another noob with an HD MKVI build

[agordon117]

Boy, i could sand and touch up forever and still not be happy with it. I'm gonna remake the forearms. They are too small for sure. Now i know what i'm doing though. Right shoulder is 90% bondoed. About 1 more hour and it will be ready for paint. Left shoulder is about 3 hours from paint. When the weather get warmer, i'll probably remake those too, but i want the armor done now and then i can remake individual parts later if need be. So far though, i have done absolutely no work since the biceps are too big, forearms are too small, pep'd HD chest and helm were the wrong size. I'm gonna make those biceps work. I can't accept that i will have essentially done nothing for the last month, so i have to make due with what i have. For now...

[Katsu]

I know what you mean. I ended up spending a whole week trying to get my helmet sanded and bondoed just right, and still am not satisfied. Good luck on remaking the out of size parts man, so far it's coming alogn well and you are working pretty fast! Use your consternation over last month fuel a frenzy of work this month! Good luck!

[agordon117]

Thanks for the morale boost. I'm starting the codpiece for a bit of a break from the upper body.

[agordon117]

How much bigger do you guys think the forearms should be? 10%? 15%?

March 10th is the costume contest at work. hopefully i'm far enough along that i can wear it by then.

[agordon117]

Bump that last and some progress.






95% done with that piece. Just needs one last touch up with spot putty, a few more smoothed edges, and i'm good to go. Codpiece should be resined today, fiberglassed sunday. Chest should be done tuesday and helm friday. Then resin, glass, bondo, sand, sand, sand, paint, write speech, strap. Probably don't have time to redo the forearms for the speech, so i'll go without.

[Katsu]

pretty spiffy, I wouldn't be able to give you a good estimate on resizing. If you are super pressed for time you may want to prioritize things so what HAS to get done gets done. Like... you want all the armor made at least in time, it doesn't have to be 100% super smooth if you're just wearing it straight up... it's battle damage! And I'd hold off on any painting until the very end, rather than finishing one piece at a time, not that I think you've painted them yet.

If you want nit-picky help, I see the primer is dripping in that last picture, which means you are holding the spray can a bit too close to the piece, or holding it in one spot for too long. If you do a sanding on it, it won't be a big deal, but it will gum up your first piece of sandpaper, and save you some extra sanding time.

Keep up the great work!

[agordon117]

Just finishing the first piece so i have some motivation to keep going. My goal is upper body finished by feb 15th, entire costume wearable by march 10th (or whenever), and then i'll get into the electronics and remaking the biceos and stuff for halo 4 launch. Good temp days like today force painting just in case i don't get anymore.

Also, just finished the final coat of primer on the piece, and I can't seem to avoid the drips no matter how far away or how quickly I do it. I'm gonna try to keep the actual paint from dripping, but I'm not sure if I can completely stop the dripping. Well, I think it's been 20 minutes, so I'm gonna try to wet-sand off the drops.

[Masterkiro34]

Are you holding down the nozzle for the spray can? If so hold the can 6-8inches away from the piece, and go back and forth in a sweeping motion, spray across left, release, spray across right, release. I used to derp and hold the nozzle down ><

[thorn696]

Are you holding down the nozzle for the spray can? If so hold the can 6-8inches away from the piece, and go back and forth in a sweeping motion, spray across left, release, spray across right, release. I used to derp and hold the nozzle down ><

Gives great advice and I'll add to it by saying use light coats of paint. If you spry it on to thick it will drip every time. I also use old wire hangers to hang my pieces right about at eye level, so as to not spray over the part but at it. hope this helps. Good looking build have going here by the way.

[agordon117]

I don't really have anywhere to paint inside, so I have to make due with outside. I also don't have anywhere to hold the piece. Sure I could make a stand out of pvc, but then I'd still have to take the part off and bring it inside to dry.

I did realize I was holding it too close and applying too thick, but I'm glad you guys said it so that I know that was part of it. The primer last night dried partially, then slid down the piece, creating big cracks. Now I have to strip it off and re-prime the piece. I may leave it at the primer stage, and I may paint it just so I have one done for a morale boost.

Well, off to the hardware store to pick up some more primer and sandpaper. That stuff goes fast. I'm really glad I ordered 4 cans of spraypaint and 6 tubes of spot putty though. I would be ticked if I had to order more of either of those.