Progress thread - custom Reach build from a novice

[RubbishBin]

Hi everyone,
it's that time of year where I'm giving myself a highly ambitious progress with a steep learning curve. This year, I'm attempting to construct myself EVA and pep armour so I can fulfill my childhood dream of becoming my Halo Reach Spartan. I was a novice when I first started, as in not knowing what pepakura was, not knowing what the armour was made of, and having had no experience other than seeing professional cosplayers. I gave myself probably three weeks of research before allowing myself to jump into construction.

This is what I'm looking for. Yes, probably like lots of other first-timers wanting to make super high-detail suits, but that's my baby boy. The first step was finding files, which thanks to you lovely bunch, was not that difficult if you know where to look. Second was scaling. I'm 6'5"/195cm so I thought that would be a huge issue. Thankfully, thus far, my measurements have actually been pretty close to the files' original sizes (emphasis on thus far). Third, I began construction. More below.

 

[RubbishBin]

The first thing I attempted was the wrist tacpad, and it was basically a complete disaster. I set out my pep templates, ready and keen for my first piece to look shmick, only to find using 10mm foam for a high-detail wrist piece is not a good idea.

Also, I'm having a lot of trouble embedding images. Any help would be appreciated with that. Anyway, after fiddling with these pieces for about a day before realising my progress was fruitless, I abandoned said piece. Time to move on to something a bit simpler - the juicy thigh pieces. My first attempt at these was slightly less disastrous than the tacpad. After printing and getting my templates cut out, I got to cutting and gluing. The issue was that I had absolutely no idea about bezel cuts and applied HEAPS of hot glue to make sure I could bend the pieces around my thigh and keep them from splitting at the joins. Remember, complete novice. I was definitely proud at my first complete build but was kind of worried that the rest of my armour would have huge seam spaces and look like an ink-print. I took to the 405th and with the help of some members (Charizard?) I concluded that it was time to completely redo both pieces. I was kind of bummed at having to redo the pieces but realised that if I did not enjoy the process that it was not worth it. I took to the pieces with newfound enthusiasm and I've begun to absolutely love my time spent measuring and cutting and sticking. The whole thing is definitely therapeutic. I tried my best to keep seams tight and angles calculated to minimise piece bend and maximise rotundness through angled cuts. Comparison pics below if I can get them to work.

I went ahead and applied some Selley's Spakfilla into some of the looser seams. In Australia, Kwik-Fill doesn't exist, so we have to make do with what we have. The Spakfilla was around $12 at Bunnings. I'm also using some el-cheapo exacto knives and box cutters plus a scalpel with a TON of replacement blades. I'm thinking getting a better blade and a sharpener could be a worthwhile future investment but for now this will do. More pics below.

I get that it looks pretty horrific now. I'm gonna take to some edges with a dremel and lots of sandpaper of a multitude of grits to get some much smoother edges and a more even surface. After that I'll look to seal and prime the foam. More updates coming soon!

 

[TurboCharizard]

Glad I could be of some help!

I'm just getting back from a weekend of being a cosplay guest at a con so I'll be back nose to the grindstone immediately. The comparison between attempt one and two are fantastic RubbishBin, my only piece of advice right now to help you further improve is to hold back on the hot glue. CA glue or contact cement as your primary adhesive and then hot glue as a backing will make your life easier down the road when it comes to sanding and heat sealing since it'll minimize chance of warping and seams letting got as glue heats up, softens and relaxes with the added heat from friction and direct air from a heat gun.

Keep up the solid work and I look forward to seeing how this progresses!

 

[RubbishBin]

I'm back! It's been far too long in between this and my last update but I've been working on it. After some further Dremelling and sanding of the upper leg pieces, I decided to move on to the shin/calf pieces so I could get some continuation between the two bits but the shin templates I used were a nightmare. There were so many small pieces on the pep files so I had to spend lots of time editing the pep file. After much deliberation, test pieces, scaling issues, I kind of gave up on the shin pieces and said I'd revisit them later. If anyone knows a shin foam template which looks good and is simple to make on 10mm foam PLEASE let me know! With that said, I moved onto the cod belt. Looking at my template, I once again saw a pile of smaller pieces and decided to ignore it. I freehanded the whole cod piece.

 

[PaiganBoi]

When you say you had trouble with the shins because of tiny bits, which files did you download? Was it the Reach standard?
Halo: Reach - MJOLNIR Mark V - Standard
There is a foam file for shins and its 3 pages of templates and no tiny bits.

Also for the waist or what is sometimes refered as "The Space Diaper" check these templates out.
Halo 3 - MJOLNIR Mark VI - Standard LD
Its a simplified foam template for the Mijolnir Mk VI space diaper but, I am sure it can modified to resemble the Reach one.

 

[RubbishBin]

When you say you had trouble with the shins because of tiny bits, which files did you download? Was it the Reach standard?
Halo: Reach - MJOLNIR Mark V - Standard
There is a foam file for shins and its 3 pages of templates and no tiny bits.

I actually just came across the shin templates in this collection a couple of hours before you posted it here, I'm gonna use these instead. Thanks for the help! I'll post an update with the shins looking shmick as soon as I've done them, hopefully.

 

[Lieutenant Jaku]

RubbishBin just pointing out, the reach codpiece goes up on the sides, and then back down, I would recommend cutting yours so it isn't just straight.