RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pics)

[RobotChicken]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

Yep, already baked all the moisture out of the wood, bored out holes in the back for adding weights, and will be polishing up the axles. Every kid wants to win, but our attitude is that would just be a nice bonus - we're focusing on making a car that will turn heads, taking care to give it a fair chance at winning too (against those super aerodynamic wedge bodies). Tonight I hollowed out the sides of the rear notch-back so we can get some detailing in there (3 red vertical cylinders on the left, 3 green horizontal pointy tubes on the right). Almost ready for wood putty to clean up all the little dings and nicks from shaping the wood.

 

[soldier466]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

Good luck in the Derby, does look like fun

Sent from my 831C using Tapatalk

 

[hopkins77]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

What really worked for me in the past was, adding the weight about 2/3 of the way back off the front axil, and yes, polishing the axils and the inside of the wheel hole is a must. Good luck and keep us posted on how your son does on race day!

 

[RobotChicken]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

Thanks guys. Things are coming along nicely. Time is being juggled with also having to decorate a Valentines box for the class party on Friday. As mentioned, the sides of the notch-back were opened up to make room for some "essential" detail pieces. That, along with carving out the notch-back to begin with, left a lot of nicks needing to be filled for a smoother look. It looks rough in this photo because it's the second coat of filler which hasn't been sanded smooth yet (that nick in the back is from boring out holes for weights and is covered by an exhaust port):

We also cut back the front by 1/4" to not risk being disqualified on overall length, since exhaust ports will be hanging off the back end. This also improved the look of the front as the hood was too long anyway. I think I've got all the small bits cut for the back area and just need to clean them up a little before priming. To keep them from getting mixed up and then not knowing what was going where, I decided to stick them onto a piece of tape:

It will look a lot more interesting after painting and adding wire detailing.

 

[Termhn]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

You could easily make that bad boy look cool *and* win!

There's like 3 things that you really need to do to optimize and all of them are pretty darn easy and you should be able to figure out a way that they won't affect your design much.

 

[RobotChicken]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

You could easily make that bad boy look cool *and* win!

There's like 3 things that you really need to do to optimize and all of them are pretty darn easy and you should be able to figure out a way that they won't affect your design much.

Hey, look who came out of Lurk Mode! lol Interesting video, thanks - much of the information we already had from a Speed Secrets book I found while getting supplies. COG was already going to be set properly, as well as polishing the axles, turning the wheels, applying graphite, waxing/polishing the body ("wax on, wax off...!" ha ha), plus a few other things. I think raising one wheel, bent axles, and "rail hugging" is going a little too extreme for a kid's competition and more work than either of us is interested in doing. It would be different for adult competing or the serious hobbyist, but seeing some of the cars being made during the group workshop I think we'll be okay. I don't want him to get his hopes up too high thinking we're building an unbeatable car and then not win and be let down. He's decided our objective is to make a car that looks awesome incorporating moderate speed improvements and call it good. If it wins, then so much the better. Our goal is to have fun with it and learn some things about physics rather than get pre-occupied with every little fraction of a second down the track. Thanks for sharing the video, though - I'm going to have my son watch it too and see what additional items he feels comfortable doing in the amount of time we have for working on it.


Meanwhile, in the Halo universe....

I've updated the 3D Forearm upload with revised antecubital .stl files. Now that I have a 3D printer I'm more interested in how the .stl files look than I was before. After reviewing the antecubital .stl files in my printer software I had some feedback for revisions and SirPalesAlot graciously cleaned up the files increasing the poly count and removing fillets and radii that were making all the edges look too "rounded". The revised files uploaded today are more "crisp"-looking with smoother surfaces.

 

[Termhn]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

Hey, look who came out of Lurk Mode! lol Interesting video, thanks - much of the information we already had from a Speed Secrets book I found while getting supplies. COG was already going to be set properly, as well as polishing the axles, turning the wheels, applying graphite, waxing/polishing the body ("wax on, wax off...!" ha ha), plus a few other things. I think raising one wheel, bent axles, and "rail hugging" is going a little too extreme for a kid's competition and more work than either of us is interested in doing. It would be different for adult competing or the serious hobbyist, but seeing some of the cars being made during the group workshop I think we'll be okay. I don't want him to get his hopes up too high thinking we're building an unbeatable car and then not win and be let down. He's decided our objective is to make a car that looks awesome incorporating moderate speed improvements and call it good. If it wins, then so much the better. Our goal is to have fun with it and learn some things about physics rather than get pre-occupied with every little fraction of a second down the track. Thanks for sharing the video, though - I'm going to have my son watch it too and see what additional items he feels comfortable doing in the amount of time we have for working on it.

Indeed starting the planning for a new build, so... yay! Anyway, sounds good; I fully support your decision

 

[RobotChicken]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

Painting the various detail bits for the back area (tacked each one onto a bamboo skewer with hot glue so they're easier to handle):

Meanwhile, dad does a third application of filler, this time Bondo rather than wood filler, and it looks like there's still going to be a fourth application before it gets painted:

I'm purposely showing the filler prior to sanding rather than after sanding, so you can see how imperfect it is along the way. The Bondo started hardening on me much too soon (too much hardener) so I had to rush the application, making it bumpier than I had intended. Oh well, it will all sand smooth tomorrow morning.

 

[RobotChicken]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

 

[Chiefwannabe]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

Nice work !!
Cant wait to see where this goes!!!!

 

[RobotChicken]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

The back pieces are all attached and looking ok for an 11 year old's derby car. Some wiring details are planned to help "tech" it up a little. He had insisted on a sparkly silver paint color at the store despite my recommendation of a more aluminum color, and then after it was painted he realized I was right but still likes how it looks and the "shininess" will probably tone down after the car is waxed and buffed.

 

[DarkScorpion]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

Best of luck in the race!
Great job so far on the derby car...

 

[RobotChicken]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

Thanks! Started "tech'ing up" the back area and it's starting to look cool. Detailing is added to the front and back (headlights, emblem, tail lights, license plate, etc) which were sized and printed in Silhouette Studio and cut out on the Cameo. Also got a lot of other bits made, like temporal demodulation coils from cardstock and mat board, and hope to get the remaining parts added tonight. Tomorrow is dedicated to axle polishing and wheels.

 

[RobotChicken]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

Here's our derby car all finished. It ended up winning 3rd place overall for his age group, which is pretty good considering the car raced against others built totally just for speed. Sadly no awards won for how it looks - that's what happens when you have kids judging. All the adults said it looks awesome and at least he got a 3rd place medal. Now that this is done I can get back to working on the helmet.

 

[RobotChicken]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

I finally got the top half of the helmet pepped:

This angle shows how smooth the surface is from gluing flaps on both sides of the seams instead of just on one side:

I've also got the brim underside assembled and ready to attach next:

I've seen too many crooked brims on other helmets so I added chip board to the inside for increased rigidness:

 

[Jason225]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

I finally got the top half of the helmet pepped:


This angle shows how smooth the surface is from gluing flaps on both sides of the seams instead of just on one side:


I've also got the brim underside assembled and ready to attach next:


I've seen too many crooked brims on other helmets so I added chip board to the inside for increased rigidness:

Dude, that's some crazy detail just in pep. Looks incredible.

 

[Dynamic1]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

Unbelievable....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Minishdude1]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

You definitely had some pristine folds on that helmet. Looks amazing my friend. Also the derby car was outta the park!

 

[Spartan182]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

This file has single-handedly DESTROYED my will to pep. ever again..... It is ONLY because it is such an incredible model that I am making myself finish this. HAHAHA

 

[RobotChicken]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

So, not much progress lately. The helmet was twisting badly up the middle and I really didn't like how some of the edges were looking so I restarted it. I'm almost back to having the top half completed again, except this time it's straight and the edges look better because of the order in which I'm gluing the flaps. Another, bigger, cause for the delay in updates is my son advances to Boy Scouts on Monday so we've been working hard at meeting requirements for as many badges as we can since he won't be eligible for them after advancing. He started scouts late and has been earning badges over the course of weeks where other kids who've entered scouts earlier had years for earning badges. One of the good things about advancing is he'll be starting Boy Scouts at the right age and will be able to slow down to a normal pace for earning achievements. (One of the bad things is we had to camp out overnight a couple weeks ago and it ended up raining nearly the whole time - and the tent wasn't completely waterproof. He loved it, I was preferring to be home in warm dry clothes.)

Anyways, the main point of this post is to provide download links for reference photos. I occasionally see people here asking for good reference photos, and since getting a screen capture device I've got hundreds of close-up photos of Mk VI armor details which were used in making the models SirPalesAlot and I have been working on. I figured why not share so everybody can benefit from them. There are a lot of redundancies because I snap several photos of the same details from different angles and lighting reflections for getting a good sense of what the features look like, and I don't really have the time or interest to filter through them to upload only the best images. Besides, when it comes to reference photos, usually more is better. I didn't have the screen capture device when the forearm and upper-arm models were made, so the photo packs are currently only the helmet and hand plate. (I also have over 100 photos so far of the cod, the next model to be released, but since that model isn't finished yet there may be more photos taken as we progress on it.) Enjoy!

Helmet: http://www.4shared.com/zip/dMlRr63gba/HelmetPhotos.html 404 pics, 1 GB

Hand Plate: http://www.4shared.com/zip/rQwtsAchba/HandPlatePhotos.html 67 pics, 190 MB