The Great Foam Foray V2

[spartan IV]

After a few years of gohsting the forums I have finnaly decide to make a second set of armor. Like My first, this set will be from Halo Reach. Although it may be difficult, my goal is to Finish it within the month. At the beginning of July there will be an anime convention in Chicago, Anime Midwest. My brother has asked me to tag along. Like any member of the 405th who has their own armor, I want to show mine off, but I now feel that my old set is just not up to par. So I begin once again into the foray. Hopefully it will be a vast improvement.

To start off with, here is a pic of my first set.



For my first set, I was very happy with the results, but I know there are many areas needing improvement. To start of with, the sizing of multiple pieces is off. The most noticeable among these are the chest piece and the thighs. The chest is large too begin with and the attachment only makes it larger. The thighs actually fit comfortably on my thighs, sadly they are to wide at their base. From other points of view it looks like my legs turn into sticks coming out of them. Outside of sizing issues, the under suit is almost non-existent. For my new suit this needs to be remedied. I have seen to many people take there armor to the next level by making the under suit. I would also like to include Led's. My reasoning behind this is simple, they look cool. finnaly I want to have a more comfortable and complex helmet interior. The helmet above has foam floor mat inside for cushioning, after more than an hour of wear it becomes extremely uncomfortable. My new helmet will have the lining from a motor cycle helmet as cushioning. I also plan to include a mic that will be wired to speakers in the chest. Although the halo reach helmets looks great, without mics or add slots people have difficulty hearing the person inside the suit.

On the topic of my helmet, I am making the Eod Helmet that has been modeled by "JTM1997." with some help from others on the site I found this file and want to to the best I can with it. So far I have completed the pep of this helmet and have hardened the inside with resin and fiber glass. I know what some of you may be thinking, "Spartan IV, isn't this supposed to be a foam build?" As a matter of fact, it is a foam build. However, I have mixed feelings on foam helmets. Yes, some people do a great job making foam helmets, but I am not one of them. Because I can not make a decent foam helmet, I have decided to mix this build up a bit and include a little bit of resin, fiberglass, and bondo.



Overall, this was not an incredibly difficult pep. Because of good modeling and plenty of practice, I was able to complete it with little to no difficulty.



On the other hand, hardening this helmet was a difficult undertaking. Out of over confidence from prior experience, I begun hardening the helmet with out making sure I had enough materials prepared. Thankfully I was able to get all the materials needed during the process, but I did have to run around frantically to get fiberglass cloth from my house halfway through.



Finally, here is a pic of my new duct tape dummy. Unlike an old one, this on covers all but my head. making it was a rather simple process, but I do have one "pro tip." Instead of having some one wrap a roll of duct tape around you in one continuous strip, cut of multiple strips and place them as needed. If done carefully, the dummy still gains the same proportions of your body, but it does not suffocate the person inside. Which is a very good outcome.

That is all I have for now, with luck I will be able to get much done over the weekend and following days. I hope to update this thread soon. Until then, go look at some of the more cool threads that are sure to impress.

 

[LoneLegionary]

Clean pep, looking good so far! First set of armor looks nice as well. Really liking the color scheme

 

[spartan IV]

Where I am so far.

Keeping in tune with my whole not talking about the "Foam" portion of the "Foam Foray V.2," I would like to display the progress that I have made on my helmet. (still not made out of foam). Over the weekend I spent much time cleaning it up and preparing it for adding Bondo. Part of the is process was to cut out the visor and cut out a portion of the neck seal to be replaced by foam at a later date.


While I made sure to get a pic of the now cut away neck seal, it would appear that I have forgotten to get a pic of the cut away visor. I would have went and got one, but my helmet currently has resin hardening on it. More on that soon. After cutting away various pieces, I then started adding Bondo to the top of the helmet. I like to start at the top because it is a large space that lets me get back into the swing of things with out causing any mistakes that could take long to fix. Although its been a while, I was able to get the feel for the process once again. Now the top of the helmet has been completed up to the point that it is ready for a coat of primer. Primer should make any blemishes more apparent.



It is very tempting to go ahead and spray the primer, but I want to wait until the rest of the helmet is at this stage. In the mean time, I have taped off and applied two layers of newspaper to the top. This will prevent scratching and dust becoming embedded on the finished surface.



I have not seen this done very often, if at all, but I have found that doing this saves a lot of time in potential rework. It also makes it clear where I need to work and were to avoid spreading Bondo. From here I choose to take a step back. Once I had cut away a few pieces I noticed a few weak spots that were not covered by fiberglass very well. So I choose to cut away existing fiberglass in those areas and reapply. For that reason I am now unwilling to go back and look at my helmet. I do not feel like putting my respirator on again. Here are the weak spots I mentioned.



There were a few other places that needed fiberglass. Fortunately, I had just enough resin left to harden the few remaining weak spots. While I was doing all of this, a massive storm rolled through and dumped an inch or two of rain, as well as some hail. This made for a very loud work space. I happened to be in a shed with a metal roof and no insulation. I enjoyed the experience. However, it lowered the outside temp nearly 20 degrees. This has slowed done the rate at which the resin hardens. So I will not be working on the helmet tomorrow. I would rather know that I have given it plenty of time than risk jumping the gun and creating more work.

Now onto the foam.

With a heading like this, there is sure to be a cool example of the foam work that I have completed.... Sadly there is not. I spent most of the day yesterday cutting out foam for the chest piece when I was not working on the helmet. I have begun construction. At this point a definite shape has started to take place, but I would like to make a few additions before I show it off. I guarantee in my next update I will show some foam progress, proving that the title of this thread is not a hoax.

 

[spartan IV]

Facing the facts

At the beginning of this build I was optimistic that I could finish it within a month's time. Now that the end of the month draws near, I have realized that such a time frame is unrealistic. I thought it was a long shot to start with and I was not mistaken in thinking so. However, this does not mean I will be giving up on this build, far from it. The only real difference is that I am going to have to prep my other suit for deployment at the upcoming anime convention. That will be done some time next week. In the mean time, I will continue working on my new suit in my spare time.

Now for a Foam update

That's right, I am finnaly letting this thread live up to its name. After weeks of hard work I have some foamy goodness to share. To start off with I have a progression of the nearly completed chest piece.



Admittedly, at this stage of the construction, the chest piece is pretty shabby looking. This did not bother me to much though. At that point I considered the work completed as merely a skeleton to hold the craft foam that brings out its true detail. This can be seen bellow.



I now have the chest piece completed as far as I can until I get plastidip and paint on it. It still needs mesh on the upper part of the shoulders in the square gaps as well as command strips that will be used to latch it together. Although it cannot be seen in these photos, a cut was made on the left side that allows me to split the chest open far enough for me to get into it. LEDs will also be inserted later on.




With the chest piece near completion I then went on to build both biceps and the left shoulder. These too have also been finished up to the point of plastidip. Because I think the whit foam looks so cool, I will not be dipping the armor until it is all ready. I want to see what it looks like as just craft foam. The white foam has also led me to come to the decision that the final armor will be painted white with weathering and shadow effects. The secondary color will be a dark green. I will talk more on this in another post. At this point in the build my attention is more on the building and less on the painting.



Both the biceps and the shoulder were rather easy to build. If it has not been noticed already, I have done my best to cover up what seems I can by cutting larger sections of craft foam that cover more than one piece of the individual EVA floor mat that was used as the skeleton. It was also with the shoulder that I made a few mods to the pep file I used. The file itself can be found in the data base. It is a great file, but it lacks some detail because it seems that it was originally intended for use in the fiberglass method. Thankfully it was easy to add more detail with the foam I have. On the fly modifications are far more easy with foam rather than resin.



This last pic shows a comparison in sizes the pieces made so far. In hind sight I should have just put them on. Oh well...

What about the helmet!!!

Fret not, I have not been neglecting work on the helmet. I did not want to go out to my shed to take pics of it though. I work on it out there to avoid all the nasty fumes that I do not want in my home. In my next update I will be sure to have pictures of it. It is nearly ready to receive its first coat of primer. Bondo now covers all side's of it except the face. Once I am able to bondo and sand the face I will coat it with primer and snap some pics. Then we can all look for the little areas that will need continued work on it.... Just kidding, I will do that myself, that is unless others really want to search for imperfections.

Thanks once again for viewing my progress. Should I get some more work done I will try to update at this time next week. I hope to post back then.

 

[spartan IV]

Post Con Wrap Up

Over the 4th of July weekend I attended my first convention in my first Halo Reach armor set. To some extent I was expecting that some people would want a picture taken of me. At Anime Midwest there were not to many cosplayers wearing armor sets sets as extensive as the halo sets. This led to me having my picture taken more than 100 times. It was a very strange experience. I received many compliments, most of the time I did try to give credit to the 405th. Outside of taking pictures, I also learned how tiring it can be to wear my armor all day long. Thankfully it held up with very few areas needing repair. Even so, I have learned of many areas that can receive improvement in my current set. As so, I have now decide to decommission my old set in hopes of completing my new one to a far better standard. It is with this note that I now present my progress.

The Foam side of things



This command should is to go on my right bicep. For added effect I placed the strips on the back of the shoulder. These strips can be seen in game on the back of the CQC shoulder. Figured that they would look good here to. Here is my now slightly updated CQC shoulder. The update is the inclusion of back plating.



I have also completed both the forearms. That noted, I will still need to make attachments for them.



Furthermore, I have begun to plastidip the sections of my armor that are ready.



I always wear my respirator when I spray this wonderful product. It is only when I take it off that I realize how potent plastidip really is. One way or another it manages to stink up the work space I spray in. However, this is not all that bad. It is also in this work space that I have been working on my helmet, which also requires a respirator. Speaking of my helmet, here is the progress so far.




Where there is foam I plan to build up body filler around it to leave indents that can be seen else where. As of now I have only been working on it on the weekends. Every Friday I tell myself that I will get the first coat of primer on during the current weekend. So far I have failed. With luck, I may be able to so this coming weekend. I am not holding out hopes for this though. When I finnaly do, there is sure to be many spots that will need to receive attention. unit then, I must bid a fare well. If anyone has any questions or advice. I will be glad to respond.