My MJOLNIR Mark VI Build and Quasi-Guide [Pics] [Ongoing]

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Small Advice for the Ventilation:

Your Fans won´t work like they should, because they have no Space behind them.
You should use Laptop Fans like this: http://www.elektro-export.de/WebRoo...3C/0E3D/2189/3192/50ED/8961/0448/DSC_3311.JPG

They get the Air from the Side.

Thanks for the info! I would probably use fans like that for any future builds. These fans do actually have airspace behind them though, I didn't show the whole assembly, but they are "stilted" about 3/8"-1/4" from the helmet shell. Then I used foam to redirect the air down and away from the mouth and nose area. I initially only had one, which didn't really work, but now with two I can wear it in sub freezing temps without it fogging at all. I imagine this is due to to air flow redirection.

I would probably go with your recommended fan and less work next time!
 
Quick Update:

I'm working on the MA5B from Halo:CE. I know there are some chronological discrepancies with a Mark VI using this firearm, but it's also one of the most readily recognizable guns from the game, and it was a really easy pep.

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Once finished with the pep, I cut a window out of the butt stock and poured in some remaining aqua-resin that I had mixed with a material they manufacture called "aqua glass". This probably wasn't the wisest choice, since I knew the use of aqua resin would likely lead to warping of the piece, but it was a risk I was [strangely] willing to take. Things turned out alright -- there is some minor warping, but I'm happy with the overall result, and I knew I would be doing a lot of bondo/detail finishing on the piece anyways, so I wasn't adding too much to an already busy finishing process.

Because it's been a while since I finished my suit, I have already taken down my work station at my friend's house, and now need to work outdoors at my place. Fortunately, from past experience, I'm aware that bondo works well at a wide variety of temperatures, so I'm taking advantage of that (and the odd sunny day here in Jackson, WY)

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I plan to detail this piece much the same as I did the helmet -- card stock pieces with resin finish, over the smoothed bondo finish. I'll have more updates and photos as I work towards finishing it -- there's a costume party here in town the day before Valentine's Day, and I aim to be totally finished with the gun by then.

Wish me luck!
 
Just a small update:

I started to detail the MA5B. I'm not sure if this is the detail photo from the collector's edition, or from a different game altogether, but it's the pic I was using for reference.

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With my "Starburst" colored paper, I set to work. Just a few hours [and some math] later, I have what should be pretty close to my finished product.

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I haven't completed a trigger, trigger guard, or grip yet, but I plan to. Trigger and trigger guard will be foam or foam-board; I have both, but haven't experimented with what will work best yet. The grip will be a combination of thicker EVA foam for the shape, and thinner strips of thin black hobby foam for the exterior.

As for the the flashlight and barrel, I have yet to figure out what diameter pipe to use. Obviously something close to the barrel of an AK or other rifle chambered in 7.62, but I have yet to figure out what looks closest. I have this little flashlight that I got to use for that part, but it will have to be retro-fitted to work in this particular application.

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I will keep you updated on what happens with all of this!
 
Update for the MA5B:

I am a little behind on this, but I was pre-occupied with getting my firearm finished in time for a costume party I was going to! Onward...

After I attached the detail pieces, I had to resin and re-bondo those areas to make them look smooth. I'm not sure why, but I didn't get any photos of that part. After that was finished, I got an initial semi-fine sand @ 150 grit done, then sprayed the primer, and every surface got the same treatment with 220 grit. It's about 1/4 of the way there in this pic...

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After that, I used the same black Rustoleum 2x Satin Black paint that I had used on the details and weathering for the rest of the suit, and after that cured, moved into dry-brushing.

Ugh, I'm sorry -- I didn't get any photos of how I mounted the barrel, either. It's a little less than a foot of copper 1/2" pipe, sprayed silver, and here's how I did it: I had thought of this beforehand, and put in some paper cross-members inside the pep design as I was making it, because I knew I would want to have at least two places where the barrel was glued to when I mounted it. The inner portion of the barrel is bumped into one of those inner strengthening papers, and glued to that, as well as epoxy-puttied to the external part of the gun. I stuck some epoxy putty on the inside portion of the barrel, and smushed it lightly against the inner cross-member so that the epoxy putty would take that shape. I then pulled that out (gently) and let it cure, then used 1 minute epoxy (great stuff) to adhere it to the surface once I shoved it back in. After that, I crammed a bunch of epoxy putty around the barrel, let that cure, and sanded it down flush.

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For the grip, I used thick EVA foam mats that I cut to shape of the finger spaces, and hot glued them to the handle. Then, I used a thin sheet of black detail foam for the exterior surface. I sized it approximately to the area I would need, and glued it onto one side. Using a hair dryer, I heated it so that it would form well to the finger-detail pieces that were glued to the pep handle, and stretched it across them, holding it there for a few moments so that it would take that shape. Once it was holding that shape, I glued it to the other side. The result is a soft handle that is formed to my hand!

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For the flashlight, I knew I would need to break open the one that I bought before to make it work. I drilled out the back, and took apart the front part, where the LED resides. Additionally, I sprayed it silver while the front was disassembled.

The front, reassembled. This flashlight has only one LED, powered by one AA battery. I lightly sanded the portions of the light housing that touched the battery, and soldered wires into their respective spots (+ in the center, - on the edge) to power the LED. Once I confirmed that it still worked (aka, I hadn't broken anything), I hot glued over the solder to hold the wires into place, and started to run wires to the battery!

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I had quite a few leftover 9V battery connectors, so I used two of them to make the flashlight detachable while I worked on it. Once glued into place, it would make no difference, but running wires is a pain in the ass, so I went this route. I drilled two small holes near where the trigger housing would have gone if this was a real firearm, and ran wire through there.

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I soldered directly to a AA, as you can see. Being that time was short, this was my only option, but I will eventually replace this battery with a housing for one AA that will be removable. I then used some more of the thin black hobby foam to conceal the battery.

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I did obviously glue this into place as well, using the same epoxy putty that I used for the barrel. The result is alright -- it holds, but I imagine it is a much more fragile mounting solution than the two points of contact that the barrel has (exterior + interior). After the epoxy putty had cured, I sanded and used a few dabs of black paint to blend those areas in, and it was finished!

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Next thing that needs revisiting is the forearms -- they were a hysterical pain in the ass at this party. Had the magnets stayed adhered to the pieces, everything would have been fine. Unfortunately, the magnets didn't stay attached to their respective sides, so the forearms kept falling off if I moved my wrists too much. As they are the only pieces not made out of fiberglass resin, this is understandable (stay away from aqua resin!) so they'll need to be re-made. I'll also use a higher definition pep model, as the low-def ones I made initially are one of the weakest links in the game-realism of this suit.
 
Brief update on the forearm re-makes. The original ones that I made were low-def, and weren't hardened with the typical fiberglass/bondo process, so they ended up a lot more brittle and fragile than the rest of the suit (not to mention, a lot heavier). My first time wearing the suit out in public, it was obvious I needed to address this issue. The forearms are held in place with 8 magnets a side, two on the top of the clamshell, and two on the bottom. Unfortunately, hot glue doesn't stick to Aqua Resin as well as it sticks to regular resin, so I lost 3 magnets a side because they simply fell off, and it made the last part of the night a total headache.

I decided to go with the high definition designs for the re-make. I have to say, I have never had a more acute appreciation for the people who make full-HD suits. Just these two pieces were a pain.

Had to get the scaling right, did a quick fit over the old one to double-check.

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The going was slow, but I got there.

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Comparing the two side-by-side makes me a little concerned that the HD forearms might upstage the rest of the outfit. Aside from the little detail pieces I added throughout the suit here and there, it's all just as low-def as the old forearms. I am concerned...

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I'll post updates as weather allows me to more forward with these.

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Nice work on the new forearms. I did one HD myself but didn't have the patience to do a second, so ended up going the medium-detail route. Can't wait to see them hardened/painted up!
 
Nice work on the new forearms. I did one HD myself but didn't have the patience to do a second, so ended up going the medium-detail route. Can't wait to see them hardened/painted up!

Just curious, where did you find the medium detail files?
 
I'm pretty sure they came with the All-In-One Pepakura pack I got back when I first started doing this, since I don't remember getting them specifically. They're pretty nice pep models, and I actually enjoyed building them. I can send you the file, if you'd like.
 
I'm pretty sure they came with the All-In-One Pepakura pack I got back when I first started doing this, since I don't remember getting them specifically. They're pretty nice pep models, and I actually enjoyed building them. I can send you the file, if you'd like.

Please do! If these end up looking weird because of the difference in the definition between the pieces, I don't want to be stuck building the low-def ones again. And these two (low-def or high-def) are the only two that I can find on the halo costuming wiki.
 
Well, I ran into a brick wall on this one.

The detail on the forearms was a bit much compared to the rest of my LD armor, but I decided to keep going because I had invested so much time into the pieces already. I had finished off a first coat of fiberglass resin on both pieces, and left them outside to dry. During that time, the wind kicked up, and both pieces blew into the parking lot, and one was subsequently run over by my neighbor (who was nowhere to be found when I came back out).

So, I'm left with either making a new HD forearm to make up for the one that was crushed, or take the time to make both sides of a medium definition set instead. I've been looking, but haven't been able to find any MD pep files. Anyone know of one?
 
Forearms Update:

After some deliberation, I determined that the amount of detail in the high-def forearms might be too much for the rest of my suit. I had heard of some medium-definition files in a few other builds, and got ahold of Halex about them. He sent over the files, and I got to work.

I kept the scale the same as my original parts, although I used a slightly more starburst palette for the paper.

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The files are pretty straightforward, adding a good amount of definition without getting too bogged down with minute detail.

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With these being the only pieces I was working on, I was able to make quick progress on the fiberglassing. For these pieces, I wanted to round off the edges to get away from the geometric shape of the pep files as much as possible. This meant I needed to pile quite a bit of resin into the pep's high points, so that I would be able to sand back through those areas without sanding all the way through the material. This worked for the most part, although the wrists both deformed a little bit while the glass was drying. I dealt with re-glassing those areas once I was into the bondo phase. I did a quick preliminary sand on the outside after fiberglassing was finished, and moved on to bondo. This was, as usual, a lengthy process

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I used the same Rustoleum satin paint for the forearms, and weathered them in the same fashion as the rest of the suit. Knowing how often I had to take the forearms off when wearing the suit, I also finished them with a light clear-coat just to protect the paint against wearing down too much.

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My wife wanted to cosplay Cortana so that our costumes could be related, so I ended up designing and making a Cortana suit for her. A little disclaimer for the photo: we went though a lot of the Halo MCC and Halo 4 cinematics, and for whatever reason, Cortana doesn't smile that frequently. It could have something to do with the fact that she was created from a disembodied brain. Also, Cortana with human-colored teeth and gums is weird looking. So, no smile.

Here's our Halloween 2015.

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Really nice build with loads of great advice. I'll be sure to take it all on board when I finally start a Master Chief build. I'm getting used to the whole process by making a non Halo related costume for a party next month but reading this makes me want to ditch that and start on some Halo armour. Keep up the great work.
 
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