Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4 thread of shenanigans-UNDERSUIT TIME!

[FlyinPhil]

Hey guys! So this build was on the back burner for a while due to snowboarding season, but with the weather warming up I'm getting back to it. For forearms, I've decided to go with the halo 4 mark VI campaign model. They are currently under construction, and being scratch built from Eva foam. They won't be 100% game accurate, as I am also stealing some aspects from some concept art. Here are some pics of the progress I made yesterday, and I will hopefully be able to detail them today.

So to start off, here are my handy beer-box templates

Followed by a shot of all the components for the base of one forearm ( details will be layered up )

Just a shot of some of the beveling

And a completed shot... Now it looks all simple and quick over a computer screen, but it took me about four hours to get to this point, with a lot of staring at myself in the mirror tryin to get the scale right haha

And lastly is a concept image from a calendar that I am stealing some aspects from.

Hopefully I'll be able to update this evening. Thanks for looking!

 

[FlyinPhil]

Just a quick teaser for you guys!

 

[EVAkura]

That is some clean looking foam work you got going on there! Very impressive. I am looking forward to watching this progress further.

 

[FlyinPhil]

That is some clean looking foam work you got going on there! Very impressive. I am looking forward to watching this progress further.

Thanks a ton, EVAkura! I've been following your build as well, and your work is superb!

So here are a few pictures of my detailing process that got me to this point.

So first I added a half inch section to layer up the front of the forearm, as well as a 5mm layer to contour each side.

Next I made a cardboard template for the rounded section at the top, and then transferred it to 5mm foam.

Lastly, I continued to add detail with various foam thicknesses, the white being 2mm craft foam, the black being 5mm, and the gray 1/2"

And here is the more or less finished pic I posted earlier.

I'll continue to add more detail with a ballpoint pen and possibly a few small sections of 2mm craft foam, but I am overall happy with them.

 

[FlyinPhil]

Alright! its been a while since I updated, just been busy with life and all that jazz haha.

So, i made the biceps from reach, and ended up making them a tad bit too small. no worries though, just cut 'em in half and added another 3/4" to stretch them. Here you can see the original on the left, and the stretched one on the right.



I decided to go with the commando attachment from reach on the left shoulder, and here are a couple pics of that.



mmmmm layers...



And lastly, here is where it currently stands. I used elmers spray adhesive for the white thin foam on the curved details of the attachment, and was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked....it also doesnt leave any funny contours like hot glue.



Hopefully i'll make some more progress this week!

 

[FlyinPhil]

Here's another small update for you guys! Managed to bang out the halo 4 mk6 campaign shoulder armor last night, and am very happy with the results. I used spray adhesive for almost all the pieces on this, aside from a few small ones near the end of the night, for which i used hot glue. The bolts i used are either 1/4 or 3/16" by 1/2" socket cap bolts, and i also used them on my mk6 forearms (will toss in a few more close up pics of those too). a bag of 100 cost me about $5 at my local nut and bolt supplier. I also did a little more forward thinking on this piece, and planned out where i wanted my led's to mount, and cut out corresponding spots for those.





And another present showed up in the mail the other day... and i happen to have a roommate with a vinyl cutter, who is going to give me a hand printing out a hex pattern for paint.

 

[FlyinPhil]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans

AAAAAAAAND DOUBLE POST FTW!

So i've been crazy busy since my last update between work, working on my cars, working on my armor, and everything else life seems to throw at you when you are trying to work for a deadline haha. Edmonton's convention is coming up quick, and i have about 20 days to finish my suit and helmet, as well as work on my girlfriend's Leela costume. To save time, i've decided to incorporate a cloak, similar to the one master chief wears in the halo 5 advert, except in white/gray to match my armor. This will allow me to skip the detailing on some of the pieces such as the chest, stomach, waist and thighs. Not sure if i've mentioned it yet, but all of my foam work is scratch built.... no patterns for this guy!

here is a shot of the incomplete chest (halo 4 eod) which will just add some volume under the cloak for now.



And onto the shins!
Not sure exactly what type they are, but they are found in halo 4's multiplayer, and i've been referencing a number of screenshots, cutting out rough shapes, cutting those shapes up more, gluing them together, cuttin up the glued bits, all until they seem correct haha.

so, here are two of the sides, rounded using a heat gun.



And here you can see one cut in half, as i decided it should be a bit wider.



And i skipped a few steps here. I added about a 1" strip between those two cut halves, then glued the front of the shins in place. Here you see the backs of the shin pieces, only one glued together.



Here you see the front of one shin with the detail being built up, and just the back of the other.

A little more of the front detail built up in this one, as well as two large chunks cut out of the one on the right...we'll get to that right away



I cut out that slot in order to flare out the section around it, as well as made a relief cut on the inside of the shin where i would be flaring it... if that makes sense. here is the piece that will be glued back in place.



And a closer shot, showing the section flared, the new piece glued in, and the original piece glued behind that for a little more rigidity.



The one on the left is flared and covered with thinner foam for detail, the one on the right is still untouched.



All the pieces needed for the flared section



Gettin a little creative for the little "pods that go just above the ankle. I only made these for the outer side of each shin (it is on both sides of the game model) just to save room while im walking, to keep me from banging them together.



Here is that " pod" installed, as well as some more thin detailed foam on the side.




And there should be more to come soon!



Edit: One last thing to add here. More of a question for the masses haha. The floor mats I purchased most recently are from princess auto, and are a real pain to cut. They dull my blades extremely quickly (i buy blades in 100 packs, so not a huge deal), and they dont seem to cut as cleanly as the foam i used for my forearms and shoulders. Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

 

[FlyinPhil]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans

Boom, triple post no shame

banged out some halo 4 handplates as my other ones were a tad bit too large. (after a couple coats of plasti dip)



And, plasti dipping time! These are all of the armor parts that will be visible while wearing the cloak, aside from the boots.

 

[FlyinPhil]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans

Super quick update for you guys! 3 more days til the con i am going to, and lots of work left to go. Here are a bunch of pics that should be rather self explanatory. Might post some more later if I am not too tired.











Some paint for ya!





And we'll finish off for now with a nice little teaser

 

[nikolojedison]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans

Ooo, shiny paint! Nice job on that arm detail!

 

[Master Builder]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans

Excellent work!!

I really like the battle damage you added to the Halo 4 handgards, looks much more realistic than a lot of other battle damage I've seen.

 

[FlyinPhil]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans

And here is where I was able to finish off last night! No weathering or battle damage yet, but hopefully I'll be able to get to that tonight while I am working on finishing off my helmet.





More to come soon!

 

[FlyinPhil]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans

I've finally gotten the armor into a wearable state. It took a lot of late nights over the last couple weeks to get it to this point, but it was totally worth the effort, and was a big hit at the Edmonton comic expo on saturday... I was up til 4 am the night before trying to put the finishing touches on it haha. So as you saw from my last post, the foam work was all completed and painted, sans battle damage and blackwashing. That left the helmet, cloak, and strapping to finish off the project. Lets start with the helmet!

Here you can see i had to build up some rondo around two bolts, which secure the lens in place with nuts and washers. My placement is a little unconventional, but for the way my lens had to be sucked in to place to account for a smaller curve, it wasn't practical to mount it at the temples like most helmets are done. in this shot you see where i had built up a form with masking tape. Once I filled it with rondo, i dipped in a bolt and held it in place until the rondo hardened to a "rubbery" state.



Unfortunately I didn't take any more pictures of this process until after the helmet was completely finished, so here is a shot of it completed on the inside, surrounded by the 1/2" foam I used to pad the helmet.



And here's a shot of some tedious tape work.



Paint done!



So-so on the paint job... it was 4 am when i finished......the weathering and lens really bring this helmet to life!



Just a closeup of the finished paint job on the boots, prior to installing 4 socket cap bolts.



Now for the cloak, I was rushed to get it done as well, and as they say, work smart, not hard. So i figured the best way would be to cut out three layers that simply rest on top of each other, so i only had to sew two seams on the bottom piece. I proceeded to weather the cloak with black spraypaint, spraying from a good distance back and focusing on the edges. Here are some final pics of my costume all assembled at the edmonton Expo on saturday.









Thanks for reading through my build, everyone! I will likely continue the build and update sometime soon, but it is not currently a priority.

 

[ButteryZero]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (Finished Pics inside!)

That is one awesome suit my friend!

 

[OMANOMNOM]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (Finished Pics inside!)

Very awesome, maybe you have persuaded me to start a EOD helmet. Also i'm curious to the techniques you used to sand the helmet.

 

[FlyinPhil]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (Finished Pics inside!)

That is one awesome suit my friend!

Thanks, ButteryZero!

Very awesome, maybe you have persuaded me to start a EOD helmet. Also i'm curious to the techniques you used to sand the helmet.

Thanks! hmmm, nothing too exciting on the sanding. I just spread thin layers of bondo on areas that i feel need touching up (either not quite square, imperfections in the surface, etc.), Then i sand them down, starting with 100 grit paper, and then move up to about a 400 grit. I usually shave away some of the bondo using a sharp razor blade while it's still tacky, as it cuts down on the sanding time. For the tighter areas (like around the mouth/nose) I use needle files and chisels.

All of that said, the helmet is not up to my normal standards of work. It has a slight twist to it that isn't correctable via bodywork. It isn't really noticeable, as i was able to hide it with my paint job and battle damage, but this particular helmet will never be perfect. I learned a ton from it though, and am overall happy with it for my first attempt.

 

[FlyinPhil]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (Finished Pics inside!)

Quick little update for you guys! Got a start on the halo 4 eod torso, and here is how it sits right now. Lots more progress pics on the way, but I figured I'd just toss this up for now!

 

[m00sem4n]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (Finished Pics inside!)

Really stellar foam-work here! You're setting a new standard with those cleanly glued edges and the level of detail, can't wait to see those incoming progress shots :thumbsup

 

[The BorosBoss]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (Finished Pics inside!)

Dude! Freakin' great, ya hoser! So how did you paint the rest of it? when will you do the chestplate? All of this looks stunning. really great work. I'm not really using resin/pep form helmets yet, any tips besides using extra hardener?

 

[FlyinPhil]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (Finished Pics inside!)

Really stellar foam-work here! You're setting a new standard with those cleanly glued edges and the level of detail, can't wait to see those incoming progress shots :thumbsup

Thanks Moosem4n!

Dude! Freakin' great, ya hoser! So how did you paint the rest of it? when will you do the chestplate? All of this looks stunning. really great work. I'm not really using resin/pep form helmets yet, any tips besides using extra hardener?

Thanks! all of the foam is painted first with plasti dip, then a few coats of krylon fusion satin white, then gloss cherry red, then satin black. After the spray paint is dry, I hit it with a black wash. For this I add some black acrylic craft paint to some water., wipe it on with one rag, and off with a clean (er) one... test a few pieces when you do this. In the end I used very little paint in the water, as you just want a black residue to stay once you wipe it off. The chest plate/thighs/cod piece will all get painted once I've finished them, as it saves paint and time to do multiple parts at once.

As for pep tips, really take your time during the gluing and resin phases. I think i will use super glue instead of hot glue next time as well.. gives you a little more rime to work with the parts, and others have seemed to have good luck woth it. Use supports inside your parts during the resin phase as well. All of this will prevent your parts warping, and will save you lots of time in the bondo process.