Thorssoli's Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marines

[thorssoli]

what did you use for the bottom of the foot is that rubber?
and what did you fill the entire foot with?
also i made a mask glassed and bondo now is it safe to wear like that(how do i get rid of the fiber glass smell?)
or do I need to make a cast of it out of resin

I haven't used anything for the bottom of the foot and at this stage it's not filled with anything.

There are plenty of threads that will explain how to build a glass and bondo part. Once the resin is completely cured, it should be fine to wear. It'd be a good idea to put a coat of paint on the inside (air contact retards the curing of polyester resins) and then air it out once the paint dries. Unless you've got some reason to make more than one, there's no need to make a mold and cast copies.

My first question is about your vacuforming methods, when you vacuformed the shoulder plate I did not see any holes, did you not need to with that shape? And what is your prefered choice of vacu-forming material? Details welcomed.

Secondly, what grinder bit are you using to sand down the sharp corners? Being one of metal working talent, I find myself favoring grinders so I'm keenly interested on this.

Third, this one really does not relate to this specific build but, how much smoothcast casting plastic does it take to make a normal sized MK VI helmet? I'm making a new helmet for my soon-to-come armor rebuild and I want to make economical casts of it.

Lastly, How do you get so awsome?

I'm not sure what holes you're talking about with the vacforming question. Perhaps if you rephrase I might better understand the question. At this stage I'm using 1/16" black ABS sheets for forming because they're cheap and I have some sitting in the shop. Once all of the kinks are ironed out of the forming bucks, I may well switch to something else. Right now I'm getting my sheets from TAP Plastics.

The Grinder I'm using is a 60-grit flapwheel. Or maybe an 80-grit. I don't really keep track.

I don't use Smoothcast. I use urethane casting resin from Aeromarineproducts.com. When I cast my MkVI Spartan helmets, I do it in four pours of eight fluid ounces each. Each pour has something different added in depending on what I'm trying to achieve with that particular pour. I use microballoons to cut down on weight in the first two pours, milled glassfiber to add strength to the third pour, and then microballoons again for the fourth.

Awesome comes from practice. But I can assure you I'm still finding tons of things wrong with every build I do.

UPDATE TIME

Made a bit more progress fairing out some of the parts yesterday:


I also started going over the trim on the chest to redefine part of it:


This is that stage in the project where a day's work doesn't look like all that much. Today I'm hoping to have all of the smoothing work done on the boot parts so we can make a couple of pulls and experiment with how to strap them on for walking around.

Stay tuned...

 

[Starvinartist80]

Yeah this is the stage that can be toughest. It can be frustrating to put a whole day's work in and not really be able to see a bunch of results at first glance. But, from what I can tell from your pictures you really did get a bunch done. I'm impressed with how well that flap wheel does for you. I've never had a lot of success with one myself. But I might just have to try again given what I see you accomplish.

 

[soul products]

i assume your going to need stilts? if thats the case you can always make the hinged wooden foot with a heavy duty spring to act as the pivot

 

[thorssoli]

Today's progress was mostly just smoothing out the parts a bit more:


Other than that, there was a lot of screwing around:


In other news, I've been looking at the references a lot. Can someone tell me what these nunchuck-looking things are:

 

[Sierra 091]

Looks like your comeing along well, this thing is going to be huge!
As for the 'nunchuck' things they are infact parchment scroles roled up into tules. Hopefully thats helpfull. Here is a slightly better picture of some differnt ones http://bitzbarn.com/oscommerce/catalog/images/IMG_5868.JPG You can see the ragged edge of the parchment on the front edge.

Keep it up!

 

[vshore100]

This is coming along great! Nice to see you found time to do a little hula-hooping in between all that tedious sanding work.

 

[thorssoli]

Yeah this is the stage that can be toughest. It can be frustrating to put a whole day's work in and not really be able to see a bunch of results at first glance. But, from what I can tell from your pictures you really did get a bunch done. I'm impressed with how well that flap wheel does for you. I've never had a lot of success with one myself. But I might just have to try again given what I see you accomplish.

I only use the flapwheel for grinding down the hard corners on the glassed pep model. In the bondo stage, it tears through too much material too quickly. We've been using a rasp, a hand sander, and good, old-fashioned elbow grease since the fairing began.

i assume your going to need stilts? if thats the case you can always make the hinged wooden foot with a heavy duty spring to act as the pivot

No stilts. The boots will be solid blocks that will be strapped onto the wearer's feet.

Thanks for the feedback on the scrolls. I don't think I'll be making them anytime soon.

Here's a shot of yesterday's progress:


It doesn't look like all that much, but fairing has continued.

Here we are screwing around with the parts:


We did finish one part. Behold, the toe:


Once the shape was right, I coated it in glossy blue high-heat paint. The gloss makes it easier to see any minor flaws in the surface. The toe is good to go. When the heel is ready, we'll be able to start pulling boots. The rest of the pieces are going to have to be cut apart in order to make them into forming bucks.

In other news, we'll have used up the fourth gallon of Bondo for this project today. I think we're also over three gallons of fiberglass resin.

Finally, someone had asked me what the whole thing weighs at this point. The chest came in at exactly eleven pounds last night. I have no idea on the whole thing. It doesn't really matter though, because the parts will be pulled in lightweight ABS plastic sheets. I'm guessing the whole costume will weigh less than 30 lbs all together.

Stay tuned...

 

[soul products]

looks good.....the cola i mean lol jk chest is looking really good thor and boot looks ready to go but if the boots are going to be like blocks that you stand on wont that make them kinda klunky when you walk around?

 

[30ea30a2]

cutting the chest in half

hello thor
you said you had to cut the pieces in half for forming bucks
well i made the 750 scale chest and im having trouble putting it on
its just fiber glassed now
but i was wondering are you going to cut the chest in half with a ban saw or just a hacksaw?
I was thinking if I cut it in half and hinge it together i could make it more functional for putting on and taking off.
Also could i use the mold making latex from aeromarine to make a flexible rubber part say for a neck ring
please any input will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[halokillskat]

First of all this is awesome. I have a couple of questions about vacu forming. 1 is the product strong and not very flexilble, 2 the shoulders are pert big and they were still able to be vacu formed does that mean you could vacu form a helmet

 

[chwbcc1]

You my friend have made me pee! I've been off the site for a while and then I come back to see this! Epic is not the right word and unfortunatly my mind is so blown away with this I can't think of anything better! Mouth gaping ... and peeing...

What is the expected time frame for a run of this? I will start saving now! Also have you decided on a helm yet? Any chance of making a Beakie to match the scale? And since you are asking for ideas... How about some Eldar Striking Scorpion or Gaurdians to do battle with?

Again no words ... just akward drooling and self-defication! YOU ROCK man! Keep up the good work.

 

[thorssoli]

Now the arm parts are nearly done:


Smoothing out the kneepad too.


The thighs need a lot more work, but the shins, diaper, and boot should be done in a day or so.

Stay tuned...

 

[PSberetta]

Thorssoli, I have a quick question for you.

If you just vac-form over the fiberglassed/bondo toe cap, will the forces from the vac crush it?
Should it be filled with plaster, foam, or some other type of media?

 

[thorssoli]

I guess we'll find out.

 

[PSberetta]

Perfect! Thats better than guessing.

 

[Starvinartist80]

I guess we'll find out.

LOL I love this answer. A true artist's response. Good luck Thor, Halloween is getting close.

 

[Ralfskunk]

This build looks great! You should do this professionally. Maybe you can even give me a job, I'm a pretty quick learner.

 

[KRITIK4L M4SS]

In other news, I've been looking at the references a lot. Can someone tell me what these nunchuck-looking things are:

i'm ashamed to admit i'm not sure what those are. they look too small to be the old flamer tanks so my guess would be scroll cases, but tbh i'm not certain.

 

[Starvinartist80]

i'm ashamed to admit i'm not sure what those are. they look too small to be the old flamer tanks so my guess would be scroll cases, but tbh i'm not certain.

You might want to pay attention to the rest of the tread before you post responses like this. His question was answered just a few posts later.

 

[thorssoli]

This build looks great! You should do this professionally. Maybe you can even give me a job, I'm a pretty quick learner.

First I need to stop pretending these sorts of projects are just a hobby and actually start a business of some sort. It's really only a matter of time...

For those of you who've never heard of him (since he's never posted here before) Ralfskunk is my friend Matt who has shown up in the background of many pics of my builds over the past few years. If you see him posting pictures that look like he took them in my workshop, it's because he was taking them in my workshop.

You might want to pay attention to the rest of the tread before you post responses like this. His question was answered just a few posts later.

Read? Why? Clearly he can just get by on skimming through and glancing at the pictures, right?

People often ask me how I'm able to get so many things done so quickly. Well in addition to getting frequent help from Lopez the Robot Whittler, I'm also not above exploiting child labor:


This is my nephew Trey who was getting in the way elsewhere on the property and so was banished to my workshop to "help uncle Shawn," which could have also been said as, "get in the way somewhere else."

Here he is modelling the chest armor:


It looks like there's still a slight hint of the facets from the original pep model that still need to be faired out. We also tried a quick test pull of the boot parts, but the forming bucks still need a bit more work. Stay tuned...