Verdan's Mk VI build

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Face-palm.

Yes, i'd been stirring the bondo in plastic cups, causing problems for myself. I can't believe how much your photos look so similar to my own work. Sounds like i might have to go back over some areas with another layer of properly mixed bondo then. Luckily i have another day off work this week and a couple of free weekends coming up.

Thanks glasscutter.

No problem, glad I could help. If you can find a alternate to the bondo brand glazing/spot putty it will fill in the pits etc.. Cereal Kill3r has a great tip in his YouTube channel tutorials also. Put the Body filler on in sections. Then while its in a thick putty stage, use a razor blade or sculpting tools to work and shape it. Working it before fully curing is so much easier than sanding after its hard. If you haven't seen it yet, this thread might be a big help for UK alternates: http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/10422-Uk-Product-Variants
 
Thanks for all the tips, I've spent a few days working on the helmet mostly. I've now gotten to a point where I've got the visor installed and just need to tidy it up.

Things I've learnt (and hope others can avoid my mistakes):
1. The helmet is meant to be symmetrical. Installing the visor only made this even more obvious. I'd suggest better pep work or more even resin curing would have helped in my case.
2. Milliputt takes time to cure and needs something to grip to. Using a Dremel to rough up the surface helped give it something to hold on to, but poking it too soon (6-8hrs) only meant it breaks up and came off in one lump. Leave it alone and it'll soon harden.

So without further comment, here are the pictures of the visor in place. I'm going to put some more Milliputt around the visor now it's secured in place.
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Well, when all else fails...cheat :)

I hate imperfections, and having spend more time and money on sanding and scraping than I'd like to admit to, I had an idea. Having re-read Sean Bradley's build log, the use of textured paint made great sense, since it doesn't require a smooth surface to give good results.

Duly I went to the local hardware store and although I couldn't get the same style of texture as Sean, I got a very gritty paint and went to work on the helmet. After only two coats of textures, and two coats of primer on top, I've got a helmet that I'd almost be happy to wear. Now I can see the final defects to repair I will get them fixed at the weekend and get a set of photos up for your pleasure.

As for the rest of the suit, I've only really looked at the chest piece and the boots. Both are at a stage where I just need to get on with them and spend some time finishing them off. I will definitely have to rebuild the shin and shoulder pieces as they are far too big, but foolishly I bought far too much fibreglass and resin so have plenty to finish off the suit.

Notes for newbies like myself: when using fibreglass for the model, ensure the FG goes into all the corners and covers every face of the model. While scraping away at mine I've found so many holes behind the card stock and had to then fill them up. I don't know how many more holes I've not found, so only hope they I don't put on the suit, walk into something and then cause a massive hole to appear.

Onwards and upwards :)
 
The helmets really rocking man. I love how alot of people are using classic gold visors. Keep up the good work.
 
As promised, i managed to get to work on the helmet today and i'm really happy with the results.
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Without any additional sanding, and just using the texture paint and primer, i managed to get this result:
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Plus one for more for fun
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For anyone thinking there is a shade of green to it, yes there is, the texture colour was green, but with so much primer below and above this paint layer, and finishing it ouf with a coat of clear, the green doesn't show through. It might not be "right" to use primer as a colour, but i like the result, plus i'm scared to paint over it in case i just make it worse rather than better. For now, i'll finish off the rest of the pieces in the same manner and then consider repainting another colour later.

My holiday to America is now only two weeks away, which means I can't really be going spending money on parts just now, but was thinking about buying stuff while i'm in the states/Canada that cant be bought in the UK. Any suggestions of what i might want to get? For now, I'll start looking into the electronics etc ready for purchasing and fixing in next month once i return.
 

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USA, USA, USA!!! If only I was still on holiday :(
The trip was great, starting off with a day at MegaCon and giving me a great chance to see the effort some people put into their own work and giving me a sense of the size of some of these things. Having never been to a Con before i didn't know what to expect, but now I know just how big the places are and how much walking around is involved.

Back to the build, I've just gotten a new work bench so i won't be sat on the floor and spray painting my carpet any more hopefully, but that will take a while to set-up, so for the moment I've padded out the helmet and will look into the electronics and visor a bit more. Part of me is really disappointed that the original pep-work was so poor that the whole thing is warped and the visor doesn't sit straight, but then again, it is my first ever build and I'm not re-doing the whole thing just for bit of cosmetics.

The padding is just 30mm thick foam bought from Dunelm in the UK for about £6 a sheet 560mm x 1000mm. I've then used spray adhesive to stick on some fabric I bought from the same place for <£10, just to give it a black finish and nicer feel. There is now so little room for electronics that any plans for a HUD have gone out the window and I'll also have to trim the visor to give a bit more room inside.

Anyway, onto the pictures:
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I like the gold visor and paint look. Any problems with getting the cloth to stick on the foam using the spray adhesive?

Not really, I saw this video a while back and it seemed to work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKGaWHMTgyM&list=LLHNYKobr4867wY-04MB9h4g&index=7

I bought the "heavy duty" version as it was the only one on the shelf and it works really well, the only issue is it comes out of the can like silly string so there is no control of where it goes and it's a nightmare to get off of your skin, gloves mandatory.

One note to others though, I tried to use one bit of cloth from one side, then a second on the other to hide the seams. Using the adhesive just means the cloth sticks to each other and the pad is now much more stiff, not an issue in my case, but worth considering.
 
Firstly, sorry for the necro and long time since my last post, but i'm currently trying to apply for my professional membership at work, so had to take little side step from this.

The good news however is that I've now 'completed' the helmet :) I know, it's never going to be perfect, but for a first attempt and from a bad Pep, I don't think i've done too badly.
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You can see the light bleed around my neck, which should be softened when I put on the under suit, but I'll also adjust the padding I put in:
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The LEDs are actually a set of blue and white (2 each) set in a group. Initially this gave a very bright light (blinding almost) so i used a CD case to diffuse it, but that didn't work. Then I tried cold-glue, then superglue (eats away at the surface of cold-glue) then finally a thin coat of primer. By this point the whole thing looked a nit naff, so I used the black part of the CD case to create a neat circle around each light and shaped it to fit, almost. I'm not happy with it so might try again. The result is a soft purple light which isn't blinding and I'm rather happy with it.

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Finally, the dual visor. For this i used the standard method others have, but since the original Pep was so poor, the helmet is not symmetrical and I had to eye everything in. In the end I bought three visors, and used one as a testbed for fitting, cutting etc. and you can see the two visors don't perfectly fit the helmet or each other. I'm going to use a bit more putty and try to smooth the gap, but for now I'm happy calling it "ventilation".

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So all that remains is to find a switching mechanism for the electronics, mount a couple of fans, adjust the padding and tidy the whole thing up before moving on to the chest piece. Hopefully once my professional membership thing is done in a couple of months i'll be able to focus on this a lot more.
 

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Nothing wrong with Necroing your own post if you are posting things about it :)
Helmet looks great!
Do we get to see more soon?
 
With the helmet put to one side for the moment until finances allow the next few steps, I've moved back onto the chest piece. I have plans to make a storage crate for the helmet but for the moment it's wrapped up in foam sheet as I'm not going through replacing the visor again if it gets scratched.

I finally took the plunge and cut the chest in half. I know most other people have done this before bondo, but what can I say, I'm learning from my mistakes. Cutting it with the dremel I soon realised why people do it before bondo (cutting disc kept getting stuck on all the "reinforcement" I'd put in place) and there were too many small angles to get into and the hacksaw didn't help. Having cut the bottom braces and mostly cut the top, I carefully opened the chest, cracking the bondo and stretching the firbeglass, causing the piece to break in two along the lines I'd made. Well almost. There was one small break on the neckline which I'll have to fix.

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Next steps: After repairing the break I'll have to trim the whole thing to fit my body. Either I'm rubbish at measuring or I've put on weight, but so far both the helmet and the chest piece have come out too small. I think the dremel should allow for me to cut away at the edges and still have enough material to a) hold together and b) look ok.

After that I'll get the whole thing sanded down to a fine finish and fit the two parts together. I've not decided which method to use yet so will get that some thought over the next week or so.
 

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I was fed up of a sore back from working on the floor. The dust sheets around the room were form PoundLand and held up by 3MCommand tape.

The desk was £45 on ebay, but be warned that the metal is cheap and a lot of my parts needed "gentle persuasion" with the assistance of Mr Clamps and Mr Tappy.
 
Small update: I've just taken a final look at the chest piece and come to the conclusion I will have to bin it and start again. The sides are just too small that even when I cut them down I can;t actually breath. As my ribcage expands, the piece doesn't I know breathing is a small price to pay, but with all the other small imperfections in the Pep that i was annoyed with anyway I figure that starting again might not be a bad move. Having bought so much Fibreglass and resin it would be a shame to waste it.

In the meantime, not being able to justify the cost of actual hardcases/Pelican boxes etc. I have decided to order the Really Useful Boxes 35L Black, and then stuff it with foam padding. I may also do something with the outside, but undecided as yet.
 
Boxes arrived :)

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The sides are just 25mm foam wrapped in black cloth, but it securely seats the helmet and will avoid all scratches and "drop" damage. I'm also very impressed with the boxes as they are £16 (~$25) each, less impressed by the delivery driver who had put two mud-print shoe marks on the package and damaged one of the boxes.

Yes I plan to make boxes for all the armour components as I build them. It will make transporting them so much easier.

Edit:
I've just finished the box. Thought I'd try a video
http://youtu.be/1D5F5t8XA3A?list=UUHNYKobr4867wY-04MB9h4g

Unfortunately this will probably be my last post for a while since my boss has agreed to sponsor me for my professional membership, and the interview is in two months, so I'd better get on with that...Fun time over...for now
 

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Sorry to hear about your chest mate, hope the next one works better :)

oooo i like the box idea :)
 
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