Mark Vi Wip

[ponchato]

Hey 405th. I joined in.. wow, December of last year.



I would tell you the entire story, but it's too long. Basically, I lost interest in making armor mid January (school got in the way, and I joined the track team). Fast forward 6 months, I'm now half way through my summer break. I realized I'd been wasting almost all of this summer browsing the internet and playing video games.



Here's what I did in November of last year (during the 'no new members' time).

Of course, at that time, I was thrilled. "AWESOME! First piece of completed armor, here I come!".



As you can see, I did a crappy job.



I don't want to be the guy that gets a 'Nice try, just keep working at it' reply. So, now that I'm much more aware of the whole 'quality' idea, I'm going to (re)start building my armor, starting with the hand plates. I'll post updates in this thread as progress is made.

 

[box o crayons]

hand plates look great whats wrong with em. i say go buy some fiberglass and take it to the next step

 

[ba2808]

it doesn't look crappy thats good you should go and fiberglass it now.

 

[DaSlacker]

I agree with those above, continue on to glassing. You have nice crisp folds and the small amount of warping you have can be easily fixed, especially when the paper is soggy. If you can't fix it, at least you'll get some practice on a rather small piece so you have less chance of having the same problem later on with more complex pieces.

 

[ponchato]

Since the warping is mainly due to the glue holding joints in the wrong place, could I just put it in the oven for a minute or two, pull it out and hold the warped parts in the correct shape? Low-temp glue melts at 250F, so I'm guessing at 200F it would just be a little soft (and not fall apart).



I'll start the other hand plate, then fix the one I have pepped now.



Edit:

Should I hide them, or would the end result look better with almost flat edges shown?

 

[ponchato]

Sorry for the double post, but I'm most of the way through the second hand plate. Based on all of your (very kind) replies, I've decided to just keep the existing plate and straighten it out.



So, picture time!

Final cut

Every piece free at last!

Folded, ready for glue

Part of the way through the gluing

A couple remaining pieces

Last two

Here it is, the Glorious Hierarch of Royal Pains in The Ass to glue

Everything glued



Sorry, got a little camera happy.



Edit:

Alright, finished the second hand piece. It looks a lot better than the first one, in my opinion; it doesn't 'cave in' in the center.



The first plate is on the left, the second one (just finished) is on the right.

Any ideas on how to fix the first one? All I need to do is push the back corners of the center ring up a few millimeters for it to look right, but I don't know how I can keep it there once I've moved it.



Another edit:

Here's a side by side shot of the first and the second Handplates. The first one looks awkward, and doesn't really fit with my hand. Also, I promise I'll reduce the size of the other pictures.

Probably the last edit on this post:

Alright, resized all the images in this thread. I'll keep all the WIP pictures at that resolution for your bandwidth's enjoyment.



Man, imagine the multipost I could've had without the edit button...

 

[ponchato]

Sorry (Really!) for the triple post, but no one has replied. (Mods/Staff, if you edit this post into my previous post or want me to, please message me)



I finished one of the Shin/Knee Armor Plates, and it looks pretty good in my opinion. The metal bar is a bent ruler to hold it up.











I think I'm going to do what some people did with their Chest Armor. I'll cut it in half and glue in magnets to hold the two halves together; my foot tears the bottom edge when I try to put the armor on. Once it's on though, it fits great!

 

[darth wombo]

haha i did a pep hand plate and it turned out crapy but yours looks super nice

good job!

 

[Booyakz]

The first hand plate looks pretty good... I'm doing the most basic armour, so I think it's amazing that you tackled a HD piece as your first...

 

[jks soccer]

good work my friend! i think they look nice.



oh, you said the hand plates were a pain in the ass... yea, just wait until the HD forearm. oh yea, its a lot of fun!...

 

[ponchato]

Thanks for the support guys!

oh, you said the hand plates were a pain in the ass... yea, just wait until the HD forearm. oh yea, its a lot of fun!...

Hehe, after a few months of not working on my armor, that's what I'm coming back to. I can't wait to finish it, I hope it looks awesome.

 

[fluffybunny117]

Can you give me the link to the download for the shin peice you put together

 

[kupokitty]

I found that just rubbing the hot metal tip of the gluegun can melt the glue on the flaps of the warped areas. You don't have to worry about melting the entire piece that way.

 

[ponchato]

Can you give me the link to the download for the shin peice you put together

Sure, here's the exact file: http://rapidshare.com/files/297040009/Left_Shin.pdo.html

Both shins, left and right, are exactly the same; I just named the files so I could quickly check what I still need to do.



However, if you want a higher resolution Shin pepakura file, I would go to http://sites.google.com/site/soullesssin/Home/armor-files. The shin file there looks like it would fit a lot more easily than the one I used, but if this is your first build I would use the file I linked to above.



Queen, thanks for the tip. I'm thinking about going back and re-gluing the edges of the shin piece, and that'll save a lot of time.