3 ODST: My First Suit of Armor

[greeter]

Hey y'all, first time posting on here after many months of lurking and generally being curious.

I've been in the 3D printing space for a while, but have only been interested in the cosplay scene since around 2024 when a good friend of mine gave me the idea to repair an Ender 3 Pro my brother bought at the end of 2020. I fixed it and I printed two helmets, a Mark V MJOLNIR helmet and an NCR Ranger helmet (which i gave to my friend), then I bought a P1S and things have been great thus far.

On May 26 of this year, after considerable thinking and planning involving scaling pieces in Armorsmith, organizing those pieces in the slicer, calculating print times and costs, and a lot of contemplation on whether I could/should go ahead with the project, I decided to begin printing a full suit of ODST armor from Galactic Armory. I've done several helmets and other props up to this point and have learned a lot from those experiences, but never a full suit of armor, so this will be quite the challenge for me. On top of never having done armor, I also have about two months before I have to pack my things and leave home for university, so time is going to be valuable too. I've considered the possibility of shipping it before leaving, but still haven't figured that out.

Over fourteen days of printing later and here's what I got (the helmet was already done beforehand). I am planning on making the chest (under the plate carrier) out of EVA foam from the templates provided in the armory here.

(also here's all the spools that were used up in the making of this thing lol. in actuality, i used 8 spools, or 8kg of filament. i printed almost everything at 5% gyroid infill.)
View attachment 363030

 

[zSmiley]

Those are some nice-looking prints. Can't wait to watch how this evolves!

 

[Matthew]

This is awesome! I’m very excited to see the final result and how it turns out. Keep up the great work

 

[Sharpfang]

My dumb butt thought it was already painted!
Can't wait to see what you pick for the color scheme!
I just love the build your charactor aspect of this group!

 

[greeter]

Hey y'all, just wanted to post an update to the build. Progress has been rather slow, as I've been having some commitment issues to the project, but I'm finally getting off my lazy bum and doing the stuff I gotta do. I stuck the pieces I had to split in the slicer to fit on my print bed with CA glue and a soldering iron, then I took everything outside and began with the smoothing process. I'm using the acetone-thinned bondo glazing and spot putty method of smoothing out the prints as a first step. Here's my progress so far:

...compared to the literal boxes worth of what's left:

yeah, I've got a lot of work ahead of me.

(side note: i probably shouldn't have printed everything in regular old PLA, and in black no less. it gets real hot and sunny over here, meaning everything is at risk of warping. sometimes i hate living in the south.)

 

[Sharpfang]

Hey y'all, just wanted to post an update to the build. Progress has been rather slow, as I've been having some commitment issues to the project, but I'm finally getting off my lazy bum and doing the stuff I gotta do. I stuck the pieces I had to split in the slicer to fit on my print bed with CA glue and a soldering iron, then I took everything outside and began with the smoothing process. I'm using the acetone-thinned bondo glazing and spot putty method of smoothing out the prints as a first step. Here's my progress so far:

View attachment 363516

...compared to the literal boxes worth of what's left:

View attachment 363517

yeah, I've got a lot of work ahead of me.

(side note: i probably shouldn't have printed everything in regular old PLA, and in black no less. it gets real hot and sunny over here, meaning everything is at risk of warping. sometimes i hate living in the south.)

It may be intimidating to look at the project as a whole but you should just take it one piece at a time if it helps mentally!

If you have it in the shade they should be good.
And the heat will help everything dry quicker so shorter time outside!

 

[greeter]

It may be intimidating to look at the project as a whole but you should just take it one piece at a time if it helps mentally!

If you have it in the shade they should be good.
And the heat will help everything dry quicker so shorter time outside!

I appreciate the tip. We've got a gazebo in our backyard that I use as my work area, so everything should be fine under it. I would've done some work in the garage, but we've got newborn kittens in there that I do NOT want exposed to any dust, paint particles, and the smells of acetone + bondo whatsoever, so I'm doing it all outside.

 

[SgtSaint]

(side note: i probably shouldn't have printed everything in regular old PLA, and in black no less. it gets real hot and sunny over here, meaning everything is at risk of warping. sometimes i hate living in the south.)

Not wrong. Also watch out for situations that will come up during transport of your armor.
If you fly, the crates/luggage gets left out on the tarmac.
In the trunk of the car on a drive to the convention. I've seen people open trunks and have warped armor and weapons.
Left in the car while y'all go in the restaurant for a lunch.

Basically treat it like your dog or baby. If you wouldn't leave your puppy in the situation, don't put the armor in the situation.