Spitfire22V's LD Mark VI build - Now Completed

[Spitfire22V]

Hi everyone,

I finally decided to start a build thread. I've known about the 405th for some time now, but I finally have some free time to build an armor set. I've decided to go with the "regular" Mark VI armor, since I'm pretty sure it's the most recognizable to everyone, even if they're not too familiar with Halo. However, I plan on adding some extras and details, such as Jun's sniper bullet shoulders. I'm using Robogenesis' low-def armor files, since I don't think I'm up for pepping HD files!

I started working on the armor about 3-4 weeks ago. So far, this is where I'm at:

Helmet: made and fiberglassed, but remaking it (explained later)
Chest: not made
Shoulders: pepped
Forearms: One pepped, one in the process of fiberglassing
Handguards: fiberglassed
Groin piece: pepped
Thighs: fiberglassed
Greaves/shins: pepped
Boots: fiberglassed

Enough talk, time for pictures:

The helmet:

I "glassed" it using leftover carbon fiber cloth I got from a college project I was a part of. It turned out ok, but the fiberglass I'm using now is MUCH more well-behaved (i.e. it follows curves much better)

However, I'm going to remake the helmet for a few reasons. First, I'm not 100% happy with the carbon fiber job mentioned above. Second, I made a huge mistake that I only discovered after the glassing. On the rear 3/4 side (below the ear), there's a corner that's indented where it should be sticking out. You can see the difference here:

Needless to say, it warps the entire helmet and skews the dimensions, so time for a remake. I just started working on it today.

Here are the shoulders so far. One is resined and awaiting fiberglass, the other needs to be resined.

Forearms. One is half-fiberglassed, the other is resined.

Thighs, fully fiberglassed and waiting Bondo/finishing.

Greaves, awaiting fiberglass.

Boots. I plan on cutting the toes off and adding the rubber plunger similar to HD boots to give flexability so they're easier to walk in. They might be a tad big, but they fit perfectly over the real boots I'm using.

Here's all the armor so far.
(The pic of me wearing it was taken a few days ago before some pieces were made).

I think I got the scaling down pretty good!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

[ODST 7th Battalion]

Hey, awesome dude!

I just started doing my first build, which is the MK V Mjolnir from Combat Evolved. Can't wait to see how yours turnt out!

 

[Spitfire22V]

Hey, awesome dude!

I just started doing my first build, which is the MK V Mjolnir from Combat Evolved. Can't wait to see how yours turnt out!

Thanks! I'll be on the lookout for a build thread, good luck!

Just thought I'd add a few more pictures of some of my plans for this armor.

As I mentioned in the original post, I plan on doing something similar to Jun's right should armor. He has three .50 cal bullets strapped to the armor, and I want to do the same. However, I'm going to attach them to the regular Mark VI shoulder piece.

These are dummy .50 cal rounds that I've picked up over the years at airshows (you can see one has a giant hole in it to belabor the point). They usually sell for about $5 a piece. I just need one more, and there's an airshow in May that I will definitely attend and buy a third!

It will look something like this. I haven't decided whether I will have them attached lined up with each other, or stagger them a bit to follow the shape of the shoulder piece.

 

[Cjsuner]

lookin great so far!
and as for the .50's. i would say stagger them, just give it a bit more character then straight

 

[Agent Arizona]

I like it! keep up the good work.

 

[HushB170]

I am completely for making it unique with the shoulder bullets! are you gonna make a ghillie rag for the shoulders too? Great job so far

 

[SpartanM93]

Not to shabby Spitfire. I like the personalization. And about the helmet..... battle damage

 

[Spitfire22V]

lookin great so far!
and as for the .50's. i would say stagger them, just give it a bit more character then straight

Though it will be a while until I get to that point, I think I might have to go with a staggered arrangement just so they fit and don't interfere with mobility. I'm sure it will look badass regardless!

I am completely for making it unique with the shoulder bullets! are you gonna make a ghillie rag for the shoulders too? Great job so far

I hadn't considered it, but who knows! I don't see why not, though again, that's still quite a ways off.

Not to shabby Spitfire. I like the personalization. And about the helmet..... battle damage

haha I wish it were that easy! However, that error really messes up the dimensions of the helmet. It's hard to see in the photos, but that mistake causes the front plates right below the visor to not be in plane with each other, the chin piece to be slanted, the width too fat, the depth too short, and the entire left side too pushed in. Yeah, it did all that!

The helmet was the first thing I pepped, and I think I did ok with it for a first-pep job. If I had corrected that mistake, it probably would be usable. Actually, it probably still is and I'm sure most people wouldn't notice anything wrong with it. But now that I have a bit more experience pepping, and I have the time and materials to do so, I'd like to make a better helmet. It is the center piece of the entire suit after all!

Thanks for the comments guys.

 

[rancor1]

That is very true, this is why I've gone and pepped 5 helmets each one getting better than the last

 

[Spitfire22V]

That is very true, this is why I've gone and pepped 5 helmets each one getting better than the last

Wow, I'm not sure I could do that many!


So, this won't really be an update as so far I've been having a busy week and am making slow progress on the helmet (not in the mood to pepp, I'd rather glass but we got fresh snow yesterday )
Instead, I'd like to show how I'm adding a few more details to certain pieces to resemble the high-def versions. As stated, the entire suit is low-def because I just don't think I'm up for pepping pieces with such small folds, etc! I can't imagine making a greave or forearm piece that has more parts than some helmets!

So what I'll be doing is adding some detail cardboard pieces where applicable to enhance the detail of the LD pieces. Here is the handplates being worked on. This will be done to at least the boots and greaves also (mainly in the area where the circle indents are, which are left out of the LD piece. That tends to be the kind of tiny pepping detail in an HD piece that I don't want to do)

To begin, I printed out the pepp file of the handplate and freehand sketched the detail piece to make a template. I cut it out, copied it to posterboard (twice), and then cut those out.

I slightly curved them to follow the contour of the plate so they stay down as the glue dries. This detail plate also adds another small advantage: it smooths out the folds of the piece so that it's rounder, and thus will require a little less bondo/finishing work.

Here are both the handplates ready for a light coat of resin to seal down the detail piece, then off to primer and finishing! They will probably be the first pieces I finish so I can practice bondo-ing, finishing, and painting on them.

Here's a pic with the gloves I'll be using. They're Under Armour brand batting gloves. They're a tight fit, but that ensures I maintain finger dexterity with them on. Still, they're very comfortable and they look great too. The UA logo on the back obviously gets hidden by the handplate itself.

Next time, I hope to have pics of the new helmet, but that might be a few days. Thanks for stopping by!

 

[Spitfire22V]

Hi guys,

Kind of a quick update, but I also have some questions for you helmet pepping experts.

First of all, I'm making good progress on the new helmet. I'm not sure who's file the helmet is, but I prefer this one compared to the first one I attempted. There are more curves and less folds, and it feels much stiffer and sturdier already. So I'm happy I decided to remake the helmet, especially now that I have more experience with pepping.

Questions:
1. What are your thoughts on attaching the lower part of the visor/bill, and fiberglassing it before finishing the top (for better access)? I did that with my first helmet, but the carbon fiber cloth I was using was lighter-weight than the fiberlgass I'm using now. I don't think it warped the helmet last time, but I'm not sure. I'm just trying to avoid the hassle of blindly fiberglassing the visor/bill. Once the helmet is finished, it's gets pretty difficult to access that recessed area.

2. What is the best method to pep the top? Should I add pieces one by one, or should I build up the entire top part seperately and glue it one at the end as one large piece?

Thanks, I appreciate any advice!

 

[Spitfire22V]

Ok, guys, got some updated progress.

I took my time, but finally finished the new helmet. I'm very pleased with it, and I'm glad I decided to remake it, as it turned out much better than my first attempt!

I completed it until the top was strucurally secure, and then I simply left openings on either side so I could access the brim/visor and fiberglass in there.

I went ahead and resined the outside where I planned to glass, and when that dried, I fiberglassed the inside. Then it was simply a matter of finishing the helmet, which I did this morning.

Also, there are some comparison shots between the 2 helmets. Old on on the left, new one on the right. The old one looks much bigger, even if the scaling was essentially the same. I attribute the larger look to the errors I amde while making it. The new one fits fine, maybe a bit better.

Anyway, enjoy the pics, and thanks for stopping by!

Progress as of last night

You can see the limits of where I resined the outside.

Fiberglassed inner brim/visor

Finished helmet

Side-by-side comparison of the 2 helmets

 

[Mensrea Prod]

helmet looking good so far. keep it up.

 

[Road Kill]

very, very nice work man and really love the helmet!!!! amazing, btw i peped that helmet and it turned out really good but the helmet part where you put your head into is very small so if you want your head to fit in with padding when you are finished, you should add a little in size
i peped this helmet and it doesn't even fit on my head so now i am just finishing it up or display
well hope this helped you a little so keep up the great work

 

[Spitfire22V]

Thanks for taking a look guys, glad you like the progress.

amazing, btw i peped that helmet and it turned out really good but the helmet part where you put your head into is very small so if you want your head to fit in with padding when you are finished, you should add a little in size

Well, I scaled the 2nd helmet to pretty much the same dimension as the 1st one (I actually spent quite a bit of time working out all the numbers and measurements). I actually made the 2nd one a tiny bit smaller. Here's a pic of me wearing the new helmet, what do you guys think? Too small, or just about right?

Also, here are a few more pics taken yesterday afternoon after my last update. I got quite a bit accomplished, even though it doesn't look like it. I'm mainly at the resining/fiberglassing stages now. I also plan to get started on the chest piece today, or at least get the scaling done and the parts printed out.

Just a general photo of the pieces I was working on.

Glassing the shoulder piece

Got the handplates primered (yes, its black primer...didn't have gray at Wal-Mart :confused) What do you guys think of them? They're low-def, but I think the detail parts helped a lot! :cool

Finally, I Bondo-ed one of the handplates to get some practice using Bondo, since I've never actually used it until now. I've used wood fillers, but they're a little different. I think it came out good for a first attempt! It's all sanded and ready for another primer coat. It does have some voids that could be filled with spot putty or more Bondo, but I might leave them. Less work, and it's battle armor after all!

 

[Hyperballistik]

Looks really good, your hand plates turned out great, they look a hundred times better than just being flat and plain great idea, keep up the great work

 

[shmalofan]

Nice progress

Its guys like you that make me really want to make a full suit.

 

[Spitfire22V]

Looks really good, your hand plates turned out great, they look a hundred times better than just being flat and plain great idea, keep up the great work

Thanks! I figured it was a good compromise between getting good detail, and avoiding Pepping small folds and tabs. I'm satisfied with how it turned out.

Nice progress
Its guys like you that make me really want to make a full suit.

Well, what are you waiting for! I had never done this until now, so go for it.

Now, I have a pretty important question that I hope you guys can help me with. I posed this in a scaling thread, but no one answered. However, I plan on starting the chest soon, so it would be nice to have an answer.

Now, I've successfully scaled every other part of the armor, but there's something about the chest pieces that confuses me. They have no dominant axis, so I'm not confident that the dimensions in Pepakura labeled "H", "W", and "D" actually correspond to the hieght, width, and depth of that piece.

For example, in Flyingsquirrel's HD torso, the defaults dimensions are as follows:

H: 460 mm
W: 429 mm
D: 439 mm

So the height is the largest dimension, width is the smallest, and depth is in between.

Now if we look at Robo's LD torso, the default dimensions are:

H: 506 mm
W: 491 mm
D: 475 mm

This time, height is still the largest dimension, but depth is now the smallest, and width is in between.

So which is correct? I'm worried that if I input my body's width measurement for the LD one, it will actually be the depth one, and vice versa. I hope I'm making sense, as I want to get the scaling right the first time on the chest piece.

In summary:

 

[Road Kill]

oh ok i see, i think the helmet looks perfect, just after i resined and rondoed it i couldn't even widen the sides at all wedge my head in so i was just making sure so you wouldn't get the same problem that i did but the helmet looks awesome very nice clean pep too keep it up

 

[royalpain88]

I am slightly worried about my own build with some points not matching 100% well due to inexperience, quick drying glue and improper cuts. Some parts seem slightly bent but I am confident that once I begin, they will straighten out if done slowly. Either that or more support may be needed for some pieces. Or I'm sunk.