2 Month Carter build (WIP)

This thread is to show what a build process is like for a noob with a very tight deadline.

I am a 19 year old college student that has no prior experience in pep work, resin, bondo, prop painting, etc. I've done a few simple costumes out of fabric and leather, but never anything that could have prepared me for this. SO if you fit that kind of description, then these are the results you can expect if you really put your mind and time and energy towards a suit. You may even get better results if you are more skilled than I or have a looser deadline.

I also have a very limited workspace. all I have is a 2.5'x5' table that I pep on in my bedroom and a 2'x2' table I resin on in my back patio. so this can be done in confined space AS LONG AS YOU HAVE AN OUTSIDE/WELL-VENTILATED PLACE TO RESIN, SAND, AND SPRAY PAINT.

__10-7-2011:_____10-22-2011:




Status:
Not started
Pepping
Resining
Padding
Painting
Done



Head
Torso
Waist
Weapon
Under-suit
Front Attachments
Knife
Right Upper Arm
Right Shoulder
Right Forearm
Right Hand
Right Thigh
Right Knee/Shin
Right Foot
Left Upper Arm
Left Shoulder
Left Forearm
Left Forearm Tac Pad
Left Hand
Left Thigh
Left Knee/Shin
Left Foot

So I decided at the end of august (8-2011) that I wanted to build a spartan costume for halloween.

that gave me 2 months and a couple days from start to finish. That may not be a problem for some people, but I have absolutely no experience in pepping, resining, bondoing, etc. I am a crafty person though, and when I have a project, I stick to it.

so after 2-3 days of reading up on various tutorials, I started. (8-25-2011 was when I actually printed my first pep sheet) I made plenty of mistakes starting out. I've now wasted about 2 hours each on 2 different sizes of handplate, 12 hours on an incorrect forearm, and 25+ hours on an incorrect torso. so if you cant handle getting over mistakes and learning from them, dont bother trying a whole suit of armor because you WILL make mistakes.


Anyway, I decided on making a carter armor set from Halo reach since my own halo spartan wears an eva helmet, and I didnt feel comfortable starting out with something that complex.

SO here it is: I have, as of this post (10-7-2001), 3 weeks until the halloween party I will be attending to finish.

I will update as much as I can with my stretched time (I'm also a full-time student) until my armor is done.

Torso:

download link: http://dc112.4shared.com/download/D...Chest_Bungie.pdo?tsid=20110918-231101-fae20fb

made a not-so-great model first (blue one)
That said, heres a comparison between my old blue one and my new white one.




20ish hours pep








Shoulders

4-6 hours each pep

Right shoulder finished, left shoulder needs upper-arm piece




Legs

Right leg:
Thigh: 6 hours pep
Shin/knee: 12 hours pep

Left leg: Not started



NEW SHIN!



So theres where I'm at with this. I'll either finish pepping my helmet next or just knock the boots out since I have all of the materials for them on hand.

I know the pieces are a little rough and straight-edged, but as I'm on a deadline this will do nicely. At some point in the future, I will spend a long time making a high quality suit for my own spartan.

I also know that 3 weeks doesnt seem like a very long time in which to finish this, but I havent really worked on the suit much for the last 2 weeks and now that I've done one of almost everything on the right side, I can them faster on the left.

I intend to make the armor look "out of the factory" as I can add metallic edge wear at any point after the armor has been painted, but its harder to reverse the process.

any tips on where to get the front attachments would be apreciated, as well as any comments on my armor so far.

reserved for front-page-view updates

reserved for front-page-view updates

Awesome work! I like how you put the emblems on your chest piece.

Thanks!, but that wasnt me. they came with the pep file and just printed right out. I've yet to piant the chest piece.

nice work dude. i'll be keeping an eye on this. you and i should be finishing our projects about the same time.
The front attachments can be found in the Reach Pep Files thread here; http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/24086-*The-Official*-Halo-Reach-Pepakura-Files-Thread.
Is the insignia on the shoulder a water decal? vinyl transfer? paint?
Keep it up dude. Good luck on making the deadline! looks like you work fast!

Thanks, i have the file, but I was just trying to find a quick solution so I wouldnt have to pep the attachments.

the UNSC crest is spray painted on through a stencil made out of mylar (flexible plastic adhesive sheets) so that I could stick the whole stencil down to eliminate any overspray. It took about 3 hours to trace and cut the crest, so I wouldnt recommend it unless its the only option.

I've been keeping an eye on your carter build too. It's looking so insanly sick and you're way closer to finishing than I am, but you have way smoother detail.

The pieces that you have done so far look really good. Seems like paint either makes or breaks a good suit and you've got the paint down.

You have some really nice work going here. The new chest looks awesome, As dose you attention to detail on you're other parts. I wish you luck on you're timeline/Deadline.

Everythings lookin good so far. Just keep up the pace.

This is amazing!

Brilliant paint job!

Quick update:

I finished resining my chest piece and have done all but the detail painting on it.

(click to view large)

(Melanie didnt feel like getting out of these shots)

there doesnt really need to be any padding since it fits me rather snugly while i'm wearing the converted soft paintball vest I'm using as an undersuit.

so, effectively, its done except for some small detail painting and the front attachment bags.

CLIPS
I used a clip system that i havent seen anyone else using (not to say they dont, i just havent seen any) I basically attach 4 plastic clips to the back 4 corners of my armor, cut, and voila: 2 pieces of armor that are easy to get into provided you have a friend take 5 seconds to pop the back piece on.






I did this out of necesity as the chest model i used has a neck hole that was too small for my head to fit through even if I made the neck-guard out of soft foam. so there it is: glue the clips in and rondo them to ensure they dont come out under stress.

I love that blue! it looks awesome!

Nice clip system! I used that with my ODST armor.

Chest plate came out looking good, nice work on the clip system also.

any updates for us???

working on the boots right now, but as they're really complicated to put together, I probably wont have anything til tomorrow sometime. I promise some good pics though.

Good job. Very good job. I have started my first suit just a few days ago although i have kinda a lot of time dont think i can even think about gettin it finished in 2 months hehe so im hoping its done for Comic Con next yr.

Good luck on finishing your project! It looks awesome!

(I like your cat there )