My Custom Build (Armoury Spartan)

[Shadow Of Intent]

Progress update, and a little something I found at a car boot sale: I was only looking for spray paints because they are fairly cheap at about £1 a 300ml can, but I also found a stall selling 850ml can of expanding foam.... that's enough for about 38 litres! Since I only have the helmet shield and the knee caps to fill, I am highly considering making a weapon. I'm torn between the focus rifle and the gravity hammer, though slightly more inclined towards the hammer because there would be no barrel to tape off with flourescent orange (Not sure about gun replica regulations in the UK).

Here's the WIP photo and the huge can of expanding foam!

 

[Shadow Of Intent]

Just noticed I gained infantryman status! Wooooo! As a point of interest, deleting posts to bring your total post count below 100 will not lose you your infantryman status: I had removed about 4 posts on the first page of this thread as they would be better situated in a new thread upon completion, which took my post count down to 98, yet my status remained (Nice to know!).

Anyway, I just thought I'd mention this. I also have new resin accelerator so fibreglassing can commence tomorrow! Does anyone have gravity hammer dimensions, because I'm not sure the default ones are correct. Halopedia and Halowikia used to have them, butthey no longer do =/

 

[Shadow Of Intent]

Not much to report right now, I've fibreglassed some more pieces since my last post, added details to the helmet and pepped a boot, as well as making a removable battery pack for the assault rifle. I'm starting uni tomorrow so there won't be any more progress updates until the next holidays. Here are some recent pictures...

 

[Shadow Of Intent]

Suit progress has been very slow, as mentioned in my gravity hammer thread. For the moment, any time I'm not at Uni, I'll be working to finish the hammer and the helmet in parallel (Seeing as the helmet is the only bit you can realistically wear by itself). I have a couple of questions relating to the helmet:

1. I finally have some "polyfiller", a really old tube of Isopon P38, and it has to be scooped out of the tube, and seems to harden with the resin catalyst. Is it normal for this Bondo alternative to be so viscous (Almost like damp clay), or should it be fine as long as it dries hard and sand smooth?

2. For those using 12v fans in their helmets, what battery configuration do you use? Should I go with two 9v batteries (150% rated voltage), a single 9v (75% would be very slow, as they only kick in at ~6v), or buy a double AA holder to bring it up to the actual voltage. Maybe even 2 of the 9v holders but with a few diodes to drop it down to 12-14v ?

 

[Macattack64]

I used 2 fans in my Mk VI helmet running on 9v each and it seemed to work well. I'm not quite sure how long they will last. (Haven't tried yet) I don't think overvolting the fan would be a good idea though. I also have a Recon Helmet that I only have 1 fan in that I plan to put up to the correct 12 volts. If you went the diode route to drop the voltage down, the batteries would probably last longer too.

 

[Shadow Of Intent]

If you went the diode route to drop the voltage down, the batteries would probably last longer too.

I'm not sure how diodes compare with resistors. The latter dissipates some electricity as heat, so they will drain batteries in that respect, though not as fast as using no resistor. After using 5 diodes to drop the 12v fan in an old computer PSU to ~8v (I know you're not meant to open them up, but it was annoyingly loud, and I discharged all the caps first!) I found the diodes can also get pretty warm, so I don't know if they dissipate power as fast as resistors.

In short, 2x 9v but with some diodes seems the current way to go, but will they affect the battery life much?

 

[Macattack64]

Not sure. Here's what I found with a quick search: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091018170355AA1PBFi

After reading it.. It just gives me a clear reason why I just went with the 9v.. It's just plain and simple.. more easy.

 

[Shadow Of Intent]

If it gets too hot, It would probably be easier to just take the helmet off anyway, but seeing as I already have the fans, It would be a shame not to use them.

The design shown when I got them from Ebay had larger blades, but the ones I received protrude less than 10mm from the circular spindle, I guess this is why they are ineffective al low voltages.

If I can salvage a 12v regulator from any circuitboards I have (Loads of things have 3v regulators, not sure about 12v though), I'll try that, otherwise, I'll just make a compromise between preserving fan life and reducing power wastage (15v with diodes will provide a decent airflow without much wastage from the diodes, and without burning out the fans). I'll run some stability tests once I'm back from uni. Thanks fro the help!

 

[Shadow Of Intent]

I made an excel chart of how far through the build I am. I think it's abbout 80% accurate, and the time spent on fibreglassing each section will vary depending on how complicated it is, whereas painting and resining will be prett much directly affected by the number of pages. The >300 hours estimate for the full suit and hammer is about right based on how long it's taken me so far... goes to show how slow I am. If anyone has any speed tips, or thinks I should be spending less time on each section, I'd appreciate the help

Also, does anyone have the weight of any of their fibreglassed sections? I think the fibreglass I'm using is far too thin, so mine will probably be too light. If I were to lay the thigh pieces down horizontally and stand on them (I'm almost 70kg), should they be strong enough to support my weight? I'm fairly sure they'd collapse with less than 15kg on them.

Edit: Some completion stages needed changing. Also, all numbers in shaded boxes represent the number of hours spent on that stage / piece.

 

[Carpathia]

Also, does anyone have the weight of any of their fibreglassed sections? I think the fibreglass I'm using is far too thin, so mine will probably be too light. If I were to lay the thigh pieces down horizontally and stand on them (I'm almost 70kg), should they be strong enough to support my weight? I'm fairly sure they'd collapse with less than 30kg on them.

I wouldn't worry about being able to stand on your armor. Most armor built here is costume grade only, and it's rare for anyone to try to build something that is that strong. If you put too much reinforcement into it, the armor may become too heavy, so light isn't necesarily a bad thing. I'll tell you right now, all the armor I'm working on for my Mk VI build would crush under my own weight, even the pieces I consider finished (with the exception of my handplates).

So far, however, everything you're doing looks very good. Keep working!

 

[Shadow Of Intent]

I wouldn't worry about being able to stand on your armor. Most armor built here is costume grade only, and it's rare for anyone to try to build something that is that strong.

Alright, thanks! I was worried because of the lower rim of the thigh piece had a crack in it, just from moving it around and testing the size a couple of times. I'll continue as normal in that case, and give them a little extra reinforcing at the edges, and foam to distribute the pressure.

Moving back home from uni between the 8th-22nd of June, and I intend to have a fibreglass frenzy upon my return! Main priorities are the helmet and hammer builds though =P

 

[Road Kill]

holy crap your work is awesome!!! my favorite part so far is the reach AR it looks amazing =D keep up the good work

 

[Shadow Of Intent]

Haven't updated this thread in a while... I've been doing a fair bit of fibreglassing this last week when the weather's been good, so here's an up to date photo of my armour's current status:

It's not as neatly arranged as last time, but I've put in atleast another 10 or 15 hours since the last complete picture.
Everything has been pepped right now, the torso has had about half a coat of resin (But the removable sections under the arms have been fibreglassed), the shins are resined and about 80% fibreglassed, and the boot pieces are resined but only 40% fibreglassed.

Before I can start to prime them, I need to figure out a way to attach them all together. I don't want to attach them directly to the undersuit (Which will probaly end up being dark combats and a long sleeved top), so I want to have them hanging from the torso or plated back protector. The first piece I need to sort is the belt, which I've cut into 4 sections. If anyone has a tutorial on that It'd help greatly.

 

[Shadow Of Intent]

Short update: Everything's resined and fibreglassed, except for the boots and torso, which are about half fibreglassed. I'm also refibreglassing the knee guards, as I'd only glassed the parts I could reach (The card obstructions have now been removed)

 

[Shadow Of Intent]

Sorry for the terrible quality photos, but here's a first test of most of the suit's upper pieces after being fibreglassed.



The two main problems I noticed were:

1. It's really hard to get into. I've scaled it pretty well for my size, but the neck seal is almost impossible to fit over my head unless I cut a lot of the edges off and make them from foam (I've already cut it down by a couple of cm on each side)
2. It is incredibly hot. It may have been that I put a lot of effor into fitting it over me, but the only way I can see myself dissipating heat fast enough is on a cold midnight launch. The prospect of full day at some future comic con feels kind of grim.

I'd love to know if anyone's had these problems before, and how they solved them.

 

[Shadow Of Intent]

Started work on smoothing the pieces with Isopon P38, and it's proving fairly tricky as a first time user. It's much harder to sand than I expected (Atleast it won't chip off easily), perhaps I need to use a coarser grained sandpaper to get the texture more even first, otherwise I'll just have to hope it looks like authentic battle wear rather than a poor attempt at removing the polygon structure.

I'm somewhat pleased with my DIY visor... I wanted to keep the cost down so I cut out some old scratched acrylic with a jigsaw, and bent it into the closest shape I could using an old paint stripper. Ended up bending it too far on one side, and now I have an inverse bend where I tried to reflatten it with a roll of sellotape and an electronics catalogue. My experience taught me that to minimise refraction and visual imprefections in the bent piece, either use a very smooth edge to bend it on, or use only your hands. Also, heating both sides is the key to avoid burning the acrylic. Pics below: Note how the visor POV has more warping on the right hand side.

 

[GuitarMaster157]

I like it! Keep it coming!

 

[Shadow Of Intent]

Micro update time... half the suit is now smoothed (Well, I say smooth, there are large gouges in places that i'm just going to attribute to "battle damage"!)
Have some pics of the helmet with visor attached, the smoothed collar piece, and not-yet-smoothed torso:

 

[thorn696]

Your build looks great. Looks like you removed the collar from the chest plate, yes that's the best way to do it at this stage. Foam works great for that part. All in all I really like what I'm seeing.

 

[Shadow Of Intent]

Your build looks great. Looks like you removed the collar from the chest plate, yes that's the best way to do it at this stage. Foam works great for that part. All in all I really like what I'm seeing.

Thanks! Yeah, I started off with Lex's base V3 torso (Same as yours by the looks of it), but given all the different colours I think it'll be easier to rig up a velcro attachment system for the breacher collar.
I've also kept it detached because I haven't completed the lower part of it, which requires 7 shotgun cartridges in a metal clip suspended from a black strap with a buckle on. It'll be great if I can get hold of some used shotgun casings, since I'm certainly not making them from card (PVC tubing is a possibility though).
On the topic of Velcro, I've also added the webbing hinges to the torso's underarms, which will later have velcro added to the loose side.

Edit: Scrapped the underarm velcro idea, as the 2 sides need to be pulled together with more force. I've now glued in a plastic buckle to each side.