My First Build! Halo 3 Mk VI MC build

Soma airbrush work on the chest piece tonight. Mannn, I'm ready to have this all together. Starting to get pretty excited for it.
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Your build is looking fantastic!!

Great job on the airbrushing. Are you planning on dry brushing some paint chips in?

A bit of a throwback to an earlier discussion in your thread, I also use a full wrap torso piece and neck seal for my MK7 and it's totally worth it.
 
JTF4 said:
Your build is looking fantastic!!

Great job on the airbrushing. Are you planning on dry brushing some paint chips in?

A bit of a throwback to an earlier discussion in your thread, I also use a full wrap torso piece and neck seal for my MK7 and it's totally worth it.
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Thank you! I am! I'll eventually drybrush for some edge highlights and some chipping effect and also to somewhat hide (or highlight/blend) some of the imperfections with the paint job. I have a few different colors that I am using on my test pieces to try and figure out which one is going to be the best fit.

And yeah I'm heavily leaning towards using one. I really like the neck seal I've made of EVA and it blends well plus isn't too hot, but I really want to end up casting the ab piece in PU. Question for you, how bad is it in this southern heat?
 
Strapped up the arms today. I used elastic nylon strapping and simple parachute buckles. Sadly I haven't been able to find any center clasp buckles yet. Once I do, I'll swap them out. Created a small raft out of EVA inside of the bicep piece to attach the buckle to. Currently, I've just connected them to the bicep with CA glue but I'll end up going back and using some epoxy for a more secure mount. I secured the other end of the nylon to the inside of the back plate. Doing this allows me to pre strap the biceps prior to putting on the chest piece. Once the chest piece is on, thr ability to reach across my chest is gone so it was near impossible to connect the biceps after having it in place. With the way it is mounted, I can easily slide my arm in place once I have the chest fully connected.

(PS. Someone please remind me to clean my bathroom mirror)
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jworley503 said:
Hey guys! Got the bug to build a full set of armor and joined the community a couple of weeks ago to get some ideas and inspiration. I downloaded the 3d print files from the wonderful Moesizzlac and began my print. I've gotten a bit into the process over the last couple of weeks, but decided I wanted to document my progress here for you guys.

When I initially started the build, I attempted to print the files as is. After printing a couple of sections of the torso, I realized very quickly that the scaling wasn't exactly meant for a man of my.....proportions. I decided to import the files into Armorsmith and scale them out to my size.
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After exporting the files, it was time to start the long process and printing. I decided to start with the torso. I took the scaled torso object and exported it from Armorsmith and loaded it into Bambu Studio. There, I cut the file into 8 seperate objects and began printing. The Bambu X1C does an amazing job with these pieces. So far I have experienced very minimal flaws, and those that I have experienced are due to my settings within the slicer more so than anything.

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I made a slight mistake with cutting the files that I noticed once I started assembling the pieces. I meant to slice the print at the seam between the chest and back clip. Absent mindidly, I just cut it down the center. This caused a bit more work for me further down the line. I used my rotary tool to cut the piece at the appropriate spot and attached the cut piece to the backplate to create the connection point I initially wanted.

I also ran into a few small issues when connecting the pieces that can be seen in the images below. Initially, I wanted to connect the pieces with quick set epoxy. I've always had trouble with this so I have no idea why I made this decision..... I made a rather larges mess of the epoxy of the front of the pieces that I am in the process of cleaning up/sanding down in the processing stages post print. With the back piece, I decided to instead use super glue for the initial connection, and then add the epoxy to the seams on the rear for some additional strength.

Being a bit impatient, I decided to run a coat of Rustoleum Camo across the top of the chest piece to test color. More so, just curious on how the color would look. It came out quite a bit darker than I expected and so I sanded it back down and began the process of filling seams between pieces with bondo spot putty and spraying filler primer.
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While waiting on bondo and filler to dry, I've started working on a couple of different parts of the suit. First off, I took one of the failed pieces from earlier in the process and decided to color test a bit more. I ran a base layer of Behr Luck of the Irish. I then spot covered with the rustoleum camo, followed by a light dusting of the Luck of the Irish once more. I then went back over the piece with a simple black wash to add a bit of grime and detail to the piece. While this came out ok, I think in the future I am going to change a few things with the paint to achieve exactly what I am looking for with the color.
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I also decided to use the waiting time to start working on the abdominal piece for the undersuit. I am using EVA foam for the detail pieces, but I am not quite sure what I will use under this. I plan to at least have an H harness, but haven't settled yet on wether I will simply wear a breathable morphsuit as a gap filler or look for something that incorporates both the harness and clothing into one.

With the EVA foam abominal pieces, so far I have laid out a simple design based on images I have pulled from game samples. I then cut these designs into 2mm EVA foam and layered it. I intentionally left the foam a bit tall at the top portion. Eventually, I want to add velcro strips to the front and back of the piece to ensure it stays connected to my body as well of the chest portion of the armor. I think this will give the midsection a much more jointed feeling. I did a bit of work with the dremel to the mid section to get the grid effect that is on the in game armor but I am not entirely happy with it. Eventually, I would like to print and cast the midsection and gap pieces in polyurethan rubber, but this will do for now until I get around to it. I still plan to coat the foam with plastidip and then add some highlight paint to get a more realistic look.

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Currently, I am waiting on bicep pieces to print and filler to dry for an adequate time as to not gum up my sandpaper too much. I'll keep you guys posted of the progress!
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Looks good. Going with EVA foam as part of your undersuit will be hot to wear. Invest in a motorcycle cool suit will help.
 
MicaHusky said:
I’m gonna speak from experience here; having a non-breathable material around your torso like that is a TERRIBLE experience. I had a pseudo-wrap I made with pleather and I was sooooo sweaty on my abdomen while wearing it. Not a pleasant experience. I can’t even imagine a solid sheet of silicone.
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Invest in a good motorcycle cool suit will help as long as you can get some air flow in that area.
 
VonSnake said:
Invest in a good motorcycle cool suit will help as long as you can get some air flow in that area.
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Yeah I'm actually using some Under Armor Heat Gear that I have around. I just haven't 100% incorporated it yet. I've been back and forth on how to do all of the gasket pieces between the large printed parts. I'll end up re-casting the ab section in PU once it comes in. I'm thinking of different ways to handle a bit of airflow but haven't nailed down what I want to do yet.

Here's an updated pic using the underarmor as the base of the suit before applying EVA pieces.

(Also just noticed that I had my underarmor shirt on backwards in this picture, hence the logo showing.....>.>)
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It's definitely trial and error with undersuits, I'm on my fourth version myself. Looks good, are you planning to dirty the armor?
 
VonSnake said:
It's definitely trial and error with undersuits, I'm on my fourth version myself. Looks good, are you planning to dirty the armor?
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I am! I still have some dry brushing to do to add some chipping effect as well as a bit of "natural" scratches to highlight a bit.
 
Playing around today with some of the gasket pieces while waiting on the lower section of my suit to print. I created a template of my shoulder using the plastic wrap and duct tape technique and proceeded to make a simple structure out of some scrap EVA foam I had laying around. I cut a basic pattern into the foam and added some straps for layering. I then coated the piece in plastidip. This is 100% a test piece and not a final product. I just wanted to create something to help me decided between casting these pieces and just making them from EVA. I will end up casting the ab section, but I'm still not sure on these smaller pieces. Also, how would you guys handle attaching these "gaskets"? I have played around with this piece being attached to the underarmor itself vs attached to the bicep. Both appear pretty clean.

Pic attached of full arm plus a sneak peak at the tac gloves i plan to use prior to installing the top plate.
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I love those tac gloves! Might have to use them for my MKVII build. Just found this build thread I love all the undersuit work you are doing!
 
BrokenHawk said:
I love those tac gloves! Might have to use them for my MKVII build. Just found this build thread I love all the undersuit work you are doing!
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I know right? I thought they fit the suit perfectly and think they'll look even better with the plate attached.

Here's the link if you want to pick some up.


Thank you also! The undersuit work is definitely going to take quite a bit of time and extra work, but I really think it will make all the difference in the end.
 
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No big progress update for the day, but I did a small task.

An issue I have been having is, because of the flexibility needed to attach all of my pieces, I used elastic strapping on the underside between the back and chest plates. Sadly this caused the two pieces to not sit entirely flush. Today, I came up with a simple solution for it. I attached velcro strapping to both pieces, utilizing some precut holes that I used for initially strapping up the armor and tying in that velcro to the elastic nylon straps underneath. This not only allowed me to velcro the pieces in place, but also provided a cinching effect on the strapping underneath to help keep everything tight and secure while still leaving me the flexibility needed prior to strapping in the velcro. Super simple, but it worked out nicely. I have a small cover i am working on that will attach via a magnet to hide the strapping and look like the original buckle from the armor but its not quite ready yet.

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Sadly I've had a lack of progress on things so far this week. I have been running in to some issues with my X1C for the first time since I've gotten it. For some reason I am seeing some stringing and blobbing in the first layer that is causing some issues with my prints. I've done all of the regular things (clean the plate, cold pull, etc...) but the issue persists. Just started happening out of the blue with no changes to filament or settings. I've ordered a new nozzle that should be here in the next day or 2 that will hopefully get me up and printing again.
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