**Carpathia's Mk VI Armor: Master Chief Going into Cryostasis!

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I am diggin the supports your adding to the armor. I like em a lot. And man that is an ingenious way to do the boots. I was trying to figure out what i was gonna do with mine and i might just have to use this method. I love it :) all credit to you of course
 
You're doing exactly what I was gonna do with the foam for my halo boot. I Just didn't figure how I wanted to attack everything to my boots yet. Nice job!
 
Another quick update. I did a test fit on my boots with the harness installed and everything taped into place, which by the way is working out wonderfully, but there was one snag. When I walked around, the hardened part of the boots were making contact with the floor, creating the dreaded "hoof" sound as I walked. I decided to add another layer of foam to the underside of the boot, but in a special way. A long while back, I was looking at reference photos of the boots, when I started to wonder what the boot treads looked like, so I jumped into Halo 3, died, and took this pic...

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So, after making the decision to add another layer of foam to the boot, I went back to this pic and this is what came of it...

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It's likely that no one will ever actually see the bottom of my boot, but I just thought this would be kind of fun to do. The tread bits are glued on with the same "Shoe Goo" that was used to attach the soles to the armored bits. I will likely have to hit the bottom with a bit of plastidip to hide the bondo overrun from when I smoothed out the boots, and these parts may eventually need replacement due to wear and tear, but we'll see.
 
Nicely done! I was thinking about fiberglassing the bottom of my boot pieces and putting foam on the bottom.. I just don't know how well the fiberglassed bottom will hold up to being walked on.
 
Thanks everyone. I've got one more for you all. After this one, it may be a few days/weeks until my next update. I'm moving starting tomorrow, hopefully nothing gets lost/damaged in the move. It's a short move, only an hour away, so I don't expect anything to get ruined.

Anyway, got more work on the boots done tonight. They're pretty much ready for a primer layer, but I've got to get some primer and money's a little tight until I get paid (new job). So, here they are...

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And here is a few pics showing how I keep the armor cover secured. I took a few 1" wide strips of steel, cut an angled groove into them and secured the cover to the boot by hooking the groove onto a bolt.

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I know it's not a perfect fit, but it allows a bit of flex and movement when I walk around...

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I also took a quick shot of the boot with my shin armor on (sorry about the quality of this shot, not sure what happened)...

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The boot looks a tad on the large size, but I also have somewhat large feet. When I look at my Master Chief figure, on the other hand, his boots look a little large too, so I think I'm fine on scale (too late now anyway).

That's it for now. Almost time to start focusing on the thighs.
 
I think the boots look fantastic. Great way to attach the top armor piece. I might use that lol.
Sizing looks good to me. :) good luck with the move, may all your stuff be protected.
 
I've got a small update. Now that I'm fairly settled into my new place, I have had some time to work on my armor. I managed to finish up applying bondo to my boots, they are now ready for paint. It was so warm out today, that my first batch of bondo, even though I added less hardener than normal, hardened up faster than I could get it onto the piece. So my second batch had only a drop of hardener in it and looked as though I scooped the bondo straight from the can and spread it onto the boots with no hardener at all.

Then I moved onto my thighs, and got a layer of bondo on both.

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As you can probably tell, I only managed to get one sanded, and I still have a little more work to do. I'll have to add a second layer of bondo to a portion of the sanded thigh.

I will say this, after I applied the bondo, I "Cereal Sculpted" them. If anyone does not know what that is, check out Cereal Killl3r's video thread. Here is the link...

http://www.405th.com/showthread.php...-Chief-**-A-Step-By-Step-Tutorial-(My-Way)-**

It is WELL worth a look. His method of working the bondo while it is still curing saves a TON of time in the sanding stage.

Also, during the last week, and before I got all my armor supplies to the new place, I found a little time to put these together...

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They are the medium definition gauntlets from Flying_Squirl. I attempted the high def gauntlets, but they were not agreeing with me. I'll add what details I need as I go with these.

Well, everything survived the move, so it's on with the build!
 
YAY! i am happy to hear that everything survived the move :)
Thighs lookin good too.
I built those guantlets the first time, but they were to tiny lol
Keep up the good work
 
Nice job! You know.. Those are actually the forearms I used too! I just added the detail with plastic from a sign.
 
This rather large update is thanks to Macattack. I saw in his MkVI thread that he was using a different method to attach the front sections of his boots to the main body. I originally wanted to do something like this, but was unable to find the type of buckles that would work. Well, Mac pointed me in the right direction and yesterday I found these...

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These center button quick release buckles are the perfect size to fit into the side of the boot armor. So, thankfully disassembling the hook/bolt system, I set out to install these buckles today.

First, I took the female end...
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...and snipped off the part that where strapping would normally connect...
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Then, I traced the profile out on the side of the boot...
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...and cut out the corresponding sections...
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...then tacked the female end in with a few drops of hot glue.
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After that, having learned a little from Cereal Killl3r, I boxed off an area surrounding the buckle from the inside...
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...and poured in some thin, quick-setting rondo...
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...and when the rondo started to harden and heat up, I removed the blocking and what hot glue I could...
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When I removed the masking tape from the outside, I found that the rondo had been masked nicely...
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...so I applied some bondo to the outside and started to shape it up a bit...
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Now it was time to connect the front end to the male end of the buckles. Originally I was going to attach the male side to the inside of the armor, but I realized that it would line up better if it was inset into the armor itself (much like the female end is)...
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...so I traced the profile and cut out the corresponding part again...
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Holding the front part in place, I tacked the male end on with some hot glue and carefully removed the male end from the female end...
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...then I added some more hot glue to secure it...
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That is as far as I got tonight, as I worked until sundown. Tomorrow, I will apply some bondo to the interior and exterior of the front armor piece in order to better secure it into place.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the way this is turning out so far. And it looks a heck of a lot better than it did before. Once I get the front piece bondoed, it will be difficult to tell that the buckle is attached the way it is. So, thanks Mac!
 
I love how that is built right in. It looks very professional, even before it gets cleaned up. I am bookmarking this for future reference. Thanks far sharing and keep up the good work!!!
 
Thanks for the compliments. Seems like I've got a very few dedicated followers.

Another quick update. I got a little more work done on the boots. The main portion of the boots are ready for a coat of primer, which I intend to do tomorrow. The front attachments are in progress and nearly complete as well. Here is how far I got tonight with both boots...

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I even tried one on and walked around my house with it, up and back down the stairs and what not. I'm happy to say that it held together nicely...

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Just a few more days of this and I'll be able to completely focus on my thighs.
 
That is a brilliant way to take care of the boots, very nice work!! Thanks for sharing. The build as a whole is shaping up very nicely.

-Matt
 
Very nice work! The work on the boots is very smart and I always like the idea of making your own shoe instead of hot-gluing pieces to some old nike shoes lol.

Keep it up and can't wait to see more.:)
 
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