Noble six build work-log (Satchmo III)

[Satchmo III]

Greetings and salutations. I'm new to the 405th and have started on a noble six (helmet only at present) build.

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EDIT: A FULL ARMOR/SUIT BUILD IS NOW ON THE DOCKET.

WEEKLY SUMMARY/DETAIL ENTRIES
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Week #00 (POST #35) - Noble six build plan and schedule
Week #01 (POST #40) - "A little bodywork."
Week #02 (POST #41) - "Would you be so kind as to please pass the salt and pepakura?"
Week #03 (POST #52) - "When I began pepakura pwnd me...pepakura is now my [expletive removed]."
Week #04 (POST #54) - "Some things are easy, other things are hard."
Week #05 (POST #59) - "Through the looking-glass."
Week #06 (POST #65) - "Improve the mind, improve the body."
Week #07 (POST #73) - "Wizard and (fiber)glass."
Week #08 (POST #75) - "Two heads are better than one."
Week #09 (POST #79) - "Helmet type Mark(er) V(b)."
Week #10 (POST #84) - "Infantry."
Week #11 (POST #90) - "No news equals good news?"
Week #12 (POST #92) - "Absence makes the halo grow fonder."
Week #13 (POST #95) - "JFO helmet:1, V(b) helmet:0."

ALL POSTS UP TO THE #35 PLANNING POST WAS INTENDED FOR A HELMET-ONLY BUILD.
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This being my inaugural post I'd like to introduce myself by describing how I discovered the 405th. I had an Xbox and Halo: CE back around their genesis but I picked up an Xbox 360 and Reach at the beginning of 2011 in order to play online with my little brother (who lives 300 miles from me). I was interested in learning more about the origin of the word "Mjöllnir" and after goggling it I happened upon this armor-building forum. After checking out quite a few threads over the course of a month I decided to enlist and become a contributing member. I think the information exchange and talent here is exceptional and am looking forward to experiencing more of what the site has to offer and meeting others of the crew.

I settled on Noble Six as my first project pretty quickly...I like the character (speak softly and carry a big stick) and the helmet so that was that. I've never done pepakura but I have done some work with cardboard/duct-tape builds in the past so I've been excited to begin. Thank you to Brandon McClain for the PDO work and the many stickies and posts that gave me a starting point. If I've uploaded them correctly there should be a few progress pictures below...please feel free to let me know what you think. Thanks.

I began with prepping some of the smaller pieces...

I kept the top two panels off the top during construction so I could reach through but otherwise I more or less constructed from the top down...

And the finished pep...

 

[BLACKULA727]

Probably the best Pep work Ive seen. Great job!

 

[Hyperballistik]

For your first helmet, you did a great job

 

[SPRTNBD50]

BLOODY HELL!!! THATS WHAT I CALL PEPAKURA!! Nice clean job done there

 

[matth101]

Wow dude. Very nice pepping! Very clean and aligned. Awesome job for a first time!!!

 

[Brandon McClain]

The pep work looks very clean. I know those chin details are tough to keep neat and you did a great job. Keep up the good work, I look forward to seeing how this progresses.

 

[Dundee]

Very nice! Clean pep work!! This is the next helmet in the line up for me. Anxious to see it finished, keep it up!

 

[Satchmo III]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to research and look around a bit for material before beginning with the resin/fiberglass step. I reside in an apartment and it's currently winter in MN so an ideal workplace is lacking. My office has a adjoining warehouse with big open spaces and large vehicle doors...do you think an empty warehouse, an open door, and maybe a fan or two would be good from a health perspective (assuming the resin is of the toxic variety)?

I checked out each of your builds and they all look great. I'm hoping my project will compare. Thanks again.

 

[geoat2t]

how did u get those skinny fold come out so good???

 

[Satchmo III]

how did u get those skinny fold come out so good???

In my opinion scoring the valley and mountain fold lines before actually folding is really important to producing clean folds. Iceman29 created a straight forward tutorial on scoring at the following link (http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/1368-Tutorial-How-To-Make-Good-Folds-For-Pepakura-Armor?highlight=scoring).

Other than what's in that tutorial I found the following to be useful when folding:
1) Lay the piece to be folded on a flat surface.
2) Place a straight-edge (or ruler) at the line to be folded (one section of the piece will be covered by the straight-edge and one section will not be covered by the straight-edge).
3) Fold the section not under the straight-edge up using the straight-edge to guide the fold. I like to work the fold with a hand and straight-edge gradually from one end to the other instead of folding the entire line all at once.
4) With the piece folded over onto itself, running a straight-edge over the fold-line (with some pressure) will give the fold a little extra crispness.

The small pieces are trickier to fold than the large pieces but I like to always score the fold-lines and fold as straight as possible.

 

[Brandon McClain]

If you will be working in the warehouse you should be fine using the more toxic variety of resin as long as you use a respirator and the temperature is within the operating perameters of said resin. I find that working with smooth cast 320, 321 and 322 are viable and even superior alternatives when working in the confines of your home, though the resin process can be quite messy. I would recommend getting a cheap plastic shower curtain to use as a drop cloth.

 

[Dundee]

I think that a semi open door would be ok. I probably expose myself a little more than I should to fumes. When in doubt though, just go pick up a painters chem respirator from lowes and wear it. Then all you have to worry about is whether or not other people will be in the area. If its cold there you might take a big box and a space heater to help with the curing process, and keeping the temp right. Just stick the piece under the box, have an opening for the heater to blow in. Dont forget to keep the heater back at least 3 ft and a ceramic style heater (without the heating coils exposed) reduces your fire risk. I had to do that with the last storm system we had go through and it worked great, temp was 95 degrees in the box!

 

[Captain Recon]

Resin outside. No question about it - dont scrimp on health and safety when using toxic chemicals. Gloves, respirator, a good breeze. If you simply *must* do it indoors, make sure it's in a wide open room with all the fans on.

Cancer is not delicious.

 

[Satchmo III]

Thank you for the suggestions and concerns.

Perhaps I'll find some non-potenially-health-threatening stuff to do until spring rolls around. Maybe play with foam-construction or hone the pepakura skills, mayhap develop bubble-shield technology in order to contain hazardous resin fumes (but not for any other reason). We'll see.

 

[Satchmo III]

I don't have much of an update on the build...I'm starting to think I scaled the helmet a bit too large and am considering redoing the pep and keeping the original to test some of the hardening techniques. I got the sample aqua-resin pack to try out and am interested in maybe slush-casting...in any event I may opt to wait until the outdoors open upon Spring.

One thing that's been on my mind that I haven't come across anywhere concerning the Noble Six helmet is the black material at helmet's backside. The shape and its difference to the rest of the helmet lead me to think it's intended to be some sort of stretchy rubber-type material. I'm thinking this might actually extend into the entire helmet so one might wriggle their head through and would snug up on the head and around the neck (basically your typical helmet padding but with the back exposed). Has anyone else considered something like this?

Since I've last reported I've been playing around with Blender. I have no real experience but after catching some tutorials on Blender's site and the 405th (thanks Rundown and other contributing members) I've come up with the following which I've imported to the pep designer. It's simple, crude, and not to proper proportion (I wasn't looking at any reference pictures) but there are no open seams on the pepakura and it's been good to practice some of the simpler functions of Blender. I'm going to print it out and assemble it, scaled to about a foot tall, for fun while I mull over what to do with the helmet. Stay tuned.

 

[Satchmo III]

I printed and pepped mini-R2 last night (see fruit bowl for scale). I got impatient with some of the smaller parts and rushed more than I would have liked but overall I think it was a good 'from modeling to pepakura' experiment.

Next time I unfold I'll have to pay more attention to tab/piece spacing. Some tabs were covered by other pieces and some tabs/pieces were pretty crowded...had I put more thought into the configuration of the unfolded pieces, and had I taken a little more time assembling, I think I could have avoided some of the bowing in the legs.

I know it's not armor so it might be out of the realm of this forum (although it could potentially house a mini, or a suppose mini-er, Kenny Baker (heh)) but please enjoy.

 

[Spitfire22V]

Justinian 117 will probably stop by this thread too, but here's a link to his tutorial for fiberglassing using wood glue instead of resin. Give it a try!

Hope this help.

http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/30783-Tutorial-Wood-Glue-Pepakura-Method?p=509277#post509277

 

[Satchmo III]

Quick update...

A few weeks back I assembled a new helmet (grey as shown below). I didn't quite like the sizing of the old one (white as shown below).



Today I acquired supplies for to harden the helmet. With spring upon us I am soon to set up some type of exterior work-space. My approach will be to 'slush-cast' with rondo best demonstrated by Ben Streeper.

 

[Alphadeltafoxtrot]

That helmet looks great! and is that pep proj. An R2D2? if so plz send me the link to download

 

[Jico]

If you are going to make a new helmet, try mine (dl link at page 2)

You might have to rescale it. It is set to 29cm now but I think 27 would be a better size

PS. Tell me if the picture doesnt work. Imageshack is beeing an a**.

Edit: Nvm You already buildt the second oneXD