-WIP- Mr. Rouseau's Themed Reach Build [Pic Heavy]

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Mr Rouseau

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I'm still not to the big reveal yet so if you want to know the theme, you have to guess.
I'll give hints in every update until it's just painfully obvious.

Armor Progress:
  • Helmet: Rondo'd
  • Chest: Pepped
  • Biceps: 1 Pepped / 1 Printed
  • Shoulders: Both Pepped
  • Forearms: 1 Pepped
  • Hand Plates: 1 Pepped
  • Cod:
  • Thighs:
  • Knees:
  • Shins:
  • Boots:
  • Undersuit:

Weapon Progress:
  • Pistol: Pepped
-----------------------------------------

After spending quite a bit of time looking at the available models and weighing my options, I think I've decided on an interesting direction for my build.

What direction is that? Well... It's a secret to everyone.
Despite my lethargy, I think I've been making pretty good time.
Here's what I have so far:

I've removed the pictures of the N6 helm progress shots since I'm going recon but here's my chest piece, L3X BLU3R1V3R's Reach Torso.

img20120725161031.jpg

img20120726194545.jpg

It began modestly enough... As has been mentioned by other members, there are a few problems with pieces overlapping themselves and whatnot but this isn't exactly my first rodeo.

img20120727185823.jpg

img20120727185925.jpg

Fast forward a day or so and you've got this. This is right after I finished it so it's a little uneven in places but that's an easy fix. Also, I put the whole thing together for resining but I'm planning on cutting a few bits off once that's done.

Oh, I've got plans.
Stay tuned. I'll probably take the weekend off but you never know.
 
A quick update:

While I did take the weekend off from building armor, the urge to build something eventually became overwhelming.
For that reason, I spent my Sunday crafting what will be this suit's designated sidearm.

I'm still not giving anything away but this should be a good hint for those who recognize it:

paralyzer.jpg


The hard part about making this was that there was no model available past what amounted to a rectangle box with a texture slapped on.
After what seemed like ages spent mucking about in Blender, I had a workable .obj file to import to Pepakura.
It wasn't pretty and it's going to need a lot of work to make it look less... wonky. I managed, though.

A little TLC and I think I can make this look pretty good.
 
Another update for the unconcerned masses!

I've finished gluing up one of the biceps.
Here it is in all its glory:

img20120801232130.jpg


It's the HALO 4 Mk VII bicep by L3X BLU3R1V3R.
As with the chest of his, there were a few wonky bits in the unfold but I can't argue with the level of detail.

I should be able to finish the other one up tomorrow afternoon, time willing.
Also, I hope to get more than just the helmet resined soon. I just need a few days where the temperature is below a hundred and I'll be in business. Tough luck there...

Really, I'd like to have the other bicep and the shoulders pepped and ready to go before, say, the sixth since I have a straight week of work in Texas starting then. We'll see what happens.

Oh... And no hints this time.
Sorry.
 
Great build, planning on using L3X's file for the chest for my noble six build (don't have a thread started yet). Good luck on your build!
Seth
 
You know...

I was totally going to do the other bicep but mentioning the shoulder made me wonder how hard that would be to build... so I built one. Again, this is L3X BLU3R1V3R's Security Shoulder V2:

1343971446343.jpg


This one only had a couple of wonky shapes and not nearly as many tiny triangles so it ended up taking about the same amount of time to build as one of the biceps (granted, it's nearly three times as many pages). Here's a picture of the bicep and shoulder next to the chest so you can see how they've scaled:

1343971668384.jpg


All in all, I'd say it's going pretty well.
Oh... and you can take this as another hint as to what the theme of the build might be:
Big shoulders. They're important.
 
Oh... So both shoulders are done now:

img20120804131050.jpg


But I'm debating what to do for the helmet. See... I'm not sure Mk V (B) is really the way to go for this build. Right now, I'm considering either a Recon or the standard SPARTAN IV (or the Daemon since that looks cool) and I'm leaning towards the IV since I already have the HALO 4 biceps and since I will be wearing this at the midnight for that game.

I know a lot of people think the new helmets are ugly but they're probably the same sort of people that think every Pokémon after gen 1 is stupid (or gen 2 if they grew up with that or gen 3 if they grew up with that or etc, etc, etc.) Personally, I like the new look. It seems like there's some new tech in there. That and they look a little more manly.

Then again, visibility goes down the further I move in that direction. And the Recon would probably be better overall for recognizability. So...

Any thoughts on that?
 
Your pepping is amazing. Clean, precise, beautiful.

As for the helmet, I'd say recon would look nice, but in the end that's entirely up to YOUR taste ;-)
 
Recon it is, then. I went with Rhinoc's version.

img20120806062646.jpg


You might notice my one edit to the design: a slight U shaped dip at the bottom of the visor. That should give you a little bit better idea of what the secret theme is... maybe.

I'm going to try to finish the rest of the arms in the next week (when I'm not working) but we'll see how that goes. If I get that done, I'm going to start resining/bondoing all the from-the-waist-up parts when I get home.

Oh... I do have one shot to show scale. It's before I had finished the helmet and it sits a little high (because it's held up with a very non-adjustable guitar stand) but you should get the idea.

img20120805200226.jpg


More as soon as I get around to it.
 
REALLY GOOD JOB!!! I don't know your evil scheme is (lol) but whatever it is it's working! I only have one itsy bitsy q... How did you figure the scaling on the torso piece? I'm planning on making a N6 and the thought of scaling that thing is giving me nightmares (no litterly I see improper sized paper models attacking me lol). So I just had to ask. And one last thing (audience moans) Very nice CLEAN pep work! Can't wait to see it all done!

Seth
 
To me, anything that has a visor looking more or less like a T screams of Storm/Clone troopers of Mandalorians.

But that may be just the star wars fanboy in me.

Anyhow, your helmet is looking very good!
 
I'm making this post from the road but I'll suppliment it with some crude drawings as soon as I get to where I'm going. Promise.

How did you figure the scaling on the torso piece?

I found some reference pictures of Spartans in the game and toys that had the same chest and took note of where the widest part of the pdo model sat in relation to the character's body. Then, I measured the same area on my body and scaled the model to that width.

In this case, it was relative to the shoulders. Granted this model has a tiny neck hole, I plan on cutting it off and making a custom neck lock out of foam later. There will be a split and some sort of connection between the pieces, etc, etc, etc. It's to be expected. No big deal there.

To me, anything that has a visor looking more or less like a T screams of Storm/Clone troopers of Mandalorians.

I can see how you might think that. Close but no cigar.
I'm sure there are some other characters with a similar visor.
 
pretty sweet lookin peps great job
i cant believe you made those without the number points wasnt that a p.i.t.a.???
 
Your pep work looks great! The resining stage should go fairly smooth because it. I look forward to seeing a full suit. ;)
 
I love your pepping dude. Please please please be careful with resining :O i dont want you to have any issues finishing this masterpiece !
 
Alright... It's not a poor drawing since I'm about dead right now from fourteen hours in a car, but here's this:

reachchest.jpg


If I remember correctly, the widest portion of L3X BLU3R1V3R's Reach Torso is in those strappy bits that go under the arms. Same for the above picture. If you look at the reference, you can see that his shoulders clear the upper chest part almost completely. Taking into consideration that the under-the-arm bits seemed to extend just past that point, I measured from a little past armpit to armpit to get my magic number.

A dry fit (without the neck in and with painter's tape holding the bottom straps together) confirmed that the measurements were close enough not to make me look silly. After scaling that piece to a point where it would fit, I scaled all of the other pieces based first on their size in relation to reference shots of said pieces next to the chest and second in terms of whether I could fit my rather oversized body parts through.

Some pieces, though, I decided would be better cut and hinged back together than mutilated for fitting convenience. The helmet is one of those pieces since all of the Spartans on Reach seem to have those shouldn't-fit-on-the-head-but-does sized helmets and... you get the idea.

More details on that later.

I can't believe you made those without the number points. Wasn't that a p.i.t.a.???

It's not that bad. I usually have the PDO open while I'm working with the "Check Corresponding Face" function toggled. Plus, it's like I said in the first post: even though I haven't built a full suit of armor out of paper before, I've been papercrafting for years now. On some things, you just don't want edge IDs.

I mean... some models out there (PDF only ones, especially) don't have fold lines because they would spoil the textures. Worse than that, sometimes you have to score everything on the wrong side so you don't get white lines everywhere on the finished product. With this... I just think it looks a little cleaner without all the numbers. Everyone saying how clean they look is just a testament to that.

Also, I guess I'm used to it by now. haha

Hardcore papercrafters are crazy though. Pic definitely related:
fx93-gundam-evolve-papercraft-hws.jpg


On a slightly related note, I just looked through your build thread and realized that we independently decided to use the same shins (Reach Concept) and forearm (Ghost of Onyx) pieces. I have one of those forearms printed and in my room here at the Marriott, too, so we'll see if I can't get my own version of that ready for everyone to see sometime after my twelve to fourteen hour day tomorrow.

Anyway... It's past my bedtime.
 
I finally found some time to put together the forearm that I've had printed all this time. Unfortunately, I left all my PDOs at home. Luckily enough, these forearms are pretty simple so I didn't have too much trouble.

Again, this is Satchmo III's Ghosts of Onyx Forearm SPI.

1208090006.jpg


And here's one with it on my arm so you can see how it's scaled:

1208090003.jpg


Also, you might notice that these images are a little smaller than what I've posted in the past. That's because my phone got blasted by an EMP (Read: the electric motor of a SkyJack) and I was forced to pick up a Go Phone as a temporary until I can get my real phone replaced. It's also wiped three of my hotel key cards, for the record.

For future reference, I do plan on taking pictures of the finished pieces with my T3i so you can expect better quality later on.
 
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