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

[Saber]

Hmm alright, I'll keep that in mind. I think I'll make a LD first and then if I want more detail I might try the HD.

Here's a Tip
Be sure to remember to have some structural backup so the AR doesn't warp. I used popsicle sticks, which worked great for me, but be sure that the popsicle sticks don't push the sides out or the AR will look bloated.

I've had too many accidents with my previous attempts to know that ANYTHING can happen ranging from an avalanche of books to a spooked dog jumping on the coffee table to crush your dreams. hahahahah
Sorry if I came across negative! I'm not trying to convince you to not make an AR. I guess I'm passionate about my past frustrations.hahah ^u^;

[NayrDeathExperience]

Be sure to use something to help keep the AR straight and keep it in a safe place. I've had too many accidents with my previous attempts to know that ANYTHING can happen ranging from an avalanche of books to a spooked dog jumping on the coffee table to crush your dreams. hahahahah
Sorry if I came across negative! I'm not trying to convince you to not make an AR. I guess I'm passionate about my past frustrations.hahah ^u^;

Haha, don't sweat it. I didn't take it as negative, it was more so... informative lol.

[Saber]

Here's what I got for you today:
The pieces I resined yesterday are mostly cured, although some spots are still a little tacky.
The handplates ARE completely dry though and I've been comparing prices all day on resin, bondo, and fiberglass mat. So far, Home Depot has the cheapest prices, except the paint brushes at Freddie's (They're 10 cents cheaper!!).
I figured I would need another gallon of resin (my container is almost empty) but I don't know how much bondo I would need for my entire costume and my AR. Any suggestions?
I also have been reading around the threads and I am considering Rondoing my suit too and not just fiberglassing it. If you guys can give me some tips, that would be greatfully appreciated.
Here are some pics of my still drying helmet, gauntlet, and shoulders. I'm still pepping the second gauntlet (I've been busy all day and haven't touched it till now).

Here's the completely dry handpieces.

And here is my little tie-dye effect on my gauntlet! I feel super radical, man. hahah


Thanks for checkin' out the thread and please comment and critique!
Cheers!

[Saber]

Hey everyone!
Sorry that it's been a while since I've posted stuff! And it looks like my thread is pretty dead ^^; so I'll give you guys a little update. I'm sorry to say that not much has been done because when I fiberglassed my shoulders and gauntlets, they all warped! It sucks that I had to do these pieces over again, 'cuz if I didn't have to repep them, I would probably have more impressive progress to show you.
So here's everything together.

The AR has three layers of resin on it now. At this moment, I'm trying to decide whether to use expanding foam to fill the inide, or try my hand at 'mudding' the inside. Both methods I'm nervous about doing so any tips, views, suggestions, etc. would be greatly appreicated.

Since I had to redo everything for the arm pieces, not much has gotten done. One shoulder is about 90% glassed and the second one still needs to be printed out.

The gauntlets I got a little farther on. The right gauntlet is glassed and I've started sanding it a little and the left one i've started using Bondo. I've never used Bondo before so this will be a trial and error experiance. I'm liking it so far and hopefully, I'll get more practice and my smoothing will be seamless!


The handplates are the ones that are farthest along. One is bondoed and has a undercoat layer of silver and the other one is completely finished!!! *insert sound of applauding audience here*

Here is the bondoed and silvered handplate.


And here is the finished handplate!



As you can tell from the other pictures, it is WAYYYY better than my first suit's handplates!
1. It fits my hand better
2. It is really smooth without the use of bondo
3. It's just plain out GORGEOUS!!!

I've decided to use my old softball batting gloves for my handpieces and it works great. I like the texture of the gloves and they actually fit me better than the other ones that I had.
All I did was take a thread ripper and take off the Nike symbol (it showed even after I put the handplate on top) and spray paint the gray area black so it stayed consistent.

So there we go. That's what I got for you and I hope to get more done soon. The weather has gotten a little on the cold and wet side, so resining and glassing is out of the question at this point.

Thanks for checking out my thread.
Please comment and critique.
Have a good day!

[Saber]

Hey everyone!
Sorry it's been so long! I have some more progress for you and some pics! *WOOT!* 8D
I've been gone on a number of vacatin trips so I have been running around like a mad-man today trying to get stuff done.
The vacations were great, by the way. hahah :P
Here's a lil sneak peek!

'Ello, Mr. Buffalo! He was the ONLY one that I saw while in Yellowstone! Sad! :-(
Okay! Now on to the suit!
I have finished both handplates now- bondoed, sanded, painted, and top coat- and I have finished the left gauntlet.
I really like the bondo work I did on it! I'm uber proud of myself! 8D
To make the gauntlet fit right, and not worry about my hand getting stuck once I got it through the wrist opening, I cut out the little "bumpy" thingies (wow, love my choice of words?) and then glued them back in using the same stretchy fabric that I used to fasten the handplates to my hand. It works really well!





Now unfortunately... I lost one of the "thingies" and now I have a gap in my gauntlet!
TT_TT

I'll have to print that piece out again and remake it and hope to god that I can get it to fit...

Moving on...
While on my second vacation (a trip to the coast) I was able to pep the shins.
Credits to Crackhead for making these files.
In getting home today, I managed to give both of the greaves a layer of resin before it got too cool outside.

Here is a closer look at the shins before I resined them.



The glue job is a lil shoddy, but I'll sand it out and cover it up with bondo.

And finally, I got some bondo put down on the left shoulder. I'll be sanding it down tomorrow. The right gauntlet I have sanded down the resin boogers and it's ready for bondo tomorrow. I also plan on putting a second layer of resin and possibly glassing. I think I'll try rondoing the inside of my AR too. But I've got a town festival to go to tomorrow. (Man, my summer has been busy!)




That's all I got for you today!
Please comment and critique and have a good rest of the night.

[royalpain88]

Looking good. Especially the AR. Keep up the good work.

[Saber]

Looking good. Especially the AR. Keep up the good work.

Thanks!

[Saber]

Hey Boys and Girls! I got more stuff to show you today! And I promise that it won't disappoint!
First off, I finished the left shoulder piece. There are a few things I need to add like lights and extra strapping (I'll explain later) but the overall construction is finished!
Here are some pics! Sorry for the extreme blurriness in the pics! The lighting in my room is a pain in the butt! >8C


I'm looking around for LEDs and I can't seem to find just the bulbs. I can only find the bulbs inside of flashlights, but I don't want the flashlight part. And it costs more with the flashlight attached. Oh, and if someone can guide me as to how to wire up the lights, that would be greatly appreciated! I've looked around for a tut with no success... :-(

As to the strapping, I already have a strap that makes sure that it stays attached to me, but it has some mobility issues.
For example, if I were to try to reach above my head with the shoulder on, it would come loose and then twist around and eventually slip off.
Here's the strap that I have on it right now.

And here is an idea I have sketched on Paint.

The buckles are backwards in the pic and what I plan on doing is gluing the male end of the buckle to the shoulder "cup" and then sew the female end to my undersuit. If anyone has any other suggestions (besides getting a pressure suit), please feel free to comment! It would be accepted by me in the most graceful way I can think of!

Here is a pic of me wearing the whole left arm set.

Moving on from the shoulder, I am in the middle of bondoing the shins and the right gauntlet. The gauntlet and one of the shins are taking sooooo long in curing and it's frustrating! But it's because I didn't put enough hardener in the bondo mix... :-( Lesson learned there...
But I did manage to put in extra detail that the pep work didn't provide.
Here are the reference pics that I used.



And here is the detail that I sharpied on!





The squiggly lines are little goof-ups! Oops!
So you're probably wondering as to how I plan on tackling the detail and my answer is...
"I'm experimenting with tape."
Yup! Painters tape! I'm using the tape to mark off the raised edges and then I bondoed over it and carefully removed the tape afterwards! I'm really happy with how crisp the lines are!
(To Be Continued in the Next Post)

[Saber]

So here is the shin taped off!



And here it is with bondo on it!

And here it is with the tape taken off!
I admit... The actual bondo work itself is a little shoddy, but the lines just make me so happy! :-D I'll continue to use this painters tape method and I'll use it on the rest of my suit as well.




Again, Sorry about the shoddy picture quality... This is an old camera...

That's what I've got for you today guys and gals! I'll be posting more pics soon!
I'll have progress on the AR later too! WOOT!

Now here is a before pic of the shoulder from my first suit. Quite a difference! I'm very proud of my costuming maturity and it hasn't been very long either!


Have a nice day everyone and please comment and critique! BD

[spartanx360]

it looks awesome, you have made progress