Thorssoli's Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marines

[thorssoli]

How much will it weigh you think when it's all said and done?

I'll be plainly amazed if this whole suit ends up weighing more than 20 pounds. Aside from the boots and whatever frame we use to position the chest properly, the whole thing is just thin vacformed plastic. There's really not a whole lot of mass involved.

That leg looks like you could wear it in a potato sack race. Only this would offer significantly more protection in case you were to fall over. How long do you think it is going to take to paint and weather one complete suit?

It's only formed ABS plastic. You'd probably be better off falling over in a potato sack. No cracking or sharp edges.

The painting and weathering will come together pretty quick. When I did my RvB Spartans in 2010, I was able to do all of the painting and weathering for 8 suits in under a week. The Space Marine paintjobs will be a bit more complex, but it won't be all that big of a deal. The more complicated and time consuming part will be actually assembling and strapping all of the parts together. After that, it'll be pretty quick.

Love the scale... Can't wait to see this thing start to come together.

Ask and ye shall receive...
Last night my friend Matt stopped by, saw the leg parts, and decided to try them on:


As long as he was halfway together, I told him we needed to stack up the rest of the pieces:


I had to stand on a bucket to reach the shoulder.

Here's everything we've got so far roughly taped together:


The finished version will have the chest and shoulders sitting a bit higher, so there will be less of the character's neck (and wearer's face) exposed.

There was also a lot of discussion about whether or not the chainsword was too big. Here's a shot showing it next to the character, but given the cramped quarters we were working in, the perspective still makes it look big:


I'm still pretty happy with it:


We didn't have any straps to hold the boots onto his feet, so we didn't get to test the mobility of the suit. But his knees and hips were in the right place, so walking shouldn't be that big of a deal. The arms are a bit awkward, but that will improve once we've got them strapped together right.

I still need to knock out the rest of the forms for the backpack and sculpt out the rubber parts. Then it'll be time to crank out a few suits, paint them up, and go marching around town.

Stay tuned...

 

[Hobojay]

Thats ******* awesome!

 

[Toja]

Awesome! demand is pure success

 

[vshore100]

Thats ******* awesome!

I'm sure that thorssoli appreciates your liking his build and all, but you really need to watch your language when you are on this forum. That isn't tolerated here. Thanks for your cooperation.

 

[Dreadnaught]

Is it just the camera angle or is the helmet looking just a touch smallish now?

Other than that bugging me, I have to give this one a standing ovation. I *almost* have a purely platonic man-crush on you...

 

[Mstruvmgc]

WOW!! The suit is looking amazing! I totally want to wear one with you guys and walk around lol. I think the chainsword is the right size for the suit. I am loving it! Good job! Cant wait to see more

 

[thorn696]

Awesome looking build.

 

[Starvinartist80]

The suit is look amazing at this stage. Seeing it all together really puts everything into scale. I agree that the chainsword is a good size. Based on all the concept art I've seen from white dwarf, it looks to be a very good size. Their concept artists like to exaggerate weapons for the wow factor.

If I had my way I'd keep you funded well enough to do this stuff full time. I simply love seeing your builds come together.

 

[Cereal Killl3r]

very nice work!
Love the large scale props and suits!

 

[MikyVengeance]

All your work looks really awesome. Definitely a inspiration! Out of curiousity, is this just your hobby or do you make costumes as a job? It's cool to see all of this done

 

[snider029]

That is a spectacular build.

 

[thorssoli]

If I had my way I'd keep you funded well enough to do this stuff full time.

I suppose I'd be willing to accept donations toward materials...

Out of curiousity, is this just your hobby or do you make costumes as a job?

Can't it be both?

I haven't made much progress on the hands. Right now they look like so:


So the palms are about 90% done. I still need to make a couple more knuckles and all of the fingertips. Then I'll be ready to mold and cast copies.

Today I made great strides forward on the backpack. First I worked on the wedge shapes for the sides:


Then I framed up the cowling that will arc over the top:


I skinned over the frame, but it will need more attention before I'm ready to make pulls:


I still have to trim the sides down and I'll probably laminate another layer or two of plywood to round it out better.

Right now it looks like the backpack will consist of eight separate vacformed parts and I'll be rotocasting the ball/vent arrangements for either side. Any smaller details will be resin casts.

In short order I'll be sculpting out the rubber parts for the joints. Once that's done, I'll be cranking out a few more suits so I can get started on the painting and detailing (aka the fun part).

 

[Mstruvmgc]

Wow, everything is coming together so nicely. Keep up the good work buddy!

 

[thorssoli]

Did a little of this today:


Still needs work.

 

[John Awesome]

How about painting it pink? I used to paint my marines pink, until I saw the fires of the Salamanders. I still have a pink captain sitting on my table. And your build is sick, man! You'll be an impressive sight, once your suit is finished.

 

[Starvinartist80]

Fantastic work as always. Everything looks great.

 

[thorssoli]

The backpack is coming along. I had a few friends helping out in the workshop yesterday, so I concentrated on the ball vents:


One of the other guys glasses some reinforcements into the shoulder forms:


He also spent a lot of time screwing around:


I taught my friend Breana how to mix Bondo so she could smooth out the forming buck for the upper cowling:


I'm planning on cutting the vent holes into the formed piece rather than cut them into the form. That way I can make different variations after I make the pulls.

The whole thing is going to make for a fairly large piece and the long-awaited finishing touch for this project:


Stay tuned...

 

[thorn696]

Awesome update, You're moving along great.

 

[thorssoli]

But wait, there's more!

Today I did a bit more rough shaping for the pistol grip. Here's a shot of how it stands right now (hand included for scale):


I also added a few details to the ball vent:


Tell me honestly, does this suit make my butt look big?


But seriously, these dudes are going to be four feet wide:


I also finished the other half of the cowling for the top of the backpack, but I neglected to get pics. I should have some forming help tomorrow evening, so with a bit of luck I'll be able to crank out a couple more shoulders, mold the ball vent, and build the middle portion of a backpack. Then I just need to make the small lower vents for the backpack and get focused on the bendy parts.

Stay tuned...

 

[vshore100]

Awesome stuff. Did the ball vent start out as a pep or...?