1st Build Air Assault Build

[JurbV3]

Hello!

I've been in the 405th for a few years now and have gotten to know alot of people, I figured now that I have a gap year I have plenty of time to get going on a project. I am making a set of reach air assault armor, and intend to just post updates until the inevitable conclusion of the main project. This however doesn't imply I won't be improving it/replacing pieces over time. My deadline for completion is April 15th, slightly prior to Calgary Expo. Please do not hesitate to offer your critiques and or questions, I'm a bit of perfectionist and really want this to turn out great, however it is not lost on me that I am utterly inexperienced beyond a handful of rather fruitless attempts.

Right now I am using a Creality Hi printer, and printing with PLA plastic. I'm going to try my hand at foam work later in the build just cause I want some semblance of mobility.

Here is my current progress, I have the helmet printed out. It is 6 pieces glued together with gorilla super glue I found in the junk drawer. Some immediate issues I ran into are the following:

1. Pieces don't fit particularly well, as you can see in the pictures the frontal lobe portion of the helmet isn't quite lined up with the rear, however the front looks fine. could be warping or maybe I'm just not sanding it enough. Either way I'm fairly confident that with enough putty it might be fine?
2. It seems slightly larger than expected. Looking at my Armor Smith model it seems like I definitely got the right scale, and adding the extra armor should hopefully balance it out. As a sidenote, I think the Air assault helmet is generally rather long and almond shaped, which may turn out better for putting fans and electronics in the rear portion.
3. My super glue kinda sucks, I think the bottle I have is a year or two old though so it's probably not a reflection on the actual product. I tried out crazy glue too, it doesn't adhere great and requires at least 10 minutes to get any real sticking.

Beyond all that, I think it looks great, and I hope to get going on some more pieces. I think the largest hurdle is going to be my lack of access to a warm, ventilated area that isn't inside the house. I don't have a garage, and it gets bloody freezing from November to March. However, the backyard does have a pretty neat dog house that lends itself real easy to putting a space heater inside. So that may be my only option for filler primer and painting up until the snow melting season. If anyone has some tips on that, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks!

 

[SgtSaint]

> and printing with PLA plastic.
I'd suggest taking a weekend to dial-in a more robust material like PETG/ASA/ABS

> I'm going to try my hand at foam work later in the build just cause I want some semblance of mobility.
Sized and scaled well, I find my printed suits quite good for range of motion and mobility.

> glued together with gorilla super glue
I'd urge you to read several build threads, tips, and so on. Just superglue is not a great or robust solution. Its okay for short term and display but its not something most people would trust for long term and wear about. It just doesn't hold up to stresses from movement and posing.

Mostly from your description of problems it sounds like you're trying to re-invent armor cosplay when you don't have to because there's so many good tutorials, videos, and so on.

----------

My "New Armorer FAQ" thread:
SgtSaint's FAQ post
<spoiler> I commonly recommend starting with a less unforgiving build as your first armor, then work up to one's like this with tighter and tighter tolerances after you've leveled up your scaling skills.</spoiler>

Advice:
Just because this is new to you doesn't mean its new. You don't have to re-invent the wheel with making, finishing or painting techniques. With ANY new endeavor I urge people to scroll back in the forums and facebook pages about a year and just read, read, read. A day spent reading can gain you man-years of knowledge and insight. You see what gets asked over and over. You see the problems that pop up over and over. You see things like "after about 3 months these cracks appeared" and so on that you only get with the benefit of time.
YouTube: Instead of watching movies this week just watch YouTubes on printing, making armor, doing painting etc. There's nothing like WATCHING something happen both good and bad to be a great learning tool.

Read through some build threads where people detail the process, the scaling, the planning, the fails and successes, finishing, painting, strapping. These are a couple of mine but there are hundreds more. Also don't brush off build threads for armor different than yours. Just because it's a... Heavy Infantry Mandalorian, or whatever doesn't mean the lessons on scaling, padding and painting don't apply to your armor just as well.
Spartan:
• Build 2 - MK-VI gen-3. With some silver timeline influence
• MK-VI Silver team season 2 [2024 build]

ODST:
SgtSaint ODST build (AU regiment)