First Suit Build (Noob Commentaries)

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SergantTinkers

Jr Member

• Jul 29, 2012

• #1

Hello, everyone!

I'm SergantTinkers, and I have been on the forums for a few months now, and have finally decided it was high time to start posting my progress. However, I wanted to do a little more than just show off my work, so here I will be doing what I call the "Noob Commentaries!"

Here, I intend to show my progress, but also point out my suggestions and my many mistakes thouroughly, as well as answer any questions and take any suggestions. I will also be explaining why I did what I did, whether right or wrong, in hopes that those who see this can learn from my mistakes and successes. So, let's begin!



EDIT: Keep in mind I am still working on this, so please feel free to offer suggestions, tips, and criticism. After all, that's what this forum is all about!

P.S. The first page is pretty boring! A picture of all of my pep pieces is on page two, and some rondo-ed pieces as well as detail pieces (explained on page three) are on page four and primered pieces at the end of page five!

 

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SergantTinkers

Jr Member

• Jul 29, 2012

• #2

As a heads up, this is the suit I intend to make.

I just want to thank Spitfire22V for his Mark VI thread ahead of time. His suit build helped me the most, and I will be using a lot of his ideas (If it seems like I am merely copying his work, I apologize. He really does have some great ideas!)

Feel free to check his thread out sometime:http://www.405th.com/showthread.php...k-VI-build-Now-Completed?highlight=mark+build

 

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SergantTinkers

Jr Member

• Jul 29, 2012

• #3

Also, I apologize for the poor quality of some of these pictures; I am using my phone to upload them, and have no other means of doing so!

Anyways, I recently found out my printer finally kicked the bucket, and had to get a new one, so I'll start there. Here is the printer I bought:

This is a Brother HL-2240 that can be bought for $83 at Staples. It works very beautifully. It prints exceptionally fast (24 ppm, as a matter of fact) and prints very clearly for a low end model. The only problem is the slight bending it creates when it prints, but this can simply be solved by a quick bend in the opposite direction:

 

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Psquiddy

Member

• Jul 29, 2012

• #4

This should be a fun build. Are you just doing the hayabusa chest or are you going to place the katana aswell?

 

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SergantTinkers

Jr Member

• Jul 29, 2012

• #5

Actually, I should verify that: I won't be doing the Hayabusa chest, but instead will be doing something that I will reveal at a later time. The colors may change as well, but other than that, everything will be the same.

 

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SergantTinkers

Jr Member

• Jul 29, 2012

• #6

Moving on to actual pep work: For you VERY new members, the only program that is NECESSARY is Pepakura Designer. However, I like to use Pepakura Viewer for when making the actual pep models. I personally believe it makes it much easier in the long run when putting the model together simply because of the ease of the program. But I digress.

When actually building the pep models, a very common practice and HIGHLY useful one is to score your folds before cutting out your pep pieces. There are various ways to do this, ranging from using a pen and a ruler to using the dull side of a knife. What have used with great success is this thingy:

I actually have no friggin' idea what this is! I just found it lying around in my house, and decided to put it to good use. It really looks like the spur to a cowboy boot to me. Any ideas on what it is?

 

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SergantTinkers

Jr Member

• Jul 29, 2012

• #7

Now for some real ingenuity of mine: When pepping pieces, they are held together by the tabs, obviously. However, some of these tabs can be quite small. I have noticed this mostly in LD variants:

To solve this, I simply cut a little farther away from the tab's edge to make a bigger surface. Not every piece do I do this to, but only to the ones that are made up of small tabs (I.E. the LD Biceps):

This is pretty simple, but can really help in pep work in the long run.

 

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SergantTinkers

Jr Member

• Jul 29, 2012

• #8

Here is the progress I have so far. I intend to have both shoulder permutatioins and at least half of the helmet completed by the end of next weekend. The darker pieces have been partially hardened, which I will explain later.

 

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TheRabbit

Jr Member

• Jul 29, 2012

• #9

Nice updates! Armor is looking good so far. Why did you choose to go with low def models?

 

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MuffinMICHI

New Member

• Jul 30, 2012

• #10

Hey SergantTinkers,
Your work looks really great so far.
...and I dont' want to crizicize your ingenuity but you can change the size of the flaps in the pepakura desiger before printing it out
Just click on "Edit Flaps" or use "Ctrl+F" then go to "change shape" and there you can adjust the hight of the flaps (I would at least use 4mm ... then it's pretty easy to pep it together)

 

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SergantTinkers

Jr Member

• Jul 30, 2012

• #11

@MuffinMICHI: I did not know that. That should help me a bunch, so thanks! That's what I made this thread for!

@TheRabbit: The reason I am going with low def models is because this is my first suit. This is really going to be more of a learning process for me than anything. What I will do is add detailing to the suit parts later on, which I will go into detail when I get to it. Actually, Spitfire's thread is where I got the idea for what I plan on doing.

 

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vargatom

Member

• Jul 30, 2012

• #12

I think that tool is used in cooking, for cutting dough or pastry

 

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SergantTinkers

Jr Member

• Jul 30, 2012

• #13

Really? Huh.

 

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Assassin3698

Member

Midwest Regiment

• Jul 30, 2012

• #14

Great job so far and its a pretty good idea overall. And about the flaps, I also make them a little bit bigger for a little extra hold. Can't wait to see the Helm and Torso...Good Luck!

 

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Athena Rose

New Member

• Jul 31, 2012

• #15

Your suit looks really good so far, keep it up! Designing my first build too, haven't gotten as far as you though..

@MuffinMICHI: Thanks! Also didn't know that

 

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SergantTinkers

Jr Member

• Aug 3, 2012

• #16

So, I finally finished the shoulders today, and now I just have the torso and the helmet to pep! Here's the security shoulder:

This wasn't an absolutely fantastic pep, but that's completely fine, since the smooth shape of the piece means the entire thing has to be covered in bondo. Here's a look at the worst part I pepped:

The reason this was so hard was because of the shape of the piece. Because of the curvature of the piece, it severely coils as you make it. Take a look at the piece, and notice the support beams inside the model. They're there for a reason!

 

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SergantTinkers

Jr Member

• Aug 3, 2012

• #17

One idea I tried to execute was making the biceps with the Mark VI shoulder permutations. The idea was to use the pauldrons as support for the actual permutations. This had some successes and some mistakes. The Security shoulder worked with this method very nicely:

The pauldron fit in with the permutation perfectly. However, the EVA shoulder did not work out as planned, and not just because I made it the wrong size:

The obvious problem here is how the pauldron very obviously sticks out from underneath the EVA shoulder. Another problem the pauldron caused was how the pauldron made the shoulder stick out way too far to look any good, though you can't really tell from the photo. So, I remade the left bicep intended for permutations. This time, I also made the EVA shoulder the right size! Here's the picture of the two:

 

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SergantTinkers

Jr Member

• Aug 15, 2012

• #18

So, I finally finished pep work about a week ago, and couldn't be happier! I feel the models turned out great:

As you can see, my helmet looks a little different. That's because I decided to change to the EOD helmet. While that must seem unusual, I will say the reason I changed to the EOD helmet was for a few reasons.

First of all, the EOD helmet is my most favorite helmet in Halo 3. Truth be told, I had originally planned on using this helmet early on when I was merely practicing pepping documents. I had made the EOD helmet at this time, but made it too large. So, in order to prevent discouragement, I just decided to make a different helmet (Keep in mind, I had yet to decide on what my Spartan would look like).

Second, I believe the Rogue helmet is not very anatomically correct. What I mean is that the helmet does not have enough room for a human chin, while being proportionate to the rest of the body at the same time. So, I didn't make the helmet.

 

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SergantTinkers

Jr Member

• Aug 15, 2012

• #19

Now that I'm finished with pep work, I'll show you what I used as glue:

You can buy one of these packs for $1.50 at Home Depot. It is actually really reliable and strong, and has withstood resin work very well.



Anyways, yesterday I started resin work, applying two coats of resin to each piece. Before doing so, I added the support beams to the suit:

These were made out of spare cardboard, and worked very well. The boots were a little different, though:

What I did here was pep most of the bottom of each boot. This ensured the bottom wouldn't warp, and was easily removed. I also stuck a popsicle stick in each boot entrance, though I didn't take a picture of this.

 

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SergantTinkers

Jr Member

• Aug 15, 2012

• #20

An important thing to remember about resin work is its ability to warp suit pieces. A way to prevent this is to not coat the entire piece in resin at one time, but rather do it in segments. For most of the pieces, I coated half of it at a time. However, for the helmet and torso, I did it in thirds. The second coat for each piece can be done all at once, however.

I will have another update soon. I just have to finish hardening the pieces.