You put a lot of thought into all of this, I never thought if heating the foam before cutting and bending it. And yeah hot gluing seams can be a pain in the butt, I usually don't spend just a ton of time making them look perfectly clean, except on the boots. I have even less detail on my boots than you do, and the reason I did that was because I was trying to avoid making them too large, so I figured I could make them look good enough when I painted. Even though nobody pays just a ton of attention to the boots, it still bothers me. I just got 4" wedge shoes to build a cover around out of foam, and I had to try it a few times before I finally got them to where they didn't look awkwardly big, but I decided not to risk it with putting a bunch of details on them.
Yeah, I definitely do my best to plan this kind of stuff out. Remembering to book a hotel when you get badges for a convention though... lol fogettaboutit.
Hard stuff is easy for me, and the obvious and easy stuff for most people is hard to me.
And If it makes you feel better, I pay attention to people's boots.
While this next part is in response to you, I'm also addressing everyone else...
While I always say that a good quality helmet is always at the center of what makes a build great, proportions for the rest of the armor is crucial as well.
If you're rocking a giant torso but have tiny legs, things don't seem to add up right when people (or just me) look at a build.
Spartan models are very oddly proportioned:
• Their clavicals and scapulas stick out to the point where there is about a 2'' gap between their torsos and their arms,
• they all have child bearing hips with amazing thigh gap, the Halo Reach legs are....awkward to say the least (though perhaps my issue was the models I used, but without the lower FJ/Para knee insert, my Grenadier knees, when positioned on the shins like they should be, only cover the bottom half of my knee cap),
• their midsections are very short, and
• they seem to all have seemingly short necks, though perhaps it is an illusion given off by the torso and the helmet together, but I would also assume that based on the size of their deltoids that it is possible that they do just have short necks.
I think much of the proportion issues between the game model and an anatomically correct human come from the shoulders and the pelvis/hips.
Ideally, you want your thigh armor to sit up about 2-3'' above where your legs fold with your torso at the top, otherwise you are likely to see a major gap between them and your codpiece/belt.
That's in addition to the gap you will already have over your midsection (stomach/abs).
I'm going to try and close some of this gap by choosing to do my codpiece/belt last, that way I can try and position it where the gaps are fairly even.
I would still expect that I'm going to end up with a rather large codpiece, which is slightly off-putting, but it'll be better than seeing moose knuckles sticking out from my pants.
I've been rambling slightly here, jumping to the point...
Halo Reach Builds:
1) Forearms should be as long as you can make them, aim to get 90° bend articulation in the joint.
- - • At the front of the Forearm, your arm should be closer to the inner side of the armor than the outer side, there will be some gap on the outer side
2) Your handplates should be either thick like the game model or mounted at an angle to cover up the gap at the wrist created by the Forearm.
3) Biceps should sit as absolutely high as possible. They should be somewhat uncomfortably tucked into your armpit.
- - • At lot of the time things look off is when people let their bicep armor sink/slide down, it creates a lot of unwanted gap.
4) In addition to the bicep, consider adding padding onto the tops of your shoulders/deltoids.
- - • This can partially fix the issue for people with overly long necks
- - • This can be somewhat addressed if you use the Koshima7 or the DawnUnderHeaven model for the shoulder Undersuit parts from the Torso
5) To combat the proportion issues of the upper body vs lower body:
5a) Starting with the boots, you want to add some height, in doing so your boots will end up being fairly bulky, which is actually a good thing
5b) For your shins, you want them to also be bulky, this is so that they flow with the boots. Worry about making them long enough to cover your lower legs, rather than fitting snuggly, this isn't a GEN2-Spartan-IV build
5c) Knees & Ankles: With the Boots and Shin Guards the way they are, you might find yourself deciding to bulk your knees/ankles out a bit (using armor (motorcycle/soccer) or padding) so it doesn't look like you've skipped Leg Day.
5d) Thighs: Should sit higher than you probably think they should, you should aim to try an get the inner side of them to fit as closely to your crotch area as possible. Consider some compromise for flexibility, you may want to lower them somewhat so you can bend at the hips and crouch down.
That's just my opinion anyways...
