Building Samus in 180 days

[BSlapNinja87]

scaling is very difficult in some ways and if your really considering doing this the be prepared to rebuild a lot i built master chief for my first (never posted) but the scaling was hard on that. trial and error. i know quite a few people on here will tell you most of the time it is hit and miss. the point being try to scale it a bit bigger than your exacts. the reason being is most of the resin and fiberglass and body filler i have used tend to shrink the model a bit even if it says non shrink. T_T. any way you also have to keep in mind room for padding wearing plain fiber glassed items hurts after awhile. and most importantly room for ventilation overheating in a suit of armor is never fun. most importantly dont rush and have fun.

 

[Lord Ned]

Like the opening in where your leg/arm goes into the armor..the hole, where you wear it

You could do it based off of proportions. Get the model view straight on, take a screenshot, take it into Photoshop, determine how much of the model the arm hole represents in height, then figure out the total height of the model via Pepakura... Say the hole is 20% of the height of the model and it's 400mm high, you'd do 400 * .20 and get 80mm, and that's how tall the arm hole would be.

Gets a little tricky if the hole is on a diagonal.

 

[Kiiraa]

You could do it based off of proportions. Get the model view straight on, take a screenshot, take it into Photoshop, determine how much of the model the arm hole represents in height, then figure out the total height of the model via Pepakura... Say the hole is 20% of the height of the model and it's 400mm high, you'd do 400 * .20 and get 80mm, and that's how tall the arm hole would be.

Gets a little tricky if the hole is on a diagonal.

Thats a great idea but the whole suit every piece is at an angle and no matter how I turn, rotate and move the piece, it won't go straight on. Its tilted on the point but the way its tilted i can't view straight T_T I'll just guess/check.. forever.. ><

 

[Kiiraa]

So I've finally finished scaling everything I just need to get it printed and such now. The only things I saw problems with the scaling were the shin pieces and the forearms..I think I don't remember the other ones, but to keep you interested, heres how i keep track of paper i need?

 

[Sangheilioz]

When I built my first forearm piece for my Reach build (no thread yet, want some decent progress to post first) I made it about an inch too wide because I had scaled it based on the length of my forearm and not on the width. So, I re-measured and adjusted the width to be an inch or so wider than my actual forearm (to give room for glassing and then a thin layer of padding). The unfortunate downside is that I feel the forearm might be a little too short now, but I guess I won't really know until I can wear it with the rest of the armor. Still, if you're worried about width I would say just measure the width of the bodypart the armor piece will be on and add 1-2 inches to that to get the width you want for the piece.

 

[Kiiraa]

When I built my first forearm piece for my Reach build (no thread yet, want some decent progress to post first) I made it about an inch too wide because I had scaled it based on the length of my forearm and not on the width. So, I re-measured and adjusted the width to be an inch or so wider than my actual forearm (to give room for glassing and then a thin layer of padding). The unfortunate downside is that I feel the forearm might be a little too short now, but I guess I won't really know until I can wear it with the rest of the armor. Still, if you're worried about width I would say just measure the width of the bodypart the armor piece will be on and add 1-2 inches to that to get the width you want for the piece.

Yeah, that's what I've been doing but according to the others that are working on a Samus armor, the pep file i'm using has terrible scaling problems (I have no idea how that works in pep) But so far it looks like it will work out, I spent a couple hours trying to scale some things and gave up. I'm just gonna see how it turns out once it's printed.

 

[Liamthedevastator]

There is certainly nothing wrong with making a piece to see how it scales on you! As for "gaps" I would simply trim the pieces once you've fibreglassed them.

On the subject of Fibreglassing: I know you've been run the gauntlet, but I would like to reinforce the fact that you MUST wear a respirator. The vapour is invisible and will contaminate a lot of space, so if you are doing it in your house, even with the garage door open, make sure a) residents of the house are aware of your activities and b) you WEAR A RESPIRATOR.

Your Samus armour will take much longer if you are hospitalized with respiratory damage, so take the extra step and buy one. Don't think of it as "dropping" $40 as much as "investing" in an essential piece of safety equipment.

That's all, good luck with the rest, i'll be watching! :3

p.s. we say it because we care!

 

[DCC]

Looking good, Ill mabey pus Samus is as my next build...

 

[Kiiraa]

Can anyone following this give testimony to the safety behind using resin & bondo, my mom is in an uproar about "how toxic" it is and will not let me bring it in the house without more information.

 

[Aion]

I strongly recommend you to resin your peps outdoors...The fumes are really strong, use a respirator too. All this is in the stickies... oh! and use gloves and wear old clothes...IT'S GONNA BE A MESS
Keep it up! I wanna see how it turns out

 

[Kiiraa]

I strongly recommend you to resin your peps outdoors...The fumes are really strong, use a respirator too. All this is in the stickies... oh! and use gloves and wear old clothes...IT'S GONNA BE A MESS
Keep it up! I wanna see how it turns out

I know its in the stickies but my mom is being a freak T_T I guess I'll go buy a respirator on Friday then..

 

[Kiiraa]

So.. suggestions for places to resin my pep? Outside will be cold and wet until...march? and 'the parents need the garage' so.. suggestions...please?!

 

[matth101]

So.. suggestions for places to resin my pep? Outside will be cold and wet until...march? and 'the parents need the garage' so.. suggestions...please?!

you could do what some people do; make a hot box. resin your pieces outside under a cover, and then put them in your hot box in your garage or something and allow it to cure. theres quite a few threads that show how to make one. There's one called "how to make a hot box for under $30" floating around somewhere. Hope this helps, looking forward to seeing a Samus build (trying to get my GF interested in building one lol!)

 

[SChristides]

could try this, splurge a little

 

[Kiiraa]

you could do what some people do; make a hot box. resin your pieces outside under a cover, and then put them in your hot box in your garage or something and allow it to cure. theres quite a few threads that show how to make one. There's one called "how to make a hot box for under $30" floating around somewhere. Hope this helps, looking forward to seeing a Samus build (trying to get my GF interested in building one lol!)

That sounds complicated..

could try this, splurge a little

and the epoxy alternative is kinda awesome..

 

[Redfury9]

You can start with any random number in my oppinion. heh. sorry you didn't get a reply till months later. But do you have actual pepakura files? and if you have them...can you share? I have been looking and looking for them and I swear there are none to be found!!! Help a sister out! please? Thank you fellow cosplayer, i can't wait to see what your final results are.

 

[MissMeowsikins]

Resin isn't THAT toxic! I have all my stuff drying in my living room. My housemates love it! So does the landlord!

 

[Saber]

Resin isn't THAT toxic! I have all my stuff drying in my living room. My housemates love it! So does the landlord!

Resin is EXTREMELY toxic!
You may not know this, but we've had members here get really sick from inhaling the fumes from resin and were sent to the hospital because of it.
Minor things you may notice could be irritation to the eyes, skin and upper respiratory tract. But continuous exposure can lead to harm to the central nervous system showing symptoms such as depression, headache, fatigue, weakness, and may cause minor effects on kidney function. You can even develop cancer from breathing in this stuff.

This stuff is dangerous and shouldn't be taken lightly. Please please please find another place to put your stuff while it cures. Either that, or everyone in your living space should be wearing organic filter respirators. I can not stress this enough.

-Alexis

 

[Kiiraa]

So, Originally why I stopped was because of the toxicity of the bondo and stuff but its come to a further halt because of printing issues..

 

[Rex 084]

But... but... we want more Samus....

*starts crying in a corner*

You do plan on getting back to it though, right? *big hopeful anime eyes*

I know... I'm an idiot, lol. But seriously, please don't give up on it!