Starting Spartan Mk. V project

[matth101]

K I put in some time today. Started bondoing the chest and helmet pieces. I also cut the chest, stomach, and cod in half but FORGOT TO TAKE PICTURES!! LOL! But here's my helmet. Did some sanding and put down some spot putty.

It looks pretty rough but it's just getting going. If I have time to work on this thing tomorrow I'll make sure to get some pics of the other pieces. I strapped them all on too and they seem to fit pretty good! Torso might need a little trimming but oh well. More to come!!

 

[matth101]

Well, just when all is going smooth, I run into an epic-fail! I used too much mud on my panel detailing on the shoulders and I lost my edges and angles on the top cap thingy. Didn't get any pictures in because i was in a mad scramble with time today, but here's a reference pic of what im talking about.

Could I just sand it all off and start over? seems like kind of a b**ch. What I was thinking was just cut it off, make a new piece, resin rondo and glass it, re-attach it and just engrave the panel lines and the whatever those things are in the green that i filled in. I just don't want to have to redo the whole torso cause I screwed up the bondo. It's all good up until the shoulder cap thingy but I want it to look good. Suggestions? Thanks guys!

 

[matth101]

Anybody? Somebody? Nobody???

 

[Cjsuner]

i feel the same way..... they don't like us noobs xD but the helmet is looking good BTW, what color you gonna do?

 

[matth101]

Lol damn the noobs!!! I think I'm gona do a metallic sage green like MC or white. Not sure yet. How bout you? I got plenty of time to think about that and how to fix my screw up! Lol!

 

[Cjsuner]

i say go with white, i see to many MC's..... and i am gonna do my armor orange, so it will probably look like griff from Red vs Blue. or, maybe a little darker orange.... =D

 

[matth101]

so is this a bad idea or something?? just looking for a little help fixing my screw up. Don't want to waist all of my resources ive put in to the chest piece so far. Just want to redo the shoulders and re-attach them with epoxy glue, resin, fiberglass, anything really. PLEEASSEE HELP!!

 

[Vow Of Pity]

its good to see the ol' mk V to help with your problem, i'd say just sand it down instead of starting again, to save yourself time and money (i'm also a noob so i'm not too sure about this XD )

 

[matth101]

thats what i was thinking, but just scared i'll sand through my paper and lose all my references. what do you think of my idea of cutting the shoulders and remaking them?

 

[Surmainey]

As long as you fiber glassed the inside of the torso then listen. If you are worried about sanding too far there are two things to keep in mind. 1. You have a symmetric area to help you figure out about what is right. 2. Sanding fiberglass is much more difficult than bondo. Normally you'll notice when you have gotten to just the first coat of resin on the outside anyway. But even if you can't notice the subtle differences then, you will when you run into the fiberglass.

 

[chwbcc1]

You could dremel the area out or cut out the holes and rebuild the indentations with card stock and reglass. It takes a bit of customizations but the time spent doing that is better that trying to rebuild the entire piece.

 

[matth101]

thanks guys. wasn't going to rebuild the entire piece unless it was unrecoverable. Just wanted to cut off the 2 shoulder caps where i screwed up the bondo, make new ones and attach them. Is that a bad idea? If it is, I will just sand it all down and hope i dont screw it up more i guess :\

 

[matth101]

ok so im on my way home now for my days off ( i have 3). Figured I'd be able to put at least a full day in on this thing tomorrow. Gona get some low grit sandpaper for my mouse sander and im gona sand the crap off my shoulder pieces. I might just do the rest of the panel-raising with cardboard and putting some bondo over it. Any tips on how to do that? Tried the search but maybe I just suck at reading.... Do I resin the cardboard and just put a thin layer of bondo/mud over it or what? Thanks guys!!

 

[matth101]

k i just sanded off the bondo on the shoulder pieces. gonna try to build them up with cardboard instead of bondo. Anybody have tips on how to do that? here's a pic update

and up close of the shoulders

Any pointers?

 

[rvb18]

don't bother with that vent detail, just use foamies after you're done to get the detail on there. thats what im doing on my mark VI

 

[matth101]

yeah im not gona cut the vents or anything. just raise the panel up so the vents are recessed. i just bondo'ed over the cardboard i put on there and gona sand in a minute. About to put a layer of fiberglass on the biceps or do you think a good layer of mudglass is good enough? they seem pretty solid as they are but i dunno.... i have to remake my thighs and shins too cause they got destroyed when i brought my stuff to my house. more pics later!

 

[rvb18]

mud glass or fiber glass. i used fiber glass, but then again mud glassing wasn't invented when i made mine.

 

[matth101]

K heres a few pics. just figured i'd throw them out there to show my scaling.
Front

Back

Side

Front with helmet

Helmet was a little wobbly cause of the rondo in the visor so i put my head pretty far forward. How does it all look in size??

 

[Possum 7]

Wow, that looks great. Im about to start my first, so i have picked up some good tips

 

[rvb18]

Damn fine job!!!