(First Build) Halo Reach: Noble 6 - WIP

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Chibb

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So, after being an on-and-off lurker for a year now I've finally decided to try my hand at pepping a Halo suit. Given that Halo Reach was my favourite out of the bunch (never got the chance to play 3 or ODST though) I decided to recreate Noble 6 for an upcoming costume party in about 6 months time. I've only ever successfully pepped one suit of armor in the past (a Blood Angel from WH40K) but I'm hoping that the experience lends itself to this one and helps it come out a lot better. :$

I'll be purchasing my cardstock tomorrow and getting started immediately. I've read the tutorials already, though I think I'll reread a few when I have the time. ;)

Below I've listed my choice of pep files and cardstock: (I'll modify this list as time goes by.)

Cardstock - 180 gsm/90 lb White Bristol Board (I've called around and noone seems to know what I'm talking about when I say cardstock. I used this to good effect in my last project, but I'd like to know if anyone would recommend an alternative.)
Helmet - Reach Noble-Six Helmet by rundown
Torso - Reach Torso V3 by L3X


In the meanwhile, does anyone have any tips or pointers to share regarding this project? Rondo has caught my eye lately, but I've been having a rough time understanding its purpose. I get that it's a replacement/supplement for fibreglass though. Would anyone mind explaining it to me? I'd love to avoid touching that stuff again if I can. :eek
 
I would say that things like fiberglass ...ect are the best but foam works too, i have had bad experiences with the bondo stuff but seems to be best. Hope you get it done!
 
Once you have you're pep all folded and ready for hardening.
(Step 1) give it 2 coats Resin on the out side then 1 coat resin on the inside.

(Step 2) From there a light coat of Rondo on the inside. This will give you something to work with IE. sanding/smoothing/detailing.

(Step3) From there some people add re-enforcement such as resin/cloth(Fiberglass), cloth/rondo(Mudglass), bondo/resin(Rondo), or Bondo+fiber/resin (Rondoglass). Rondo and Bondoglass being the easiest, but bother are heavy. Mudglass gives more strength then Rondo alone. And Fiberglass is the lightest but is also the hardest one to do.

Note: I have used every one of these plus some not listed here, in the end I liked using the Rondoglass for Step 3 myself.

(Step 4) bondo/filler use the least amount possible on the outside, and in the smallest amounts to smooth out and/or round off you're parts.

Note: If you did Step 2..... then you might be able to get away from Step 4 for the most part. I did NOT have to use bondo on the outside of most of my parts, which gave me a really smooth surface right from the start. I did this by sanding down into the the Rondo coat and then using a little spot putty ti fill in any small air pockets.

I hope this helps you.
 
So, after several mixups regarding the paper type and the manufacturer being closed when they ought to have been opened (Fun Fact, this is typical in my country), I've finally gotten my cardstock and finished pepping the helmet below. I'll be starting on the torso next and hoping that everything remains in proportion. *Crosses fingers* :D

th_DSCN4941.jpg th_DSCN4939.jpg th_DSCN4938.jpg th_DSCN4937.jpg

I'm a little bit concerned with the size/proportion of the helmet (I always am with these things). As it is, my head barely fits through the opening , but there's a fair bit of room once inside in every direction. Any opinions on this would be most welcome and might just help me sleep tonight. :$

Also, thank you for the input headscribeV and especially thorn696, I'll be taking it well into account. If I might ask, I've never heard of Rondoglass before; how exactly is the application different from Mudglass? Do you skip the cream hardener and go heavy on the resin hardener? Is there a specific application order? Forgive me, but I hadn't even considered the possibility of using bondo on fiberglass before. :confused
 
looks really good =D nice pep work and can't wait to see how awesome it will look when finished, keep it up =D
 
Pepping looks really good, and the sizing looks spot on to me. After your done hardening the helmet you can always go back and enlarge the neck hole as needs. Can't wait to see the rest of it!
 
Looks proper to me. However i do recomend peping the visor part too, it adds strength and helps against warping when you go ahead and bondo it.
 
Very nice and clean pepping work. Great job! And I agree with Tenebrus, the visor is an important piece of structure for your helmet and helps prevent it from suffering major warping in the hardening stage.
 
Decided to take Tenebrus' and Saber's advice and add the visor in, though I've run into a slight problem with the tabs. Unless any of you think that it's a serious issue, I'm going to go ahead and leave it as it is. Pictures below (Took a close up of the problem area in pics 2 and 3):

th_DSCN4942.jpgth_DSCN4943.jpgth_DSCN4945.jpg

PS: @Saber - I loved reading about you wearing your suit to school. Hoping to have a similar reception down here in the malls. ^_~
 
It looks great! I think you should be able to sand that out in bondo stage, so long as you put a thick enough layer of rondo/fiberglass underneath it. It seems well placed as far as bad seams go, I had one on the top that just got worse with each progressive step. But that visor looks great and something to keep in mind is that there is a detail line in the visor that goes right over that seam, so you can easily hide it when you add the detail.

Looked up noble six snd this image shows it pretty well.
http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/240/d/e/halo__reach___noble_six_by_rahll-d2xh43c.jpg
 
You're helmet looks great.:)
The size is up to you on what you're looking for. The in game Super Hero look, IE. small head big body, then you nailed it. :cool
If you looking to add a whole lot of stuff to the inside like fans and lights, the general rule is to add 2 inches to the over all size.
As for The visor it's there to add strength for now, the tab is not serious issue.

As for the Bondoglass, it is Bondo with the fibers already in it, It's sold that way so all you have to do is mix it up just like Rondo. Hence the term Rondoglass. It's the best of both wolds,very strong and yet easy to use...I will say however that its cost just a little bit more.
 
Nah that tab won't be a problem your going to cut out that visor anyways it's just in there for strength during the hardening phase.
 
Been out of the country for a little while, so I apologise for the lack of updates. Decided that I'll update at least once per week, if not more, regardless of whether or not I've made visible progress.

As for progress, my torso is 97% complete (I still need to finish the collar) and I'm looking to move on to the shoulders/biceps next. As usual, any sort of feedback is greatly appreciated. ;)

th_DSCN4990.jpg th_DSCN4991.jpg th_DSCN4998.jpg th_DSCN4994.jpg th_DSCN5002.jpg

(I apologise for my grungy appearance. :cool)

While the torso ended up extending a little past my shoulder tips (which prevents me from raising my arms higher than 90 degrees), it's very snug around my waistline. I doubt I could make it any smaller without major alterations but it's pretty comfortable as it is. I'm thinking about cutting out the pieces below the arm-holes and re-attaching them via magnets in order to make putting it on/taking it off a lot easier; I barely squeezed into it for those pictures and almost got stuck coming out. Thoughts anyone? :confused

Shoulders, here I come!
 
well, since you've already pepped it all out, I won't suggest to go the foam route. :p but what most people on here do is find a good place to split the piece, like a front and back piece, then reattach it with magnets. What I would suggest doing is cutting the bottom of the piece, maybe putting the top on hinges, maybe just leave it as it is, and then attach magnets to the bottom. looks good, very fast pepwork, I might add! hope to see more soon!
 
Great job so far. Everything is looking good. I'm working on a Noble Spartan for my son now and hope to have a WIP posted in the next couple weeks for his and then for myself later on. I found some good reference pics for Noble 6 after a few hours of seaching on the web for my projects. (I think it's a bit harder to get reference when you don't own a XBox. . . . LOL) When I get home, I'll see if I can figure out how to post them to your thread and get them in here for you today if you need them to help out.
 
If this works (fingers crossed) you should be able to use these for almost everything in your noble 6 build. If you open them in Paint or Windows Photo Viewer you can zoom in on the details. Hope this helps.

Noble6Largereferencepic.png

Noble6FrontwithShoulder.png

Noble6RearShot.png
 
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