TurboCharizard's Halo Reach CQB Build Log

[TurboCharizard]

Gravemind says: a bit smaller. I think it could fit a little nicer.

Nice job on the grav hammer templates and scaling.

One tip i should share is using a Dremel sanding for all your external edges. Not seam lines, but where any foam edges are bare. This is just something i have been doing, and it gives each 90' corner a chamfered edge, and makes the part look like it was manufactured. I use the crap outta my Dremel, and it yields some nice results.

Took a dinner break and started the shin to compare, we'll see how it looks. I might get distracted by the Red Arrow tall boys in my fridge and finish tomorrow, who knows.

I'm all about fillets but yeah, chamfering sounds like a good plan to help reduce wear as well. I usually use the aluminum oxide drums for blending and filleting, do you use the same usually when you add chamfers?

 

[PerniciousDuke]

aluminum oxide drums for blending and filleting, do you use the same usually when you add chamfers?

Technical terms I know! Haha! I love it. Though drum would be the name for the rubber part, the industry term for the sandpaper is spiral wound band. But drum sounds better.

 

[mblackwell1002]

I'm all about fillets but yeah, chamfering sounds like a good plan to help reduce wear as well. I usually use the aluminum oxide drums for blending and filleting, do you use the same usually when you add chamfers?

Yupperdoo. Fillets would probably look good as well.

 

[TurboCharizard]

Update time boys and girls!

I'm so not a fan of beveling rounded edges, and there's a lot of them! In other news, the scroll saw got a workout today!


I finished off one shin and based on where the ankle and calf covers sit I think the scale on this one is pretty good. A bit of upholstery foam and some parachute clips will make this sit perfectly and help hide my bowleggedness.


The boot sits in line with the shin which makes me think the scale is good but I'll make another to compare. If I end up with only one and a half Spartans I'll consider myself lucky. Putting the shin together was only three hours with a couple hours organizing the pepakura pieces with labels and cut angle markings. Does anyone else out there mark up their patterns with bevels, glue types or other information when working on foam costumes?

 

[TurboCharizard]

Quick update on where we're at. I've been a bit of a lazy butt since the last post and I'm blaming it on getting to be a featured cosplay guest at a local-ish convention taking four days out of my build time. That being said I've finished the rescaled boots and the second shin.

I'll be doing a bunch of cleanup with my rotary tool on the seams for blending and to knock-back the visible "crusties" from the CA glue and accelerator. The fun thing about the BSI accelerator that I use is that it works as an awesome permanent marker remover so you can see a bunch of smears around part number lines and registration keys are almost non-existent at this point. It's forced me to mark all my bevel angles on the patterns themselves as opposed to the pieces so I'll get to uploading a bevel cheat-sheet this weekend between working on the thighs and Spartan-diaper.

 

[TurboCharizard]

First go at the thigh piece which meant that I had to try everything on. Damn does it feel good to be a Spartan.

I'll probably be keeping this scaling that I have, adding a riser to the base of my shoe to push my ankle and knee higher up and increase the spacing between the thigh and shin plates to allow proper placement of the knee plate. Apparently Spartans aren't built like hockey players, either that or my bowlegged self is throwing everything out of whack.

Tomorrow I build the other and start working on the diaper!

 

[TurboCharizard]

I'd consider this a bit of a bad week for productivity.

Monday - Overtime at work
Tuesday - Damage to vehicle resulting in shoptime and insurance claim
Wednesday - Narrow miss as pedestrian with driver that fled the scene, police report filed
Thursday - Build Buds Recording
Friday - Yeah...
Saturday and Sunday - Attempting to get out of a rut and sat down to do some 3D modelling.

I dug up some concept art from Halo Reach.

I've started taking some screenshots at different stages to help with the explanation of how everything goes together in 3D land, not sure it'll be super useful but hey, it's possibly interesting for you fine folks. Basic procedure that I use is import the game rip to use as a basic canvas that I can reference and scale basic parts to. In the Sculpt environment of Fusion 360 you can create a Quadball form that is perfect for rounded and smooth forms such as helmets, the edges and vertices can be manipulated to get a basic blob of a shape which can be broken down in the Model environment after converting the Sculpt form (T-Spline) to a Model form (B-Rep). The helmet is composed of three Quadball blobs, an interior helmet, the outer ridged shell and the chin cup, this could have been done with fewer primitives but I'm lazy and cutting away shells and piecing them together isn't too difficult. In the Model environment using sketches and construction planes the blobs are broken down into recognizable shapes and further refined by chamfering and drafting faces to match the surface angles of the reference photos.

With a bit of patience, sketches are projected onto the surface to split the faces of the form and allow panel lines to be drawn on by cutting away extruded pipes of narrow diameter to give the illusion of separate pieces inset. Other parts such as the plugs and connectors are designed separate from the main model and then moved into place.


A quick render and here we are.

I'll be using a chromed costume visor for this one so no need to model a buck for the visor but all that remains is figuring out what to do for the piping on the side that I've already cut away clearance for. I was thinking of having cuts all the way through to allow for fans or natural venting depending on clearance when everything is on. There's also the option of opening up vents in the rear of the helmet between panels, I'm not too sure what'll work best though.

I kind of just sat down for 6-8 hours between the two days and bashed things out without thinking of how it'll go on my head but we'll see. Maybe the peanut gallery has some suggestions for cramming electronics and a melon inside of a close fitting helmet like the CQB style. I'll likely have the rear panel along the neck be a magnetized section that can be slotted into place because damn is that chin shape not friendly to having a human chin.

Thoughts and any criticism is appreciated, I'm a newbie when it comes to modeling helmets and if I've done something horribly wrong, let me know.

 

[SI3RRA 117]

For being a noob, you’ve made it look easy. I think it looks sexy

 

[TurboCharizard]

I think it looks sexy

CQB

There's nothing quite like it.

 

[mblackwell1002]

That looks fantastic!

Really love the CQB design. Would love to see some sweet stickers to go on that bad boy, because stickers are just special for reasons i need not explain.

Also, i'd like to do you a massive favor. Just click this link, and your foam smithery will change forever...*insert mind blowingly epic information here*

This stuff if ever so fantastic, you see;
one of the best things that's ever happened to me.
Once you spread it all over you foam,
the satisfaction will certainly hit home.
Never again will you fear the foam seams,
you can post more of those fantastic memes.
Once it dries, you'll be eager to sand;
The supply will never meet your demand.

Quality post right there.

Really noice foam work, too! Looking clean!

 

[PaiganBoi]

Also, i'd like to do you a massive favor. Just click this link, and your foam smithery will change forever...*insert mind blowingly epic information here*

This stuff if ever so fantastic, you see;
one of the best things that's ever happened to me.
Once it dries, you'll be eager to sand;
The supply will never meet your demand.

WHY DIDN'T I HEAR ABOUT THIS SOONER???
I just recently filled the gaps of my ODST. Sigh...will have to buy some and use it on my next project.

 

[TurboCharizard]

That looks fantastic!
View attachment 255120
Really love the CQB design. Would love to see some sweet stickers to go on that bad boy, because stickers are just special for reasons i need not explain.

Also, i'd like to do you a massive favor. Just click this link, and your foam smithery will change forever...*insert mind blowingly epic information here*

This stuff if ever so fantastic, you see;
one of the best things that's ever happened to me.
Once you spread it all over you foam,
the satisfaction will certainly hit home.
Never again will you fear the foam seams,
you can post more of those fantastic memes.
Once it dries, you'll be eager to sand;
The supply will never meet your demand.

Quality post right there.

Really noice foam work, too! Looking clean!

I'll probably be doing up vinyl decals and an ungodly amount of masking to get a similar level of personalized markings for the helmet like my ODST bucket.

Is this stuff a magic goo kind of like Epsilon Pro but cheaper? I'm always excited for a cheaper alternative

 

[mblackwell1002]

I'll probably be doing up vinyl decals and an ungodly amount of masking to get a similar level of personalized markings for the helmet like my ODST bucket.

Is this stuff a magic goo kind of like Epsilon Pro but cheaper? I'm always excited for a cheaper alternative

It's essentially Bondo, but for foam. It's like a foam putty, and is water based. It's pretty fantastic. It's flexible, easily spreads, etc. If it dries out, add water to rehydrate it.

 

[Lieutenant Jaku]

It's essentially Bondo, but for foam. It's like a foam putty, and is water based. It's pretty fantastic. It's flexible, easily spreads, etc. If it dries out, add water to rehydrate it.

So if your armor gets wet does it fall off?

 

[Dirtdives2424]

Only if you build it for a friend as a practical joke.......like a water dissolving bathing suit.

 

[TurboCharizard]

My only concern is the water soluble aspect as well. My ODST needed a squeegee after wearing it for a couple hours of trooping. I ordered a bucket to use as a tester and it should be later this week or early next.

If anyone wants to help me set up a test with scientific rigour for the super goo, I'm open for suggestions. I was thinking of several test pieces with the following coatings.

• Foam untreated
• Foam Plasti/Flexidipped
• Foam Plasti/Flexidipped and painted with my normal approach
• Foam with super goo
• Foam with super goo and Flexidip
• Foam with super goo, Flexidip and paint

From there I'll cut up each sample, number them and set them to the following

• Left out in the sun for the weekend
• Water dunk
• Going for a run with me and placed on a belt facing outward (sweaty shirt only)
• Going for a run with me and pressed against the small of my back to get friction and moisture from sweat and movement
• Heat gun
• Control
• Impact testing (compressed air NERF gun and Paintball gun)
• Flammability (requested by Dirtdives)

 

[Dirtdives2424]

What....no weapons or explosion testing? I would think at least testing for flammability.

 

[TurboCharizard]

What....no weapons or explosion testing? I would think at least testing for flammability.

Done and done. Original post edited.

 

[Dirtdives2424]

Ok great.....Feel safer already. Quality Control by TC!!!!

 

[mblackwell1002]

So if your armor gets wet does it fall off?

Not quite. Once it cures, it's done. No going back.

Also, try out LeakSeal as a coating. Does way better than plastidip, and is sandable.