Grrr! We're freelancers! Red vs Blue WIP

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What's your secret???

Good Music, Good Company and a sharp scalpel.

Good music goes without saying really :p
While trying to build multiple suits at once the first time around may not be for everyone, I can't put a price on being able to hang around with my best friend while we talk rubbish and work on our armour together, it's good to have someone to laugh with when you want to bang your head against a wall because there's just no frickin' way that that piece of paper is supposed to fit there!
The scalpel (x-acto knife) or razor blade is kinda the secret to getting nice sharp edges, Cereal Kill3r has preached the good word on the use of blades in his (awesome) thread before. When I get around to detailing the EVA helmet I'll do a write up of some other things I find useful.
Thanks again everyone for the comments, I say that a lot I know but it's really great to be able to share what we're doing (outside of our circle of friends) and to hear such positive feedback is really motivating. On that note, back to work I go.
Cheers
Sara
 
Sooo, got a bit more detailing done today and snapped a load of photos to share my process. Click on any of the pictures to enlarge.

Today I was working on the shoulder area of the chest piece, detailing the raised face and part of the lock mechanism of that area.

As you can see in photos 1 through 3 I started by measuring and then sketching out the areas I wanted to detail, these areas were then masked off with masking tape. Once I've got the tape down I apply a layer of bondo and before the bondo sets I carefully peel the tape off.

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The tape has to be removed carefully so that it doesn't drag across the still wet edge, we're trying to maintain the integrity of this edge as much as possible. As you can see in picture 3 this doesn't yield a perfect result but it gives you a decent base to start with, this face will need another coat (or two, or three) before it's done so there's plenty of time to straighten those edges up. Unfortunately I was working by myself and got a bit carried away so I didn't get any pictures of the next part of the process. After the initial coat of bondo and the removal of the tape I let the bondo half set so that it reaches that lovely rubbery stage, I then use a scalpel or razor blade to trim back any edges that have bled over while removing the tape. I then used a sander to knock down any particularly high spots and applied a new coat of bondo.

Again I let the bondo cure to it's rubbery stage and using the now solid base coat as a guide I drag the scalpel through the soft bondo to create a (hopefully) stright line. I repeated this process until I had a nice, rectangular, even coat of bondo. Once I'd attained this shape I filled any pitting with spot putty and using a fine sandpaper I rounded the corners and rounded of the edges. Done.

I used a similar process for the ridge around the lock mechanism but decided I wasn't happy with a silight raised lip, I wanted something more defined. Sigh.
To attain the height I wanted in this area I knocked up a cardboard supporting template (photo 5) this would support the weight of the bondo until it reached the rubbery stage. Unsupported wet bondo would have just slid off under the bulk of it's own bulk weight the carboard support.

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In photo 5 the bondo is in the rubbery semi cured state, I've gently removed the carboard and I've started to slice away excess bondo and carve out a shape that looks something like my goal, see photo 6.

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Photo 7 shows how much work I do with a blade by the time I've finished this step.

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Once the bondo hardens I give it a quick sand to see what I'm working with (photo 8) and, realising there's a few voids I apply a bit more bondo to these areas (photo 9) I was probably a bit enthusiastic with the hardener here, it's looking very red lol, oh well, it set quickly ;)

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Again I give the bondo a quick shape up with a blade and give it a coarse sand again (photo 10). Once I can see I've got the shape I'm after I start sanding with a finer grade of paper. Once it starts to get a smooth finish I start filling any imperfections with spot putty (photo 11) look at that air bubble, mocking me.

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Photos 12 to 14 show where I stand currently, I'm waiting for spot putty to dry properly before I can get in and give the area it's final sand.

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Sorry about the stack of photos and for being a bit long-winded, I might have gotten a bit carried away :S tomorrow I'll finish this area, start on the other side and continue detailing the neck area.

As always, thanks for looking.
Cheers
Sara
 
Bit of an update.

I've finished both of the thingies on the upper part of the lock mechanism, what do you call those anyway? I have the feeling I'll be referring to a lot of detail as 'thingies' before I'm done here lol.

Of course they'll still need a final going over before I'm ready to paint, I'm getting everything to this stage before painting.

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I'm pretty pleased with how they've turned out, there's something about adding detail that wasn't included in the pep that feels very rewarding.

I did plan on working on the neck detail but I felt like a change of scenery so I started detailing the back of the chest piece.

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It's not entirely game accurate I know, but I quite like the look of it. Once I can talk myself into going back out into the heat (gotta love Australia) I'll do some more work on the lower section. It's looking pretty gross at the moment but you can see what direction I'm heading in from the sketch.
 
I fell in love after reading Maine. (favorite of the Freelancers, loved the Meta, can't wait to get the symbol on my back) These look great. 8D
 
Awww, thanks guys :D

Not a huge update but I spent some time further refining and levelling the vent(? let's call it a thingy) area, this part is breaking my brain! Still needs more work before I can add in the lines.

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Also, a comparison shot to show my progress so far, it's a bit underwhelming actually lol, I'm SURE I've spent more time on it than that!
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Cheers guys :)
 
The thing I love about this stuff, is that you pick up ideas and techniques you may never have come up with otherwise. Like cutting the bondo before it's hard rather than sanding it. Genius. Pure genius. I never would have thought to detail that way with bondo.
 
Looks awesome, the detailing is amazing. This is one of the next up and coming builds to watch. +1 subscribe :cool
 
Very well done! Your bondo work is impressive and incredibly clean. I've been keeping my eye on this one and I'm loving what I see. Keep it up!

BTW, I noticed you found a file for the Scout chest. I looked in my database and couldn't find it, then I realized that the one I was thinking of was Vrogy's. Glad you found a copy.

Keep up the great work!
 
Good Music, Good Company and a sharp scalpel.

Good music goes without saying really :p
While trying to build multiple suits at once the first time around may not be for everyone, I can't put a price on being able to hang around with my best friend while we talk rubbish and work on our armour together, it's good to have someone to laugh with when you want to bang your head against a wall because there's just no frickin' way that that piece of paper is supposed to fit there!
The scalpel (x-acto knife) or razor blade is kinda the secret to getting nice sharp edges, Cereal Kill3r has preached the good word on the use of blades in his (awesome) thread before. When I get around to detailing the EVA helmet I'll do a write up of some other things I find useful.
Thanks again everyone for the comments, I say that a lot I know but it's really great to be able to share what we're doing (outside of our circle of friends) and to hear such positive feedback is really motivating. On that note, back to work I go.
Cheers
Sara

Girl, I know exactly what you mean when you say "good music, good company, and a sharp scalpel." I tried to keep on truckin on my armor, and lots boatloads of motivation... yeah, unitl i got a hold of my mentor again, haha was rather... lonely. But Keep on going Sara and Bubbles! I can't wait to see what you guys make, because I'm going to try to make a variant of Caboose's armor, and I'm gonna call it TRAIN! ^_^ I wish you guys luck, and I hope to catch up to ya'll soon!

But wow, I am not even done reading your thread yet, and I just had to post a reply already! Great great great job ladies!


EDIT:
Wow... just... wow. I hope you guys will check out mine, but I know I will be watchin yours! I'm stunned, can't waaait to see the paint!
 
Hi Guys!

Thanks so much for all the positive feedback, it really motivates us to keep going :)

I started detailing the front of the Carolina chest piece the other day.

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The parts I was focusing on are the black shapes on the broad faces of the chest piece.

I started by dremelling in the groove between the two faces (heartbreaking, it took so long to sand that line straight :( )

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Then I traced around a template of the desired shape with the dremel:

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I refined this edge further with needle files and by hand. I filled in the line that ran through the shape also. The end result is a slightly sunken detailed face, the outer edge is a sharp drop and the inner edge is curved over to create an illusion of greater depth and height. It all needs going over with a finer sand paper but here's how it looks now:

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