Halo: Combat Evolved Mk. V Build... so far (Pic Heavy)

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Looking good, hope you make your deadline, I dont think I'm going to make mine, but I am still going to try, got another marathon day planned on sunday. Here's to hoping for the both of us.
 
Appreciate all the support guys, really. It's a huge motivational factor to keep on workin' and posting.

@ Jocko03
Looking good, hope you make your deadline, I dont think I'm going to make mine, but I am still going to try, got another marathon day planned on sunday. Here's to hoping for the both of us.

I completely feel your pain. There's just a little over a month left and I'm barely half way done! Wish ya luck in your build! I plan on a marathon day on Monday. Crossin' my fingers!
 
wow, this is quite accurate! and i love to see that you are using some new methods. great job cant wait to see more
 
Appreciate all the support guys, really. It's a huge motivational factor to keep on workin' and posting.

@ Jocko03


I completely feel your pain. There's just a little over a month left and I'm barely half way done! Wish ya luck in your build! I plan on a marathon day on Monday. Crossin' my fingers!

Just keep pushing. I am probably neck and neck with you on my suits progress. I have everything pep'd and fiberglassed except the Ab plate/ low back plate.

I decided to do mine in stages all at once, as in everything is pep'd at once, then fiberglassed, then bondo'd etc. I've decided that I'm NOT going to worry about electronics yet, I want to at least have the suit painted and ready by H:CEA launch. This way, if I manage to finish early, I can add them with what time I might have left. Otherwise, at least the suit would be 90% done.

I'm not sure what your schedule is like, but if you keep at this pace I think you'll make it, just know what details you can afford to add later, I think. Lol, you've got the most important (as in, what most people will look at) done, and thats the helmet and upper body.

Good luck!!
 
Good luck man. School's been a @$%#& lately so i haven't gotten much done on my suit. I know I probably won't finish on time but I sure hope you do.
 
@ Revenant1988

I decided to build each piece at a time because I knew I'd get bored/frustrated if I did every piece in stages. This way, at least for me, keeps things a little interesting. Also, I've decided to go the foam route for the rest of the suit (i hope!). This is my first suit so I want try as many methods as I can to decide which I like best for mk VI. But, I only build this way because it's how i keep myself going. I do understand the benefit of doing a suit in stages as you recommended and once I mainstream my processes, I'll probably end up doing it that way as well. I appreciate the support/advice and hope that we both make the deadline!

@ Bubbenstein

School has also been a @$%#& for me. With only a month left (conservatively) I only have weekends left to work. Luckily, have the next few days off for fall break but the preasure is on!

Anywho, thanks to the rest for the support. I really appreciate it!!!

As far as progress, the chest piece is almost done. I have painted the base coat and will finish tomorrow. I decided for the hinge construction. They were the first pieces I added to the chest plate.

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[/url] PA090258 by Fudz0732011, on Flickr[/IMG]

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[/url] PA090259 by Fudz0732011, on Flickr[/IMG]

I haven't cut the armor yet, but I'm pretty confident it'll work. I've decided on magnets for the under arm struts to seal the chest piece shut when I'm wearing (more Pics to come!)

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[/url] PA090260 by Fudz0732011, on Flickr[/IMG]

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[/url] PA110262 by Fudz0732011, on Flickr[/IMG]

So, more progress hopefully tomorrow. After this, I being the ab plate/belt and the cod piece.
 
@ Revenant1988

I decided to build each piece at a time because I knew I'd get bored/frustrated if I did every piece in stages. This way, at least for me, keeps things a little interesting. Also, I've decided to go the foam route for the rest of the suit (i hope!). This is my first suit so I want try as many methods as I can to decide which I like best for mk VI. But, I only build this way because it's how i keep myself going. I do understand the benefit of doing a suit in stages as you recommended and once I mainstream my processes, I'll probably end up doing it that way as well. I appreciate the support/advice and hope that we both make the deadline!



.

Hey, to each his own ;) I would agree that it is getting a bit tedious doing them all in stages. I was SO FREAKIN happy when I was done pepping everything that fiberglassing was a welcome change, now I can't wait to be done with that, bleh. Just gotta hit that deadline haha.

I bought a pack of the foam floormats that you would see at a gym or garage at harbor freight for $10. I'll be using the foam to fill in some details in the chest piece to replicate the "key hole" as its referred to on the MK V chest, and some other details and inside padding. I'm also going to use it to add a couple of inches of height to the boots I'm working on. Other than that, The rest of mine is 100% fiberglass. Weather will be a factor soon. Ohio just needs to pick a temp and stick with it!

Here is a shot of mine. The ab/belt and hands I finished yesterday, but I did not update the picture.
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Alright, I managed to get a little more done. The chest piece is about 90% complete. I need to add some foamies detail and a few patches of padding on the inside to position the thing correctly when I wear it. Other than that, I start the ab plate soon. Here's a few pics.

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[/url] PA110264 by Fudz0732011, on Flickr[/IMG]

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[/url] PA110268 by Fudz0732011, on Flickr[/IMG]

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[/url] PA120277 by Fudz0732011, on Flickr[/IMG]

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[/url] PA120280 by Fudz0732011, on Flickr[/IMG]

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[/url] PA120283 by Fudz0732011, on Flickr[/IMG]

I used magnets to seal the piece once I put it on. I have VERY little range of motion when wearing the suit, a problem I plan to fix as the month progresses, but the magnets are simpler than buckles. I noticed alot of comments about the hinges. I decided to go this route because on the first chest piece attempt I used nylon strapping to united the front and back chest plates. The problem in doing that was both pieces didn't fit correctly. So, the hinges were a natural choice. A small hiccup occurred though, the glue didn't hold. So, I had to manually screw them into both chest plates. No biggie. So, with all of this complete, I tried on the suit for the first time

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[/url] PA110274 by Fudz0732011, on Flickr[/IMG]

A little stiff, but a few alterations and some padding will fit it like a glove. Hope you guys like cuz I love it! Can't wait to finish it.
 
This weekend I gave foam building a try. I took a hiatus on the ab plate and started with thigh to experiment with the foam. There are definitely some pros and cons. I do love the fact that fiberglass is no longer needed (huge money saver!). However, I'm not quite sure how to fix some of the detail problems. I'll discuss them after the pictures...

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[/url] PA160285 by Fudz0732011, on Flickr[/IMG]

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[/url] PA160288 by Fudz0732011, on Flickr[/IMG]

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[/url] PA160291 by Fudz0732011, on Flickr[/IMG]

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[/url] PA160294 by Fudz0732011, on Flickr[/IMG]

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Alright, there are a few flaws. I had some trouble with the gluing but I'll just write that off to it being my first time making foam armor. But I have been trolling around some of the other foam armor threads and see initial results close to mine. However, I then notice the huge jump in quality after painting. Is there a step I can take to fill in all the gaps and such to make the piece look better? I've thought of using bondo but the foam doesn't sand too well. Any suggestions are welcome, especially to all of you out there with some foam building experience. I appreciate the help!
 
Fudz,

I wanted to share this with you since I know your working on the ab plate (if you haven't finished already). I was having some difficulty deciding on what to do with the blue light in the Chief's low back, and I came up with a couple of options that I didn't really like.

All I could come up with was using a blue led light strip (I don't like that because the lights are spaced out and it doesn't look right to me personally, like its not solid enough) or dremel out the pattern, put a large piece of frosted plastic behind it and try to light it up from the center ( I decided against this because it would take up too much space).

Feeling defeated, I went searching online for solid led strips and found this EL wire that I had never seen before. I bought one for about $10 and I am SO freaking happy with it! Here's a shot of what it looks like in normal-low light lit up

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Amazon link http://www.amazon.com/Portable-Wire...sr_1_sc_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1318813899&sr=8-2-spell

This is NOT an led strip. It is very thin, but super flexible and self contained. The switch does ON, OFF and STROBE. It is a piece of fiber optic cable in a blue sheath. It is very bright. I tested it in convention floor lighting and it is still bright, but not obnoxiously bright if in the dark.

Hope maybe you find this useful! Sorry to take space in your thread with another pic but I didn't want you to miss this as an option.
 
@Revenant 1988

That is absolutely freakin' fanstastic. I have been fretting over this specific piece of detail for a while. Thanks so much for the insight. I'm definitely going to have to look this up. Thanks again man!!!
 
Nice work with the foam! I did the exact same thing with the pep files as a cutting template. Most of the other builds I see are free handed for some reason..... Like you said, there are pros and cons, for sure.... I like the weight and look, but I don't like the overall strength. I'll try a foam helmet for kicks when this MK V madness is done 0_o

I found that you can use some expanding foam in a can depending on how big the gap is and then cut that down with an x-acto. You can also "melt" it a bit with a heat gun or iron, but you have to be careful or the glue will come undone and mess everything up.

Check out this guy's thread, He has some awesome work in there, and great tips for every build too! The page I linked, look at the last couple of posts specifically, they should help you a bit.

http://www.405th.com/showthread.php...-Comic-Con-11/page23?highlight=mini+cell+foam

I'm using foam on the bottom of the boots, so far I've taken epoxy and bonded them to the bottom of my shoes, then I took an iron and ironed that hell out of the bottom of the foam where it meets the ground. This made the surface flat, and easier for me to spray truck bed liner on for strength. It's working out pretty good!
 
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