Moonwildflower's Mk Vi Armor

[moonwildflower]

Joined the site late last year and began my armor around then too. Went kinda slow, but had to pick it up consideraly around Feb to finish for A-kon 20 in Dallas. Got it done, but didn't have time or the energy to post any pictures about the progress. Feel really bad about that. So, this will be about my upgrading of the armor and the repairs from the first run at the convention.

There were some technical difficulties to say the least. The toe to my left foot kept falling off. No one really noticed, but it really bothered me. Ended up fixing it with an elastic band that ran under the shoe and alot of hot glue. Got to meet alot of other 405th members around and tell alot of interested people about the site too.

Guess people liked my armor, even considering the rush job. Got some photoshoots with SkyPirate and a photographer from Cosplay.com. Hope the pics turn out well. Don't really have any pictures to post right now. Will take some in the morning of the damaged areas and how some of my stuff works and looks, as well as my rigging system. Can't seem to find much in the forums on rigging. I owe it all to Kataroo, my partner in crime. She rigged our suits up really well.



Might even be able to post some of the photoshoot stuff if I can find it.

 

[SavvyTank]

i thought the Armor looked great. ill see if i can get the pics i got of you and kataroo up this week. The best part was whan they both whent up on stage for the contest and took of there helmets to show that they were girls, the crowd rored with chiers that you could here from the other room. it was awsome.

Im going to have to try the hot glue molding methed yall wer talking about

 

[moonwildflower]

i thought the Armor looked great. ill see if i can get the pics i got of you and kataroo up this week. The best part was whan they both whent up on stage for the contest and took of there helmets to show that they were girls, the crowd rored with chiers that you could here from the other room. it was awsome.

Im going to have to try the hot glue molding methed yall wer talking about

I really want to find video of that. I can't really remember anything that happened after I walked on stage. It's all a blur until I had to focus again on walking down the evil stairs. Stairs do not mix with spartans!

 

[SavvyTank]

here is the pics i got from A-Con. i put up the best pics i got.

from left to right kataroo, Moonwildflower and Ender06. i hope i remembered your names right.
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hope you like the pics

 

[moonwildflower]

here is the pics i got from A-Con. i put up the best pics i got.

hope you like the pics

Thanks so much for posting the pictures! I love them. And yes, you got our names right.
But GAH! Look at that helmet hair. lol. After the contest, we lost our support person and couldn't get our hair back into our neck wraps, so it just fell out of our helmets.

 

[moonwildflower]

Had the time and energy to whip up some pictures. I like to add captions in my pictures. Makes it easier for me to explain stuff. Some background info: did this all in pepakura with cardstock, resin, fiberglass, and bondo. Went back with the bondo and added some details missing from the pep models. No lights as of yet, but that is one thing I will add in the future. Still haven't found much online from our photoshoots, but I'll add links and such as I find them.

 

[moonwildflower]

More pictures with captions.

 

[Malechei]

Very nice work. I like the detailed pictures, they're very informative. I can't wait to see the repairs. Have you thought about velcro for attaching the more slippery parts to the undersuit?

 

[moonwildflower]

Very nice work. I like the detailed pictures, they're very informative. I can't wait to see the repairs. Have you thought about velcro for attaching the more slippery parts to the undersuit?

Yeah I have. Someone suggested that I use industrial velcro. I was also thinking about attaching them to the neck piece via string or even elastic. It also depends on how I redo my undersuit. I want to make something a bit more detailed than just a workout suit from Walmart. lol
As for the pictures, I just got used to doing that when I was in school. I had to describe how I did everything when after I had modeled or animated it.

 

[Ender06]

A good base to go off of would be using a military suspender belt/harness, as the straps are padded (and can hold alot of weight comfortably) and the straps have loops RIGHT on the shoulders so you can use webbing to attach the shoulders to the harness. The padded harness also keeps the chest armor from cutting into your shouders

 

[moonwildflower]

A good base to go off of would be using a military suspender belt/harness, as the straps are padded (and can hold alot of weight comfortably) and the straps have loops RIGHT on the shoulders so you can use webbing to attach the shoulders to the harness. The padded harness also keeps the chest armor from cutting into your shouders

Sweet. Thanks. Surprisingly for living in a military town, I couldn't find any before the con. I now have a bit more time, so hopefuly I can work something out with what's available around here. Hope the drive back home went quickly for you!

 

[BFDesigns]

Sweet. Thanks. Surprisingly for living in a military town, I couldn't find any before the con. I now have a bit more time, so hopefuly I can work something out with what's available around here. Hope the drive back home went quickly for you!

Should be an Army/Navy store somewhere near you, there's usually one in every town that's on the map. If not then there's always backpack straps and black webbing. The webbing you can get anywhere but there are some really nice padded straps from REI that you can get for something like $30 (Arc'Teryx Brand replacement straps). I was gonna pick some of those up myself for when I finally get around to doing the ODST build for the overshoulder straps on the torso.



For how to fix the gap in the visor, you'll have to remove the visor, mask the areas that make contact with the rest of the helmet with painter's tape (weaker adhesive, comes off easier and is impermeable), then use either bondo, or what I like to use cuz it's easier: Quickwood (Epoxy putty woodfiller).

Place the visor back into its configuration with the masking on and fix it in place temporarily, make sure that it fits tightly to the edges of the visor hole. The painter's tape should stick out at least 1/2 inch above the holes which will serve as a wall to back the quickwood without it sticking to the visor plastic. Mix up the quickwood as directed, should only take about 1-3 pinches, and push it into the gaps at the top and bottom of the visor. Make sure you have good contact with the horizontal helmet part and the vertical visor part. Let it sit for about an hour, then remove the visor from the inside. Don't worry bout it if the tape comes off and is stuck to the quickwood, it comes off pretty easily.

Because you used your finger to push the putty into the joint, you will more than likely have some flash sticking up into the now empty visor area. This is a GOOD thing! It will ensure that you have perfectly flat planes and 90° angles when you sand them flush. Sand the putty flush to the flat planes of the helmet that you're working with using a small orbital sander (detail sander or mouse) or sanding sticks and something like 120 grit sandpaper. DO NOT USE A DREMMEL FOR THIS! It will put a wave on the edge and then you'll have to do the whole thing over again! When you're done, go over the surfaces with a coat of resin to make sure that the whole thing is now one piece and won't come off when you go to put the visor in, but DO NOT coat the surfaces that make contact with the visor or it will mess up your fit. The inside and outside surfaces where the putty is attached to the helmet will be enough.

Now you can fit your visor back into the helmet and it should fit perfectly flush with the right amount of gentle pressure applied. Glue the edges in with something like Silicone Aquarium Adhesive and clamp in place if needed. You should get something that fits and looks like this when you're done:

That was my helmet when I got close to finished with it as an example of how doing a flush fit should look after it's painted. I'm re doing some spots right now so unfortunately I don't have any recent pics of it, but that's how I got the top and bottom to fit perfectly flush. Doing this to fill the gaps will probably take you less time to do than it took me to write up.

 

[Shade117 pro]

awesome!
I was looking at ender's thread on it & it was very amusing. & i went to your thread (here) & saw all your armour 'n' covention pics & i was ammused but it. But overall cool & good luck with all the repairs!

 

[moonwildflower]

Should be an Army/Navy store somewhere near you...

Thanks for the tip. That really bothered me when I first put the visor in. I didn't have anytime to try anything because I was trying to get a visor to stay put in my friends CQB helmet. I will try that in the future.

 

[moonwildflower]

awesome!
I was looking at ender's thread on it & it was very amusing. & i went to your thread (here) & saw all your armour 'n' covention pics & i was ammused but it. But overall cool & good luck with all the repairs!

Thanks. I have now concluded that the breaking of fiberglass is among the worst sounds in the entire world. It makes me want to cry. lol. I just need to go back and recoat the inside for more support on some of the peices.

 

[moonwildflower]

A friend of mine was kind enough to post a video of our antics at the con. Sorry about it being so dark at some parts. We were in the main hall during the cosplay competition and they had turned out the lights. See the spartan shuffle!

 

[DogWizard]

Congratulations - those shots look great! This link may help with your strapping issues...

Armor Strapping

Good Luck!

 

[moonwildflower]

Congratulations - those shots look great! This link may help with your strapping issues...

Armor Strapping

Good Luck!

Thanks so much!

 

[Jakkrit]

WOWWW.. IT'S GREAT. I LOVE IT!.

 

[DogWizard]

Thanks so much!

You are quite welcome!

Any plans to try and hit DragonCon this year? We could certainly use some more Spartans...