CEREAL'S - Mk VI Comprehensive WIP **(With Videos)**

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Cereal Killl3r

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Ladies and Gentlemen… For my next trick… I will make a Mk VI Spartan… APPEAR!

With all the armor choice out there since the release of ODST and the glorious Reach, I still find myself drawn to the Mk VI. Whenever I hear the name “Master Chief”, “Halo” or “Who could kick Chuck Norris’s ass?” the Mk VI is the image that pops into my mind. Maybe it is because we have been through so much together over the years with all the late nights and tired mornings killing Covenant and Flood scum, we have now formed a special bond. Or maybe it’s like your first car... It may not have been the best machine in the world, but it was special because it was “yours”. An even further stretch, it’s like asking someone “Who’s the Captain of the Enterprise?” (The answer by the way is clearly Piccard!)

Anyways, I digress…

Now to the business at hand; This will be a “comprehensive WIP” what I mean by that is that there will be complete coverage from A – Z, no stone left un-turned so to speak, there will be no rushing through a process and all of a sudden I’m unexpectedly leaps and bounds ahead of where I was in the previous post, everything will be covered with an explanation and documented with a nauseating amount of pictures (I doubt that people around here will suddenly get sick of looking at and critiquing pictures) I guess at the end of it all what I am trying to do is provide “From my perspective” the process of building a complete set of armour with some personal touches along the way.

First of all, I don't plan on bouncing around all over the place with armour scattered about the house. I plan to pep a piece and take it to the point of painting, then and only then will I pep out another piece. So it's a "Wet, Lather, rinse, repeat" approach.

So, here we go...
Let the pepping begin!

Surprise, surprise... I started with a Helm!... No real shocker there!
Just some quick info about the pep file:
- Pep MK6 Flyingsquirl HD
- Build Height = 280mm

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Next, a coat of Poly resin and a generous coat of rondo.
 
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HAH!! I like your style! Already anticipating the next update :D (I feel the same way about the MK VI, btw)
 
Pep looks great. I'm looking forward to seeing how this come together. You now have 1 subscriber :cool
 
Thank you all for joining in! What I can promise you is that this will indeed be a bumpy ride! But I will do my best to make it a fun one ;)

Resin coat... done!

I've crudely attached a temporary face shield for the sole purpose of not making a huge freaking mess when rondoing this sucker. My approach to this project will not be as simple as throwing on some bondo and smoothing out the existing shape for detail. I enjoy making life miserable for myself, and thus I will be cutting into the helmet to enhance the details that I am not happy with.

I anticipate a great deal of hellish fury in the form of quickly gummed up sandpaper, when coming into contact with all of that hot glue that is under the paper layer, but hey... if a job isn't tedious and painfully problematic, then where's the fun!

I have always had some personal preferences with regards to the helmet pep detail for the Mk VI;

1. The rounded shape of the brim, I have always preferred it in its more angular rendering (kind of like the Halo 3 Legendary game pack head) . So that is what I will do once the rondo is dry.

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2. The detail that is on the upright ports on the back of the helmet are quite small and barely noticeable when pepped out. I plan on punching up the detail on these ports once the piece is hardened.

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I will be doing the first rondo coat inside the helmet today, will post again once that is complete.
 
Some beautiful pep work there Cereal. For the record, I'm really looking forward to this. I love step by step builds with details on everything. I haz one question tho. Idk why, but every time I see a build I have this overwhelming urge to ask people how tall they are and you're no exception. I request your height information please! It always helps me with an idea for scaling each and every piece. Best to learn from other people's mistakes and make less yourself, right? XD Thanks man. Keep trucking forward! I wanna see this done.
 
Some beautiful pep work there Cereal. For the record, I'm really looking forward to this. I love step by step builds with details on everything. I haz one question tho. Idk why, but every time I see a build I have this overwhelming urge to ask people how tall they are and you're no exception. I request your height information please! It always helps me with an idea for scaling each and every piece. Best to learn from other people's mistakes and make less yourself, right? XD Thanks man. Keep trucking forward! I wanna see this done.

What I will be doing is posting the name of the pep file that i will be using for each piece and also the build height/width/length (which ever is more applicable) in mm.
As for me, I stand 6 feet and weigh 215lbs.
 
What I will be doing is posting the name of the pep file that i will be using for each piece and also the build height/width/length (which ever is more applicable) in mm.
As for me, I'm 6' 215lbs.

Yeah I saw that, thank you XD That's why you're height comes in handy. If they fit you well and your body type is similar to mine I can double check my scales before I print by just calculating the difference. Thanks man!
 
First layer of Rondo... done!

After waiting impatiently for 30 minutes or so the rondo layer had cured up well enough that I could start hacking this poor helmet apart.

Here is the modification that I was talking about for the angle of the brim. I have always felt that being that the entire suit is so angular that the rounded brim always felt out of place. Now by no means am I crapping on Bungie or the spectacular projects that have come to pass on this forum, this is just a personal choice and what feels right to me.

Who the hell am I kidding, in 3 weeks from now when it happens to be the most inconvenient moment, I will probably want to change it back!

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Here are some of the other modifications that I will be doing to the helm. I will be using these pictures as "points of reference" to see how much effect the changes have as they come.

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Oh and one more thing...

If at any point someone feels compelled to chime in and say "Hey Cereal... What the hell are you doing to that poor helmet? Put the rotary tool down and check yourself!!!" or anything else for that matter, your input is always welcome and appreciated!

Cheers,
More to come...
 
Things are looking awesome so far! It's nice to see someone who will actually show all the steps for everything, I was going to do it to my next build but I've had so many delays already :( But keep up the excellent work!
 
Cereal !!! Welcome to the 405th.
Nice to see another Canadian making a Mk VI.

I'm excited to see an awesome 1st post along with excellent quality progress photos.

I have to agree with ShadoKat and Thorn. I can't wait for the next progress report AND you have a nother +1 subcription.

Cheers!
 
Things are looking awesome so far! It's nice to see someone who will actually show all the steps for everything, I was going to do it to my next build but I've had so many delays already :( But keep up the excellent work!

Thank you, I've been a member of the 405th for almost 2 years. I've spent most of that time reading and searching all of the different and great information that is available here. I found at times it could be somewhat difficult to find. At the end of the day what I am trying to do is put an answer to all the questions that are frequently asked in one place. (to the best of my ability that is) :)

Pep looks great. I'm looking forward to seeing how this come together. You now have 1 subscriber :cool

Welcom Thorn,
I've been following your progress also... Fantastic work and it keeps getting better and better! A pleasure to have you along for the ride.

HAH!! I like your style! Already anticipating the next update :D (I feel the same way about the MK VI, btw)

Thanks, My goal here is not just to create a place of reference for learning and ideas, It should be fun and make you laugh too... Like a TV Sitcom, but with far less budget.

Cereal !!! Welcome to the 405th.
Nice to see another Canadian making a Mk VI.

I'm excited to see an awesome 1st post along with excellent quality progress photos.

I have to agree with ShadoKat and Thorn. I can't wait for the next progress report AND you have a nother +1 subcription.

Cheers!

Hey Longshot, I have to admit that I've read your entire build thread at least a few times over the last year and a bit, once again fantastic work my friend! Like I said before, it has taken some extra work on top of an already busy daily schedule to figure out what I was going to make this build thread about, what it's theme was going to be. I know it will be some extra work going forward too, but if this helps out even just a few people along the way of their 1st or even 3rd build, then it was worth the work!
Happy to have you along!
Cheers.
 
Your outlook on "going forward" is very similar to the outlook that I have. Stay with it, I have a feeling that this thread can be epic and inspirational.
I have to ask, what camera are you using? The sharpness is very good.

:)
 
WOW cereal, this is looking great so far! I amloving the details you are doing/going to be doing to the helmet. I like your approach of how you are builing the suit :) I cant wait to see more. And i have already subscribed lol
 
Your outlook on "going forward" is very similar to the outlook that I have. Stay with it, I have a feeling that this thread can be epic and inspirational.
I have to ask, what camera are you using? The sharpness is very good.

:)

Thanks, I am using a Nikon D90. I love the pictures it takes. It'll come in handy when this build project is all done!

WOW cereal, this is looking great so far! I amloving the details you are doing/going to be doing to the helmet. I like your approach of how you are builing the suit :) I cant wait to see more. And i have already subscribed lol

Welcome Mstruvmgc! Glad to have you. Thanks! I'm trying to give this build as much detail as possible along with some are personal preferences that hopefully work out well!
 
Ok, Some progress!

It's amazing how I know that I've put in a lot of work... but it looks like so little!!!

I've been spending time roughing in some of the added details and improving upon the overall shape of the helmet. Figure I'll just let the pictures do the talking until there is something useful for me to say.

I've changed the text in the images to BLUE, figure its easier on the eyes!

Here's the smooting off of the end of the brim
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Here is the new angle that I wanted to achieve, just to give a little more feel for depth.
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Rear port detail added in.
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Some of the back detail that is being added, this took some measuring and a steady hand with the rotary tool and files.
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Time for a beer!
As always, comments and input welcome!
More to come...
 
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Update...

I had painted the upper half of the helmet black, just so I could get an idea of the high and low spots. Also did some sanding and spot filling. Many pieces of sandpaper later, you can barely tell that the it was ever painted black to begin with.

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I spent some time messing around, I had thought of adding damage directly to the shell of the helmet rather than relying on paint effects alone. For some extra depth, ended up trying out some different damage and wear techniques and came up with some interesting results.

I am also starting to change the overall shape of the "ear pieces" The new shape and size is going to follow the lower of the two lines.

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Here is some of the battle damage that I've been playing around with.

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The way I'm going to control the bondo when I apply it, is I've taped off and cut out the overall shape that I want to get. I've also roughed up the existing piece so the bondo will have a firm hold when applied.

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When the bondo starts to cure I begin to remove the tape, cutting along the edge with a razor blade. I find that you can get a lot of the shaping work done easily if you take advantage of bondo while it's in the "rubbery" stage.

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Doing a little bit of cleanup work

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Done for now, this is as far as I will take it until the whole helmet is ready for fine detailing.

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Done for now, next will be detailing the remaining bits for the back of the helmet.
As always, comments welcome!
 
That battle damage will look great! the rest is getting really smooth and your attention to detail is amazing.
 
That battle damage will look great! the rest is getting really smooth and your attention to detail is amazing.

Thank you.
As far as the detail goes, if I was to just leave somthing "as is" when I really would have perfered it another way... It would stare me in the face, haunting me every time I looked at it!
 
Ahmen lol
Everything is looking great cereal :) i am loving the details and explanations on what it is your doing :)
 
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