Halo 4 Madsen build (first build)

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I think you would need to rough up the surface of the GRP before you apply the bondo... I'm sure someone else will be able to clarify this
 
See I have no idea what it is... Is it rubbish? Haha.

Yeah, I was thinking maybe fibreglassing the outside too as it may save trashing the exterior to get inside? The things are an absolute pain to put together! O think that would give me a sturdy base for bondo? can you bondo straight onto resined fibreglass though?

Yes, you can. I've done it many times. But it would be best if you rough it up a little first, with like some 60 grit.

Also note that it takes awhile to cure before you get the full bond. So it may be easy to scrape off at first (even if the bondo is hard), but once it's completely cured, you will have a pretty good bond.
 
Sweet I'll do that. Thanks guys! Time to figure out how good my bondo and cutting skills are haha.

Also, after the mess I've made of the chest, I'm thinking of building the rest of it out of foam. Looking at the templates on the file data base some seem to take more account of the foam thickness then others? Would I rectify this by bevelling the edges to blend it better? Or is this how its done already? And on reading some of the tutorials, the thickness of the "base" EVA should be around 0.375" or around 10mm thick?
 
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Outside fibreglassed, gonna trim it all back and bondo over the top. This stuff is messy but solid as a rock!
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Planning to use this old football girdle for the undersuit.

Thanks for looking! Any comments and criticisms welcome
 

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To try and avoid the fiberglass mess, first apply a small area with resin, then get out your mat and place it, this should hold the mat in place really well. And then you can soak the mat in more resin and even it out.

Another way you could do it is: First try and soak the mat, then lay it on, and then even it out with some more resin.

From the looks of it, you don't have enough resin soaked into the mat. You should end up with no fibbers going astray.
 
Thanks guys.

Master Builder: the first way is how I did most of it, some times when adding resin on top the mat would get stuck to the applicator and fray which is why, I think, it's gone really weird. I have applied more resin now though! The strays are solid and I've managed to get many a splinter haha. I think I'll trim it all back with a dremel?

Ive also just discovered the MCC... Better late than never but the nostalgia... Haha
 
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wait, you're puting glassfiber on the outside?
last time I did that it kinda ruined my work :/ puting it on the inside is cleaner and strenghtening as good
 
Tetro: thanks for the heads up, I was only doing it on the thruster pack the rest is all on the inside with rondo and resin :) Gonna clean it up with a dremel and bondo so hopefully that works!
SidneyM2109: Thanks! I appreciate it. Unfortunately it's all slowing down whilst I try and get my life in order at the moment :( good start on your Carter build too. Any tips for working with foam? Thinking about building the rest from it...
 
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ntsaig the biggest things i've learned so far with it is be patient, super extremely patient. DO NOT rush with it at all or you'll end up wasting a lot of foam, I did that in the beginning and I have finished piece but because I rushed into it, they arent sized/scaled correctly. Most of the joints are pretty looking and getting to the paint stage of that will make them look worse. Always have a sharp blade, blade sharpeners are great but I personally switch blades. Ummm..Heat guns are great for nice bends, for instance the COMMANDO shoulder, i'm going to redo with a heat gun to make that curve in the foam more...pretty? haha ill send you a picture of the different angles to really describe/show you what I mean. So all in all, Fresh Blades (the X-acto Z-Series blades with the gold edge stay katana sharp longer), PATIENCE (most important), Heat Gun (for the tight bends around the shins, bicep, cuff on the wrist, particular shoulder pads, things like that), Research (making sure your pieces are scaled to YOUR body, game accuracy, etc. huge time saver in the long run), Keep your supplies like you should keep your ammo and stock up. I travel Wal-Mart to Wal-Mart and buy all of their Z-Series blades, mostly because they only usually have like 2 packs, buy extra packs of hot glue, and keep a metal ruler as a straight edge. that makes everything straight, and beautiful. Keep in mind the bevels for the edges to get contours and shapes correctly.

I know thats a lot. haha. I probably made it sound worse than it is, but its not that bad. Its a lot of fun, and its a fantastic learning experience working with it.
ill shortly send you a PM with the pictures further explaining, the whole heat gun curve thing and good luck! :D im sure it'll turn out wonderful!
 
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Thanks for the tips guys! Sorry I've been AWOL for such a long time, it's chilly here and it's just been one of those months. But my helmet arrived from JJArmory on Saturday and has given me a needed kick up the rear:
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Leaving the middle bit in and wrapping with some of the visit material to keep the detail.
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With Halo 5 in the background (probably one of the main reasons progress has been slow!)
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Filling some of the dips in the helmet, planning to re-do the whole middle section tbh. Also bought all the paints yesterday, pretty excited to get this finished!

As always thanks for looking Abd any advice and tips are welcome.
 

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Thanks @chrisy159!

Pretty happy with the spot filler work (had to rebuild a large portion of the centre stripe) so the helmet got treat to its first and second coats of primer yesterday:
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There are some chip, dips and bumps but to me they actually look like battle damage, everyone else says they look stupid... (look closely next to the rectangle cut out at the front of the helmet) but I couldn't resist adding a coat of Chrome paint:
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It looks a lot more silver in real life, promise. Still unsure of how to go about making the silver blue colour, thinking about spraying the whole thing in the dark blue I've got for the stripe and then misting chrome over the areas that need it. Thoughts? http://www.impactcustoms.com/madsen-recon-helmet.html <- rough idea of what I'm going for
 

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Cant help ya with painting, also something I wonder. If you're base is chrome though, can you just put in the blue and work away areas you want recessed with the chrome? (If its easier than going over with another chrome layer?)
 
the way im working my armor being colored blue, working into silver is acrylic paint and sponges, it helps you control how much paint much better than anything else (ive found so far) so it'll make that color transition look much better
 
Thanks for the tips guys! I may try that drilling tip. Do you reckon the thrusters could support rondo or bondo without any internal reinforcement? Rondoed the inside yesterday, so added some fibreglass in today and God is that pairing a nightmare to work with. I'll probably do the back half with the standard resin+fibreglass.
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Also got the first pic of my recon helm from JJArmory today, cannot stress enough how great these guys are to work with/order from!
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Thanks again for looking guys!
you have file of the helmet?? please!
 
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