My first attempt at Mk VI armor!

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boomshakra

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Greetings all and welcome to my pepakura Mk VI build! I have spent a lot of time lurking and reading up on these forums and dove head-first into building a suit of Mk VI armor. I'll say up front that I am not a gamer - have maybe played Halo for about 30 minutes on my desktop - but have always thought the armor was extremely cool. I am a TK in the 501st, and my first troop with them was RTX in Austin earlier this year. Naturally, the 405th was in attendance and I was extremely impressed. You may recognize yourselves in this picture if you were there:

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Anyways, my first helmet is in progress, using one of the Robogenesis pep files. It was quite a learning experience, as I'm sure you all know. I think it took me ~12 hrs to score & cut the pieces. Gluing went pretty quick, but as this was my first experience with pepakura, I made some mistakes along the way...which I hopefully can compensate for once I get to the bondo phase.

Here's the progression:

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And finally completion (of the pep phase):

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Although I think I went a little too big on my scaling...

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Regardless, I'm going to see this one all the way through. I've already started scoring/cutting the Flying Squirrel HD helmet, properly sized - we're in a cold snap here in Austin, so I'm keeping busy. I did manage to get it resined & fiberglassed before the weather went south, though:

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You can see I had some trouble sizing my handplate...won't be using this in my build...should probably just send it to Master Chief himself to see if it will fit him!

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But, it's 99% glassed inside and I'm going to pour some rondo inside as well (when it warms up). Here's a comparison to my TK helmet:

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I already have some of the $7.95 "gold" (if you look at them in the right light/angle...) visors which I'll be doing the cut-outs on one of them over the weekend. Not going to invest in the HJC's just yet... I held them up to my helmet and I think they might be kinda small for the oversized bucket I have created, but we'll see how it looks once the pepakura visor is cut out. There is always Bondo to fill the gaps, right?

A big thanks to everyone who has made tutorals and those who post their WIP builds - I'm always learning everytime I sit down and peruse the boards. I'll post updates as they happen - just cutting little pieces of the 2nd helmet - not exciting so no pix...stay tuned!
 
Continued cold weather has obviously brought any resin/bondo work to a standstill, and holiday comings and goings of family & friends have limited my time cutting out the 2nd helmet, although it could be ready for gluing by the weekend. The visor template I will be using to cut the outer visor needs a bit of modification to allow for the curvature - was hoping I could just sandwich it between the two visors and trace with a grease pencil, but it wasn't to be. Oh, well. No pictures to share as they would just be me sitting at the table with an exacto in hand.
 
looks great mate...that hand plate looks atad big?!

Heres a comparison between my AP TD and my H3 helmets
APMKcomparrison.jpg
 
Thanks for the comparison pic! That gives me a much better idea of proper scaling and leads me to believe that the 2nd helmet I am cutting right now is going to be more to scale. I will very likely have to trim the bottom to fit my oversized melon (have to do the 'turn' to get my TK bucket on).

Yeah, I don't really remember what I put in for scale when I printed that hand plate...but, it was good practice if nothing else. I am thinking I'll paint it & use it as a spaceship for my action figures :)
 
Finished cutting all the parts! I did a little bit of gluing last night but nothing worth taking a picture of. I made the mistake of just putting all the parts in a plastic container as I cut them...so now I am having to sort through to find which part glues to which, and with all the small detail parts it is slowing me down. I'll clear off the dining room table the next time I sit down to work & try to get them in some semblance of order.
 
The weather warmed up enough that I could have gotten some resin/rondo work done, but I opted to keep gluing on my 2nd helmet. I figure that way when it is done I can work on both at the same time - resin the outside of the 2nd and do some rondo inside of the first. Here's where I stand on pepakura work:

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My pep work isn't the greatest - some of the detailed pieces will need a lot of bondo work to clean up, but it's all good experience.

Here's a question that probably has an obvious answer, but I'll ask anyways: If I rondo the inside of a helmet and give it time to set up a bit, can I go ahead and start putting a thin coat (or coats) of bondo on the outside? I won't start sanding it until the rondo has set for sure (24 hrs, right?). Anyways, feedback is appreciated.
 
Great build do far! And I'm sort if a noob when it comes to starwars costuming, but did you buy or build the TK helmet? Again, great build so far!
 
Great build do far! And I'm sort if a noob when it comes to starwars costuming, but did you buy or build the TK helmet? Again, great build so far!

thanks!

I bought my TK helmet & armor - I'm a taller guy so I went with RT-Mod armor. I am pretty sure there are pep files for TK armor but to my knowledge there hasn't been any build that were 501st approved.
 
Here's a question for anyone who has installed the supports in a helmet before resining: Is there a particular "order" that you glue the supports in? I'd hate to get a couple installed and then have them in the way trying to put in the rest...or will it just be apparent when I start gluing?
 
I would start with the ones at the sides/top of the helmet, then work towards the openings. As for your previous question on the rondo coat, you certainly could start sanding once it's set, but personally I would wait until it's fully cured. Can't hurt to give it a little more time to set up and harden. Are you glassing as well or just rondo?
 
I would start with the ones at the sides/top of the helmet, then work towards the openings. As for your previous question on the rondo coat, you certainly could start sanding once it's set, but personally I would wait until it's fully cured. Can't hurt to give it a little more time to set up and harden. Are you glassing as well or just rondo?

I'm going to glass & rondo. I'll try the rondo first on the 'too large' helmet (which is already glassed) so I'll know what to expect on the 2nd one and future pieces :). Thanks for the advice on which supports to install first. I'll probably let the rondo set before starting on the bondo stage.
 
Sizing FAIL...or maybe not. If I look at the size comparison in my HALO Encyclopedia, it is close to the right proportion, but there is NO room for padding. I'd re-take the pix but in my disappointment I glued in all of the supports, so we'll see how it fits after I resin the outside this weekend (weather permitting...). There is a bit of warp-age that I'll have to correct in the visor, but everything else seems ok. I'll try to get some better pictures up over the next day or so. Until then, I'll print out other parts & get to cutting on them.

To be or not to be?

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Bane, your new mask is ready!

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Looks like after you harden, glass and put in your insert it might be pretty snug, to me it would be worth finishing if you feel like you can get 1 in -1 1/2in padding in there... looks good though. Good luck.
 
Looks like after you harden, glass and put in your insert it might be pretty snug, to me it would be worth finishing if you feel like you can get 1 in -1 1/2in padding in there... looks good though. Good luck.

thanks - I might have to go thinner than 1" on padding, but i'm more concerned about having room for a fan/LEDs/batteries...still, I won't know till I solidify it and get the visor installed :)
 
Scaling continues to be the scourge of my build... Printed out my hand armor, cut & glued it...and I think it is a little small. I don't have gloves yet, so it's hard to tell how much larger it should be, if I use the paintball (armored) gloves that seem to be popular with Spartan armor builds. Here's some (crappy cell phone camera) pictures:

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Feedback is welcomed and appreciated :)
 
Great job so far, the pep work looks good. The helmet, to me, looks like it may be a tad small. Maybe not.
Your hand plates, to me, look perfect size.
You are doing really good, keep it up:)
 
Great job so far, the pep work looks good. The helmet, to me, looks like it may be a tad small. Maybe not.
Your hand plates, to me, look perfect size.
You are doing really good, keep it up:)

I'm hoping the helmet will be alright - if not...well, 3rd time will be a charm.

thanks for the hand plate feedback. I'll get the paintball gloves here in the (hopefully) near future & see how they look then. If they're small, well, it only takes a couple of hours to make another set :)
 
Sizing is one of the hardest things to get down. But in the end it is a great feeling when you finish a project and suit up for the first time. It really is well worth all time, just hang in there.:)
 
Sizing is one of the hardest things to get down. But in the end it is a great feeling when you finish a project and suit up for the first time. It really is well worth all time, just hang in there.:)

As tedious and slightly frustrating as it is to have to start over (and I won't be surprised if it happens again as I continue to other parts of the armor), I'm still committed to seeing this all the way through - thanks for the encouragement!
 
You've got the right attitude; any scaling issues are just more pep practice. On the handplates, they look right to me. It's easiest to position them when you flex your hand upwards, to ensure that they don't inhibit mobility. In that position, the front sits just beyond the knuckles.

Keep up the good work!
 
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