Noble six build work-log (Satchmo III)

WEEK #2 SUMMARY...

01) Updated/revised planning post (http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/30987-Noble-six-helmet-build-(Satchmo-III)?p=528358#post528358)
01.a) Revised armor models
01.b) Updated layout
01.c) Added schedule for primary armor pieces
01.d) Updated pepakura durations
02) Assembled right shin pepakura and completed resin/thin rondo
03) Assembled right thigh pepakura and completed resin/thin rondo
04) Assembled cod-piece pepakura
05) Assembled left bicep pepakura
06) Completed resin/thin rondo for torso

WEEK #2 DETAIL...

"Would you be so kind as to please pass the salt and pepakura?"

Lots of pepakura this week...I completed two cod-pieces, two thighs, a shin, and a bicep. Unfortunately one of the cod-pieces and one of the thighs were scale-fails (even then I'm not sure I like the size of the cod-piece I kept (see below)).

I was able to resin and apply a thin coat of rondo to the torso, thigh, and shin. The shoulders of the torso are a tad askew but I have yet to fiberglass and finish it so I think I'll be able to repair it. I'm excited to get the torso glassed and ready to be split so I can see it on (I wasn't able to wriggle into it after the rondo). The rondo in all three pieces is thin enough that they have a little give when squeezed. I think I'm going to glass to minimize weight.



I primed and filled in some bondo on the helmet. It's still not finish-smooth but it coming along. I filled in some divots around the neck-seal so it sits right when set down. I have yet to install the face-plate but I built up some rondo to be sanded down on the inside of the helmet so the gap between the face-plate and its opening will be minimized. To do this I created a reservoir around the opening made out of painters tape and filled that with rondo. I'm hoping to have the face-plate installed by or during next weekend.





I'm going to try to complete the remaining main armor pepakura this coming week. It should take about 28 man-hours to get the other shin, thigh, bicep, and two forearms done (barring a scale-fail on the forearm). Hmm...as a treat for when all those pieces are assembled I think I'll put together the hand-plates, knees, shoulders, and a pistol (that sounds about right).

That's all for now. Thanks 405th!

looks great man, fantastic work, keep it up man =D

man, great work. good luck getting all your pep done this week, I can't go as fast as you and I have a robo for assistance

great work, real clean pep work. looking forward to seeing how it all comes out

Very nice work so far Satchmo

Looking good. I can't believe you're pace, at this rate you'll finish before me.

Road Kill said:

looks great man, fantastic work, keep it up man =D

Click to expand...

DaSlacker said:

man, great work. good luck getting all your pep done this week, I can't go as fast as you and I have a robo for assistance

Click to expand...

insanetrooper said:

great work, real clean pep work. looking forward to seeing how it all comes out

Click to expand...

Swift said:

Very nice work so far Satchmo

Click to expand...

thorn696 said:

Looking good. I can't believe you're pace, at this rate you'll finish before me.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words fellows! They're very good motivators.

DaSlacker...I imagine you're not able to score the fold lines before the robo cuts the pieces out. I made the mistake of cutting first and then scoring one time and that was one time too many. Unless it can score or crease I don't think I could use a cutting machine. The 405th should host a race John Henry style to see who cuts faster, man or machine.

thorn696...Things may slow a bit when I get to bondo-ing in earnest as I'm no pro there. The pepakura pace is moderately difficult to maintain with a 45 hour work week thrown in there. Last week I was able to do it but sleep was minimal at best. If the pace is maintained though the majority of the pepakura will be complete at the end of this week which would be stellar.

As I don't want to post without bearing yield...

MID-WEEK #3 PROGRESS (MONDAY, err...into TUESDAY)...

I completed the pepakura for the first of two forearms and the first of two gungnir knees (Wikipedia taught me that Gungnir was the name of Odin's magical spear that never misses). Having finished a forearm I've now completed one of each of the primary armor components and have updated the pepakura duration table #35 planning post (http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/...358#post528358). All said I've averaged seven minutes per individual pepakura piece with a deviation of almost exactly one second up and down. Pretty consistent if you ask me.



Thanks again for the words of encouragement. Stay tight Noble Team!

I really like the thigh your using How it's even got the black part . Who's file is that ?

SIKAXIS said:

I really like the thigh your using How it's even got the black part . Who's file is that ?

Click to expand...

Please refer to my planning post (http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/30987-Noble-six-build-%28Satchmo-III%29?p=528358#post528358). In the future I suggest briefly reviewing a thread before asking questions like this. In this case a review wouldn't have taken much time (my thread is only five pages as of this post) and you would have clearly found the answer to your question on the page directly preceding this one.

MID-WEEK #3 PROGRESS (THURSDAY)...

Over the past couple of evenings I have assembled the pepakura for the second bicep and forearm as well as the security shoulder and EOD shoulder plus one of two hand-plates (logically the hand-plate was the fastest pep thus far). So far I'm averaging about an hour and a half spent on each secondary armor component (knees/shoulders/hand-plates). I've updated my planning post to include a table containing the durations for the secondary component pepakura assembly.



Primary armor components remaining to be assembled include one thigh and one shin. Projected duration to complete is 13 hours minus time gained from efficiency with model familiarity. Secondary armor components remaining to be assembled include one hand-plate and one knee. Projected duration to complete is three hours. I will complete the hand-plate and knee this evening.

As far as the remaining leg components I'm mulling over a few possible scaling concerns. I feel the thigh could be down-scaled a tad and the shin could be up-scaled (although maybe the one looks out of wack because the other is out of wack). Also, I will have to either modify or rescale/rebuild the belt and cod-piece. The front-to-back dimension with the belt is definitely too large and I feel the cup and buckle area is too big (although when it's sitting next to the other pieces it looks more correct than when not).

I'm going to hold off on the thigh and shin for tonight (I might play around with figuring out what I want to do for possible rework before continuing with the remaining parts). Also, I need a breather, sleep, and have to tackle this week's Reach LASO challenge with my little brother. He lives the next state over and it's so awesome that I can spend time with him and other far-off friends through the game...assassinating an elite from behind while a teammate distracts him is a great bonding experience.

Thanks for reading. Keep building four-oh-five! Satchmo III out.

From the looks of it, the scaling looks fine, though it's really up to you in the end. I know there are some pieces of my suit that I would probably re-do/re-scale if I were to do it over again, but I still think it will be fine. You seem to be starting off with a strong Pep base, which is always good and will surely lead to a great finished suit! I look forward to seeing it!

I also have to tackle the Weekly, I just might do it tonight also. :cool It's great that you can keep in touch with your brother through mutual pwning of the Covenant!

Satchmo III said:

Thanks for the recommendation thorn696. I'll probably look into Smooth Cast a bit down the line. It would be good to avoid toxicity but even with that I don't know if I can avoid the outdoors for sanding-sake. I like your suggestion for the back...I took a bunch of screenshots from the game today and it looks like the "rubbery" material at the back extends around and makes up the neck-seal. I'd like to replicate this but I'm not set on how to do so just yet.

I made modest headway today...cut the face-plate opening (feels like a big milestone) and applied a second layer of rondo to the inside for additional strength. I sanded down some edges a bit to test out sanding by hand and am hoping to apply and sand a coat of bondo to the outside of the helmet tomorrow.

Side project: Pepped, outer-resined, and inner-rondo'ed the mothership from Homeworld (great game from the late 20th century). The body is currently in three pieces and there's a separate piece for the main hatch. The height of the ship measures just over two feet when pieced together. When the main hatch was opened in-game it would completely detach from the body...I intend to attach it to the body with magnets. Model credit to Erick Muñoz circa 2005 I think...if anyone's interested in this or other ship models from Homeworld I've included the website I found the mothership at (http://www.ericksmodels.com/paper/models/models.html).

Click to expand...

for higara!

WEEK #3 PROGRESS SUMMARY...

01) Updated schedule in planning post (http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/30987-Noble-six-build-%28Satchmo-III%29?p=528358#post528358)
02) Assembled left bicep pepakura
03) Assembled left forearm pepakura
04) Assembled EOD shoulder pepakura
05) Assembled security shoulder pepakura
06) Assembled both gungnir knee pepakura
07) Assembled both hand-plate pepakura
08) Assembled left shin pepakura
09) Rescaled and assembled both thigh pepakura
10) Rescaled and assembled cod-piece pepakura

WEEK #3 PROGRESS DETAIL...

"When I began pepakura pwnd me...pepakura is now my [expletive removed]."

It was definitely a pepakura-focused week once again and I'm pleased to report that I was able to complete all the primary and secondary armor components (aside from the ankle-protection). After considering the sizes of the thigh and cod-piece I'd assembled previously I decided to rescale/reassemble and am quite happy with the new pieces. Starting late Friday afternoon I needed to put together one shin, two thighs, and one cod-piece...36 hours, three and a half of the Tremors movies (only the first is one is good), and Parks and Recreation seasons one and two (among other shows) later...mission accomplished.



The armory as it now stands is shown below (I am psyched!). So far only the torso and one of the shins have resin and primary rondo layers (I intend to fiberglass most things after a thin rondo layer). I can hardly wait to continue hardening the components. Hey now, is that a Spartan sleeping in my bed!?!?



A couple of miscellaneous notes...
Shortly after I started assembling the paper I stopped trying to keep the work-space neat and the refuse-paper pile started to accumulate...much to be recycled. After completing the paper-assembly I have two un-useable thighs and two un-useable cod-pieces due to scale-failure...that's roughly 24 labor-hours of unproductive time (bwah).



I will be traveling for work for the next two weeks but will be back home on the weekends so hardening will have to wait until this coming weekend. I'm not too bummed that I can't physically work on the build because a break is quite in order. I may use whatever free-time I have during the week playing around with Blender and/or developing a plan for the under-suit.

That's all for now. Thanks four oh five!

I see you got the cod pep'd, looks good. As for the pile up of unusable parts I know the feeling I have a stack of over 20 unusable part next to my desk, some of the are even in a hard formate. We'll see what you have for us next weekend. Thank for keeping us posted.

WEEK #4 PROGRESS SUMMARY...

01) Modeled the package
02) Assembled the package pepakura
03) Applied resin layer to the exterior of all components
04) Applied thin rondo layer to the interior of all components
05) Applied fiberglass to interior of one thigh
06) Continued sanding helmet

WEEK #4 PROGRESS DETAIL...

"Some things are easy, other things are hard."

While out of town this week I found time to play around with Blender and was able to produce a fairly solid data storage unit (AKA the package). When I got back on Friday I assembled the pepakura and created a thread to host the file (http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/32448-Model-portfolio-(Satchmo-III)). On Saturday I applied resin and rondo to the models exterior. Instead of pouring rondo inside I might just apply multiple layers of rondo to the outside. Although the paper support struts are strong I think I'll eventually replace them with dowels so I can access the center to sand and add lights to mimic Cortana's data-chip.



I spent around six hours or so on Saturday applying resin and rondo to all of the components I have completed. Everything has a thin layer of rondo and I glassed one of the thighs. I used cut up strips of fiberglass mat...I don't really care for it as it's tedious and messy. I'll glass the other thigh for symmetry-sake for sure but I may reassess and just go with more rondo on the other components. The images below from left to right: setting up for work, the components during work, the rondo-family so far.



In related news...
I assembled the pepakura for one boot. It's too large so I'll probably scrap it (waste of a perfectly good Sunday morning). The helmet looks the same but I cleaned up the opening a lot and continued sanding. I also picked up a couple of fans and switches from RadioShack. I planned on using some scrap fans I already had but these are only 1.5 inches by 1.5 inches so I figure they'll fit better. I'm excited to get the armor to the point where I can start messing around with things like electronics and hardware parts.



I'm out of state again starting tomorrow (Monday) until next Friday. I don't have any model work on the docket so unless someone would like to suggest something I may take just take some time this week to begin thinking about things like strapping and the under-suit.

Thank you for your interest. Keep building Spartans! Covie-lovers too, I suppose.

You're building the armour I wish files existed for before the beta came out. This really makes me want to go back and HD my armour You're doing an incredible job!
btw, What size is your foot? Maybe you don't need to throw the boot armour away ;D

Looking really good. Love how it starting to come together.

Nice build

Awesomeness, man. Pure awesomeness.

WEEK #5 PROGRESS SUMMARY...

01) Installed helmet face-plate
02) Continued sanding helmet

WEEK #5 PROGRESS DETAIL...

"Through the looking-glass."

Came back from out of town this past Thursday night. I put the armor components on hold this weekend in favor of working on the helmet. I decided to jump the gun a bit by installing the face-plate before finishing the bondo work and sanding but I made it easily removable so I can uninstall it to continue shaping now and replace it as needed later on.

I used a modified version of BLACKULA727's installation and detailing tutorial (http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/31352-Tutorial-Install-amp-Detail-your-visor). Instead of using an exacto-knife to etch the detail I used a grinding attachment on a slow-speed rotary-tool.



For mounting hardware I used two weather-pane spring-clips. I used epoxy putty to create flat, raised surfaces centered above and below the face-plate opening. The raised putty surface allowed me to install screws without penetrating the actual helmet. When the clips are closed they push the center top and bottom points of the face-plate up to the opening thus creating a pressure-fit.



I wanted to have a snug fit for the face-plate. I wasn't interested in messing around with caulking or bondo so I temporarily marked the outline of the opening on the face-plate and lined it weather-striping. When the spring-clamps are closed the face-plate is pushed to the opening and the weather-striping is squeezed between them creating the seal.



After installing the face-plate I trimmed off the material outside the opening's perimeter. The less material allows the face-plate to better conform to the opening. Since I was already cutting I decided to rough-cut the openings for the LED lights. After removing the face-plate I continued shaping and smoothing the helmet itself. I decided to fill in some of the recesses which I intend to re-cut in later. I was having trouble keeping the recesses on both sides sized the same. I think by re-cutting them later I can make them more consistent. Next time I pepakura a helmet I might simplify the model in favor of adding detail by hand.



The helmet as it sits now is shown below. It's subtle but the space outside the etched areas of the face-plate are somewhat opaque...I wire-brushed this space on the inside of face-plate to give it this different tone. This weekend I also started playing around with the wiring for the lights and fans.



Having not worked on the other armor components this weekend I've fallen a bit behind with my schedule so I'll have to revise it. I'd really like to push the completion of the helmet. To that end I picked up some foam and material for padding and a sewing machine to put it together (and for an under-suit later on).

Whew...long post, thanks for sticking in there. If anyone has any questions on the face-plate installation (or anything else) please let me know. Keep creating four-oh-five!

MESSAGE: TERMINATE.

Looking killer Satchmo! Keep it up man