Vacuum Formed Combat Evolved Mark V

[Cadet]

So, I’ve been through two versions of a pepped Mark V. The first one from backing 2007 was a...disaster, to put it mildly. A rush job for Halloween, everything was sloppy. It can be seen here:
http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/...det%27s-Mark-V


Version 2, Seen here: http://tkbearcrew.com/costume2.php?costumesid=21
And build progress here: http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/...m-Red-Vs.-Blue

Was better. However, it still suffered from many of the draw backs of pepped armor, some parts were heavy, it felt cumbersome, it was uncomfortable, and it didn’t pack well at all. I really wanted to replace several parts, thighs and shins especially. I was considering a foam build, and then, I remembered something. Way back in about 2004 or so, my brother and I wanted to do Halo armor, and at the time our only experience building costumes, was with Stormtrooper armor, and it’s primary means of fabrication was vac-forming. My brother sculpted several of the pieces out of insulation foam before we hit a dead end when we realized that the heat and pressure of the vac-forming process when crush the foam. I had saved the sculpts stashed away in our attic, and was struck by inspiration. If the foam was sealed with some like modge-podge, it would be protected, and resin could be applied atop the modge podge without the fear of melting away at the foam.

So that’s what I did. The sculpts were sealed with modge podge, and then coated in resin.

When I went to vacform over them, they were first pulled in a very thin plastic, which required less heat and suction to form. The resulting plastic covered resined foam sculpts were then used with the heavy thickness plastic.

For the parts that had not been sculpted out of foam, I simply used my old fiberglass pep version 2 as the molds, in some cases having to cut the pieces into two parts in order to facilitate vac forming.




And here are some of the pulls I managed to get:

Arms:


Parts:


Shins:


Already, I can tell these new shoulders are a vast improvement. They are very light weight, which means I could potentially attach them directly to a set of coveralls or other undersuit, so that the shoulders would move just like in the game.

[Shade88]

Looks good. Can't wait to see the improvements you plan to add to them.

[thorn696]

Hmmm...Alright you have my attention. This looks like it could work out looking great.

[Nintendude]

Looks good I hope you offer pulls, I'll buy a set after the improvements are made. Just a tip for areas were the plastic is not flush to the mold put a small drill hole through the mold with airchannels on the backside of the mold so it pulls the plastic down better in the tight areas.

[Cadet]

I honestly have no plans to sell any pulls. This is mostly a personal project to upgrade my armor so it’s more comfortable than standard pep-fiberglass gear. At some point next summer, I may look into doing additional pulls to outfit my friend in a set of Pink armor to be Donut and another set for my friend to be Church at next year’s Dragon*Con, beyond that, I don't really want to get into the business of producing and selling armor. The merchant life style isn't my thing. I'm just a loveable idiot

I knocked the rough trimming, so now it’s just slowly working my way through the parts and fine sanding them and assembling. A lot of the pieces will need some bondo work on the seams, and I might hit several of the pieces with a layer or two of resin on the interior, but the lack of fiberglass is just going to be a godsend. It will be so nice.

A good tip I picked up from a friend of my brother’s. If the clamps won’t reach the spot you’re trying to glue, use magnets!


And my Burn Bright, Burn Blue shirt came in, so, I had to try it on.

[Pack hunter]

they look good kido i've done alota of vac-forming myself and it really more for curves and rounded peaces that can't be made using just sheet plastic, i think we use like either 1/8th or 1/4 plastic it'll be thin on the inside so what you do from there is glue strips of 1" wide plastic on the inside of the cast for extra strenght....as far as your seam work goes i wouldn't trust just bondo i'd put a strip of plastic either on the inside or outside and putty or bondo over that, i'm just saying from experiance modeling if its just bondo filling your gonna get some cracks eventally

but over all i'm impressed

hey how many holes did you put in the vac molds?

[JBetts97]

Do I sence a potential Elite status thread? This is awesome man! A Nintendude said , I would also love to buy pulls frm you if you ever offered them. I dont think ive ever seen vac formed Halo armor , only TK . Great job so far man!

Jacob

[Cadet]

Everything has been trimmed out, and I’m onto major assembly at this point, should be able to maybe get some more pics tonight. Several parts like the gauntlets, shins, and the back piece had to broken down into small components for vac-forming. So what I am doing right now is pretty much what you have to do for Clone armor. The two parts are joined together by a piece of plastic on the inside of the seam, like down the middle of the back plate or the front of the shin for example. Then you Bondo over the seam in the front to hide the line.

Another trick I am going to experiment with is one from Biker Scouts and some Boba Fetts, were armor pieces are attached directly to the flight suit via snaps. In the case of the Mark V, I’m thinking the shoulders, Ab plate, and maybe the cod and butt would be good candidates for attachment directly to the under suit, and I’ve got a new flight suit coming that will be dedicated to this costume.

I’ve got a new visor coming for the bucket that I hope will be more game accurate in shape. The Mark V visor always seems to be more of a bubble, curving out both at the top and bottom, and I’ve ordered one of the bubble scooter helmet visors that I saw used on a fantastic Security helmet here on the 405th.

[Cadet]

Finally got a break in the heat wave to get some bondo/sanding work done outside:

[JBetts97]

This is turning out to be SUPER interesting ! I love the idea once again! Cant wait to see it finished man!