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

[Dat1Darkrai]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (WIP, pic heavy)

I hate to ask, but how did you do that helmet? did you remove the paper and have a "casted" like product? If this was already answered do you think you could just point me in that direction?

(Edit) did the rondo just make it look like it was casted?

 

[FlyinPhil]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (WIP, pic heavy)

I hate to ask, but how did you do that helmet? did you remove the paper and have a "casted" like product? If this was already answered do you think you could just point me in that direction?

(Edit) did the rondo just make it look like it was casted?

All good, sir. Your last line is exactly on point. I just made a pepakura model, covered it inside and out with polyester resin, slushed rondo around inside of it (as well as added a 2" strip of fiberglass around the base of the helmet), and then sanded and smoothed the exterior with thin layers of bondo.

Thank you to everyone else for your positive comments! That is part of what drives me to do what I do!

 

[Dat1Darkrai]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (WIP, pic heavy)

Alright cool thank you! going to have to use rondo for my build then. Good build. Loving the design

 

[FlyinPhil]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (WIP, pic heavy)

Alright cool thank you! going to have to use rondo for my build then. Good build. Loving the design

Thanks man! Although if I had to make a suggestion, I'd go with coating the inside with fiberglass if I were to do it over again. There is a little more time involved, but your finished product will be more durable, and quite a bit lighter. With the rondo method, it is also harder to achieve uniform thickness throughout the part

 

[Dat1Darkrai]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (WIP, pic heavy)

Okay cool. As a guy who build starwars stuff, the fiberglass resin method came easy for me but i was wanting to expand to rondo since it had also looked pretty easy

 

[FlyinPhil]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (WIP, pic heavy)

So i had a few fun packages come in the mail the other day, had to put them to good use! ... they also allowed me to finish detailing the back of my chest piece. Purchased off of eBay as well, the rectangular ones are 60x10x5mm n50 strength, and the round are 20x2mm n50 strength. If you use rare earth magnets as well, just be aware that they are rather fragile, amd one of my larger ones cracked in half when it "snapped" back onto the other magnets.



And here are the two embedded on the back:



And the, more or less, finished detail on the front and back... complete with an unfinished smg kickstand haha.

 

[FlyinPhil]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (WIP, pic heavy)

My apologies for the double post, but I had some fun building a mannequin tonight, and wanted to share! Cost me a total of 15 dollars for the wood and the hooks, though I had to grab an extra 2x4 I had laying around from a previous project! Made it pretty close to my own size, and I'm pretty happy with the result!

The bare bones...Roger Roger? Lol


All suited up! (At least all the parts I have built lol)


Honestly, this is what nightmares are made of. I matched all the dimensions to myself, but I didn't account for how all of the armor would sit a little differently. This thing is super creepy haha. One more pic for good measure.



Have a good night everyone!

 

[Cpl Shepard]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (WIP, pic heavy)

Very nice, I like what you've done improvising a mannequin.

 

[The BorosBoss]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (WIP, pic heavy)

Are you planning on giving this mannequin thighs/entire legs or will he remain looking like R.O.B.?

edit: or is that what those hooks are for?

 

[FlyinPhil]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (WIP, pic heavy)

Are you planning on giving this mannequin thighs/entire legs or will he remain looking like R.O.B.?
View attachment 15504
edit: or is that what those hooks are for?

Hahaha, yep, that's what the hooks are for! I'm currently working on the codpiece, and then just the thighs, Ab plate, and undersuit will be left! I'm super stoked to be this close to completing my suit, but there is still lots of work left to go!

On that note, here's a shot of my reach codpiece I've been working on for a couple days. It's surprisingly trickier than I expected.

 

[FlyinPhil]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (WIP, pic heavy)

Hey guys! So I've looked back through my thread, amd I realized I haven't really done any walk throughs on my process for scratch building armor!

So the next post or two (will likely split it up due to being on my phone and the number of pics involved) will have a ton of pics, amd I will walk you guys right through how I (over)designed my reach codpiece. Just a heads up, I made this part slightly more complicated than it needed to be, but I wanted it to be super comfortable, flexible to match my movements, and functional for using the washroom... the latter being rather important haha.

So first off, as I have done with a couple of my other parts, I made a template from a sketch on a cereal box. By holding parts up to myself in the mirror, I am able to determine the rough size and shape I will need!



As we move along, I cut up my template to ensure all of the details and angles are correct as well! (Flip templates over for mirrored parts and to save time!)



Now this is my simple technique for adding "embedded" details that are near the edge of a part. I simply cut the outline of the detail, and then slice the part from the side with a fresh blade at the required depth. The detail then pops out, and it's easy to glue down the slit that you just made. This pic demonstrates my description.



You can make out those details in this picture, as well as the craft foam sides I added to the downward portion of the piece. These were made by a combination of a ruler and a skilled eyeball for the angles needed.



So the next few pictures are of the little pods that go on the side of the hips. They are more complicated than they needed to be, but I think they came out looking pretty good! (Again, mostly eyeballed, but used a ruler for some dimensions )





More to come in a couple hours! Just have to do some water skiing and then I'll have time for another post

 

[FlyinPhil]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (WIP, pic heavy)

Alright! Sorry for the delay there, but managed to get a solid evening of boating in! Now I neglected to take any close up pictures of the pieces that go between the butt plate, side pods, and front of the cod piece, but they are simply two layers of 1/2" eVA glued together with some of the edges beveled. The front also has two slight angles and some minor derails cut out. You can see these parts in the more finished pics!

Onward! Here is my butt plate template drawn and cut out. As you can see, I've already estimated and cut out one of the angles..... it's a heck of a lot easier to do it at this stage than to do it on your foam, potentially making a mistake judgment and wasting it!



Here is the inside of the butt plate after the bevels have been added and glued. So, as you can see, I changed my mind a little on the scale once I got to this point , and added that ~3/4" strip to the bottom to correct it, as well as the two little "wings" on the side which would have been added at some point anyway!



Add a little craft foam for details, and the butt plate is finished! (Probably the easiest part of the codpiece haha)



So, now all of my parts are made, it's time to get a little creative and stick em together! After a little experimenting, I found that 1" elastic strapping bonds very well with hot glue. Soooo, I used it to make an inner belt, belt loops, and hold sections of the codpiece together! It all made for a very comfortable and ergonomic fit, with great flexibility. Here a re a few pics depicting how I rigged it up!







Are those magnets in my codpiece, or am I just happy to see you? so yes there are rare earth magnets for the front piece to make it easily removable. Unfortunately the 8 that I added were not quite strong enough to prevent it from popping loose while moving around a lot, so I will have to add one more larger magnet to the equation, and it will be sound (already tested and works well, just need to permanently affix the magnet). You can also see I removed a layer of foam from the back of the codpiece for a little more space.



And this is more or less how it now sits(though the inner belt isn't installed in this pic, and the sides are slightly less droopy when it is worn haha)! I don't have any pics of it on me quite yet, but I'll be sure to snap some next weekend when I'm back in town!



As usual, thanks for looking, guys!

 

[WandererTJ]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (WIP, pic heavy)

Do the flaps on the sides of the belt open to store things?

Are you planning on just mixing together various pieces of armor from the different games?

I use a different method for my recessed bits, if you'd like to try it.
Rather than coming in from the sides, I simply cut the detail all the way through, then I lower it to the depth that I want it to be, shave down the backside as necessary, and then I glue it.
It definitely works better on pieces that are flat and don't have any stress on them to curve, as sometimes when that happens you notice a gap between the internal edges from not gluing it perfectly.

As far as the gluing is concerned,
For Recessed Pieces: Apply glue to the Recessed Piece, the Press Recessed Piece into Main piece from Behind/Underneath
For Raised Pieces: Apply glue to Main Piece, then Press Raised Piece down into the Main Piece from the Front/Top

Some of the glue is going to slide off when you press the pieces together, so the goal is to make sure it is pushed to the side that won't be seen.

 

[FlyinPhil]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (WIP, pic heavy)

Do the flaps on the sides of the belt open to store things?

Are you planning on just mixing together various pieces of armor from the different games?

I use a different method for my recessed bits, if you'd like to try it.
Rather than coming in from the sides, I simply cut the detail all the way through, then I lower it to the depth that I want it to be, shave down the backside as necessary, and then I glue it.
It definitely works better on pieces that are flat and don't have any stress on them to curve, as sometimes when that happens you notice a gap between the internal edges from not gluing it perfectly.

As far as the gluing is concerned,
For Recessed Pieces: Apply glue to the Recessed Piece, the Press Recessed Piece into Main piece from Behind/Underneath
For Raised Pieces: Apply glue to Main Piece, then Press Raised Piece down into the Main Piece from the Front/Top

Some of the glue is going to slide off when you press the pieces together, so the goal is to make sure it is pushed to the side that won't be seen.

Thanks for the tips wandertj! Will definitely give them a try!

As for the mismatched armor parts, I'm using a combination of parts from reach and 4, as I love both games, and want a really unique looking suit!

I have a little over a month to do the thighs, painting, wiring, and undersuit... it's gonna be tight haha!

 

[chase314]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (WIP, pic heavy)

Wow, love what you've done so far. Subscribing to this thread

 

[FlyinPhil]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (WIP, pic heavy)

Wow, love what you've done so far. Subscribing to this thread

Thanks Chase!

Small update for you guys. I have less than a month to finish my suit for the edmonton comic expo, so it's gonna be a huge crunch to get it done in time!

Here is a shot of the thighs....the bulk of one glued together, and the other still in pieces. I made a cardboard model to get the size and shape right, then transferred all the pieces to foam. Just have to layer up the detail on them now!

 

[FlyinPhil]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (WIP, pic heavy)

Hey guys! I actually have a decent update for you today haha. Been going hard at the foam work the last couple days, as my deadline is approaching fast!

Here are some pics of the finished thighs. The gray "patches" you see are covering the magnets that i neglected to embed in the armor before detailing it (was on a roll with the rest of the work, and it completely stripped my mind lol). once painted, ill be adding rivets around the edges of those patches, and making them look like the armor was actually repaired.





I also banged put the knee pads...



....as well as the ab plate that sits below the chest piece.



Now i wanted to finish up all my foam work (or at least most of it), so i made the remaining details for my reach eod helm out of foam. With the helmet already being quite front heavy, i didnt want to add any more weight by making the parts out of fiberglass.



While on the subject of the helmet, i also added a foam rear lip to the back of the helmet, which really cleaned up the look of it. it will be removed and painted, it is just resting in place for the picture.



And lastly, here is a shot of my m6g hanging out on the right thigh armor.



As always, thanks for looking!

Down to the final crunch of sewing, strapping, painting, and wiring.

 

[shwarzwald]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (WIP, pic heavy)

Hey guys! I actually have a decent update for you today haha. Been going hard at the foam work the last couple days, as my deadline is approaching fast!

Here are some pics of the finished thighs. The gray "patches" you see are covering the magnets that i neglected to embed in the armor before detailing it (was on a roll with the rest of the work, and it completely stripped my mind lol). once painted, ill be adding rivets around the edges of those patches, and making them look like the armor was actually repaired.

http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg358/Phil38654/Mobile Uploads/20150826_190322.jpg

http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg358/Phil38654/Mobile Uploads/20150826_190257.jpg

I also banged put the knee pads...

http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg358/Phil38654/Mobile Uploads/20150826_190139.jpg

....as well as the ab plate that sits below the chest piece.

http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg358/Phil38654/Mobile Uploads/20150826_190154.jpg

Now i wanted to finish up all my foam work (or at least most of it), so i made the remaining details for my reach eod helm out of foam. With the helmet already being quite front heavy, i didnt want to add any more weight by making the parts out of fiberglass.

http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg358/Phil38654/Mobile Uploads/20150826_190221.jpg

While on the subject of the helmet, i also added a foam rear lip to the back of the helmet, which really cleaned up the look of it. it will be removed and painted, it is just resting in place for the picture.

http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg358/Phil38654/Mobile Uploads/20150826_190419.jpg

And lastly, here is a shot of my m6g hanging out on the right thigh armor.

http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/gg358/Phil38654/Mobile Uploads/20150826_124915.jpg

As always, thanks for looking!

Down to the final crunch of sewing, strapping, painting, and wiring.

Wow that looks great! Also I didnt think about using magnets to keep the pistol in place. I may implement that on a future build. (Also have the magnets caused any issues to anything you keep on you? Phone, cards, ect?)

 

[FlyinPhil]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (WIP, pic heavy)

Wow that looks great! Also I didnt think about using magnets to keep the pistol in place. I may implement that on a future build. (Also have the magnets caused any issues to anything you keep on you? Phone, cards, ect?)

Thanks dude!

So far I've done my best to keep the magnets away from my electronics and such, so I don't think they'll be an issue. I think I'll be making a tactical style pouch for the left thigh (no magnets) for my phone/wallet/keys that will allow me easy access while at a convention or event. The only danger from magnets will be from close contact, having magnets a foot or two away won't give me any issues.

 

[m00sem4n]

Re: Phil's Reach EOD + Halo 4/5 thread of shenanigans (WIP, pic heavy)

I'm still really loving this build man. Those thighs look incredible, right down to the damage placement and the patchwork/riveted armor repair over the magnets is a great idea, haha.

Keep on keepin' on :thumbsup