Spartan 051
Well-Known Member
thor looks like you got a wall of spray cans there
Thorssoli's MkVI Costume Buildup
- Thread starter thorssoli
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Spartan 051 said:
Actually, that's a door. When I built the workshop I started with an old chicken barn where my father had poured a slab floor. We installed a sliding door so that essentially one entire wall can be rolled out of the way. Rather than lose valuable shelf space to rattle cans, I've been adding lightweight shelving made from 2x3's and racking them up there.
jlhR2 said:
Turns out it looks even better with the color done right:
UPDATE: I'VE GOT GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS
Good news: I've made a few castings of my kid-sized helmet. Here's the first one I started painting up:
In other news, I decided on a color and started the paintjob on the rest of the armor:
The plan is to probably ebay the suit after I've gotten a bit of use out of it, so I decided to make a battle-scarred version of the standard green paintjob worn by the Master Chief in the game. To that end, I start with a black primer and then put on a solid metallic coat (DupliColor Chrome if it matters):
Then I use mustard to mask off all of the areas where I want to have scratches showing bare metal, spray the entire thing with Rustoleum "Army Green" gloss spraypaint, then dust it heavily with Krylon Camoflage Ultra-Flat something or other. It's the dark green from that color line-up. Once that starts to stiffen up, I go over the whole thing with a rag, wiping off all of the mustard masked portions to show the bare metal color underneath:
I think the effect is pretty good:
It does still need a bit more wear and grit, but that's later.
I still need to finish the prototypes for the thigh armor. They're still at the 75% point right now:
With a little bit more smoothing and the addition of some detail, it'll be rady to mold them up. I ran out of moldmaking rubber the other day and the new shipment arrives Wednesday. In order to make sure I’d have something to brandish threateningly, I also went ahead and ordered one of Adam’s new and improved, lightweight Assault Rifle casts which will arrive Wednesday. All of this is good news.
Now for the bad news. For those of you who don’t know, my day job has me sailing as the Second Mate (ship’s navigator) aboard big commercial cargo ships. After three months of stopping by the union hall to see if a ship has come in that needs someone with my qualifications, it wasn’t until yesyerday that I finally picked up a gig. I will be leaving for 70 days, circling the North Pacific on a containership, starting Friday.
I will be completing this project as soon as I get back. I’ll be coming home to gallons and gallons of casting resin and silicone and a whole pile of lessons learned for how to do things. At that point you can count on all sorts of pictures and even video updates.
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Shaymin Sky
Well-Known Member
Well, a cruise sounds like fun. Have a great time and we'll see you in about 70 days!
Spartan 051
Well-Known Member
haha a service man that gets paid nicely good joke...so were are they all taking you for 70 days?
This isn't a military thing, it's my normal job on a cargo ship. I'm also a Navy Reservist which (almost) explains the Afghanistan deployment. If you want to get all the latest, as often as I can I'll be posting to my blog at http://protagonist4hire.blogspot.com/. I try to keep it entertaining, so check it out if you get bored.
Brandon McClain
Well-Known Member
Well, I'm sorry to see you go. I have been a silent follower of the thread for a while. You have given me a ton of helpful hints for my armor and will be missing the updates. Best of luck, stay safe, and will be looking forward to more updates come 2010!!
PS. I really can't say enough about how much this thread more than any other has helped with ideas for detailing, construction and what not. So once again, thanks, your work is Fantastic!!!
PS. I really can't say enough about how much this thread more than any other has helped with ideas for detailing, construction and what not. So once again, thanks, your work is Fantastic!!!
burpyturtle
New Member
It only took a few hours, but this is the first topic that I've finished reading. I'm not even sure exactly how I got here now but I followed links inside of other topics that led here and this topic I had to read through completely.
Very informative and an awesome set of armor.
Have a good cruise. At least you will have plenty of time to PEP.
(funny coincidences: my mom worked for OOCL in Oakland - - Thorssoli will know what I'm talking about)
Very informative and an awesome set of armor.
Have a good cruise. At least you will have plenty of time to PEP.
(funny coincidences: my mom worked for OOCL in Oakland - - Thorssoli will know what I'm talking about)
My ship's in drydock, so now I've got a couple of weeks at home to tinker in the shop (turns out they don't need a navigator when the ship is up on blocks). While I was out I didn't get quite as much free time on board as I'd hoped. I did manage to pep one unrelated helmet:
Unfortunately, it was squished during the flight from Singapore to San Francisco via Tokyo.
Now that I'm back for a bit, I should be finishing my thigh prototypes at the very least. I'm also hoping to redesign my boot molds to make them faster to build. While this is going on, I'll be getting a good head start on the Republic Commando armor.
In other news, I've got one of Adam's ARs to work on and a pair of LeeKeegan's superb SMGs to put together and paint.
So basically, tune in here for a wealth of updates over the next couple of weeks...
Unfortunately, it was squished during the flight from Singapore to San Francisco via Tokyo.
Now that I'm back for a bit, I should be finishing my thigh prototypes at the very least. I'm also hoping to redesign my boot molds to make them faster to build. While this is going on, I'll be getting a good head start on the Republic Commando armor.
In other news, I've got one of Adam's ARs to work on and a pair of LeeKeegan's superb SMGs to put together and paint.
So basically, tune in here for a wealth of updates over the next couple of weeks...
Progress has been a bit slower than I'd hoped. Primarily, I've been digging through my shop and storage spaces trying to figure out where I left everything. In the midst of all that, I've done a bit more work on my thigh prototypes:
The rough shapes are mostly there, but I still have to add the light housings above the knee and a bunch of little buckles and whatnot. Then all I'll have to do is a bit more smoothing, some fine detail work (seams and rivets mostly), and then paint them up to prep for molding. Maybe sometime next week I'll have castings.
In other news, I've assembled the two SMGs I picked up from LeeKeegan:
Once the epoxy cured, I gave them a few coats of black primer and then satin black enamel. I'll be painting on some wear and tear as well as rubberizing the grips and part of the butt, but first I had to try them on:
I also shaped some more visor blanks today, but I think I'm better off focusing on the development of a new vacforming rig rather than wasting more material on the process I've been tinkering with:
Apologies for the crappy cellphone pics. My small digital camera seems to have escaped.
Stay tuned for more updates...
The rough shapes are mostly there, but I still have to add the light housings above the knee and a bunch of little buckles and whatnot. Then all I'll have to do is a bit more smoothing, some fine detail work (seams and rivets mostly), and then paint them up to prep for molding. Maybe sometime next week I'll have castings.
In other news, I've assembled the two SMGs I picked up from LeeKeegan:
Once the epoxy cured, I gave them a few coats of black primer and then satin black enamel. I'll be painting on some wear and tear as well as rubberizing the grips and part of the butt, but first I had to try them on:
I also shaped some more visor blanks today, but I think I'm better off focusing on the development of a new vacforming rig rather than wasting more material on the process I've been tinkering with:
Apologies for the crappy cellphone pics. My small digital camera seems to have escaped.
Stay tuned for more updates...
Brandon McClain
Well-Known Member
Looking sick as always sir!!! Absolutely jealous of the SMGs!
insanetrooper
Member
about time you get back and post some updates! haha. love your work man keep it up
jlhR2 said:
Right now I'm sourcing parts to build a better vacuforming rig. Once I've got everything together, I'll be making a couple of bucks and cranking out one-piece visors in 1/8" acrylic with all of the ridges formed on the surface. As soon as I've smoothed out all of the kinks in the process I'll probably do a limited run of visors and then just offer them as part of my helmet kits when I do runs of those.
Today there wasn't much progress to report. I spent a bit more time roughing out and smoothing the thigh prototypes and then did a bit of work on the headlight LED assembly for my green helmet. With a bit of luck I'll have that helmet completely assembled with lights, fans, and upholstery installed, and have the thigh prototypes ready to mold before I have to go back to work. We'll see.
In unrelated news, I also started making a few of these:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z86V_ICUCD4[/media]
Stay tuned for updates.
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