Saber's Second Project- Agent Texas Style! (PIC HEAVY)

[Saber]

Hey guys.
Sorry for no updates, and I don't have any pics right now.
The typical Oregon spring weather has kicked in and it's still just as difficult to try to get any thing done.
Unfortunately, while my AR was sitting outside and under cover, a freak gust of wind blew my AR out to the opposite side of my yard and was rained on. So I've had to toss it in the trash.
I'll just delay the AR project until summer, after I finish my suit. I've pretty much lost all hope on the AR as of right now.

The shin and combat knife don't have any progress on them right now. But this weather has a few open holes of time I can work in so hopefully, I'll have some real progress to show soon.

Till then.
Stay Frosty, 405thers.
-Alexis

 

[Annanymous]

Hey guys.
Sorry for no updates, and I don't have any pics right now.
The typical Oregon spring weather has kicked in and it's still just as difficult to try to get any thing done.
Unfortunately, while my AR was sitting outside and under cover, a freak gust of wind blew my AR out to the opposite side of my yard and was rained on. So I've had to toss it in the trash.
I'll just delay the AR project until summer, after I finish my suit. I've pretty much lost all hope on the AR as of right now.

The shin and combat knife don't have any progress on them right now. But this weather has a few open holes of time I can work in so hopefully, I'll have some real progress to show soon.

Till then.
Stay Frosty, 405thers.
-Alexis

noooOO! Your beautiful AR! I'm so sorry that it got ruined, that really really sucks. I hope that you can still find enough good weather to work on your suit, I love seeing updates xD

 

[Saber]

I guess four tries is enough of a red flag to me that this project is pretty much futile at this point.
The weather is just not working for me. Before I go to class, it would be sunny and beautiful and when I come back, it's raining and snowing and windy. GAH!
I'm also looking for a decent sized pack of earth magnets on the internet for a good price and I have yet to buy the visor. Fortunately, the price has stayed low this whole time and I'm desperately looking for a job so I can continue to fund my suit without having to mooch from my parents.
It's a struggle, but I'll survive!
-Alexis

 

[Nessy]

I'm so sorry to hear about the AR, it was coming along nicely too. Mother nature is not playing nicely is she? Weather like this makes me want to try foam. But I have too many projects right now so the bad weather is a good thing I guess.

Good luck finding a job, hopefully you'll like it. Or even better, get job at a hardware store and get a discount on all of your supplies I know how hard it can be to find a good job, I just got accepted for a job starting at the end of April and I am thrilled.

 

[Saber]

I'm thinking about trying foam too!
I have some, but I don't think my parents would be all too thrilled if I started another project before I finish this one.
And I REALLY like your idea about the job at a hardware store! I just applied to the Home Depot that is a few miles away from my house. What's better, it's right between my house and the college so I can go straight to work after school without having to go very far of a distance. Let's hope I get an interview. I need a job soooooo badly!

 

[Annanymous]

I'm thinking about trying foam too!
I have some, but I don't think my parents would be all too thrilled if I started another project before I finish this one.
And I REALLY like your idea about the job at a hardware store! I just applied to the Home Depot that is a few miles away from my house. What's better, it's right between my house and the college so I can go straight to work after school without having to go very far of a distance. Let's hope I get an interview. I need a job soooooo badly!

All of the foam builds have made me want to put my project on hold and do a foam reach build too! I mean its sooo much cheaper, quicker, and actually seasonal.

Also good luck on getting the job at home depot! Another bonus is that youd totally get an employee discount on all of the stuff you need for your project

 

[Saber]

I've also applied to Michael's, an arts and crafts store. I'm honestly willing to have any job at this point and I'll be super happy when someone eventually calls me to schedule an interview.
I've been hunting for a job since the end of my senior year in high school and I've only had one interview and the place turned me down! :O
I hope I get a call soon!
*fingers crossed*
-Alexis

 

[Nessy]

I'm thinking about trying foam too!
I have some, but I don't think my parents would be all too thrilled if I started another project before I finish this one.
And I REALLY like your idea about the job at a hardware store! I just applied to the Home Depot that is a few miles away from my house. What's better, it's right between my house and the college so I can go straight to work after school without having to go very far of a distance. Let's hope I get an interview. I need a job soooooo badly!

Fingers crossed over here too! If you need a reference just put the 405th down, we know that you are hardworking, have excellent attention to detail, and with all the frequent update you give us I'm sure you would rock customer service too!

If you feel like looking at foam as a option for weapons http://bioweapons.wordpress.com describes how he uses layers of foam to make an M8 assult rifle from Mass Effect. This is the first post where he starts the project. You would need a blueprint of whatever weapon you wanted to make, but I know I've seen some around the forums somewhere...

EDIT: I found the thread I was looking for, it was Wizard-Of-Flight's-Weapon-Blueprints, he has a few including shotgun, sniper, battlerifle, AR, and others. All that has to be done is to enlarge the blueprints to the right scale, print them out and cut out foam sheets in the correct shapes. And then lots of detail work.

 

[Saber]

Fingers crossed over here too! If you need a reference just put the 405th down, we know that you are hardworking, have excellent attention to detail, and with all the frequent update you give us I'm sure you would rock customer service too!

If you feel like looking at foam as a option for weapons http://bioweapons.wordpress.com describes how he uses layers of foam to make an M8 assult rifle from Mass Effect. This is the first post where he starts the project. You would need a blueprint of whatever weapon you wanted to make, but I know I've seen some around the forums somewhere...

EDIT: I found the thread I was looking for, it was Wizard-Of-Flight's-Weapon-Blueprints, he has a few including shotgun, sniper, battlerifle, AR, and others. All that has to be done is to enlarge the blueprints to the right scale, print them out and cut out foam sheets in the correct shapes. And then lots of detail work.

Aww, Nessy! You've made me so happy! Thank you!
And thanks for the references! I'll definitely be pouring over these for the next few hours, if not days.

 

[Saber]

Hey guys, big shocker: I'm impatient. haha

I decided to go ahead and work on the foam sliced AR!

Credits go to Wizard for the blueprint and Nessy for pointing me in that direction.

I started by taking the blueprints and exploding the side blueprint to size up at a 300in length.
I then split it up to fit on separate sheets of paper and printed it out, cut out the parts, and taped them together into a full sized blueprint.
As you can see in the picture below, the blueprint is a little big for the foam mats. So I just split it up in the least hectic spot on the front end of the rifle.

After outlining the blueprint on the foam, I cut them out using a box cutter and glued the two parts together at the edges so they make the whole rifle. I made three layers of the blueprint and glued them together using spray adhesive.

After gluing the layers together, I drew the details on one side using the blueprint paper as reference.
Here is the foam AR with most of the details drawn on.

Then I decided to try out some dremel work. I'm really happy with how the foam works with the dremel bits. Just be sure to wear protective eye wear and a mask. The dust can be kind of overwhelming.

That's all I got for now and I will be TRYING to take this slow as I don't want to mess this up because I know resin and bondo don't really work well with this stuff.
But just for reference, if I accidentally cut somewhere in the foam where I didn't want to cut, what do I use to fill the gap?

Thanks for checking the thread out and please comment and critique!

Stay Frosty, 405thers!
-Alexis

 

[Rex 084]

Looking awesome so far!

I hear (well, read) that plastidip id the stuff you want to use to seal up foam. Home Depot, Lowe's, and the Super Wally World by me carries it. Pretty inexpensive and it works wonders. I use it on most of my tools and in my tool box to keep everything a bit more protected.

Keep it up!!

~Rex

 

[Nessy]

You could try filling in holes with hot glue, but I don't know how well it sands down.

I am always amazed how fast people can work with foam. It doesn't take long to go from floor cover to Assult Rifle. Details are looking good so far too. Keep up the good work!

 

[Saber]

Rex: Thank you! I knew there was a spray can of it for the little sealing jobs but I forgot that stuff actually came in a can like bondo so thanks again!

Nessy: Thanks for your suggestion! But I do know what it's like trying to sand hot glue....
It sucks... Terribly... It just smears everywhere because the sanding heads on my dremel reheat it and causes it to melt. It also gets stuck on my dremel bits so I have to replace them because they get so gummed up.
I'll probably go with what Rex said and find some plastidip, but not till later since I'm on the "broke-side."

Thanks you guys for your suggestions and support!

-Alexis

 

[Saber]

Good news guys!
It has been BEAUTIFUL outside and that meansssss.......
PROGRESS PICTURES! 8D

Yesterday, I added more rondo to my combat knife because it was really lop-sided. The blade had more weight than the hilt and the weight was actually making it crack. So I put some hotglue on the seams where the blade meets the hilt and poured in some rondo, then, I taped up the end and added bondo to the low spots on the outside.

I let that cure overnight and I did the sanding priming and painting today. The only thing left to do is add the magnets, but I don't have them at the moment (or the money...) so I'll be doing that later.

Here are some pics of my playing around with what I've made for this suit (excluding old helmet). I used a strap and buckle to hold the knife to my shoulder so I had more of a feel of how I wanted the knife to sit on my body when I finished the suit. I like it.
Please don't mind the V-day balloons in the background. haha They're my sister's.

This last one doesn't show the knife very well, but I like the pose, so I'm posting it. haha

I just noticed that my chin was stickin' out wayyy too much. haha Darn ponytail made the helmet too tight. haha

That's what I've got for today. I will hopefully be getting more stuff done as this beautiful weather sticks around for a little while longer.

Thanks for checkin' out the thread and be sure to comment or critique!

Stay Frosty, 405thers!
-Alexis

 

[Annanymous]

The knife looks really good! I thought it was a real knife xD

And the weather here in VT was just starting to get nice enough to maybe do some bondo but then out of no where it started snowing again! winter make up your mind ;_;

 

[Saber]

Thanks, Anna!

Yeah, Oregon is pretty temperamental... She gave me just a big enough of a window to finish my knife and now it's raining again... -_-*
So no progress for another few days, perhaps.
Luckily, my Winter term is ending in two weeks and then I'm on Spring Break and open to work on my armor for a day or so. Then I'm off to the beach!

I hope the weather turns for the better for you soon!

-Alexis

 

[Nessy]

Off to the beach? Enjoy yourself! Try not to scare anybody with your knife/AR/Handgun/other-assorted-weaponry while you are out getting a tan

I had never thought about long hair in a helmet, if a ponytail stops it from fitting correctly what do you do when you are in your suit? Just tuck your hair into your neck-seal? Not really a problem I will ever have, but now I am curious.

 

[Saber]

Tan? In Oregon? ahahahahahaha Oh, wait your were serious? ;P Thanks! I'll probably be out fishing and crabbing and agate hunting and stuff like that. Hopefully Oregon will be nice and not rain the entire time like it normally does. haha

In my MC suit, I tied my hair into a french braid (which is flat against my head) and tucked it into my neck seal. Sometimes my braid would stick out and my friends would come up behind me and stick it back in for me.
When I finish this suit, I plan on doing the same thing but clipping the remainder of the braid to the back of my head so it doesn't stick out on accident.

-Alexis

 

[Road Kill]

WOW great armor, looks really good =D keep up the good work =D

 

[Saber]

Thanks! C=