Halo Wars 2: Sunray 1-1 Lance Corporal Sparks

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TurboCharizard

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I've come to that point in time where my original ODST costume from... four years ago has sat unused and collecting dust for more than 8 months and is in dire need of an upgrade to show my improved skills as an armourer and a maker. The theme of this build will be to challenge myself with techniques that I've attempted previously and expand on them to carry them out more elegantly. Welcome to Project: Sparks.

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The immediately obvious as thing that would make Lance Corporal Sparks stick out from a crowd of ODSTs is that he has two rather unique pieces of equipment with him. The first being the M99 Stanchion Gauss Rifle and the second being the LCX-20V1 SinoViet Sight Augmentation Module. Both of these pieces of kit have some pretty cool optical challenges to them.

The Stanchion has a big scope on it and when a prop like this is a centerpiece of a costume you want everything to feel real world. Based on my previous experience adding NATO standard rails to props I intend to make this a "functioning" night vision scope using the powers of Rasberry Pi, some tricks with video processing and a heavy dose of cheesing the IR spectrum. Due to the size of the overall rifle there's plenty of room to hide a camera, controller and sizeable rechargeable battery all in one removable optics kit.

The SinoViet kit is a bit more daunting due to the visor profile of an ODST helmet matching almost perfectly with the augmentation module rendering effective actual vision to near zero. The helmet is going to need standard cooling fans, a series of cameras and screens and a whole lot of good stuff contained inside to keep me from cooking my brain and steamrolling folks in the outside world.

The concept art for Sunray 1-1 uses a Halo 3 style of ODST BDU with slight modifications in several areas such as unique shoulders, extra pouches and different rucksacks. The in cinematic models of Halo Wars 2 ODSTs look closer to Halo 2 style with a more angular helmet and less hard plating (also H2A SOEIV). The promotional art has a closer to Halo 3 depiction of ODSTs including the iconic shins and knees and more rounded helmet as well as the M7S. Then there's the game models that are an interesting combination of things.
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Between the several art styles that exist I'll be leaning more toward the style of the first image of this thread since it's closer to my aesthetic preferences and working to make this as faithful a build to that artwork as possible while still making it comfortable and easy to get into and out of. There's no hard deadline for this build but if I can have it done for the end of May and the next round of big cons I'd be extremely happy.

As usual I will use the original post as an index to link to other posts of note as well as a tracking sheet for progress and material consumption.

Wish me luck folks.

Thread Index
Helmet - Halo 3 ODST [Designing]

Modelling - 14 hours
Print Time - 50 hours
Sanding/Cleanup - 8 hours

Helmet - Halo 2 ODST [Designing]

LCX-20V1 SinoViet Sight Augmentation Module - [Designing]

Torso - ODST + Camouflage Netting [Scaling]

Shoulders/Biceps - Romeo Sharpshooter(L) None(R) [Awaiting Progress]

Gauntlets - ODST[Modelled/Tested]

Modelling - 8 hours
Print Time - 22 hours
Thighs- ODST with Tactical/Soft Case [Scaling]

Shins/Boots- ODST[Scaling]

Under Suit - [Awaiting Progress]

M99 Stanchion Gauss Rifle [Designing]

Modelling - 12 hours

M6C/SOCOM [Sanding/Cleanup]
Modelling - 6 hours
Print Time - 32 hours
Sanding/Cleanup - 3 hours
Combat Knife [Awaiting Progress]


Build Cost Tracking
Materials Consumed

eSun PLA+ Gray - 2kg

Expendable Materials Consumed

Tools Purchased for Build

Printer Replacement Parts

0.4mm Brass Nozzle - 2
Capricorn Tubing - 0.5m

Consumables Consumed
Tim Horton's Dark Roast Double Double - 5
 
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for the SinoViet you could possibly do a pair or a large single tft display attached to a raspberry pi or arduino set up mounted camera. another option it one of the heads up displays similar to the truvu or display glasses that only require a camera or device with a hdmi output. I have seen similar pieces used on the rpf years ago on ironman builds
 
for the SinoViet you could possibly do a pair or a large single tft display attached to a raspberry pi or arduino set up mounted camera. another option it one of the heads up displays similar to the truvu or display glasses that only require a camera or device with a hdmi output. I have seen similar pieces used on the rpf years ago on ironman builds
You got it! I already have a Pi Zero W, 2.5" TFT display and a selection of cameras from my Fire Warrior build.
Basically the only difference between the Stanchion optics and the SinoViet will be screen size, filters and less IR spotlight on the helmet.
 
After a bit of time away from Sparks and Rosenda to work on other stuff I'm back at prepping for the big Halo builds. Not too much progress on Sparks to speak of other than a new M6C/SOCOM sidearm and the beginning of the helmet model.

The M6C/SOCOM was a delight to model but to print, I don't know man, there's ghosts in one of my machines and it likes to jump back and forth between them. Under-extrusion issues were the bane of this print with four failed parts before getting a full good prop. I stripped down everything from extruders through to the hotends and couldn't find anything out of the ordinary so possibly a bad batch of filament. Either way, there's a print ready for cleanup now and the desire to possibly upgrade some parts on the Tevo Twins.
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The helmet for this build has been sitting in limbo for a bit due to me not being able to decide on a specific pattern of ODST helmet since 343i didn't either for the characters included in Sunray 1-1 where some have H2 style helmets, some have H3 and there's slight differences between them all.
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From the image Sparks is wearing a Halo 3: ODST variant (smooth dome, rounded chin, sweeping cheek panels with multiple intakes) that has extra raised detailing on the neck panel and cheek panels. The visor itself is obscured by the SinoViet module but it can be assumed to follow the normal pattern for a H3ODST ODST. To match up structures as closely as possible I imported the game file obj from Chernobyl in The Armory for the base ODST helmet and started building up shapes using a series of Quadballs, lofts, cuts and pipes to get to this point. The only remaining difficult part is the chin and visor which I should be able to push through this week if everything goes well.
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Since the last update on this thread we've had the wonders of social distancing added to our lives making work work difficult and hobby work even more so with shortages of supplies and increased cost on some materials. Just some general updates on this build for this post and status of the way moving forward in general.

My plan for this build is for it to be modular and easy to swap out between a generic ODST of my own creation (bringing back the yellow bay-bee) and the Sparks variant. Luckily the main changes between those two load outs are different helmets, chest center plates and shoulders which are easily rigged with strapping and clips. The main desire to have this is that I want to recreate a bunch of photos from my original ODST build but I still want to have the cool Sparks stuff.

From having a few different suits of different construction methods I've pretty much determined that I'll always want a 3D printed bracer for my costume to help keep the form as close fitting as possible and not having to use thick foam for the construction. Since I've been wanting a high detail ODST for quite some time I wanted to make sure as many of the in game texture details were transferred onto the model. Thankfully NobleofDeath16 and CrimsonViper97 have been compiling some awesome references of ODSTs this task was actually fairly easy when gathering everything together with multiple views.

Through a bit of Fusion360 fiddling I managed to get the base form of the bracer to a point that I'm happy with, is wearable and is accurate in scale to the in game model.
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Test print and test fitting using one of the donor gloves that I plan to use in the build.
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The sizing and the fit is good but I'm going to make two changes for comfort. The gasket at the wrist fits well on the left wrist (I printed test pieces) but my right hand is the dumb after being broken a few times and doesn't like to curl up as well and needs to be forced through the opening. For the actual piece I'll be reprinting without the wrist gasket and using the test ones to clean up and then cast in rubber (KX Flex 60 most likely) so that the opening is flexible enough to press through but still retain it's shape. Also for increased flexibility and reducing armour bites I'll be removing the inner elbow recessed plate and making that out of a dense EVA foam so that it has a bit of extra give.

BC (the province where I live) is currently entering Phase 2 of our restart so more stores will be opening which will hopefully mean that I can get moulding and casting supplies as well as fabrics to work on the many different layers of BDU and vest that these troopers wear. I've already managed to get 10kg of filament restock as well as a rather large order of Red Moon Cosplay Solutions foam so I can slowly work my way through this build while working on commission stuff.

Also tiny little bonus stamp on the inside of the elbow. You gotta sign your work.
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So happy I was able to assist in this project! I hold ODSt's near and dear to my heart. Next is maybe looking into their decals and rocking out some sheets!
 
So happy I was able to assist in this project! I hold ODSt's near and dear to my heart. Next is maybe looking into their decals and rocking out some sheets!
If you keep throwing out reference images, I'll keep making high detailed real world versions of them.
 
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