Allow myself to introduce...myself.

[arma358]

Hello all,
So, I'm Zach, or you can call me "Arma", whichever you prefer. I'm a college student in Erie, PA who has finally caught up with Red vs. Blue, and has actually had the chance to finally play some Halo 4. Engineering doesn't allow time to do much of anything kids... Anyways, after catching up with RvB I finally resolved myself to build some armor of some sort. My hope is that I have a decent looking helmet by the time Tekko (Old name: Tekkoshocon) comes around in mid-April. So far, that goal is progressing...fairly well, though, I know I've got some fixing to do.

I'm currently working on a Mark VI helmet from Halo 3, as that is the helmets that pretty much all of the characters in RvB use, not to mention Master Chief. I figured that it would be a decent starting point, though I do agree that I -really- should have tried something less...complicated, as all the folds weren't perfect on my end.

Here's what I got so far. http://imgur.com/a/lVcHF

 

[Cyan Junkie]

Building pep will take practice, although my first helmet turned out really good, it was also too big.

 

[Barroth]

Welcome!

 

[arma358]

Surprisingly, the opening at the bottom of my helmet is just the right size to fit my noggin and my glasses through. Granted, there is a lot of space inside the helmet after I get my head in. I have a feeling that'll change after I add fans and padding, as well as the mounting system for the visor.

 

[Barroth]

yup that will take up space, and if it is still too big you can always use foam

 

[arma358]

If you want to see some of the previous work that I did on this helmet, I posted it in an album on Imgur. http://imgur.com/a/lVcHF

Bondo on the outside, part one.

Shortly after this, I sanded down the high spots with a sanding block and rotary tool with a sanding wheel. I apologize for not getting a picture of that....

However, after that, I applied another coat of bondo, and filled in some of my problem areas, as well as extended to the inner top detail in between the two parts that were already bondo'd.



Does anyone have some tips or tricks about filling in the center ridge of the helmet without loosing too much detail? I'm all ears....

 

[arma358]

Well, it's a been a while since I've posted in this thread...like four months. I have a pretty massive update, as I've been working away at this. Here are all the pictures that I have uploaded to Imgur: http://imgur.com/a/lVcHF (same as the link above)

In the mean time, it turns out that my first helmet was way too big. Like, Chief himself big. So...I pepped out the other helmet that I had already printed out, and I think it turned out much better. As someone who needs to wear glasses, and would like the extra space to actually do some crazy awesome electronics in the future (maybe...though there is a flaw that might stop that...more on that later in the post), I opted to just stick with it.

The pep turned out alright, and fit much better to my head, though still a bit large. I'm not particularly concerned about this currently. I've also decided that the rest of the armor will be made out of EVA, and I might even make a replacement helmet out of EVA, depending on how good I get with actually working with the foam. Thanks to Spacemeat for the foam tutorials, as they pushed me away from working with bondo and resin, especially in a closed apartment during this summer. I've also had a chance to talk with a couple of other Spartans out there about their foam armor builds and tips and tricks that I can take away from them. You know who you are, I hope. Of course, when working on this, I'll be looking through all sorts of information here, and all across the internet.

Now, the helmet itself must have warped, or I just plain pepped it out wrong. Some of it I was able to fix with some extra bondo, but the brim of the helmet is slightly tilted with respect to the jaw. At this stage, I'm just going to live with it, as it's gonna look pretty darn sweet no matter what. What it does mean though, is that I'll likely be building a helmet out of foam, or work on an entirely new suit all together.

Finally, for those in the Colonial regiment: I will be at Sci-Fi Valley Con at the 1701st Fleet table, and I -might- have my helmet with me...I haven't decided yet.

For those curious...I'm going regulation blue, because I feel a bit like Caboose.

 

[arma358]

I'm so happy right now...

So, update time! This weekend has consisted of me finishing up the helmet. I'm glad to say that after four months of work....IT'S DONE! So, here's a couple of pictures for your enjoyment.



The next phase will be to actually build an entire set of armor, and (possibly) rebuild the helmet in foam. At this time, and considering that I'll be in an apartment during the summer, I think I'll be using primarily foam from here on out.