My Son's Noble Spartan - NOW COMPLETE - Pic Heavy

[Spartan_127]

Alrighty!! Got some pics today. . . Yaaaa!!!!! LOL

These are the ones that I was talking about when my son wanted to dress up.


And him being himself. . . . . LOL

This is what I did to reinforce those things on the bottom when I found they were flexing around after cutting it. And like I said yesterday. . . I'm rondoing everything from now on out. I LOVE RONDO!!!!!! LOL

This is what I got done for the undersuit /seals around his arms and neck today.
I made it a separate costume piece altogether and my son said he really likes it because it made it comfortable. I ran out of photo room in this post, but it's open in the front and everything else is hot glued together except the strap under his right arm. There is velcro there on the back of it to make it a little easier to take on and off.
Vest itself (Not really sure what he was doing or saying, but his lips look funny. . . LOL)

And with the torso on. . . . .

I forgot to velcro the buckle down on his right shoulder so the two halves were separated there when I took the pics, but it really isn't that bad when I remember to do everything that needs to be done when I put it on him. HA!!!!

I still haven't done the touch ups from where the rondo got on the back and I forgot to do some black paint touch ups on top of the shoulders before taking the pics. I think I'm going to have to do some trimming on the back piece of his undersuit vest on the bottom to make it look a little more even and I still want to add some details to that part. I threw this together as quick as I could today and that wasn't very quick.. . . . . LOL Since I had to take it on and off of him and come up with my own patterns and everything, I think it took me about 5 hours. The pictures really don't show the scallops on the front part of the foam chest part, but once I've got it plastic dipped I'll try to take some better ones and get them posted.

The pics of the front of the torso show the stickers for the Good 'ol 405th and the UNSC Globe and Eagle symbol that I put on there. They actually look really good in the pictures. Just not so much when you see them in person. . . LOL. But like I said yesterday, my son likes them so I am leaving them for now.

After putting in the foam today we found that the metal brackets on the roller catches were cutting into my son's side, so I was able to grind those off and they are no longer an issue. We got his visor in today, but I found that the barrel nuts (chicago screws some call them) are too long and I'll have to go back and get some shorter ones to install it. (sad face) I'm not really happy with the way the visor is colored. The pics of it online were obviously altered to show color variance, but it'll work for the time being. My son likes it, and I guess that's what matters the most about this build. I just keep thinking over and over "my undiagnosed OCD is really kicking in". . . . LOL

I'm sure there is something else that I was going to put in here, but my wife is constantly asking me stuff and wanting me to get stuff right now for us to get ready to go to the coast tomorrow, and I keep losing my train of thought. So, I guess this will be it for the next few days.

I hope you like what I've got done and if you have any suggestions to make anything better, please let me know. I can always alter something to make it better. Again, I really appreciate everyone for their help, comments and suggestions and please keep them coming. Keep on Building and Make it FUN!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Tenebrus]

your flying along there, man your almost finished in the time it took me to do my crappy helmet, very impressive indeed. And I agree with you on the rondo, just switched to using it on my build now, gonna be done in half the time.

 

[Spartan_127]

your flying along there, man your almost finished in the time it took me to do my crappy helmet, very impressive indeed. And I agree with you on the rondo, just switched to using it on my build now, gonna be done in half the time.

Thanks Tenebrus. And I didn't think your helmet looked crappy!!! And yeppers. . . RONDO is the way to go!!! LOL

UPDATE . . . . Sorta

Well guys. . . I feel like I've dropped off the deep end this last week since I haven't put anything up to update anything. Been busy with work and haven't had a lot of time on my hands this week. I wanted to have more pics than what I'm about to put in, but my camera died on me. I'll get some more taken later today and do an update. I felt like I should put something in since I haven't been on in a week or so.

Here's what I got before the camera died on me.

To do the install I used the tut from Blackula (http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/31352-Tutorial-Install-amp-Detail-your-visor) to do it. A really good one if you haven't seen it.

I went and got some shorter screws and T nuts (barrel nuts, Chicago screws. . . . whatever ) that were 1/4" instead of 1/2". Got the visor detailed and installed today before and after work. I put in the magic sculpt and it did the trick and was ready to sand and paint by the time I got home. I lost a little detail on the bottom of the visor opening, but it filled all the gaps and everything to make it look a bit better. The visor is very transparent. The second pic was taken in an angle to try and show the detailing of the visor and made the color look a lot better than it really is. That's when the camera shut off on me.

Got all the paint touch ups done since I put in the magic sculpt after painting and weathered it to try and match everything. I couldn't put four screws in to hold the visor like in the tut since the helmet was so small. I got away with only needing one at the top and one on the bottom. Again, I'll try to get some more pics taken later and do an update to this.

The only thing I have left to do on the helmet is some screen over the ears to cover the holes and maybe some cheek pads. My son has been wearing it and with the pads (a 5.11 TDU pants knee pad and an old forehead pad from a bicycle helmet my son out grew) I have in it, it doesn't seem to move much at all. So, I'm hoping I can cross this piece off the list.

As always, thanks to everyone following this. Please let me know what you think and all suggestions are welcome and really help. As soon as I get the other pics taken, I'll get them added to this post. Until then, have fun with your builds and don't give up on them.


UPDATED INFO ON THIS POST

In my effort to avoid double-posting (LOL) I'm updating this one with some more pics of the helmet. So, here we go.

Some thumbnails of the front and side overall


Here's the inside of it. This one shows the two things I have in it to pad it along with the visor I guess.

The pad on top is the knee pad from a pair of 5.11 TDU Pants. If you aren't familiar with those. . . . It's a neoprene type gel pad. One side of it is soft cloth and the other is sticky. They are made to fit into a pocket of the pants on the inside for use as knee protection. They've never really worked as knee protection for me. They just make it so it doesn't hurt as much. . . . LOL. It fit the top of his helmet perfect though. The other part on the top of the visor is a bicycle helmet's forehead pad. My son found it and asked me if I could use it. It fit like a glove with a little help from my good friend sticky back velcro. . . . . LOL

This one is just showing the inside with the forehead pad removed to show where I put the two screws in.

I used 1/2" T-Posts with Braid holes (from the furniture hardware section at Lowe's) and 1/2" flat head bolts /screws. I think they were 8/32" fine thread. I couldn't find a package deal on them in 1/4" (I really hate Lowe's in all honesty, because of things like this and usually go to Home Depot for stuff like this, but I was close to Lowe's and short on time. . . . LOL) so I opted for the longer bolts and used a 1/4" rubber flat washer like you'd use to fix a leaky faucet to take up some slack and to help protect the visor from splitting. I mounted the T-Posts in with LockTite Epoxy (Their version of JB Weld). I couldn't find JB Weld while at Walmart and that's what they had. It was the same stuff though, just a different name.

And you should be able to see where the velcro was put in at the top of the visor to hold in the forehead pad. There are four little pieces in there, but I think there are only three in the pic.

You can also see where I filled the gap with the Magic Sculpt. That stuff was awesome to work with. I thank Blackula for his tut and the info about this product. If you haven't used the stuff though. . . . Don't mix up too much. . . Otherwise your son makes really weird looking space ships and other stuff with the left overs. . . . Just kidding. I did mix up way too much though since I'd never worked with it before. Less is definitely more. My son got to make some space ships and other things that he said were boots though. . .. LOL

I put that one in just so you could see about how it looks looking out the visor I chose. Figured I uploaded it. .. . Mine as well use it.

Again thanks for everyone tagging along and for any and all suggestions /comments. Please let me know what you think.

 

[Mstruvmgc]

Progress is coming along beautifully
It looks like your son enjoys wearing the suit too.

 

[Spartan_127]

Progress is coming along beautifully
It looks like your son enjoys wearing the suit too.

Thanks Mstruvmgc. Sorry to hear bout your nail. Hopefully your progress won't slow too much because of it.
He really does like wearing it though. I catch him running around with the helmet and whatever he can put on himself around the house all the time. I'm really glad that he likes it.

 

[JaredThinks]

I've been reading everything and this is the most interesting forum thread I've read in my life. Man, looking at all of these people making these awesome Halo suits, I know this forum is full of exceptional artists. While I don't have the money to start making anything yet, watching people and their works in progress amazes me. You've done an outstanding looking job!

 

[Spartan_127]

I've been reading everything and this is the most interesting forum thread I've read in my life. Man, looking at all of these people making these awesome Halo suits, I know this forum is full of exceptional artists. While I don't have the money to start making anything yet, watching people and their works in progress amazes me. You've done an outstanding looking job!

I appreciate that. Thanks so much.

As far as not having the money to start this and being involved. I know you have that you're 15, but card stock goes a long way. If you can scrounge up the $10-$15 for a pack of it (even cheaper at WalMart for smaller packs of it) have some way of gluing it together (my preferred method is hot glue because it's cheap and it dries extremely fast) and you have a printer you can use, you have everything you need to start. I started off getting the free version of the pepakura designer so I could try pepping a couple of things when I started. After I did an Iron Man helmet and my kid changed his mind about that he wanted to be, I bought the Pepakura License to be able to save my work when I changed the scale for him. It's not necessary to buy it, but it did make it a lot easier. I think it was about $30. You could pretty much print off everything for now though and pep it out to get everything done and when you can get the money together (or con your parents into getting you the other stuff like my kid did me ) you can find something to reinforce it with and get the paints. If you are looking into doing this, I highly recommend the Rondo method of reinforcing the insides. I obviously didn't know the benefits of it when I did these pieces and spent hours doing fiberglass cloth and could have been done in a few hours just doing rondo. Don't know how your parents feel about you working with stuff like that, but it's definitely worth the time to research it.

I hope to see something from you in the future should you choose to make something. I'm sure that it would be as good as everything else that you've seen on this forum. To my knowledge, we all came here to the 405th to learn and to share what we can, so if you need any help once you get started, please let me know. I may not know the answers to everything, but I'm usually pretty good and finding them or pointing people in the right direction. Until then, thanks again for your comments and I'm glad that you've enjoyed my progress. Hopefully you can learn from some of my mistakes. I know I did!!

 

[JaredThinks]

I appreciate that. Thanks so much.

As far as not having the money to start this and being involved. I know you have that you're 15, but card stock goes a long way. If you can scrounge up the $10-$15 for a pack of it (even cheaper at WalMart for smaller packs of it) have some way of gluing it together (my preferred method is hot glue because it's cheap and it dries extremely fast) and you have a printer you can use, you have everything you need to start. I started off getting the free version of the pepakura designer so I could try pepping a couple of things when I started. After I did an Iron Man helmet and my kid changed his mind about that he wanted to be, I bought the Pepakura License to be able to save my work when I changed the scale for him. It's not necessary to buy it, but it did make it a lot easier. I think it was about $30. You could pretty much print off everything for now though and pep it out to get everything done and when you can get the money together (or con your parents into getting you the other stuff like my kid did me ) you can find something to reinforce it with and get the paints. If you are looking into doing this, I highly recommend the Rondo method of reinforcing the insides. I obviously didn't know the benefits of it when I did these pieces and spent hours doing fiberglass cloth and could have been done in a few hours just doing rondo. Don't know how your parents feel about you working with stuff like that, but it's definitely worth the time to research it.

I hope to see something from you in the future should you choose to make something. I'm sure that it would be as good as everything else that you've seen on this forum. To my knowledge, we all came here to the 405th to learn and to share what we can, so if you need any help once you get started, please let me know. I may not know the answers to everything, but I'm usually pretty good and finding them or pointing people in the right direction. Until then, thanks again for your comments and I'm glad that you've enjoyed my progress. Hopefully you can learn from some of my mistakes. I know I did!!

I can probably start collecting the needed materials instead of doing it all at once. Thanks for the pointers. =D

 

[ReveilleWolfie]

This whole build is amazing! Your son is so lucky to have such a crafty dad! =]

 

[Spartan_127]

I can probably start collecting the needed materials instead of doing it all at once. Thanks for the pointers. =D

No problem. Thanks for the compliments.

This whole build is amazing! Your son is so lucky to have such a crafty dad! =]

Thanks so much I appreciate it.

That being said. . . . I really am sorry guys for the lack of updates here. I've been busy with work training some new recruits and all the last couple weeks. Remember that pool that flipped over not all that long ago?????? LOL Well, it was ripped after all and we had to go get another one. I've been in the process of trying to retrofit the new one to work with a sand pump that we have. I'm hoping to have that done in the next couple days so I can get back to finishing out my son's suit. With all this stuff that's been coming up though, it doesn't look as if I'll be able to assemble a suit for myself before this Halloween as planned. Oh well . . . . there's always next Halloween and maybe a comicon or something to go to, and I guess I wouldn't be rushed now and make some mistakes. I can really step back and try to put as much detail in it as I can. When I get that one started up, I'll put a link in this one. :cool

Thanks again for the continued support guys. I really appreciate it.

 

[onmi shift]

great job my friend. i tried to start resining my stuff a couple od days ago but ended in despair. it started raining making it humid and moist out. warped my torso. i quickly got it back inside and tried to dry it with a hair dryer. i think i saved it but not entirely sure

 

[rickrtickr]

You are doing great boots and under suit left

Can't wait to see it finished.

 

[TheRabbit]

Sorry to hear about all the things popping up and preventing you from working on your own suit

However, your son's suit looks amazing, just try and make sure he doesn't wear his angry birds T-shirt next time he models it

 

[JaredThinks]

With all this stuff that's been coming up though, it doesn't look as if I'll be able to assemble a suit for myself before this Halloween as planned. Oh well . . . . there's always next Halloween and maybe a comicon or something to go to, and I guess I wouldn't be rushed now and make some mistakes. I can really step back and try to put as much detail in it as I can. When I get that one started up, I'll put a link in this one. :cool

Thanks again for the continued support guys. I really appreciate it.

What will your halo suit be modeled after? :O

 

[Spartan_127]

great job my friend. i tried to start resining my stuff a couple od days ago but ended in despair. it started raining making it humid and moist out. warped my torso. i quickly got it back inside and tried to dry it with a hair dryer. i think i saved it but not entirely sure

Thanks Omni. Sorry to hear about the warped torso. Hopefully it's an easier fix than it may look like. If the hair dryer doesn't work try a heat gun. If you don't already have one, it made fixing my son's warped cod piece really easy.

You are doing great boots and under suit left

Can't wait to see it finished.

I appreciate that rickrtickr. Just the small details on the torso before it's done. Add lights to what I can on certain parts. Then, the hand plates knees and boots for the parts to cross off the list. Not sure what I'll be able to get done with the undersuit, but hopefully I'll come up with something.

Sorry to hear about all the things popping up and preventing you from working on your own suit

However, your son's suit looks amazing, just try and make sure he doesn't wear his angry birds T-shirt next time he models it

Thanks Rabbit. I'm not too worried about my own suit right now. If I can, I will start it as soon as possible. It will most likely be slow going at first, because I want to make sure my son has his for Halloween. At least I've learned a few things on my son's build on how to speed up certain things, and that will help me a lot during my build.

I kept telling him someone would say something about his Angry Birds shirt. LOL. Hopefully will have everything to start his undersuit by next week so he won't have to model it in his Angry Birds shirt next time. :cool

What will your halo suit be modeled after? :O

Since I haven't played HALO or anything before, I'm not sure. I like the characters, but most of my reference that I have to date is for Noble 6 from Reach. So, I will most likely do that one. The Dawn Under Heaven files that I have are pretty much based on him anyway. Who knows. . . . maybe I'll just do all of them from the Reach game over time and have an entire collection. . . . . LOL. That may wind up being expensive though.


No update today either. .. . Just trying to stay up to date on this.
I haven't had any time this week to really do anything, because of trying to get the pool up and going. The retrofit I made up worked and it is sealed off and not leaking. Time to start marketing to Intex and turn a profit. . . LOL!!!! My problem now is . . . . the pool settled on one side and the water level isn't quite covering up all of the outlet suction port. So, it looks like I get to make a new hole in the side of the pool a bit lower for the outlet valve and a new patch for where I have it currently to close that hole off entirely. I'll take some pics of what I have now to show my Redneck Engineering Skills. LOL!

I have to staff at work tonight in a couple of hours and will be off tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get that stuff done by tomorrow night so I can continue work on my son's build. I don't know if I've already said this, because here lately I've been scatter-brained, but starting Sunday (7/22/12) I'm switching the shift that I work on. Instead of being on the 1500-0100 (3pm - 1am) shift, I'll be working on the 2100-0700 (9pm - 7am) midnight shift. Then, I'll be off Mon - Wed this next week. That will be rough having to adjust my sleep cycle, so I don't know what I'll get done in the next week or two. Hopefully. . . . . more than I think I can.

Thanks again to everyone following along. I'll try to get some stuff done this weekend so I can have some pics for you guys.

 

[Carpathia]

Who knows. . . . maybe I'll just do all of them from the Reach game over time and have an entire collection. . . . . LOL. That may wind up being expensive though.

Then just do what I plan on doing down the road and build just the characters' helmets. How sweet would it be to have a line of helmets to show off?!

 

[JaredThinks]

Then just do what I plan on doing down the road and build just the characters' helmets. How sweet would it be to have a line of helmets to show off?!

...or helmet and heads, though it would be creepy having halo character's faces under those helmets. :s
Decapitated spartan. :C

 

[drack]

Your son is one lucky kid! I love the angry bird pigs hiding in his tummy

 

[JaredThinks]

Sgt. Angry Bird
-New Noble 6 Spartan

 

[Spartan_127]

Then just do what I plan on doing down the road and build just the characters' helmets. How sweet would it be to have a line of helmets to show off?!

That would be pretty SWEET!!!!!! I want to make at least two full sets so I have variety though. . . . LOL. I'm partial to snipers and learned that Jun is their team sniper in Reach. May have to find some reference for him as a second build.

...or helmet and heads, though it would be creepy having halo character's faces under those helmets. :s
Decapitated spartan. :C

I don't think I have the time or money to try to sculpt or life cast heads right now. . . LOL

Your son is one lucky kid! I love the angry bird pigs hiding in his tummy

Thanks Drack! I appreciate that. And yep. . . . I think the pigs are trying to get out of his tummy sometimes as much as he likes to eat non-stop. LOL! I'm trying to read through all of your threads right now. Love what I've seen so far. Information overload at this point.

Sgt. Angry Bird
-New Noble 6 Spartan

LOL! He didn't realize it until I showed him the pic a few minutes ago.

UPDATE TIME

It's not much of an update, BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!
LET THERE BE LIGHT

Sorry about some of those being fuzzy. I had to turn off the flash so it didn't drown out the lights.

As for the lights. . . . I used three Super Bright Blues that needed a 3.2V supply on the front. I went to every electronics store around me and could only find five of them. That's why the three little slots on the back are red. The reds that I used were not the Super Bright ones. I could only find a two pack of Bright Red that put out less than half of the output of the blue LEDs that I used. So I used both of them there in that place. Since I bought all the blue LEDs that I could find, I couldn't put lights on the bottom pieces of the torso that go under the arms in the back. I gave my son the option of where he wanted the lights to go and he picked the spot on the back for the two blue ones I had left.

The front is a single circuit wired in series and powered by a 9V battery. This supplied each of the LEDs with the typical 3.2V that it showed it needed to turn on and I didn't have to use resistors for it. Here's what the wiring looks like on the inside of the chest plate.

The back is a different story. All the things that I've read said to never mix different color LEDs with voltage difference requirements. The red and blues that I had required two different things. I figured out how to wire the two red LEDs in parallel with a 100 ohm resistor though to use the remaining 3.2V current to knock it down to about 2.4V per light. I know it sounds confusing, but if I can figure it out. . . . ANYONE Can!!!! LOL. Here's the pics of the inside stuff for the back.

Around the LEDs I made popsicle stick boxes and hot glued them down. I hot glued the LEDs and everything else in place as well. After I got it hot glued in place I wrapped it up in electrical tape to try to keep as much light inside the box as possible and to keep the light from coming out while my son's wearing it. Here's what the box looks like before it was taped up.

I used CD Case pieces of plastic for the lights on front and the blue lights on the back. I couldn't figure out how to get those pieces on the three little slits. So I took a chance and used hot glue to fill in the slots. As it turns out. . . . hot glue makes a darn good diffuser for LEDs. . . . LOL. Here's what it looks like from the outside when it's turned off.

As far as the switches. . . . I used a simple slide switch. On the front, I put it in the center so it comes out between the chest and the ab plate.

On the back, I put it on the upper right side in one of the slots.

I haven't got him into the suit since I put the lights in today, but the other day I found a cheap long sleeve under armor type shirt and a pair or black baseball pants that were on sale to use it as his undersuit. No more angry birds in the photos. . . . LOL.
So, here's what his suit looks like on him with the shirt and pants.

Yeppers. . . . Meet the barefoot Spartan. LOL!!!!!!

I hope y'all enjoy the update that I have. When I get something more to put up I will be sure to post as many pics as I can. Again, and as always, thanks to everyone that's following along and for helping to keep me motivated. It means a lot. All comments and suggestions are also welcome. Until next time. . . . Keep building and make it fun.