J326 Spartan III Armor Version 2 WIP [Foam]

[J326]

Took me a while to get around to this but I am not starting my Foam build just like I said I would! So far my initial impressions is Foam is SO much easier to work with and at the same time very confusing when using pepakura templates. lots of thinking on how you gotta make different pieces fit. so with out further ado here's what everyone is here for....PICTURES! (all i have is my phone so this will be the quality of pics. sorry)

My first armor set is now sitting (pretty sloppily) on its pvc skeleton.....it's weaponry seems to have become more primitive...

This will be the helmet pepped and then resin and rondoed internally for the new armor. warped a little but its not too bad. will continue work on this later down the line.

I pepped the handle of the knife. i did the blade too but it seemed so floppy so i just cut out a basic shape out of paper and then glued them to popsicle sticks on the inside:

seems pretty straight to me. though i may try a foam handle later

Front of the chest:

The Back was a lot more challenging since it had a lot more detail and coming up with how to make everything fit together required a lot of trimming especially those raised bump things on the upper back. Was eventually able to figure it out and even got the tiny raised detail on it.

Short tutorial: (who needs a special 45 degree angle cutter? NOT ME!)
how do i get those nice angles to glue together?
1) choose a piece you just cut and note how it is supposed to be on the model
2) Take that piece and use your utility knife and carve into it at a rough guess of the angle you need with sawing motions keeping your eye not to cut the edge of the part that will be shown on the outside. I start at roughly 45 degree angles and if it needs more acute angles i carve into the 45 degree angle piece.

3) when its done you should have an angle like this if the piece calls for it. trim and adjust when you need to.

4) test fitting the piece onto your armor. when you're satisfied then glue it on

tip: plan ahead with multiple pieces that go together before you start carving angles into them.

 

[Road Kill]

looks fantastic so far man, keep up the grat work =D

 

[J326]

thanks. and on an unrelated note I started pepping the War Machine here and there...my god the detail is insane and the amount of little folds make me cry..such a challenge.

4hours to get to this point

and i tried to do the internal eye detail but the file got really hectic and confusing so I will improvise something else to cover the middle gap

 

[Darkrider9]

Foam chest is looking great, as is the knife, it's really cool! Anyways on the note of time, is foam quicker than pepping or slower?

 

[J326]

i think its a bit quicker once you get the hang of it because your not trying to meticulously cut out tabs and fold them then glue the tabs one to several at at ime. instead you just cut the foam out and shape what you want and put a whole line of glue where you need. the only delays are trying to figure out how to put some pieces together and angling some of them since the files are for cardstock. and if some people don't think its all that much quicker then you can consider the time it takes to rondo/fiberglass rondo/bondo the outside wait for those to dry and then sand for hours.

 

[J326]

pic heavy update! sorry for the double post. finally got some time out of my school schedule to work on it a bit more. the foam chest is not finished yet since i havent had time. but since l3x plans to update his chest file ill stall on this one so when his new one is out i can figure how to put in some of the changes which is mostly the ab plate and the little button box thing.

got the knife resined and poured enough rondo into the handle to keep it pretty tough. happy that the popsicle blade method kept it pretty straight.

size test with mark Vi helmet:

on the side i managed to pep the Mark V reach helmet. i liked it enough to resin and rondo right away. there's a small coat of rondo on the outside except the face area and am pleased with it enough that i think i will continue this build with the Mark V reach helmet instead of the mark VI. I considered cutting the middle of the visor to split it to make it look more like the combat evolved visor but not sure if i will or should.

here is me size testing it with the chest

ZOMG WARMACHINE SPARTAN!

unfortunately the WM helmet is too small for me despite what you think the picture shows. its pushing against my head and face so if i resined and rondo/bondo it it will never be able to get on my head. so i decided to stall it here despite the long hours of work i put into pepping it to that point.
Hope to get more done soon and I will update my sig with the date of whenever i update

 

[0235]

that foam chest is amazing! wow! it looks lovely. and as i can see from your previous set of armour, you are going to have no trouble with this one. just dont forget to push yourself, e.g. your complete set looks a bit angular (the irony, as my armour is pure angles) and maybey have a go at a decent undersuit. and remember, if there is anything you wish you could have done with your previous set, now is our chance to change that on your new set!
good luck, and i wish people would stop tempting me with war machine and iron man suits XD

 

[J326]

haha yea since my last suit is based off of the first set of reach files this new set will be a lot more game accurate. and the war machine and iron man suit temptation will forever exist!

*edit update*
here's another pic. I came up with a way to take a pic with out that phone in the way of the armor in front of the mirror. Stick phone inside helmet and set it on a timer!

 

[BlueSol]

Looking good! Nice armor.

 

[J326]

Update:
sorry that my camera resolution sucks but I don't have access to a nice camera until i get home from college. was able to get more time to work on the chest. Im using the camping matt foam for the under armor cuz its cheaper and it gives a different texture for the heck of it. I put in the collar using thin craft foam. Didn't want to use a thick one cuz my head would have an even harder time slipping in. I was even able to put in that back grill

Side shot of me wearing it with the helmet. Size wise i think It looks pretty good.

 

[Varsity]

love the foam work on the chest piece, its very detailed.

 

[TheWhiteGhost]

Good work so far, nice detailing.

 

[J326]

thanks for the comments. I was wondering if anyone can get me a really good reference shot of that panel that goes above the stomach plate that's tucked in. I want to scratch build it since i cant model.

 

[matth101]

lookin good! how was that Mk V helmet to pep? gonna make a Mk V (A) for my brother using my spare parts that didn't fit. Stoked to see this build progress!!

 

[J326]

lookin good! how was that Mk V helmet to pep? gonna make a Mk V (A) for my brother using my spare parts that didn't fit. Stoked to see this build progress!!

it wasn't so hard to pep. the bottom part is small so you will have to cut it out once you finish w/e method you use to strengthen it. or alternatively you can cut out the lower back of the head, and put it on a hinge with a way to relock it into place like some do with the ironman helmet. that way you can have a helmet that is accurate to the proportion

 

[thorn696]

Looking good, and you're walk-thru is very informative.

 

[J326]

Update! I decided to not wait for L3x to update his file cuz im so impatient . I used the old reach Ab plate because it was pretty accurate to begin with. Afterwards I decided i want to put in more detail and add that Ab panel thing but since there was no model of it I decided to hunt for some references. I sketched out a rough guess at what it is. Unfortunately I messed it up trying to carve it into foam cuz I did it on regular paper. So to compromise I salvaged the overall shape and put in the inner details with craft foam. I will finish the circular button things on that 3 shape thing when i find some screws or something.

Someone should SO do this at their graduation.

stomach plate

Sketch of the ab panel

Everything comes together

 

[thorn696]

Nice stomach plate, Furthermore It should be real easy to wear.

 

[BLACKULA727]

Dude! THis is looking really good. Thanks for all the pictures. It gives me Ideas on how to do mine. I am definitely afraid of the back. Good luck on the rest of everything!

 

[J326]

Update! after some final sanding with my cheap rotary, got some plasti dip and gave my chest piece three coats on the outside. I'm leaning towards painting the Armor Olive green camo that I've seen in home depot here. Would like some opinions on the coloring before i decide it because it might be too flat. I want it to be like a military green.

Back :

Front :

I found some old plastic washers in the random clutter in my garage and they were the perfect size to be put into the ab panel. I also put another foamy detail on top of the ones already in place to give them a more raised look and better definition.