TurboCharizard's Halo Reach CQB Build Log

[PerniciousDuke]

Those gloves were just the ones I use for paintball and stuff, for the final gloves I'll have actual fingers instead of the fingerless MMA gloves. Do you think I should go for one size down to exaggerate the fit?

You should go with whatever glove feels the most comfortable. You said it was hard to take your helmet on/off... if you have too much fabric on your fingertips this will become harder.

 

[TurboCharizard]

This is a post that's more for mentally keeping track of what's needed going forward to tick off all the boxes which will help me call this costume done. For each section of the armour there's a few things needed, no matter how finished the suit looks in the pictures I've posted, there's still plenty to work on.

Helmet

1. Install permanent visor and new gasket
2. Install case fans for airflow
3. Install aluminum piping on cheek panels
4. Install LED bar and diffuser in helmet ridge

Chest/Torso

1. Expand/extend lighting circuit with quick connect/disconnects from main power board.
2. Attach spinal guard
3. Add venting detail that appears in cutscenes but no in multiplayer models
4. Mount sheath for combat knife
5. Armour ability

Biceps

1. Install LEDs with quick connect/disconnects
2. Adjust rigging and add Velcro or snaps to reduce rotation.
3. Add upholstery foam spacers to reduce bounce of pad when making quick arm movements

Shoulders

1. Bullets?

Gauntlets

1. Magnetize UA Tactical Bracer cover
2. Add cable channel for 3.5mm audio cable through left bracer

Hands

1. Purchase permanent gloves
2. Attach hand plates to gloves
3. Audio trigger buttons for armour ability activation and other fun stuff?

Thighs

1. Adjust rigging to raise plate and add Velcro or snaps to reduce rotation.
   
2. Possible rebuild to correct scaling if adjustment is insufficient
3. Add red panel that was missed in initial masking
4. Install LEDs with quick connect/disconnects.

Shins

1. Adjust rigging to raise plate and add Velcro or snaps to reduce rotation.
   
2. Possible rebuild to correct scaling if adjustment is insufficient
3. Add gasket that connects to boot with Velcro strip
4. More weathering!

Boots

1. Riser to help with not being 5'9"
2. Velcro for ankle gasket

Under suit

1. Build/sew a neck seal instead of using balaclava
2. Tape mummy
3. Body suit and 3D printed/cast details

 

[SI3RRA 117]

Audio trigger buttons for armour ability activation and other fun stuff?

Do these first please please I want to see this.

 

[TurboCharizard]

Do these first please please I want to see this.

I have several ideas. The current board I have can store four MP3 clips to be triggered with buttons. Once I've figured out the mounting arrangements and audio I'll put up a video for teh lulz.

 

[TurboCharizard]

Because I like you guys I went through and reinstalled Inkscape to do up this bevel cut reference. Since I last posted I wiped my C: drive and did a fresh install of Windows so there's a few programs I'm chucking onto the battlestation that I'm needing for workflow. SketchUp is currently down for the count and I'm not really looking forward to restoring the Ruby libraries that I had setup. Anyway, this was probably the easiest method I could go with, I can do something a bit more refined if you fine folks would like but this is easy to look at and it's pretty much SOP for anyone building a foam suit to lay out all the pieces and check they have everything good to go before touching glue.

Legend based on the pens that I had available to me at my crafting table to annotate patterns.
Blue font - Labelled piece identifiers to help in locating where to put everything
Green font - Explanation of adjustments that I added for my suit
Green dashed lines - Mirror lines and score lines added
Green solid lines - Structures added and highlight of sections to mirror
Purple font - Bevel angle along closest edge
Red font - Number of pieces required from that pattern piece and mirror(M) or not

One thing to note is that there is an inset channel divide between the upper and lower section of the panels that house the venting. For this I used thin cut (~4mm) strips of 10mm EVA, depending on your scaling factor it may be different and you can check your size based on the notches on the pieces labelled "Side Panel Venting". It wasn't really an exact science, more a system of cut a long strip, tack it down and then trim to length.

Some of the sections are grouped off with a statement of "I 3D printed these", true facts. Because I'd be a jerk if I didn't supply these so that you can follow in my footsteps, attached below are the files for the LED panels to diffuse light, chest details and all you need to rock and roll.

Link to Google Drive because I don't know how to embed .stl files in the forum.

Within the Google Drive folder you'll find the Spinal Venting (Spinal Diffuser and SpinePanel#) which will be printed as one clear PLA/PETG part and five thin pieces to block light.

The FrontPanelDetails which are two identical details to adhere in the spot for that mess of a pepakura unfold that's on my R1C4 sheet.

LightPanelCovers may need adjusting individually depending on how you cut inset pieces and in all honesty may only be useful to me but I thought that I'd share them for reference.

And because I'm an adult "TummyBox" is the housing that sits between the upper chest and the lower stomach guard. There is two holes in the box for 3mm indicator LEDs but it is otherwise hollow for foam inserts to hold the 5V power supply that powers my chest circuit.

For electronics I used the following

• 5V 8000mAh USB Power Bank (not this exact model but is the same for all intents and purposes, buttloads of power for $10)
• 1 scavenged USB cable, stripped and soldered to perfboard
• 10 5mm 470nm Superbright Blue LEDs
• 4 5mm Cool White LEDs
• 1 3mm Blue LED
• 1 3mm Red LED
• 22 AWG Solid Core Wire
• Perfboard

If you want a link of the stencil files and locations where the indicators go on the Mk.V Chest I can do that as well but most people like personalizing to their armour, right?

 

[mkshane81]

Wow, a lot of great improvements on some of the smaller components! Thanks for sharing TurboCharizard !

-Matt

 

[Dirtdives2424]

Wow......Just .....wow......I think my skull just cracked a bit out of envy of your skills. I am in need of a Reach chest and your build is inspiring me to do the best one I can and hope I can do 1/2 as good.

TC, do you have the chest cut reference in PDF?

 

[TurboCharizard]

Wow......Just .....wow......I think my skull just cracked a bit out of envy of your skills. I am in need of a Reach chest and your build is inspiring me to do the best one I can and hope I can do 1/2 as good.

TC, do you have the chest cut reference in PDF?

I believe in you good sir. You'll definitely knock it out of the park.

I could do it as a PDF if you'd like, I just made it as a large sheet for quick reference on a computer or tablet. I'll just put a disclaimer on it that it's scaled for my purposes and exact sizes should not be used unless you're TurboCharizard shaped. Once I figure out the driver issue I'm having with Armorsmith I'll add the scale factor that I used so everyone can do conversions if they feel brave.

 

[Sean Anwalt]

"TurboCharizard shaped" hahahahaha if I didn't know the stresses and debilitating effects of improper scaling, that would be funny!

 

[TurboCharizard]

"TurboCharizard shaped" hahahahaha if I didn't know the stresses and debilitating effects of improper scaling, that would be funny!

May I present to you "TurboCharizard Shaped". It's a pretty close representation to my ODST, if anyone is interested in commissioning me for art assets I'm real good at MS Paint.

Actual point of this post though is about boots and stuff, not just my mad skills with MS Paint. I went and made up that cheat sheet for the Mk.V Chest and honestly it's pretty brutal to throw people into the deep end of foamsmithing by giving them that. Start small and KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid. I started with the boots so lets do that because the foam build is fairly straightforward and only requires a few simple bevels, the real tricky part is scaling and making sure you can use it as an actual boot or boot cover.

Legend of Closest Pens to Crafting Station Alpha
Blue font - Labelled piece identifiers to help in locating where to put everything
Green dashed lines - Mirror lines and score lines added
Purple font - Bevel angle along closest edge

Like I said, this one is pretty minimal on changes that need to be made to the Armory file, a few trenches to cut in that got lost in translation to Armorsmith most likely, some bevels to help with foam thickness and overall so good of a time that I made three boots. Because this is a simple build and I'm intending on ramping difficulty up on these I included all pieces so that there was no need for mirroring or anything that's easy to mix up. A heat gun is definitely your friend with this file though, getting the rounded form of the toecap is assisted by channels cut in but a bit of heat makes everything really simple.

The fun part of the boots comes in with mounting them, some people like them as boot covers with a bit of elastic and clips to strap to a boot, I'm a fan of the big goofy super sized boot that makes you look like an action figure and project the overall mass of a Spartan that weighs more than a pickup. There is likely a more efficient way of doing this, most certainly safer in the long run but using what I had in the scraps bin I made a sturdy and chunky shoe that you've seen in the "finished" photos and at various stages of painting in progress photos. Using the outline of the constructed boot tops, I traced a shape for the sole of the boot onto paper which was then transferred to a sheet of 1/4" pine that was a support in the shipping crate for my scroll saw. There is a slight curvature to the boots depending on left or right so the pattern was mirrored for the other and both pine soles were cut out on the band saw. Because traction is important a layer of 6mm EVA was cut out and adhered to the bottom of the sole with the textured side outward for some basic grip, I will be adding rubberized texture at some point in the future because shiny waxed convention hall floors are a thing that I don't trust. The outline of the shoe was then traced on the top section of the sole, a 10mm EVA foam riser was added at the heel and everything was attached.



Attached is a strong word. This thing is never coming off. The pine will rot away first.


The heel is screwed in place, the toe is screwed in place from the inside, everything is contact cemented in place, I used CA glue on the edges to tack the shoe sole down, hot glue[?] I don't know man, I was tired. Long story short there's no discomfort and the shoe is decidedly not leaving that boot without a fight. The sole was then attached to the foam boot and almost immediately went into the paint booth because deadlines and cure times are a thing.

Fast forward a week and everyone agreed that I am short. This is a true fact and it's visible in a collision and resulting overlap between the thigh and shin piece.


"Solutions" to being short are apparently like $20. Who'd have guessed. I went with the 4 layer version and ended up with the following photos as a result using only three of the layers. With a better under suit with Velcro for the thighs and more secure strapping points for the nylon webbing there will be no collisions and everything should look closer to the freakishly long legged Spartans by adding another 7cm to my heel. The only downside is even with hockey player legs the armour will likely show off "skinny little nerd arm" syndrome as coined by Shawn Thorsson which means I may be looking into a muscle suit at some point, who knows.


Boots are fun and if you take anything away from this post, start at the bottom and work to the top.

Do people find these bevel cut guides somewhat helpful? Should I keep going with them? If so, should I keep going in order of completion for my suit?

 

[Dirtdives2424]

Wow. It’s like a children’s booster seat for your feet. Do you finally feel tall?

 

[TurboCharizard]

Wow. It’s like a children’s booster seat for your feet. Do you finally feel tall?

If anything, I feel pretty.

 

[Dirtdives2424]

Way to go Maria.....

 

[Sean Anwalt]

BAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA


I just sat down at work, got signed in, opened this post, and LAUGHED OUT LOUD! One of the other workers here gave me a funny look... It was hilarious...I guess you had to be here...

Anyway, I think you should continue your pretty guide, and do so for each piece! The tips and hints contained therein are relevant for any suit, and can be used by anyone.

If you wanted to make your legs look longer, one thing I learned in art classes WAAY back in *THE* day, was to make them skinnier. If you can manage to make the sides of the shins and bring them as close as possible to your legs while still maintaining height (Not easy with pepakura, but *easier* in foam, that might get the long legged look you were talking about. Just my two cents.

 

[Schankerz]

May I present to you "TurboCharizard Shaped". It's a pretty close representation to my ODST, if anyone is interested in commissioning me for art assets I'm real good at MS Paint.
View attachment 256316

I too have been thinking of raising my height a bit more in the boots, being naturally 6’5 I really don’t need too and I may hit a few doorways but it’ll add more to that ginormous spartan look. My only thing is that I too suffer from skinny little nerd arm and will have to figure away around that as well.

 

[Sean Anwalt]

My only thing is that I too suffer from skinny little nerd arm and will have to figure away around that as well

Some protein shakes and a 40 lb dumbbell.

 

[Dirtdives2424]

Some protein shakes and a 40 lb dumbbell.

Wow, it must really be hard to chew and swallow a 40 lb dumbbell.......unless those go into the shake.....then it totally makes sense.

 

[Sean Anwalt]

Oh gosh...

 

[airborn]

great job. with the desire to exchange files: D as you will be interested. I currently have a medic. in the child and adult version. but you can always scale yourself

 

[TurboCharizard]

I survived overtime chaos at work. We got to play the no weekends until [thing happens] game and the bad news is [thing] got postponed so I'll probably have another bout of not updating here in a little bit but for now I get to show you the fun that I had on my first weekend off in... a long time.


It was time to bite the bullet and get coated in duct tape for the sake of science and making an under suit that actually looks like a thing as opposed to just being the plain black form fitting clothes with parachute clips sewn on hastily. This post is mostly just a quick reference for anyone else getting into an under suit build so that they can see shapes roughly on the body before I clean up patterns and digitize them into something flat and a bit more usable. For the greater good and for patterning ease I sacrificed a ~10 year old Under Armour shirt and a $12 pair of women's biking capris to be the base for duct tape to stick to, honestly you don't have to do this and you can just cling wrap yourself but for a tight fit that already had seams to follow it was a good choice in my opinion. It also allowed for modesty since there was three other people helping out tape me up and hanging out in a cling wrap suit and underwear, yeah...

Using a mix of in game screen shots, the awesome under suit thread by electricknite and the lucky find "T pose" image below as reference we put our combined skills together to attempt and work out something that'd be both comfortable, accurate and not be so warm that I'd pass out in the summer heat.

DISCLAIMER:
The following images were created for instructional purpose. The images contain gratuitous depiction of Spartan butt and duct tape, it is not for the faint of heart or Canadians who are currently in duct tape rehab. Viewer discretion is advised.

Front Profile


Side Profile


Back Profile


As you can see only half of the body was covered and patterned and a mirror line was drawn down the center. Green was used as a rough draft for paneling by CplYapFlip who claims she is the least artistically inclined of the people present today but was the most comfortable with drawing on me. Black was used as a way to clean up lines and refine shapes. Gold was used for non-decorative seams that would allow for ease of movement and sewing.

My little sewing machine can likely handle sewing with stretch fabric and vinyl but I'm probably going to go pick up a serger so that I can do the work properly and make sure nothing blows out when I wear it. I know there's very few people on the forums that are all up on sewing but is there anyone that has any recommendations on a good serger in the $300 to $500 range? I've been looking at a few Brother and Singer machines but it's hard to weed out the good ones from the lemons when looking at entry to mid level machines.