Failure is just part of learning, but I hope for success!

[durge]

[WIP] Failure is just part of learning, but I hope for success!

Greetings 405th community! It would appear that I am your latest "noob" and eager community member. As I already posted in the sticky introduction thread, I'm 25 and new to costume design. I said to myself about a week ago, "Mike, you should do something cool for Halloween, something that requires thought, effort, and will make you proud of that time/effort." So what do you all now know about me? I seem to procrastinate a bit, and I sometimes speak to myself in third person (not really, but going for a cheap laugh here!). Well, I decided to try to assemble an HEV suit from Half-Life.

About 30 seconds of google searching led me here, where I found Null.exe's HEV thread. A little bit of downloading while reading through a few stickies (Noob list, Pepakura FAQ, Pepakura/fiberglass tutorial, and Bondo detailing) and I was ready to start my adventure.

The goal that I've set for myself is to do all of this for the first time in my life before Halloween of this year (I've got about 27 days left). Of course, I understand that some goals aren't truly realistic, but I intend to go at this with full force every day after work and for as much time as possible on weekends (plus I might have some help from friends).

I have already ordered the paper from Amazon (I'm truly amazed that no local retailer carries 110lb card stock...), and just for proof of concept, printed out one of the Pepakura parts on standard paper and assembled it tonight (about 4 hours of work total).

Pardon the photo quality, it was taken with my DroidX, and the case that I have on the phone makes shutter operation rather difficult...

So wish me luck, the paper should arrive Wednesday, and then my adventure truly begins!

 

[Swift]

I've gotta say man, this will look completely awesome! I think the hardest thing will be getting your goatee the right shape

Yeah, lower-grade paper is an incredibly nuisance, as I found working with my magnum model. Believe me, you'll find your work a LOT easier once you get the 110! I can see a few sleepless nights though... if you wanna get this done by Halloween... a lot of coffee methinks.

Hmm... employing friends to help with the pepping could save a lot of time... I probably could of madem ysuit by halloween if they didn'y expect payment D:

 

[durge]

Haha, I think getting my facial hair to the right shape may actually be the one of the easier steps! I already have a short mustache/beard, and I'm going to be working so hard on this project that I'll probably forgo trimming, so by the time Halloween comes around all I'll have to do is trim into shape and done!

I really hope I can pull this project off and that I'm not being too presumptuous to think that I can do this whole thing in less than a month. I was reading around and saw threads where full community members were talking about how it can take them months on a really good helmet, so I'm guessing that there's either a TON more work that goes into a helmet, or I'll just be building a much lower quality piece than the forum vets are churning out. Either way, I'm doing this. And I have at least one friend who volunteered to help print and cut the pages, and another who has basic fiberglassing experience to help on that. I think the only payment that they want is to see a really awesome product come out at the end.

 

[rumble]

Good luck! It'll take a lot of time and work to get the project done so quickly, but you can always upgrade/redo after Halloween if you're not happy with the final results.

 

[Ehekky]

Good Luck with that, HEV-suit equals epicness...

ps. I can haz Crowbar?

 

[Swift]

I really hope I can pull this project off and that I'm not being too presumptuous to think that I can do this whole thing in less than a month. I was reading around and saw threads where full community members were talking about how it can take them months on a really good helmet, so I'm guessing that there's either a TON more work that goes into a helmet, or I'll just be building a much lower quality piece than the forum vets are churning out. Either way, I'm doing this. And I have at least one friend who volunteered to help print and cut the pages, and another who has basic fiberglassing experience to help on that. I think the only payment that they want is to see a really awesome product come out at the end.

It's more from the interference(?) of real life on your activities that slows people down, and also some people's need for perfection and attention to detail.

 

[durge]

Good Luck with that, HEV-suit equals epicness...

ps. I can haz Crowbar?

Thanks! A friend of mine told me that if I pull this off that I'll "win much internets", haha...

And I can't seem to find a pep crowbar so far...which is kinda frustrating...It's all well and good, though, chances are I wouldn't have the time to make it anyway. If by some miracle I finish a week or so early I'll renew my search efforts.

It's more from the interference(?) of real life on your activities that slows people down, and also some people's need for perfection and attention to detail.

Well fortunately for me, I don't really have much of a life, unless you count camping this weekend... so I'll have mon-Fri 6pm-midnight plus weekends for the mostpart. And I'm really psyched about this project!

 

[Ehekky]

And I can't seem to find a pep crowbar so far...which is kinda frustrating...It's all well and good, though, chances are I wouldn't have the time to make it anyway. If by some miracle I finish a week or so early I'll renew my search efforts.

Forget a pepped Crowbar, use a real one!

 

[becks]

No Wal-Mart nearby? Thats where I buy all of my 110lbs cardstock.

 

[vshore100]

No Wal-Mart nearby? Thats where I buy all of my 110lbs cardstock.

Me too. As well as body filler and resin.

Good luck with your project Durge, better hope that paper gets there soon, clocks tickin dude!

 

[durge]

Forget a pepped Crowbar, use a real one!

Well, I figured that that may potentially be a little heavy to tote around, and the cruise may not let me on the ship with it... :-/

No Wal-Mart nearby? Thats where I buy all of my 110lbs cardstock.

I checked online, no stores in my area had the paper in stock.

 

[Ehekky]

Well, I figured that that may potentially be a little heavy to tote around, and the cruise may not let me on the ship with it... :-/

Too bad, if you got the time, you could make your own pep of a real one, or make a pep of the Gravity Gun

 

[durge]

Too bad, if you got the time, you could make your own pep of a real one, or make a pep of the Gravity Gun

I've seen finished peps from people who made the gravity gun, it looks pretty amazing!

And here's an actual project update... Amazon shipped the paper in a non-sealed package, while ups apparantly decided to throw into a lake somewhere, so the order was ruined. Amazon's been contacted about it and they're sending a replacement, but in the meantime I'm going to go for the act of desperation and go to walmart to search for the paper...even though their website says they don't have it in stock.

 

[vshore100]

I've seen finished peps from people who made the gravity gun, it looks pretty amazing!

And here's an actual project update... Amazon shipped the paper in a non-sealed package, while ups apparantly decided to throw into a lake somewhere, so the order was ruined. Amazon's been contacted about it and they're sending a replacement, but in the meantime I'm going to go for the act of desperation and go to walmart to search for the paper...even though their website says they don't have it in stock.

In our WalMart, it's around where the school supplies are located. Best of luck to you!

 

[dericrw]

Good luck with your project, hope to see pics soon!

 

[Ehekky]

Amazon shipped the paper in a non-sealed package, while ups apparantly decided to throw into a lake somewhere, so the order was ruined.

This made me cry a little... and that's just overreacted, but it isn't sarcastic...:confused

 

[ventrue]

ups apparantly decided to throw into a lake somewhere

Now, guess what the German word for "oops" is :-D

 

[durge]

Great success! Walmart had 110lb postercard stock paper in packages of 150 pages for $5, so I bought two. They were located back by the craft section (near sewing stuff and foam-core), and it was a different brand than "Wausau", but I figure that paper is paper...right? Amazon is still shipping me the replacement Wausau package, so I'll probably end up taking one of the packages back to the store. Anyway, while I was at walmart I decided to pick up the other stuff that I'd need, so 1.5 hours of wandering and $100 later, I had shopping cart full of chemicals and craft supplies. Unfortunately...the hot glue sticks that I bought are too thick for the glue gun, so I need to go get a different glue gun. Whoops?

I have the belt and the upper right leg piece printed and cut out, I have a date tonight and camping this weekend, so assembly will start Sunday or Monday. I'll post pictures as soon as I have something to show.

 

[durge]

Well, I've officially started this project:

Right upper leg and right lower leg pieces are assembled and waiting for the next step. I'm a little concerned about sizing....the upper leg piece seems to fit mostly fine, but I'm not sure if it's supposed to extend as high up my leg as it does. As far as the lower leg piece goes, I can't slip that one on, I'm going to have to harden it and cut it. I remember seeing in the original thread for this pep that the leg pieces and arm pieces had to be cut and hinged, so I was kinda expecting that to happen...

 

[AI Blue Fox]

great job so far. Gordon Freeman's HEV suit is pretty easy and is a good project to due in short time. Are you doing a mark IV or mark V? V is in hl2 and IV is from half life.