Mark IV - First (Halo) Build

[BHE Photos]

Well, time to resurrect this thread. A friend had space available in his room block, so it looks like I'm going to be attending my first DragonCon at the end of August.

I'd like to walk in the parade, which the informational post elsewhere in these forums indicates is roughly a mile long. The shuffle around C2E2 was manageable, but not terribly comfortable due to the way my calf armor (poorly) articulated at the ankles, as well as one of my boots literally falling apart as I walked. Also the strapping issue I talked about would almost certainly turn me into a heat casualty if I walked a mile in an Atlanta summer.

My goals to prepare for DragonCon:

• Rebuild my boots.
• Cut the back/inside of my calf and thigh armor to allow for expansion. If this doesn't work the way I hope, I'll just reprint them larger.
• Finally add fans to the helmet, as well as mic/speaker. I bought the headphones that are recommended on these forums, but they've just been sitting on my kitchen table for a couple of months.
• I'm considering rebuilding my back armor to integrate fans and an open back. Right now I have it filled with expanded foam to give it more rigidity, but I think putting some vents and fans at the shoulders and running air over my back would go a long way in keeping me cool/comfortable. I'll opt for more printed walls and probably a full fiberglass layer on the inside to give it enough strength.
• I've got more experience with buckles and snaps now, so I'll optimize the ways some of my armor connects to make it easier to wear.
• I am going to finish the pistols and dual wield those. I'm not particularly optimistic about being able to build the Hunter shield in time.
• I'm going to move away from the silver undersuit and go with a more traditional black. I ordered a padded shirt to use as a stand-in. If I have time I'll add some EVA foam to give it more bulk/structure.

I'd also like to bring a new Cosplay to DragonCon. I bought the files for a Judgement Paladin armor from World of Warcraft, so I'm going to start printing those. I'll start a build thread in the non-Halo costuming section for that once it's underway.

 

[marinesniper]

Well, time to resurrect this thread. A friend had space available in his room block, so it looks like I'm going to be attending my first DragonCon at the end of August.

I'd like to walk in the parade, which the informational post elsewhere in these forums indicates is roughly a mile long. The shuffle around C2E2 was manageable, but not terribly comfortable due to the way my calf armor (poorly) articulated at the ankles, as well as one of my boots literally falling apart as I walked. Also the strapping issue I talked about would almost certainly turn me into a heat casualty if I walked a mile in an Atlanta summer.

My goals to prepare for DragonCon:

• Rebuild my boots.
• Cut the back/inside of my calf and thigh armor to allow for expansion. If this doesn't work the way I hope, I'll just reprint them larger.
• Finally add fans to the helmet, as well as mic/speaker. I bought the headphones that are recommended on these forums, but they've just been sitting on my kitchen table for a couple of months.
• I'm considering rebuilding my back armor to integrate fans and an open back. Right now I have it filled with expanded foam to give it more rigidity, but I think putting some vents and fans at the shoulders and running air over my back would go a long way in keeping me cool/comfortable. I'll opt for more printed walls and probably a full fiberglass layer on the inside to give it enough strength.
• I've got more experience with buckles and snaps now, so I'll optimize the ways some of my armor connects to make it easier to wear.
• I am going to finish the pistols and dual wield those. I'm not particularly optimistic about being able to build the Hunter shield in time.
• I'm going to move away from the silver undersuit and go with a more traditional black. I ordered a padded shirt to use as a stand-in. If I have time I'll add some EVA foam to give it more bulk/structure.

I'd also like to bring a new Cosplay to DragonCon. I bought the files for a Judgement Paladin armor from World of Warcraft, so I'm going to start printing those. I'll start a build thread in the non-Halo costuming section for that once it's underway.

I feel your pain brother man if the boots hurt then walking is not good. i have my suit redone to help me walk more. but this is a great job on the armor i dig the colors look forward to seeing photos from dragon Con

 

[BHE Photos]

Update Aug-5th:

I've made the decision to attend Anime414 in Milwaukee this weekend so I can see Steve. There is a Halo panel being led by him that I want to attend in my armor, and then (or beforehand) I'd like to have him sign a pistol (probably with "I need a weapon.")

This means that some of my plans need to be accelerated, as I basically only have until Thursday night. I'm not as worried about some of the things like fans or the mic/speaker in the helmet, and there won't be nearly as much walking as DragonCon will have.

A couple of things I accomplished recently/tonight:

• Got the padded shirt delivered. I like that some of the pads are around the abdomen right below the chest armor, so this adds the "bulk" I'm wanting. Ironically the added pads on the forearms actually make the bracers fit much better as well. I need to figure out which pants I want to pair with the top still.
• I've decided that the bottom "straps" of the chest armor really just get in the way as they currently are. They're rigid (3D printed) and are really difficult to buckle. They also make the chest armor really loose when being worn, but also annoying to put on. To solve this, I cut the pieces off, and I'm going to replace them with blue leather straps that can be tightened. This should help with some of the clanking around, as well as make it easier to put on/take off.
• I have also cut off the inner thigh piece of the thigh armor. This should allow it to flex (they were a bit too tight), as well as eliminate some of the plastic-on-plastic rubbing noises. I'm probably going to put some EVA foam over the gaps.
• Finally put more work into the first pistol which will be the one I get signed. I'm trying out Flex Seal for the hand grip and gunmetal gray for the rest of the body.

Work that I want to get done by Thursday night:

• Finish the items mentioned above.
• Eliminate the side buckles currently being used on the belt. They add just a hair too much circumference, so I'm going to cut the buckles, make one end a basic nylon strap connection, and try to get the other side to have the buckle either inside or outside of the actual belt piece. Ideally do it in some way that I can tighten the belt.
• Need to slap together something for boots.
• Still not entirely sure how I want to approach the calf armor. I might just cut some of the bottom away.
• Bicep armor probably needs to be put on EVA foam sleeves. Not super worried about this, but it was one of the major pinch points at C2E2.
• Need to fix the buckle connections for both shoulders.

 

[BHE Photos]

Update Aug-8th:

I finally finished the pistol, or at least as good as I need it to be for Steve Downes to sign it. His Halo panel has dropped off the Anime414 schedule, so I hope that's not a bad sign. I guess that means I'll have more time to roam the vendor hall and also have ample time to get out of the armor before the cosplay contest, since I plan on taking photos of everyone that competes.
I am currently printing a plug for the pistol so that I can paint it orange so that the Con can't complain. I also need to print another safety lever at some point, but that'll be a resin print and I'm very lazy about those recently.

The morning after I posted my last update, I realized that using blue leather for the side straps on the torso was a dumb idea, because colored nylon exists and is way easier to work with. So I ordered some 2" wide blue nylon and some of those fancy tactical belt clips.

One of the things I really want to move away from in my builds is relying on glue for structural purposes (especially hot glue) and lean more towards mechanical connections (bolts, sewing, rivets, etc). All the previous nylon straps were either hot glued together or some used rivets, but I recently got my leather shoe patcher (basically a handcrank leather sewing machine) set-up with some pretty sturdy thread and needle, and I can finally sew my nylon straps together. My lines are atrocious (I need to print an edge guide), but I'm still happy with the results. Should be much stronger than the hot glue messes of the past.

For attaching the straps to the armor, I ordered some Chicago screws of various heights, so I can drill holes in the armor and straps, and then physically bolt the two together, adding a washer to the strap side to increase the surface area of the grip. I like that this is far less likely to separate from the armor if I'm moving around, and it also allows for more freedom of movement if I want, since using a single screw will allow the piece to pivot if needed. A quick dab with a paint pen helps them blend into the armor pretty easily.

As seen in the photos, the nylon straps stand out a bit, but I actually think that they work better than expected. I especially like that I can easily tighten them, and it will now hold the entire torso armor nice and snug to my body, where it used to just flop and clank around. Between this and the thigh armor cuts, I'm really hoping to minimize the amount of noise I make while moving around.
At some point I'll need to swap the shoulder clips to have a better connection (they're still hot glued nylon), but that can be after Anime414.

Tomorrow I need to get the belt figured out, and then decide if I want to change any of the attachment methods for the shoulders/arms. Then a full test fit up and cobble together a boot solution.

 

[BHE Photos]

Update Aug-9th:

As is tradition with the final crafting night before a Con, I made a ton of progress last night. No pictures today (sorry to those who don't like to read), but they took down Steve's Halo panel from the Anime414 schedule so it looks like I'll have a bunch of time at the Con to take photos (gonna bring my camera and a tripod and have at it).

Probably the most significant update I made to the armor last night was to update the belt/cod piece. When printed, the fit was pretty much spot on, but when I added the 2" buckles on each side, the belt gained so much circumference that I had to loop it into the H-harness to keep it held up. This made for a very loose fit and added to the clanking I've complained about so much.
My solution was to remove the plastic buckles and swap them with the same "tactical belt clips" that I used on the torso armor. I also cut about 4.5" from each side of the front belt/cod piece. This allowed me to install the clips in-line with the belt. Using the 2" blue nylon and Chicago screws, I now have a secure enough connection that I can actually tighten it and make it fairly snug, so now it will hold itself up on my hips. Since I set the Chicago screws for the back piece back from the edge a couple of inches, I can tuck the excess nylon behind the back piece.

Outside of that, I swapped out a bunch more hot glue connections for Chicago screws and rivets.

For the arms, I decided to toss out the weird middle bicep plate and only bother with the main bicep and triceps plate. I swapped hot glue for rivets, and now that I have a few inches of space between the two pieces, one of the most annoying pinch points from C2E2 has been eliminated.

At C2E2, both shoulder pieces were basically just clipped into one swivel attachment on the shoulder straps of the torso armor. This meant that they kept flopping back or sitting awkwardly. To fix this, I added sturdier arm loops under each shoulder piece and put an actual buckle on the large shoulder (I'm tempted to double up on the big shoulders like OhFiveTwo does) and used 1/4-20 bolts and eyelets in the nylon to make pretty much as strong of a connection as I can realistically make. I even accidentally added the female buckle to the left side of the torso the first time around instead of the right, so it will be super easy to add a second large shoulder if I want.

Due to a fight I got into with an underwater rock while on a float trip a couple of weeks ago, I recently had 7 stitches removed from my shin, and in the interest of not rubbing that still-tender skin, I have made the decision not to wear the calf armor, and I'm also going to just go with regular boots instead of trying to do MJOLNIR boots. I made to efforts to fix the boots last night, though I'll probably bring the pieces along with me to the hotel since it looks like I'll have plenty of free time. I might toss on the calf armor and boots just for some photo opportunities at the hotel, but for walking around/meeting Steve, I'm not going to wear them.
Without the calf armor needing to be aggressively held up, the opened up thigh armor (since it can now expand thanks to the cuts I did a while back) can be held up in place with a simple strap to the belt, which means I also don't need to wear the h-harness. This will keep some weight off of my shoulders, which was a major issue at C2E2 (one of the guys literally said, "you look like you're having a rough time" because every time we would stop walking and weren't having photos taken, I would slouch over to relieve the pressure on my shoulders).

Probably the only piece I haven't touched in this armor refresh is the helmet. I am going to simply deal with the lack of fans and mic/speaker for now, and that will be one of the top priorities before DragonCon. I also still need to add the lights to the "ears", since right now those are just empty holes...

Regardless, I'll update tomorrow after I (hopefully) get to meet Steve and get him to sign the pistol. I'm hoping there's space for him to write "I need a weapon", but I suspect that the slide doesn't have the real estate necessary, so I'll probably have to settle for just a signature.

 

[BHE Photos]

Anime414 After Action:

I got to meet Steve and he signed the pistol. He even insisted on holding it for the photo, which I certainly wasn't going to complain about. Now I need to make a wall mount for it so I can display it, and then finish up a new one to carry around at Cons.

If anyone is curious about 414, I'd say that it's worth it if there is a VA there that you really want to meet and get a signature and/or photo, though I wouldn't travel very far for it, and there's definitely not enough to do to justify a weekend pass. The Cosplay Contest on Saturday was run surprisingly well, and they gave out cash prizes.

Anyway, back to the armor. As you can kind of see in the hotel room photo, I opted to not wear the calf armor or shoes, and just went with some generic black boots. This worked well for comfort, though has a bit of a goofy look for full body photos. But nobody I met even mentioned it, and a bunch of people still took photos with me.

The torso and belt clip improvements were very nice to have, the clanking was drastically reduced. The extra elastic I used for the smaller shoulder ended up being a bit too much and caused it to push my bicep/triceps plates down my arm, so I will need to revisit that attachment point. I have also been considering going to a double large shoulder, similar to the Halo Infinite style. One of the reasons I like the Mark IV is the "tankiness", and having both shoulders be the larger bells would certainly add to that.

Removing the extra arm plate definitely helped with pinching.

The thigh armor worked fine being held up by the belt, but there was a delicate balancing act of having it hang low enough to not rub against the cod plate. It ended up catching at the very corners, so I could still be heard walking, but I think the final form of this armor will still involve running the straps up to my shoulders. I think I'm going to remake the calf armor to be foam, instead of trying to cut up the PLA set.

I have decided that I prefer the black undersuit, though I want to get something to fill the stomach space. I'll probably make a few panels out of EVA foam.

For DragonCon prep, the focus will be getting another pistol finished (with magnets to attach it to the leg armor), making foam calf armor, making boots that work with the calf armor, and finally getting around to adding lights, fans, and speaker/mic to the helmet. I should probably also try to make the visor fit better. Right now it's just awkwardly pressed into the space. Looks fine from a distance, but weird when you're holding it.

 

[BHE Photos]

Aug-21 Update:

Most of my time has been spent working on my Judgement Paladin build, but I am hoping to have the MA5C Assault Rifle done in time for DragonCon. The original intent was to finish another pistol but some of the parts were brittle and broke, so I'm falling back on the Assault Rifle that was already about halfway done.

I decided that I like the Plasti-dip texture, so I'm using it on the hand guards and the grip. Apparently the "dark metal gray" rattlecan that I have has gone bad, so it turned out really weird. I'll have to pick up a new can today. The barrel guard (top piece) is a lighter gray, and I'm satisfied with that.

To do:

• Respray the middle piece.
• Paint the magazine and barrel.
• Glue everything together.

I'm not sure how I want to attach/carry it yet. I am letting some of the aluminum tube to extend out the buttstock so that I can attach a d-ring for a sling or something similar.

Armor still needs to be adjusted for the parade, but I'm still undecided about the calves/boots. One of these nights I need to add fans into the helmet as well.

 

[BHE Photos]

MA5C is sufficiently completed. The glue up required some strategic clamping. Looks like the plasti-dip doesn't really like the clear coat I applied. I still need to flip it and clear coat the other side, and then drill a hole for a d-clip.

I'm not thrilled with the result, but it's acceptable.

 

[BHE Photos]

Aug-27 Update:

After I finished up the Judgement armor last night, I turned to the Mark IV. Made a few hasty repairs to some broken/loose elastic straps on the wrist armor, and then finally had to decide on what I want to do about the leg armor pieces.

For the thigh armor, I'm going to move the weight back to my shoulders via the H-harness. During a previous fitup I snapped one of the clips used to attach a strap to the back of the harness, so I busted out the leather shoe patcher and riveted and sewed the back straps directly to the harness.

For the calf armor I made the decision to cut away the lower back calf section. My calf muscles are almost comically large, so scaling calf armor will always be awkward. Eventually I'll just make it out of foam but for now I'm going to rely on the black undersuit looking sufficiently close enough to the black plastic that used to be there.

For the boots/shoes, I've currently given up on the top strap, and moved from a set of crocs as the base to a set of actual boots. Instead of using crazy amounts of hot glue to hold the armor on, I used Chicago screws to rivet some elastic straps to hold it on/against the boot.

At this point, the only thing left to do before DragonCon in regards to the Mark IV is to slap some fans in the helmet.

Then it's just a matter of hydrating like a mad lad to hopefully not die in the parade.

 

[BHE Photos]

DragonCon After Action Report:

I managed to slap together a single fan for the inside of the helmet which 1000% is the only reason I was able to walk the entire parade with the helmet on. The batteries and wiring held up just long enough for the parade and the walk back to my hotel room, but something broke/died when I tried to turn them back on for the photoshoot. Not a big deal though, I only considered them to be temporary.

The Atlanta heat was absolutely crazy for this Con and the Cosplays I choose, paired with the amount of alcohol I consumed. I basically spent every Con moment being drenched in sweat.

The gear mostly worked well. I'm pretty satisfied with how the chest and back armor have held up, as well as the improvements I made to the belt/cod piece.
The shoe coverings actually held up decently, though the gap I placed under them in an attempt to reduce sounding like a Clydesdale horse was apparently completely futile. I saw that several other members put an full length layer of EVA foam under the boots, and I think I might do something similar. They didn't fall apart though, so I'm happy with that.

The bicep/triceps armor continues to be annoying and a hindrance to both flexibility and general comfort. Since I was constantly either wiping sweat off of my face or holding a water bottle up to drink, the left arm bicep/triceps plates were constantly pinching against my forearm. This wasn't as big of an issue for the right arm due to the strap of the larger pauldron sitting below the bicep/triceps plates, but on the left arm, the strap sits above them, and the smaller pauldron tends to push them down my arm and towards my forearm.

The thigh armor suffered an almost full failure, unfortunately. My left thigh armor broke apart at a weld seam while waiting in line to load the parade shuttle bus, while the other side popped a different weld seam but was hanging on just because of the paint layers, so I pulled it off before we stepped off just to avoid having to deal with it. For both sides though, the very front of the thigh armor is where my buckles attach to, so that piece still hung against my body and gave a decent illusion of having enough thigh armor. There was also a pretty aggressive rub point on my hip due to the bolt I use to attach all of the nylon straps. That bolt dug into my hip for most of the day.

The calf armor continues to be annoying, but technically held up. The lighter weight and wider fit provided by cutting out the back meant that I didn't have to tighten the straps holding them up nearly as much. However, it did mean that I had some pretty aggressive rubbing against the back of my calves, and if the piece was allowed to dangle too loosely, it had a strong tendency to want to rotate on my leg to point outwards instead of forward.

The H-harness was a much more comfortable fit now that the leg armor isn't putting so much force on pulling it down against my neck. I did still build up some rubbing sores on the back of my neck from wearing it for so long though.

The final equipment issue was that one of the ears fell off of the helmet as I was taking it all off after the photoshoot. Not a big deal though, as they were both just attached with hot glue in anticipation of removing them to run wires in the future.

Fixing the issues:

• Calf armor: I am once again pledging to replace the calf armor with either foam or cast rubber. I think I need the ability to tighten it while having some flexibility.
• Thigh armor: I will likely reweld these for the moment. The welds broke because I am asking the PLA to flex ever so slightly, which obviously it doesn't want to do. I am tempted to either line the inside with fiberglass or just make a mold and then make the actual thigh armor out of fiberglass. I would have lighter armor, plus the walls would be thinner (giving me slightly more room without reprinting them a third time). It would also still be strong enough to bolt mounts to for either my camera (still an eventual goal) or any hip-mounted weapons.
• Biceps/triceps: I've basically defaulted to removing these any time I'm not doing a photoshoot. I think I will explore the idea of printing them slightly smaller, as well as finding a way to attach them to either the pauldrons or the back armor to hold them up high on my arms, instead of relying on elastic straps. They would also be good candidates for moderately easy foam work that wouldn't have to be perfect.
• Helmet fan: I need to completely pull out the fan/wiring and do it properly. I used some very questionable means to attach the wires which aren't efficient or reliable. I'd also like to play with adjusting the direction of the airflow.
• Rubbing points: thigh armor bolt point will be re-evaluated for hardware size. I might either cap/cover the entire bolt or move to multiple bolts so that they have fewer pieces of nylon to hold (and can therefor be shorter). Right now the calf armor strap runs all the way up to the top of the thigh, I might move that connection to the bottom, unless switch to foam allows me to skip the strapping entirely. For the H-harness rubbing along the back of the neck, I am going to sew a strip of EVA foam to the part the rubs against my neck. This isn't a perfect solution, but should help for the long wears.
• Shoe clomping: for now, I'll just add a full-sized strip of EVA foam as a sole. Though honestly I also think I need to play with the scale a bit, so a full reprint might be in order. I kind of want to do at least the heel and top strap out of foam. At that point though, I might as well make the entire thing out of foam, and just build a full set of boots (maybe attached to the calves?)

The next Con I intend to wear the Mark IV is Colossalcon North, in approx 80 days. I'd like to have the helmet fan and thigh armor fixed at the minimum before then.

Overall I had an amazing time at DragonCon, and will absolutely be back next year (I'm probably going to buy my ticket this week for DragonCon 2025). However, I definitely need to make some specific cooling improvements before that one.

The first goal is better helmet cooling. I definitely need to make at least the current fan rock solid, but I'd also like to add a second fan. Something one of the other members showed me was that he had a larger fan clipped inside of his chest armor that pointed up into the helmet. This gave him a much more powerful fan without needing to fit anything into the helmet. I might pursue a similar idea.

I'd also like to attempt a hot weather specific back-armor. I am thinking about making the back armor out of fiberglass, and then opening up the shoulder vents to install fans with ducting that blows the air over my back (where I sweat so, so much) and out another vent at the back (or maybe at the top, to avoid blowing sweaty air into the person standing immediately behind me). Right now my back armor is filled with expanded foam to give it a better fit and some rigidity, but is a pretty major heat sink/holder.

I would also like to explore blowing some air over my chest, but I think having a non-sweaty back and head will keep me cool enough to not really need to keep adding fans to more places. I think I'll end up using the chest cavity to house any batteries needed. The next major upgrade to the armor will be adding various electronics, for function and fun. I'll be needing a lot of power.

 

[N8TEBB]

Glad you got a fan in the helmet! I can barely handle the heat in cosplay at Canadian cons. I can't imagine how hot it would be in late August in Atlanta, Georgia! Although I don't have a chest fan, it sounds like a good idea. I'm interested to see what you do with that. Glad to hear DragonCon was a blast!

 

[spartan114x]

DragonCon After Action Report:

I managed to slap together a single fan for the inside of the helmet which 1000% is the only reason I was able to walk the entire parade with the helmet on. The batteries and wiring held up just long enough for the parade and the walk back to my hotel room, but something broke/died when I tried to turn them back on for the photoshoot. Not a big deal though, I only considered them to be temporary.

The Atlanta heat was absolutely crazy for this Con and the Cosplays I choose, paired with the amount of alcohol I consumed. I basically spent every Con moment being drenched in sweat.

The gear mostly worked well. I'm pretty satisfied with how the chest and back armor have held up, as well as the improvements I made to the belt/cod piece.
The shoe coverings actually held up decently, though the gap I placed under them in an attempt to reduce sounding like a Clydesdale horse was apparently completely futile. I saw that several other members put an full length layer of EVA foam under the boots, and I think I might do something similar. They didn't fall apart though, so I'm happy with that.

The bicep/triceps armor continues to be annoying and a hindrance to both flexibility and general comfort. Since I was constantly either wiping sweat off of my face or holding a water bottle up to drink, the left arm bicep/triceps plates were constantly pinching against my forearm. This wasn't as big of an issue for the right arm due to the strap of the larger pauldron sitting below the bicep/triceps plates, but on the left arm, the strap sits above them, and the smaller pauldron tends to push them down my arm and towards my forearm.

The thigh armor suffered an almost full failure, unfortunately. My left thigh armor broke apart at a weld seam while waiting in line to load the parade shuttle bus, while the other side popped a different weld seam but was hanging on just because of the paint layers, so I pulled it off before we stepped off just to avoid having to deal with it. For both sides though, the very front of the thigh armor is where my buckles attach to, so that piece still hung against my body and gave a decent illusion of having enough thigh armor. There was also a pretty aggressive rub point on my hip due to the bolt I use to attach all of the nylon straps. That bolt dug into my hip for most of the day.

The calf armor continues to be annoying, but technically held up. The lighter weight and wider fit provided by cutting out the back meant that I didn't have to tighten the straps holding them up nearly as much. However, it did mean that I had some pretty aggressive rubbing against the back of my calves, and if the piece was allowed to dangle too loosely, it had a strong tendency to want to rotate on my leg to point outwards instead of forward.

The H-harness was a much more comfortable fit now that the leg armor isn't putting so much force on pulling it down against my neck. I did still build up some rubbing sores on the back of my neck from wearing it for so long though.

The final equipment issue was that one of the ears fell off of the helmet as I was taking it all off after the photoshoot. Not a big deal though, as they were both just attached with hot glue in anticipation of removing them to run wires in the future.

Fixing the issues:

• Calf armor: I am once again pledging to replace the calf armor with either foam or cast rubber. I think I need the ability to tighten it while having some flexibility.
• Thigh armor: I will likely reweld these for the moment. The welds broke because I am asking the PLA to flex ever so slightly, which obviously it doesn't want to do. I am tempted to either line the inside with fiberglass or just make a mold and then make the actual thigh armor out of fiberglass. I would have lighter armor, plus the walls would be thinner (giving me slightly more room without reprinting them a third time). It would also still be strong enough to bolt mounts to for either my camera (still an eventual goal) or any hip-mounted weapons.
• Biceps/triceps: I've basically defaulted to removing these any time I'm not doing a photoshoot. I think I will explore the idea of printing them slightly smaller, as well as finding a way to attach them to either the pauldrons or the back armor to hold them up high on my arms, instead of relying on elastic straps. They would also be good candidates for moderately easy foam work that wouldn't have to be perfect.
• Helmet fan: I need to completely pull out the fan/wiring and do it properly. I used some very questionable means to attach the wires which aren't efficient or reliable. I'd also like to play with adjusting the direction of the airflow.
• Rubbing points: thigh armor bolt point will be re-evaluated for hardware size. I might either cap/cover the entire bolt or move to multiple bolts so that they have fewer pieces of nylon to hold (and can therefor be shorter). Right now the calf armor strap runs all the way up to the top of the thigh, I might move that connection to the bottom, unless switch to foam allows me to skip the strapping entirely. For the H-harness rubbing along the back of the neck, I am going to sew a strip of EVA foam to the part the rubs against my neck. This isn't a perfect solution, but should help for the long wears.
• Shoe clomping: for now, I'll just add a full-sized strip of EVA foam as a sole. Though honestly I also think I need to play with the scale a bit, so a full reprint might be in order. I kind of want to do at least the heel and top strap out of foam. At that point though, I might as well make the entire thing out of foam, and just build a full set of boots (maybe attached to the calves?)

The next Con I intend to wear the Mark IV is Colossalcon North, in approx 80 days. I'd like to have the helmet fan and thigh armor fixed at the minimum before then.

Overall I had an amazing time at DragonCon, and will absolutely be back next year (I'm probably going to buy my ticket this week for DragonCon 2025). However, I definitely need to make some specific cooling improvements before that one.

The first goal is better helmet cooling. I definitely need to make at least the current fan rock solid, but I'd also like to add a second fan. Something one of the other members showed me was that he had a larger fan clipped inside of his chest armor that pointed up into the helmet. This gave him a much more powerful fan without needing to fit anything into the helmet. I might pursue a similar idea.

I'd also like to attempt a hot weather specific back-armor. I am thinking about making the back armor out of fiberglass, and then opening up the shoulder vents to install fans with ducting that blows the air over my back (where I sweat so, so much) and out another vent at the back (or maybe at the top, to avoid blowing sweaty air into the person standing immediately behind me). Right now my back armor is filled with expanded foam to give it a better fit and some rigidity, but is a pretty major heat sink/holder.

I would also like to explore blowing some air over my chest, but I think having a non-sweaty back and head will keep me cool enough to not really need to keep adding fans to more places. I think I'll end up using the chest cavity to house any batteries needed. The next major upgrade to the armor will be adding various electronics, for function and fun. I'll be needing a lot of power.

Well now I want to walk in a parade in armor haha new goal unlocked!

 

[SavageCaliber]

Hey man I’m pretty sure you were the one that answered my question in the Halo Cosplay FB group the other day, could you share how you went about the straps for the thighs, arms, etc. I’ve got the majority of the torso printed out for mine so far along with the cod piece and the more I look at the files and how you did yours the more confused I am about how the straps are supposed/should be attached (unless you already said how you did it here somewhere and I just missed it in which case sorry for asking again) Edit: I just found where you mentioned you used the Chicago screws for the torso, did you do something similar for the arms and thighs?
Thanks in advance!

 

[BHE Photos]

Hey man I’m pretty sure you were the one that answered my question in the Halo Cosplay FB group the other day, could you share how you went about the straps for the thighs, arms, etc. I’ve got the majority of the torso printed out for mine so far along with the cod piece and the more I look at the files and how you did yours the more confused I am about how the straps are supposed/should be attached (unless you already said how you did it here somewhere and I just missed it in which case sorry for asking again) Edit: I just found where you mentioned you used the Chicago screws for the torso, did you do something similar for the arms and thighs?
Thanks in advance!

Yep, that was me. I am going to have to do a shake down soon to see what needs to be fixed before my next Con (I'm pretty sure at least one buckle broke last time), so I can take some better pictures to illustrate how it's done.

The files aren't really set up to have any designated strap connections (as far as I'm aware) so I basically just went with whatever I felt was best.

The first time I wore the armor, most of the straps were connected to the armor with hot glue, because I was finishing it up in the hotel room at 3 am. Since then however, I have replaced basically every connection with either chicago screws or in a couple of cases, actual bolts (where I needed to go through more material than any of the chicago screws I had available). There are plenty of people that swear by adhesives (CA glue, 2-part epoxy, contact cement), but I personally just prefer mechanical connections. I don't like magnets either, and I tolerate velcro sparingly.

The bicep/triceps pieces are attached to an elastic band that holds them on my upper arm, they aren't connected to the shoulders. Admittedly, I also despise the bicep/triceps pieces as they are the most prevalent pinch point and cause the most mobility issues when worn, so I have a habit of leaving them off when I'm going to be wearing the armor for an extended period of time. At some point I will likely remake them out of foam or maybe experiment with TPU.

The thighs have a 1/4"-20 bolt connection at about the spot where your pants pocket would be, and that is kind of the "central connection point" for the legs and h-harness. I have 1 strap that runs down the inside of the thigh armor and connects to the calf armor (another problematic piece that will someday be replaced by foam or maybe a cast material). In the opposite direction (going upwards), there are two straps that split out, one wraps around the back of my body to connect to the back of my h-harness and the other goes straight up the front and connects to the front of the h-harness, kind of like suspenders. So there are 3 total straps that intersect at the top of the thigh armor.

Realistically, it probably would be better to have put the calf connection at the bottom of the thigh armor, and that's something I may consider before the upcoming Con. When I was initially wearing the armor, the calves were very snug, so I had to put a lot of upward force on them via the straps to keep them up, so tying them into the bolt at the top of the thigh armor meant that the plastic wasn't bearing any of the load, but I have since made some adjustments (mostly around the ankles) to alleviate the amount of lift required to keep the calf armor up. With the single strap, the calves have a tendency to rotate, so making a shorter strap (and/or putting one on each side) would help keep it front rotating on the leg.
Eventually though I want to replace my calf armor pieces with something much more lightweight. I have been tossing around the idea of doing the thigh armor out of fiber glass to keep it strong but light (I still want to eventually thigh-mount my camera or prop weapons) and going the calf out of foam. Heavy leg armor is way more tiring than heavy upper body armor.

Most of the buckles are just standard 1" buckles that I buy in bulk. The cod piece and the chest armor both use 2 sets of "Tactical Belt Buckles" that are for 2" wide straps. I like those buckles because they're easy enough to clip and tighten one-handed, and the 2" width is pretty similar to what the kidney straps and the belt armor is, so it helps blend in sufficiently enough when viewed from typical viewing distances.

This was probably mostly a word salad, I'll get some better photos sometime this week.

 

[SavageCaliber]

Update Aug-8th:

Yep, that was me. I am going to have to do a shake down soon to see what needs to be fixed before my next Con (I'm pretty sure at least one buckle broke last time), so I can take some better pictures to illustrate how it's done.

The files aren't really set up to have any designated strap connections (as far as I'm aware) so I basically just went with whatever I felt was best.

The first time I wore the armor, most of the straps were connected to the armor with hot glue, because I was finishing it up in the hotel room at 3 am. Since then however, I have replaced basically every connection with either chicago screws or in a couple of cases, actual bolts (where I needed to go through more material than any of the chicago screws I had available). There are plenty of people that swear by adhesives (CA glue, 2-part epoxy, contact cement), but I personally just prefer mechanical connections. I don't like magnets either, and I tolerate velcro sparingly.

The bicep/triceps pieces are attached to an elastic band that holds them on my upper arm, they aren't connected to the shoulders. Admittedly, I also despise the bicep/triceps pieces as they are the most prevalent pinch point and cause the most mobility issues when worn, so I have a habit of leaving them off when I'm going to be wearing the armor for an extended period of time. At some point I will likely remake them out of foam or maybe experiment with TPU.

The thighs have a 1/4"-20 bolt connection at about the spot where your pants pocket would be, and that is kind of the "central connection point" for the legs and h-harness. I have 1 strap that runs down the inside of the thigh armor and connects to the calf armor (another problematic piece that will someday be replaced by foam or maybe a cast material). In the opposite direction (going upwards), there are two straps that split out, one wraps around the back of my body to connect to the back of my h-harness and the other goes straight up the front and connects to the front of the h-harness, kind of like suspenders. So there are 3 total straps that intersect at the top of the thigh armor.

Realistically, it probably would be better to have put the calf connection at the bottom of the thigh armor, and that's something I may consider before the upcoming Con. When I was initially wearing the armor, the calves were very snug, so I had to put a lot of upward force on them via the straps to keep them up, so tying them into the bolt at the top of the thigh armor meant that the plastic wasn't bearing any of the load, but I have since made some adjustments (mostly around the ankles) to alleviate the amount of lift required to keep the calf armor up. With the single strap, the calves have a tendency to rotate, so making a shorter strap (and/or putting one on each side) would help keep it front rotating on the leg.
Eventually though I want to replace my calf armor pieces with something much more lightweight. I have been tossing around the idea of doing the thigh armor out of fiber glass to keep it strong but light (I still want to eventually thigh-mount my camera or prop weapons) and going the calf out of foam. Heavy leg armor is way more tiring than heavy upper body armor.

Most of the buckles are just standard 1" buckles that I buy in bulk. The cod piece and the chest armor both use 2 sets of "Tactical Belt Buckles" that are for 2" wide straps. I like those buckles because they're easy enough to clip and tighten one-handed, and the 2" width is pretty similar to what the kidney straps and the belt armor is, so it helps blend in sufficiently enough when viewed from typical viewing distances.

This was probably mostly a word salad, I'll get some better photos sometime this week.

Thanks for the info, what about the forearms? How did you go about “mounting” those? I’m currently stumped at how to make them actually wearable to the extent I started to give up and try using a foam template for forearms from the mirage armor set but I am even less foam inclined it seems and I’m struggling just to assemble that into anything that looks remotely decent not to mention that template is for someone smaller than me I think and unlike the 3D printed route I haven’t the foggiest how to resize it so I’m bank to trying to get the GA Mark IV forearms wearable. I was thinking maybe leaving the wedge piece ( forearm part 3 in the files) out and gluing in a strap lining the inside with a buckle where the wedge piece would have gone but I don’t think that’ll actually work to hold it to my arm so it stays in place

 

[BHE Photos]

SavageCaliber sorry this took so long to get around to.
Here's a run down of how I have everything currently rigged up. I wouldn't consider this to be optimum and there are a lot of things I hope to improve/remove/change. I'll try to mention things I don't like as I go.

---

Lower Body:
Starting at the very top, I wear this H-harness, which has been modified to include an additional set of 1" buckles on the front and another set on the back. The back has long straps that have been sewn in a cross (X) pattern for added strength. I have also used quick rivets we possible, because I don't necessarily trust sewing. I don't use the lower set of buckles on the front anymore for armor, I leave them for attaching weapons.

Thighs and Calves:
The first step in the chain of connections below that is the thigh armor. As mentioned in my previous post, there is a 3-point connection at the top of each thigh armor. 2 of the connections go to the h-harness and one runs down to the calf armor. Since this spot is potentially taking a lot of force, I use a 1/4"-20 bolt to tie everything together. This is great for strength, but not great if the nut comes off while you're walking around C2E2 and you can't find it, and it's not great when you're walking in a mile-long parade in Atlanta and have the end of the bolt digging into your hip. Because of those two situations, I have flipped the bolt so that the head is on the inside and I believe they are both locknuts now.
Of note, I have cut out the inner thigh section due to it being a bit too tight (I don't skip leg day) and due to the rubbing. This makes it a bit easier to put on as well, since I can slide it over either my lower calf or at the knees.

The calf strap runs all the way down the outside of my leg to the top of the calf armor, where it buckles in. As mentioned previously, I don't feel that it is the best route to have such a long strap the upper thigh to the calf armor, and I may remove the long strap and make it a shorter connection from lower thigh to upper calf, plus maybe another strap on the inside of the legs to prevent rotation. Ideally I will eventually remake the calf armor to be light enough to just strap directly to my calves without needing to be held up though.

When putting the armor on, I find that it's easiest to buckle the thigh and calf armor together (as shown in the above photo) and then slip both pieces on at the same time. For removing the armor, I usually unclip the calf armor and remove it first, then remove the thigh armor.

Once the armor is over my leg, the thigh armor is clipped to the h-harness. The long straps in the back wrap around to clip to the short piece and the long piece from the thigh armor goes up to the front of the h-harness. The long back straps are helpful/critical for putting it on yourself (as I always do #foreveralone), but the front straps can go from either direction. I have the front and back straps different so that I don't get the lengths mixed up.

Boots:
For the boots, I originally tried gluing the pieces onto a set of crocs, but they quickly started falling apart while walking around at C2E2, and I wasn't really a fan. My current solution which I deem "meh, good enough" is that I have the pieces held together with elastic in a way that kind of clamps them to a pair of boots, with a string tied to the back and a strap running under the boot as well. Honestly I would say that the boots are the "weakest" part of my armor, aesthetically, and are where I want/need to improve the most, but I always have a hard time caring about the lower body section of any of my Cosplays.

Belt:
The belt used to tie into the H-harness before I had no way to tighten it, but after trimming away a few inches from each side to create a gap between the cod piece and butt plate, I was able to add a set of tactical belt buckles to each side and use 2" nylon webbing to allow it to be tightened and stay up on it's own. I put the belt on after the thigh and calf armor so that the nylon straps run under it. I'm missing some of the extras for the belt from the GA files, I printed them but didn't have time to finish them and it turned into a "I'll get back to them" task that I never came back to. I also recommend being ready to add padding to the top of the butt plate. I had some pretty uncomfortable rub marks left on my back from the corners when I wore this to DragonCon, so I added a sheet of EVA foam and that dramatically helped with comfort.

---

Upper Body:
Arms:
For the forearms, I have a strap up near the elbow that holds the upper part against my arm, and then the thin forearm piece (I think it's the one you mentioned) is "floating" on two strips of elastic, so it can be pushed out a bit while my hand slides through. I have the upper side firmly attached with Chicago screws, but so far have been just redoing the hot glue on the lower piece. I need to get a better connection on that end. I probably also need to adjust my padding a bit for a more snug fit, since the forearms have a tendency to rotate a bit (but not as bad as the calf armor).
On the piece shown, the top strap is just hot glued on, I think the other one has Chicago screws holding it (this one will eventually also use Chicago screws, I just tend to not upgrade things until they break).

The bicep and tricep plates are held together like an armband with elastic, and the elastic is attached with quick rivets. As mentioned in the previous post, I hate these pieces. I probably need to reprint them shorter or make them out of foam, but they cause a major amount of pinching and mobility limitations. I think originally I had these buckled to the pauldrons, but the elastic is "good enough" at keeping them up on the arms, though they do still slip down a bit. Like I said though, I usually leave these off unless it's for a photo shoot. In the future, I might also experiment with using snaps for these. You'll also notice that I'm missing one of the pieces, I found that it only added to the pinching and the scale wasn't right, so I just got rid of it entirely.

Chest/Back:
Everything for the torso ties into the back armor. The chest plate has a set of 1" buckles at the top that clips it to the shoulder straps and a set of 2" buckles for the kidney straps. The GA files have a printed piece for the kidney straps, but I found that having the entire assembly be rigid was uncomfortable, so I cut the kidney straps out and replaced them with the nylon straps to allow for the torso to be tightened against my body.

I attached the kidney straps to the very back of the back plate instead of the sides so that when I tighten it, there aren't forces pulling the armor into a tighter curve, just pulling the back plate forward.

An important note about these images: the shoulder straps need work. One of the upper chest buckles separated while it was being worn last time (was one of the remaining hot glue connections) so it will soon be fixed using a Chicago screw. One of the shoulder straps is also cracked, so I'm probably going to add some metal staples to reinforce it. The padding is always being modified.

Shoulders (Pauldrons):
Both pauldrons clip to the shoulder straps. The large pauldron uses a 1" buckle at the center and then a smaller clip towards the back (to keep it from moving around as much), while the smaller pauldron just has the smaller clip (I will eventually replace this with a 1" buckle, or more likely just another of the larger pauldrons). Each pauldron has an elastic strap with a clip that goes around the arm to hold it against the arm.

I have a rather long bolt that runs through the shoulder straps since they are too thick for Chicago screws (or at least the ones I have). That bolt holds the straps for the chest armor clips and the 1" pauldron clips (I have one on each side because I accidentally added one to the smaller pauldron side).

The shoulders are an area I can probably improve on. I would like to tie the pauldrons in to the H-harness instead of the back armor, but that would be difficult to do when putting on the armor myself. Right now I clip the chest plate and the pauldrons to the back armor (leaving the kidney straps undone) and put the entire torso on at once, kind of like a set of football pads. Then I clip the kidney straps in. When removing the armor, I will reach under the chest plate and unclip the chest to make it easier to remove.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions about the GA Mark IV.

 

[SavageCaliber]

SavageCaliber sorry this took so long to get around to.
Here's a run down of how I have everything currently rigged up. I wouldn't consider this to be optimum and there are a lot of things I hope to improve/remove/change. I'll try to mention things I don't like as I go.

---

Lower Body:
Starting at the very top, I wear this H-harness, which has been modified to include an additional set of 1" buckles on the front and another set on the back. The back has long straps that have been sewn in a cross (X) pattern for added strength. I have also used quick rivets we possible, because I don't necessarily trust sewing. I don't use the lower set of buckles on the front anymore for armor, I leave them for attaching weapons.
View attachment 358193View attachment 358195
Thighs and Calves:
The first step in the chain of connections below that is the thigh armor. As mentioned in my previous post, there is a 3-point connection at the top of each thigh armor. 2 of the connections go to the h-harness and one runs down to the calf armor. Since this spot is potentially taking a lot of force, I use a 1/4"-20 bolt to tie everything together. This is great for strength, but not great if the nut comes off while you're walking around C2E2 and you can't find it, and it's not great when you're walking in a mile-long parade in Atlanta and have the end of the bolt digging into your hip. Because of those two situations, I have flipped the bolt so that the head is on the inside and I believe they are both locknuts now.
Of note, I have cut out the inner thigh section due to it being a bit too tight (I don't skip leg day) and due to the rubbing. This makes it a bit easier to put on as well, since I can slide it over either my lower calf or at the knees.

View attachment 358196View attachment 358197

The calf strap runs all the way down the outside of my leg to the top of the calf armor, where it buckles in. As mentioned previously, I don't feel that it is the best route to have such a long strap the upper thigh to the calf armor, and I may remove the long strap and make it a shorter connection from lower thigh to upper calf, plus maybe another strap on the inside of the legs to prevent rotation. Ideally I will eventually remake the calf armor to be light enough to just strap directly to my calves without needing to be held up though.
View attachment 358198View attachment 358199

When putting the armor on, I find that it's easiest to buckle the thigh and calf armor together (as shown in the above photo) and then slip both pieces on at the same time. For removing the armor, I usually unclip the calf armor and remove it first, then remove the thigh armor.

Once the armor is over my leg, the thigh armor is clipped to the h-harness. The long straps in the back wrap around to clip to the short piece and the long piece from the thigh armor goes up to the front of the h-harness. The long back straps are helpful/critical for putting it on yourself (as I always do #foreveralone), but the front straps can go from either direction. I have the front and back straps different so that I don't get the lengths mixed up.

View attachment 358200View attachment 358201
Boots:
For the boots, I originally tried gluing the pieces onto a set of crocs, but they quickly started falling apart while walking around at C2E2, and I wasn't really a fan. My current solution which I deem "meh, good enough" is that I have the pieces held together with elastic in a way that kind of clamps them to a pair of boots, with a string tied to the back and a strap running under the boot as well. Honestly I would say that the boots are the "weakest" part of my armor, aesthetically, and are where I want/need to improve the most, but I always have a hard time caring about the lower body section of any of my Cosplays.

View attachment 358202View attachment 358203

Belt:
The belt used to tie into the H-harness before I had no way to tighten it, but after trimming away a few inches from each side to create a gap between the cod piece and butt plate, I was able to add a set of tactical belt buckles to each side and use 2" nylon webbing to allow it to be tightened and stay up on it's own. I put the belt on after the thigh and calf armor so that the nylon straps run under it. I'm missing some of the extras for the belt from the GA files, I printed them but didn't have time to finish them and it turned into a "I'll get back to them" task that I never came back to. I also recommend being ready to add padding to the top of the butt plate. I had some pretty uncomfortable rub marks left on my back from the corners when I wore this to DragonCon, so I added a sheet of EVA foam and that dramatically helped with comfort.
View attachment 358204View attachment 358205View attachment 358206

---

Upper Body:
Arms:
For the forearms, I have a strap up near the elbow that holds the upper part against my arm, and then the thin forearm piece (I think it's the one you mentioned) is "floating" on two strips of elastic, so it can be pushed out a bit while my hand slides through. I have the upper side firmly attached with Chicago screws, but so far have been just redoing the hot glue on the lower piece. I need to get a better connection on that end. I probably also need to adjust my padding a bit for a more snug fit, since the forearms have a tendency to rotate a bit (but not as bad as the calf armor).
On the piece shown, the top strap is just hot glued on, I think the other one has Chicago screws holding it (this one will eventually also use Chicago screws, I just tend to not upgrade things until they break).
View attachment 358208View attachment 358209

The bicep and tricep plates are held together like an armband with elastic, and the elastic is attached with quick rivets. As mentioned in the previous post, I hate these pieces. I probably need to reprint them shorter or make them out of foam, but they cause a major amount of pinching and mobility limitations. I think originally I had these buckled to the pauldrons, but the elastic is "good enough" at keeping them up on the arms, though they do still slip down a bit. Like I said though, I usually leave these off unless it's for a photo shoot. In the future, I might also experiment with using snaps for these. You'll also notice that I'm missing one of the pieces, I found that it only added to the pinching and the scale wasn't right, so I just got rid of it entirely.

View attachment 358210View attachment 358211

Chest/Back:
Everything for the torso ties into the back armor. The chest plate has a set of 1" buckles at the top that clips it to the shoulder straps and a set of 2" buckles for the kidney straps. The GA files have a printed piece for the kidney straps, but I found that having the entire assembly be rigid was uncomfortable, so I cut the kidney straps out and replaced them with the nylon straps to allow for the torso to be tightened against my body.

I attached the kidney straps to the very back of the back plate instead of the sides so that when I tighten it, there aren't forces pulling the armor into a tighter curve, just pulling the back plate forward.

An important note about these images: the shoulder straps need work. One of the upper chest buckles separated while it was being worn last time (was one of the remaining hot glue connections) so it will soon be fixed using a Chicago screw. One of the shoulder straps is also cracked, so I'm probably going to add some metal staples to reinforce it. The padding is always being modified.
View attachment 358212View attachment 358213View attachment 358214


Shoulders (Pauldrons):
Both pauldrons clip to the shoulder straps. The large pauldron uses a 1" buckle at the center and then a smaller clip towards the back (to keep it from moving around as much), while the smaller pauldron just has the smaller clip (I will eventually replace this with a 1" buckle, or more likely just another of the larger pauldrons). Each pauldron has an elastic strap with a clip that goes around the arm to hold it against the arm.

I have a rather long bolt that runs through the shoulder straps since they are too thick for Chicago screws (or at least the ones I have). That bolt holds the straps for the chest armor clips and the 1" pauldron clips (I have one on each side because I accidentally added one to the smaller pauldron side).

The shoulders are an area I can probably improve on. I would like to tie the pauldrons in to the H-harness instead of the back armor, but that would be difficult to do when putting on the armor myself. Right now I clip the chest plate and the pauldrons to the back armor (leaving the kidney straps undone) and put the entire torso on at once, kind of like a set of football pads. Then I clip the kidney straps in. When removing the armor, I will reach under the chest plate and unclip the chest to make it easier to remove.

View attachment 358215View attachment 358217

View attachment 358216View attachment 358218


Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions about the GA Mark IV.

Holy **** bro I did not expect you to go to such lengths for me but I greatly appreciate it! Between your pictures and descriptions, the straps which have been the most daunting and difficult thing for me to understand/figure out how to do don't feel nearly as difficult to put together anymore! Seriously man you rock!

 

[tac2002]

looks good spartan

 

[BHE Photos]

Time for another Con Prep follow-along! C2E2 is right around the corner and I plan on spending time with the Midwest folks at the Con, so I need to get my armor in order.

Goals for C2E2:

• Finish post processing the Covenant Carbine that I printed on my belt printer last month. This will be my primary prop for carrying around for photos.
• Finish the two Combat Knives that I printed out. They need to be glued together and then I need to attach them to the armor somewhere.
• Add a second large pauldron, to replace the smaller Mark IV one. I just prefer the look of the big ones, the bulkiness of the Mark IV is what draws me to it.
• Fix the back armor/shoulder strap connection point that has a broken weld.
• Fix the chest-to-shoulder strap buckle that broke free of the hot glue connection.
• Fix the helmet wiring and loose ear (another broken hot glue connection).
• Improve the undersuit.
• Improve the boots?
• Improve the calves?

I have the larger pauldron printing right meow, and it should be done by the time I get home. I didn't measure the one I already have on my suit, so hopefully I didn't scale it up last year. I think I also want to remove the direct buckle connections to the torso assembly and connect the pauldrons directly to the undersuit. I think I'm going to see a nylon strap across the upper shoulder area, and then sew buckles into the top and upper bicep area for the pauldrons to directly buckle into and essentially "free float" visually. This will make it easier to put on the chest/back armor and should also remove some of the multi directional forces being put on the shoulder strap piece, which currently takes quite the beating.

For the chest armor connection, I'm going to finally add in a Chicago Screw connection (my favorite mechanical connection). The hot glue held for a surprisingly long time, I'm surprised that I'm only just now replacing it. I will likely upgrade both sides while I'm at it.

For the shoulder strap connection to the back armor, I am going to use hot staples, which have quickly become my favorite way to make very strong connections. Eventually I'd like to make backpack-style padded straps for this area to improve comfort and realism, so maybe I'll look into that if I have time.

One of the ears of the helmet got knocked loose during the last transport (I believe it was DragonCon). I have just been repeatedly using a hot glue connection for these because I still haven't finalized how I want to wire them. Since I still haven't decided on the LEDs that I want to use, I might just continue to use hot glue for now.
The fan wiring was done very hastily for DragonCon, so I will probably revisit it to actually make the fan more reliable. I will probably have to rip everything out and start over entirely.

Undersuit improvements are mostly the pauldron connections mentioned above. Though I may also try to sew in a direct connection point for the bracers since those get annoying when they constantly slide down onto my wrists and want to rotate. Potentially also doing snaps or velcro for the tricep/bicep pieces, though I still passionately hate those pieces and won't even look at them until everything else on the list is done.
I also want to start adding some extra padding/details to fill out the gaps in the armor (mostly the stomach region), but that's a low priory item. I visited my local Joann's to see if I could snag some of Yaya Han's hex-pattern material, but mine was already picked clean of that, unfortunately.

Boot improvements would be adding some foam to bridge the gap between the printed pieces to give it a more solid shape. Maybe also include a more rigid connection for the heel piece, which currently can flop a bit.

Calf improvements would be redoing the strap connection points to the thigh armor as discussed a couple of times in this thread. Probably moving the strap connection points to the bottom of the thigh armor (for shorter overall straps) and then having one on the inside and one on the outside of each leg, to hopefully minimize how much twisting there is. This might make it more difficult to put on/take off though, but that is the beauty of Chicago screws: they're easy to remove/move.

The Carbine and knives will be the most visually updated parts of the armor. My assault rifle is my favorite Halo weapon, but with all the pieces and the rods I added for strength, she's a thicc prop. I will likely bring both the assault rifle and the Carbine with me as potential carrying options (thank goodness I'm driving my truck to the Con), but I suspect that I will mostly carry the Carbine. It will be more "unique" and should be significantly lighter since I don't need any stiffening rods. Also not needing an orange tip is nice.
I think I might mount one knife to one of the pauldrons, similar to Emile. Then the other might be a good option for the left thigh. Overall I want to start adding details/accessories to my armor to flesh it out, and these will be the first items.

I've got 3 weeks to get these items done, so as long as I don't procrastinate I should have plenty of time. I do also need to make updates to my Soldier Boy, Judgement Paladin, and Jayce Talis cosplays that I'm also bringing, plus I need to finish the Halo 3 Marine helmet I started for a friend's birthday, so I will still definitely be busy. I'll probably put off most of this until a week out from Day 0, knowing me.

 

[BHE Photos]

Mar 25th Update:

Haven't got as much done as I hoped (as is always the case), but there is still progress to report.

Carbine:
I initially had some issues with the hot staples that I used to hold the two main halves together. I used the wire cutters to trim the legs (tabs? Standoffs? Pokey end bits?), which meant that they were ever so slightly "proud" of the surface, which made sanding in those areas really difficult. I have since figured out that if I just bend the legs, I can usually snap them below the surface. Since it's too late for this prop, I had to get a grinder wheel for my dremel and grind them down. The surface finish along the seam still isn't perfect, but won't be noticeable when it's actually being held anyway.

The body has been sanded and primered up to the final primer, sandable primer that I'll probably lightly hit with some 320 and 400 grit before doing the top coat. For the main body color, I'm using one of the Rustoleum Color Shift options. There isn't a lot of "shifting" on the test piece (magazine cover), but I still like the color. The internal grip section and barrel will be a light gray. Tonight I hope to paint the gray area and then I will give it a day or two to cure before applying the main blue/purple.

The second pauldron is also at the sandable primer stage. I probably won't go beyond a light buff at 320 grit for this. The chrome blue that I use has a silver base primer that needs to be used first, so that will be applied tonight. Both pauldrons are currently set to be a solid blue, so I think I'm going to see about picking a design to stencil and spray onto one or both.

The combat knives are moving slowly. I hit the sheaths with primer and sanded down the blades a bit to remove the resin printing support nubs. The aluminum rod I bought to insert is ever so slightly too big, so I need to probably run a drill bit into the various pieces to bore them out a bit. I also need to primer the blades and coat the handles in plastidip.

I haven't put any work into the soft armor stuff or the helmet. Hoping to get to those this weekend. Also included a pic of the Halo 3 Marine helmet I'm working on for a friend. It'll get a light final sanding and then it's time to go green.