Spacemeat's Halo 5 Athlon / Air Assault Foam Build

[Chernobyl]

Thanks a lot for the shout-out, Spartan. I'll certainly be updating the belt/waist armour for Pepakura, and including some of the more intricate detail later on, and I'll be sure to publish the file once I'm done for your use.

As always, good luck on your build! It's looking fantastic, and I may have to obtain your help down the line when I begin working with foam myself!

 

[Frozensnot]

The newer version of the shoulder looks a lot better. All of the pieces look like they fit great on you!

I haven't watched your recent videos yet but how do you plan on keeping the shoulder together? Will your shoulders have a similar strapping layout to your forearms? I'm going to guess that the layout of the shoulders involves purse snaps somehow .

 

[SavedbyGraceG12]

Just wanted to say that this a big step up from your last armor build. I VERY, VERY, impressed! Eye candy fa sho! Even without a paint job it looks so awesome! Also, I'm sure that laser cutter is coming out to be very handy. Every thing looks so clean when put together. By the way is that a cast of a Railgun leaning up against the wall behind you?

 

[Spacemeat]

Thanks a lot for the shout-out, Spartan. I'll certainly be updating the belt/waist armour for Pepakura, and including some of the more intricate detail later on, and I'll be sure to publish the file once I'm done for your use.

As always, good luck on your build! It's looking fantastic, and I may have to obtain your help down the line when I begin working with foam myself!

Thank you again for the model! I've actually cut it out today:



For those interested, here's the file I unfolded. Sorry, it's arranged for a 2'x2' foam mat at the moment, but it's certainly usable. I've also got the .dxf file I used for laser cutting, I made some additions to it for a little more detail:

View attachment G2 Mk VI Hip Plate Chernobyl Foam Unfold Spacemeat.zip

The newer version of the shoulder looks a lot better. All of the pieces look like they fit great on you!

I haven't watched your recent videos yet but how do you plan on keeping the shoulder together? Will your shoulders have a similar strapping layout to your forearms? I'm going to guess that the layout of the shoulders involves purse snaps somehow .

Actually I haven't figured it out yet (but there probably will be a snap to two). I was looking in Halo 4 and I see a solid piece connecting the shoulder to bicep pieces. I'm not very keen on that because, as I learned from my Reach armor, having solid connectors in areas that will move and flex is a recipe for failure and breakage. I'm thinking at this point I'll be using Nylon strapping, so the shoulder will move with my arm better. I haven't figured out the exact configuration yet, but I'll certainly be trying in the coming week or two and you'll see it then

Just wanted to say that this a big step up from your last armor build. I VERY, VERY, impressed! Eye candy fa sho! Even without a paint job it looks so awesome! Also, I'm sure that laser cutter is coming out to be very handy. Every thing looks so clean when put together. By the way is that a cast of a Railgun leaning up against the wall behind you?

Thanks! The cutter is a real time saver and really the only think that's keeping me on schedule for SDCC. And yes, that's a railgun cast, I'm planning on cleaning it up and painting it for SDCC, and then further down the line I'll add animated light rings in the barrel.

 

[Spacemeat]

Build Log #4 It's All in the Hips

Hey guys! Time for another update:

Build Log #4: It's All In the Hips

So this particular week has had a lot of setbacks sizing wise. The new thighs I cut out were too small, and the Athlon chest was as well. In either case, we're talking about an inch or two off, which is rather infuriating. Thankfully since I can keep using the laser cutter, it's relatively quick to resize and cut new pieces. Though it really grates at me how much money, foam, and time I'm wasting. My girlfiend has pointed out that the reject pieces may be too small for me, but seem just right for her, so I guess she gets bonus Athlon upgrades in the future!

In anycase, I did get some progress done. I've fully assembled the Cod piece that Chernobyl modeled. This first iteration was lacking some of the details I saw in screenshots, so I added a few in illustrator before cutting. But overall, I'm quite happy with the result, and thank you Chernobyl for literally covering my ass!

 

[Chernobyl]

As always, Spacemeat, very good work, and I'm very impressed at the level of detail you've managed from reference alone. Since it's finished, I'll release the finalised cod pieces here for the full community to enjoy - I may host these in my own thread at a later point, but I think they deserve to go here thanks to the work you put into helping me with the project. Full credit has been given in the file, and the .ZIP archive contains both Letter and A4 formats for all regions.

Please, use, enjoy - and credit both myself and Spacemeat when using! Remember, it's only through Spacemeat's hard work that these files have been possible to make!

Good luck with your build moving onwards, Spacemeat!

EDIT files are available within the Halo 4 Mk VI section of the Archive HERE so as not to clog up this thread with unneeded comments regarding the file. Let's keep the focus on the armour build and not my models.

 

[LoneLegionary]

Nice build! Sorry to hear about all of the sizing issues. They sure do test ones persistence and determination at times.

 

[Frozensnot]

That's unfortunate to hear about your thighs and chest. It's good to hear that they will not go to waste. All of my mess ups with scaling ended up in the trash.

The cod piece looks really good! Here's hoping that your newer scaled pieces will fit this time around.

 

[Sithslayer78]

This is awesome! I've been laser cutting templates and foam for two of my suits too over here on the east coast!

I was wondering, how were you able to verify that the foam was OK to use in the cutter? Where I work we have a laser cutter and a big issue is that some materials can damage the optics and motion control systems. It gets kind of sketchy because some foams are linked with PVC which is one of those bad materials...

 

[pipninja]

This build is going so well, you are making quick progress too! Keep up the good work!!

 

[Spacemeat]

As always, Spacemeat, very good work, and I'm very impressed at the level of detail you've managed from reference alone. Since it's finished, I'll release the finalised cod pieces here for the full community to enjoy - I may host these in my own thread at a later point, but I think they deserve to go here thanks to the work you put into helping me with the project. Full credit has been given in the file, and the .ZIP archive contains both Letter and A4 formats for all regions.

Please, use, enjoy - and credit both myself and Spacemeat when using! Remember, it's only through Spacemeat's hard work that these files have been possible to make!

Good luck with your build moving onwards, Spacemeat!

EDIT files are available within the Halo 4 Mk VI section of the Archive HERE so as not to clog up this thread with unneeded comments regarding the file. Let's keep the focus on the armour build and not my models.

Thank you again Chernobyl for making that file, it's quite excellent and I'm happy we could get from screenshot to completed foam piece in such a sort amount of time!

Nice build! Sorry to hear about all of the sizing issues. They sure do test ones persistence and determination at times.

That's unfortunate to hear about your thighs and chest. It's good to hear that they will not go to waste. All of my mess ups with scaling ended up in the trash.

The cod piece looks really good! Here's hoping that your newer scaled pieces will fit this time around.

You'd think that after all of these years of armor building I'd do better with scaling. Just really turns out that I've been in too much of Reach mindset and I really have to remember that Halo 4/5 armor has different proportions. But yeah, I'll certainly sit down and finish the smaller pieces after SDCC, I'm sure my girlfriend will be pleased!

This is awesome! I've been laser cutting templates and foam for two of my suits too over here on the east coast!

I was wondering, how were you able to verify that the foam was OK to use in the cutter? Where I work we have a laser cutter and a big issue is that some materials can damage the optics and motion control systems. It gets kind of sketchy because some foams are linked with PVC which is one of those bad materials...

My understanding is that the gas the corrodes the lens in the laser cutter is Chlorine gas, the "C" in PVC. EVA or Ethylene-vinyl-acetate does not contain any chlorine and as such can't produce THAT corrosive gas. Now, I've read in the MSDS that "improper buring" or EVA will release a toxic gas, but any info on its corrosive nature with the laser cutter lens is hard to come by at this point. Which is unfortunately an unknown, and we'll just have to see how it effects the cutter I've been using.

This build is going so well, you are making quick progress too! Keep up the good work!!

Gotta keep working fast, only a month till SDCC!

 

[CrazyIvanVI]

Excellent work, truly fantastic stuff!

When I have some time, I'm definitely going to be watching through your build logs to pick up tips.

I'm not privy to a laser cutter, but I know I'll be doing my ODST build with foam. Any tips on what you find best for unfolding a Pep for foam? And I'd love to know what kind of hot knife you're using - most I see have the large flat blade, but I noticed yours uses an Xacto style blade, is it one like this?

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Professional-Hot-Knife/24419124

Again, awesome work!

 

[pipninja]

This build is coming along great! do you know when we can expect more progress?

 

[Spacemeat]

Excellent work, truly fantastic stuff!

When I have some time, I'm definitely going to be watching through your build logs to pick up tips.

I'm not privy to a laser cutter, but I know I'll be doing my ODST build with foam. Any tips on what you find best for unfolding a Pep for foam? And I'd love to know what kind of hot knife you're using - most I see have the large flat blade, but I noticed yours uses an Xacto style blade, is it one like this?

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Professional-Hot-Knife/24419124

Again, awesome work!

Sorry! I saw your post last week, but forgot to respond as it got lost in the sea of work I've been swamped in. So to answer your questions, converting pep to foam has a lot of nuances. Mostly, it's trying to consolidate the cut and fold lines so you get nice big chunks to work with. Obviously little details like inset pieces can be replaced with just foam raised/lowered. It's a very subjective process really that's just based on experience. I'll probably do a video where I unfold a piece for foam from start to finish after this build, but for now I'd say just try it. Picture in your head as you're unfolding how the pieces with fit together as foam and try to make large pieces that don't have severe fold lines in them.

The hot knife I use is a weller-sp23, it basically a soldering iron with a little attachment that takes exacto blades, it certainly allows for precision cuts along with the benefits of cutting through foam very easily. The particular model I use seems to be discontinued, but I think it's been replaced with a new version on Amazon.

This build is coming along great! do you know when we can expect more progress?

Progress? Probably not soon.

But an update on how much I've been spinning my wheels? You can get that right now!

So, that last two weeks have been pretty much neutral for me progress wise. Actually, I might have made negative progress, as I happened to break one of my swords and now need to repair it before comic-con:


Worth it? Probably not since it's kinda out of focus...

The combination of CosplayCon and E3 took a lot out of my time. I've managed to mess up on sizing once again, which means I really haven't completed anything at all since the last log.

So here's my oversized chest plate:



I've been a little discouraged so I didn't bother taking pictures of me wearing it, but you can see it on me in the video above

In other news, I've finally gotten my undersuit with the hex pattern, and as I feared, it's too light. It's not too bad in regular light, but once someone uses a flash, it's basically light grey. So we're experimenting on darkening it, hopefully you'll see the improvements within the next two logs



Anyhow, that should wrap up this update. I've got about 15 days until I need to load up my car and drive to San Diego. That's certainly not a lot of time, and I'm engaged in full on PANIC mode. I really hope I can get this done in time, but at the very least, I do have my Reach backup. I guess there still might be some kick in the old girl...

 

[pipninja]

Lol right after I posted it I saw the video in my YouTube ;P

 

[Spacemeat]

Build Log #7 - Chest Forward

Clock is ticking!

Hey everyone, so got less than a week till Comic-Con, and my build pace has obviously picked up a little...

The number of logs I'm filming in the remaining time period is going to pick up considerably, however, given the building and not editing footage is the priority right now, I'm unsure at what point I'll upload them.

So, to cover what's been going on. I finally finished the chestplate!



I also put in magnets, to hold the halves together, and as you can see in the video, these new magnets are quite strong. I picked up 1/2" diameter and 1/8" thick neodymium discs. Theyr'e incredibly strong, and also has the side effect of turning my chest into a descent fridge magnet...





One slight thing I had to do was trim off some pieces from the back, it was simply too narrow and was forcing the back of the piece to sit too far away from my torso.



In non-torso news, I also installed purse snaps into the thighs so they can finally be closed around my leg:



So with this build running really short on time, I've called in help and we're attacking the build on multiple fronts, my cousin's been helping with the electronics/mounting which you'll see in a later update I think, and my girlfriend has been doing the spackling/sanding for me:



You'll have to forgive me a little for the information lag. But this point in the build, I've only started the helmet. But as I post this today, I've already completed it and moved on to other parts of the armor. In fact, log #7 is ready for upload and log #8 is in the can. However, I still have some editing to do for #8 and the "extra" footage from #7 (hours upon hours of raw headcam footage!)

But, I'll leave you with this:

 

[Frozensnot]

Making some fast progress there! With the extra help, I'm sure you'll hit your deadline. It's hard to give feedback when most of the armor looks so good!

No purse snaps for the chest? Are the newer magnets stronger than the ones you have previously used? I know in your Reach videos that you mentioned the chest wouldn't hold up just with magnets. Using the purse snaps with strapping made the chest more secure.

In your previous videos you covered the electronics/lights. Will we see an insider's look of your electronics/lights in your future videos as well?

 

[Spacemeat]

Making some fast progress there! With the extra help, I'm sure you'll hit your deadline. It's hard to give feedback when most of the armor looks so good!

No purse snaps for the chest? Are the newer magnets stronger than the ones you have previously used? I know in your Reach videos that you mentioned the chest wouldn't hold up just with magnets. Using the purse snaps with strapping made the chest more secure.

In your previous videos you covered the electronics/lights. Will we see an insider's look of your electronics/lights in your future videos as well?

I've got about a day before I head off to comic-con and the sweatshop is going full tilt



There's a lot going on, and I'll present you here with video log #7 and 7a, which is focused entire on the helmet. I've been filming more footage for more video logs, but at this point, I won't be editing or updating until after SDCC.

As to electronics, I've been short on time, so I've having my cousin help with the actual construction of the circuits. But, in a future log, probably an SDCC post-morterm, I plan to go over the system in detail

 

[Spartan Warrior]

Looks amazing, can't wait to see photos of the final suit!

 

[Mstruvmgc]

OMG how have i missed this! ugh i gotta stop leaving lol. Everything is looking great Spacemeat. Im glad to see more from you! Now i gotta go back and watch the videos lol