chest buckles arent done up on the waist but they do match up! Also, my Halo 3 AR that has been put on the backburner until my Reach Cosplay is done - still undecided on my weapon of choice to make from the Reach era)

 

[SI3RRA 117]

Looking good, forearms/ gauntlets may be a little on the small side. Bicep turned out nice great job on the detail work...

 

[Jesse]

Thanks for the feedback SI3RRA 117 . They might be a wee bit on the small side but in the pic they are actually slipping down my wrist a bit so it makes them look even shorter. As they are though, when positioned properly on my arms, I can properly bend my arm without any issues. By the end of it all if I think they look out of place I'll assess it again =)

Edit: Just added some additional pics - do these angles make the forearm look any better?

 

[SI3RRA 117]

Sorry I feel bad harping on someone's scaling.... this is a big struggle for me as well. My one finished build I have is all scaled wrong...... most being too small. But In my opinion it still seems a bit small. The piece it self is an awesome piece of work. Not trying to bring your spirits down or discourage you. All your work has turned out great keep it up.

 

[Jesse]

SI3RRA 117 No hard feelings mate, I appreciate the honest feedback. I may look at them again at a later date once the biceps and gloves are constructed and when I have a harness system which will hold them all where I want them...will then see how it all meshs together and whether they look terribly out of place. Thank goodness I have plenty of time til I have any Con to go to. Lol

Edit: I googled some in game images and I think if anything the outer part of my forearms is what seems too short...the inner arm is perfect for me as it meets the bend of my forearm/bicep bang on - any longer and my arms will be stuçk straight out like a vintage star wars action figure. Lol. So if I decide to redo them I'll look at modifying that part of the model.