Hey all,
Long-time member, not-so-recent visitor. Just came back to the 405th not too long ago, after a very long absence. Been focusing my prop-building efforts on most things Star Trek mainly, busy kitting out a bunch of stuff on other prop forums. Now that I'm close to wrapping up my most recent production run, as well as a couple commissioned builds, I decided it was time to come back and focus on what brought me here in the first place; building a suit of SPARTAN armour
When I first joined up here, I'd originally wanted to put together a set of Mk VI MJOLNIR armour like the Master Chief's from HALO 3 (only ever got so far as putting together most of the helmet out of a Pep file skinned in sheet styrene), but as HALO: Reach came out, and after seeing LilTyrant's awe-inspiring KAT build, my attention shifted to the way-kewl armour developed for that game. I then opted to do up my Noble Six character's version of the armour, which is a combination of Air Assault and ODST components.
The plan is to make the body armour entirely out of foam, with only the helmet being Pep'd with a styrene skin as I'd done for my Mk VI helmet. The array of tools will be pretty simple, only an X-acto knife for cutting out the many individual pieces and a hot glue gun with plenty of glue sticks, lol. The materials being used are the large puzzle-piece floor mats available in packs of four at Wal-Mart, which cost about $15.00 plus tax. I've got a couple packs down in my workshop.
I'll be layering it with 1/16" thick craft foam to achieve any raised or recessed surface details. Once assembled, I will be applying a rubber coating (which I found is available in spray can format, typically used for pick-up truck beds) to cover up any seams and add a little flexibility. Everything will be attached with nylon straps and 3/4" clips.
Anyway, here's the few WiP pics I have to show of my efforts thus far:
Though the helmet file I used was by far the most accurate put out at the time I downloaded it (don't know if a newer, better model has been done since), there are still a few areas on it that aren't quite to my liking. As such, I will be reworking those areas to make it much more game-accurate to satisfy my inner perfectionist standards, lol.
I've traced out and have begun cutting out the pieces for the torso. I plan on starting from the top and working my way down the body, so next up after the torso will be the shoulders, then biceps, then forearms, etc. I figure by starting this now, I'll have it mostly finished before the cold weather comes back around and I won't be able to paint anything (don't have any ventilation in my workshop, and I don't want to gas the wife, lol). I hope to have this ready to wear for Ottawa Comic Con next May :cool
Long-time member, not-so-recent visitor. Just came back to the 405th not too long ago, after a very long absence. Been focusing my prop-building efforts on most things Star Trek mainly, busy kitting out a bunch of stuff on other prop forums. Now that I'm close to wrapping up my most recent production run, as well as a couple commissioned builds, I decided it was time to come back and focus on what brought me here in the first place; building a suit of SPARTAN armour
When I first joined up here, I'd originally wanted to put together a set of Mk VI MJOLNIR armour like the Master Chief's from HALO 3 (only ever got so far as putting together most of the helmet out of a Pep file skinned in sheet styrene), but as HALO: Reach came out, and after seeing LilTyrant's awe-inspiring KAT build, my attention shifted to the way-kewl armour developed for that game. I then opted to do up my Noble Six character's version of the armour, which is a combination of Air Assault and ODST components.
The plan is to make the body armour entirely out of foam, with only the helmet being Pep'd with a styrene skin as I'd done for my Mk VI helmet. The array of tools will be pretty simple, only an X-acto knife for cutting out the many individual pieces and a hot glue gun with plenty of glue sticks, lol. The materials being used are the large puzzle-piece floor mats available in packs of four at Wal-Mart, which cost about $15.00 plus tax. I've got a couple packs down in my workshop.
I'll be layering it with 1/16" thick craft foam to achieve any raised or recessed surface details. Once assembled, I will be applying a rubber coating (which I found is available in spray can format, typically used for pick-up truck beds) to cover up any seams and add a little flexibility. Everything will be attached with nylon straps and 3/4" clips.
Anyway, here's the few WiP pics I have to show of my efforts thus far:
Though the helmet file I used was by far the most accurate put out at the time I downloaded it (don't know if a newer, better model has been done since), there are still a few areas on it that aren't quite to my liking. As such, I will be reworking those areas to make it much more game-accurate to satisfy my inner perfectionist standards, lol.
I've traced out and have begun cutting out the pieces for the torso. I plan on starting from the top and working my way down the body, so next up after the torso will be the shoulders, then biceps, then forearms, etc. I figure by starting this now, I'll have it mostly finished before the cold weather comes back around and I won't be able to paint anything (don't have any ventilation in my workshop, and I don't want to gas the wife, lol). I hope to have this ready to wear for Ottawa Comic Con next May :cool