Nesbitt101 and his Custom Spartan III Armour

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nesbitt101

Jr Member
I'm building the armour that my in-game Spartan Noble 6 wears. Since everyone else is doing it, here's a picture of my armour from Vanity [great program :D] The visor should be blue and the helmet will have the NVGs and CNM attachment.
Vanity.png

Here's the variable parts list any way. I'll try to include modelers and unfolders. [modeler; unfolder]
All unmentioned parts are from the complete Noble 6 package on the 1st page of the Official Halo Reach Pepakura Thread [rundown; Brandon McClain]
Helm; Operator with CNM attachment [aktaylorh; Zat German] (scratch building NVGs and CNM)
Chest; Assault/Commando [carpathiavh99; carpathiavh99]
Upper Arms (both); CQC [MissingSpartan7; MissingSpartan7]
Wrist; Tactical/Tacpad [Rhinoc; Halogoddess]
Utility; Tactical/Soft Case (not peping this, have bought a bag)
Thighs; [Forgedreclaimer; Brandon McClain]
Knee Pads; FJ/Para
Boot Toes; [AceNat; AceNat]
Boot Heels; [Ruze789; carpathiavh99]

Three things I'm going to do differently to everyone else (I think) is
1. I'm going to try to keep a fairly accurate account of all the money I've spent on this project and where I sourced all the materials.
2. I'm going to have a tips and tricks section detailing little things I've learned over the course of my "adventure". You'll probably find these sort of things in other threads, but this will be all stuff that I've learned and/or found useful.
3. I'm going to keep a "guesstimated" record of the length of time it takes to prepare each piece in each stage, so future n00bs will know how time intensive this hobby is.

Expenses.
This list is to let all the future n00bs know what they're getting into.
Originally from Ireland, I'm currently on a J1 to the States, so I have absolutely nothing to assist me with this build, so this list is going to be very extensive. Most people won't have to buy the likes of rulers and pay for printing, but I do. :( All prices in dollars.

Ruler
3 Walmart (W)​
X-acto knife
2.47 W​
Another X-acto knife
3.50 W​
X-acto blades
1.94 W​
More X-acto blades
1.97 W​
Cardstock (50 pages, multiple colours, 110 lb)
5.24 W​
More Cardstock (150 pages, white, 110 lb)
5.48 W (Why didn't I buy this the first time around? :( Stupid learning curve)​
Lots of Super glue
17.62 W​
Table Cloth
0.97 W​
Pens
1 W​
Printing
32.85 Internet Café​
Thermals (top and bottom)
21 armynavydeals.com​
Gloves
10 W​
Butt Pack
5 armynavydeals.com​
Tactical/Soft Case
9 armynavydeals.com​
Tweezers
1 Dollar General​
Spray Paint
10.24 Lowes​
Masking Tape
1 Dollar Tree​
Adhesive Spray
5.47 W​
Velcro Strips
2.97 W​
Foam Board
8 Michaels​
1'' Foam Brushes x14
1 Michaels​
More Brushes
4 Dollartree​
Safety Goggles
15 eBay​
Hydration Bladder
6.59 eBay​
Walkie Talkies
20 eBay​
Headsets x2
2 Dollartree​
Adapters
5.18 Radio Shack​
Dust Masks
19.89 Lowes​
Fiberglass Cloth
41.88 Lowes​
Body Putty
11.99 Lowes​
Resin
71.96 Lowes​
Respirator
30 Home Depot​
Tinfoil
1 Dollartree​
Rubber gloves
12 W​
Bondo Body Filler
26.47 Car Quest​

Total
418.68​

Tips and Tricks
Little tidbits I've picked up along the way.

1. READ THE STICKIES. They're there for a reason.
2. Always know EXACTLY where you left your x-acto or other cutting blade.
3. If you're worried about sticking your fingers together, wear gloves.
4. When using super glue, if your finger gets stuck, don't pull, twist. It'll leave you with more skin on your digits.
5. Changes in your routine help keep boredom away.
6. Listen to music.
7. If your getting frustrated with something, leave it down and do something else for 5 minutes. Getting angry is only bad for your health and potentially dangerous from your builds point of view (ie. you going mental and smashing it into even smaller pieces than it already is).
8. While peping, for really small and delicate pieces, use tweezers (courtesy of Saggateron).
9. Although the helmet is by far the most interesting and satisfying part to build, it's usually better to start from the bottom and work up. This way, the mistakes you make learning pepakura will all be on the shins/boots, the least noticed pieces, and if you have to, they're a hell of a lot easier to re pep then a helm (also Saggateron).
10. Score the folds of the part you are about to use before you cut it out. It's far easier to hold down an A4 page than a little tiny piece of paper.
11. Unless your very good with a blade, score the folds with a pen. Otherwise you'll cut off your flaps.
12. When cutting out your pieces, remember that there's no need to make perfect cuts along the flap lines. No one is going to see them, and as long as there big enough to stick to other pieces, and small enough to fit into a possibly small place, they'll be fine.
13. Don't even bother to try pepping while tired. Low concentration plus hot/super glue plus very sharp knife equals big no no.

Time Scale
Pepakura
Shins - 6 hours x2
12​
Thighs - 12 hours x2
24​
Cod - 3.5 hours
3.5​
Default Upper Arm - 5 hours x2
10​
CQC Upper Arm - 6 hours x2
12​
Default Forearm - 5 hours x2
10​
Tac Pad - 5 hours
5​
Handplates - 2 hours x2
4​
Chest Piece - 11 hours
11​
Boots - 7 hours x2
14​
Helmet - 8 hours
8​

Time Taken for Pepping
113.5​

Resining and Hardening
Since I was doing several pieces at a time (resining one while others dry) it's pretty hard to quantify the time allotted to each individual piece. So I'll just give you the total time.

Time taken for resining and hardening
10​

Total Time Taken to Complete my Suit
123.5 WIP​

References
Here are some of the threads that I found very informative and which helped me a lot during my build. (I'm trying to contact the thread authors for permission to post a link to there threads, so this bit might take a while to fully flesh out.)

BenStreeper's "How to make a Helmet from Pep to Finish"
He shows (in video format) how to make a helmet from after the pep stage up to the very end of bondo and patch fixing.

Photobucket Link
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Please don't spam......
Was keeping the post there so I could edit it later. ;)

Alright, first update!
I was working on this for 2 & 1/2 hours, and got little down. Damn Pepakura takes ages to do. Please tell me that resining and the rest are faster.
Got one complete knee pad and about a 1/5 of a shin done. Apologizes for the photo quality, it was taken with the webcam on my laptop.
1KneesandShin.jpg
 
Was keeping the post there so I could edit it later. ;)

Alright, first update!
I was working on this for 2 & 1/2 hours, and got little down. Damn Pepakura takes ages to do. Please tell me that resining and the rest are faster.
Got one complete knee pad and about a 1/5 of a shin done. Apologizes for the photo quality, it was taken with the webcam on my laptop.
1KneesandShin.jpg

Keeping the post where? You can edit it with the edit button.

Anyhow, yes resining/bondoing is faster, but thats where you have to be very careful at. A lot of people have destroyed potentially beautiful helmets at that stage. Be careful on that part.
 
hey mate hate to break this to you but the pic seem to be missing it sounds like you're well underway good luck mate!

ok i can see the pics now what part are you building it looks like erm i have no idea

Yeah, I was trying to prop them up on the coach, and then take a pic with my webcam. It's NOT EASY to hold a laptop steady and trying to point with out bits of you being in the pic.

Whoo, first milestone, over a hundred views. The shin piece is done and I'm starting on the thigh. Will post pics of both (with an actual camera) when I finish the thigh, probably in a few days.

Gggrrrr :angry Only four more pieces to finish my thigh, and I'm out of frigging glue!

OK, got glue and have finished my thigh piece. :) I am not looking forward to having to pep the other one of those. :(
DSCN0406.jpg

DSCN0403.jpg


17:54 10/June/11 Got a huge amount of work done today, started and finished the second shin piece and the knee pieces. Won't post pics, it's the exact same as the other shin, except instead of yellow, it's blue and purple. That's what happens when you buy multicoloured cardstock from Walmart. :p

17:07 16/June/11 Finished the second thigh piece and did the cod piece in under 4 hours. It was a cake walk compared to the thigh pieces. Even thinking about pepping another set. [shivers down spine]
I'm just going to post one picture of each piece and also set it as link to my photobucket page, to save sticking to many photos on my thread.
LeftThigh2.jpg
For those of the colour blind followers, I ran out of my colourful cardstock and started using regular white cardstock instead. So I have technicoloured legs!
CodPiece.jpg
 
looking amazing i will be posting a similar thread up probably tomorrow and can you sen us a pick with it all on by any chance, also what lenght are your shins overall mine are 390mm thanks again looks awesome
 
looking amazing i will be posting a similar thread up probably tomorrow and can you sen us a pick with it all on by any chance, also what lenght are your shins overall mine are 390mm thanks again looks awesome

The links in your signature aren't working, they're just text.

My shin pieces are approx. 300mm tall, so either mine are well to small or your's are massive. I'll post a pic with every thing I've pepped thus far some time tomorrow, when I can borrow someone's camera (and someone to take photos!).

Finished the default base bicep piece for the left arm. Again, pics tomorrow.

Have now spent over $100 dollars on the build. Damn you, Indy Mogul, for making me believe that this would be cheap!
 
My shin pieces are approx. 300mm tall, so either mine are well to small or your's are massive.

OH CRAP! that being said mine, I dont think are huge. I did my scaling factor and mine is 1cm:7.34cm on the pick im using so we'll see I suppose?
 
OK, I know I said that I'd do this yesterday, but I wanted to wait til I finished off the CQC upper arm.
Again, all the pics are links to my photobucket, where there are even more pics.
This is the pvc pipe frame that I'm using to store/display my build.
Sticky.jpg
FashionShoot3.jpg

I know that it doesn't have the circle detail, but since it's going to be covered by the CQC, I'm really not bothered.
FashionShoot6.jpg
FashionShoot8.jpg
 
I like the colors of the card stock haha :). But i know your gonna paint over them anyway. Good luck! It's looking fantastic so far.

Thanks!

Since I normally work the evening shift, I've always done all my pep work before my actual work, during the morning and afternoon. For this, I've always been fresh and enthusiastic. Today and for the rest of this week, I've got the day shift. Just finished work and tried doing some pep work now, and being tired is so unmotivational. :( Probably won't have much progress before the weekends out.

20:01, 25th June '11. Exactly 400 views!
 
Minor update, no pics. Pepped the two handplates and the wrist tac pad. Half pepped the left forearm, before I realised that it was too small, so now have to make another. :angry

EDIT; double post, my bad.

EDIT, 0053, 7 July '11; Happy Bungie Day!

EDIT, 0046, 9 July '11; Pepped right forearm, couldn't borrow a camera for pics.
 
Finally, another update!

Got a camera that I can take pics with, so here are all the parts I've pepped since the last update. As always, all pics are also links to my photobucket account.

Wrist Tac Pad Attachment
DSCF0126.jpg

Two handplates
DSCF0130.jpg


Forearm
DSCF0138.jpg

Chest
DSCF0142.jpg

I had originally planned to pep the assault/commando chest piece attachments, but I've since changed my mind and am going to try and scratch build them. Wish me luck. :D
 
Thanks for the encouragement guys.

Ok, so I already have the pep files for the assault/commando chest attachment pieces. It was only after I printed them that I realised that instead of them being one complete piece, they were in fact made up of lots of little completely sealed boxes. Not wanting to bring a whole load of extra work upon myself when I go to resin and fiberglass everything, I said "screw this" and started to scratch build the two pieces.
I've only got one finished at the moment and there not 100% accurate, but this is my first time trying to scratch build anything. Honest feedback would be appreciated. There are more pics in my photobucket album (photo's are links).

th_DSCF0152-1.jpg

th_DSCF0165-1.jpg

th_DSCF0170-2.jpg
 
Amazing bro! Those bright colors sure woke me up a little! I know how you feel about having to rebuild stuff, it SUCKS! The best advice we could probably give you is this

When doing a build for your first time, LEAVE THE HELMET FOR LAST!

It'll suck if you have to rebuild that! Trust me, I know.
 
Loving the CQC arms, THEY LOOK SICK!

Yeah, when I get both of them done, it'll look beast.

Two things.
First of all, I've decided that i'm going to rebuild the assault/commando chest pieces. I've learned alot just throwing them together, so when I go to remake them, I hope to make them as accurate as possible and without some of the dodgy cutting lines they currently have.

Second, I've finished the second forearm (the left one).

DSCF0182.jpg
 
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