another noob with an HD MKVI build

[agordon117]

yeah, I do go to class on campus and then come home after. my classes aren't really easy either. Calc 3, statics, Engineering analysis 1 (which teaches me that matlab is the stupidest computer program on the face of the earth) and physics 1. I have 3 younger sisters. anyway, I have a question for you guys. I'm almost done fiberglassing the chest but I'm not completely sure about one thing. Where exactly to cut the inner lip to once I'm done. I marked the line that I want to cut with blue sharpie but basically it's one crease in from the center along the sides and front. I also was a little confused about the very bottom front piece. I think it's supposed to be cut back like I drew but I am not really sure. Hard to tell from the in game models.












so I guess my real question is can I cut where I marked and not have the armor look really thin in some places? I just need a few opinions, that's all. oh, and I couldn't resist this pic yesterday.



lots of bondo is still needed on the arms and helm still obviously, but I had just finished cleaning up the edges and thought it was a good time for a pic.

 

[Bonepunk]

Nice work keep it up.:cool

 

[SpartanT117]

LOL ok ok, you have me beat I just need to get off my lazy butt. haha I think you're on the right track there buddy, I say go ahead with it. you're wanting to thin it down so it actually fights is what I'm inferring?"

 

[Carpathia]

Looking good! Everything looks like it's coming together pretty nicely and at a good scale. I had to shudder a little when I saw that you cut up the shin. Hope that is working out! Keep up the good work.

 

[agordon117]

yeah, the shin works perfectly the way I have it cut. there won't be a visible seam there. I didn't want to just cut it down the middle either as there isn't a good way to hide a seam like that. Plus, I'm a professor at the university of dremel-fu, so it wasn't that hard for me, lol. The thin look I'm worried about is just that I don't want it to look less than the part. meaning if you can see from the side that each plate is only .1" wide, it won't look like real armor.

EDIT: I am on track to be done fiberglassing by the end of the night. I have reinforced the tops of the thighs, parts of the shins that needed it, biceps where needed, and everything is glassed besides two pieces on the right boot (meaning two pieces of fiberglass) and a bit of the chest/back. I'm sure I won't need any more reinforcement besides that because the bondo will harden all of the areas that would need reinforcing anyway (the widest part of the forearm, parts of the thighs, parts of the chest, etc.). I've got to get to class and listen to a lecture about matlab from a professor that no one can understand and then physics lab, but after that, it's go time. My estimated time of completion (for the plates through painting) is october 13th-14th as those are the only two days the weather looks good enough for paint. I do have a backup plan if things don't work out the way I planned but that gives me 10 days to bondo 15 armor parts working between 5 and 8 hours a day on it. I think I'll have enough time. if not, plan B is take the suit to my grandpa's machine shop and use his paint booth. either way, it's halo 4 or bust. And I might as well be done for halloween so I can wear it and give the guys at gamestop the heads up that I'm coming.

 

[agordon117]

double post but I haz made progress, so it's good.

the right shin is 75% bondoed (what? you started bondo before finishing fiberglass?) since I was not going to wait for all of my fiberglass to cure before moving on. I am starting with the shins because I feel that's the last thing people are gonna look at. who is gonna care what the back of the shins look like right? Well, compared to areas like the helmet and chestplate anyway. Obviously I'm going to put lots of work into every section that needs rounded, but if I were to do a "worse" job somewhere due to the learning curve, I wouldn't want it to be the helmet or chest. I'm extremely happy with the shape of the back and front areas on the shin and once I get the surface totally smoothed out, it's ready for paint. that's not as far away as it seems either. the part that I cut out and the sides that have bondo on them are still rough as I didn't work as long on them yet. Apparently there is this thing humans need called sleep. takes up 1/3rd of their day. Oh, and I did actually finish fiberglassing at about 9:00pm. at the speed that I was able to bondo the shin (so far) I might be done quicker than you'd think. I owe a lot to longshot-x for his bondo tips on his site (basically he said to not wait till it completely cures to start roughing in the shape, and too much hardener is always better than not enough. made a huge difference). Oh and did I mention I didn't use the power sander on that piece at all? that was all done by hand. I'd say today was a great day as far as progress goes. The only thing I would like to be different is the color of my bondo hardener. I'd like it to be blue so the red spot putty stands out a bit more but oh well. anyway, enough of the exited rambles of AG, and it's time for pics.



this was about 35 minutes into the bondo process





and this was just now before calling it a night.













and if things seem a little too spelled out that's because I posted this on another forum first that doesn't center around this stuff.

 

[SpartanT117]

wet sand that thang. :3 don't rush. no rush allowed for you. xP

 

[Inheritor95]

Everything is looking awesome!

 

[agordon117]

Oh for sure wet sand. I'm not gonna rush but dang that was quick for how far i got. I was considering another layer of bondo on the back of the shin but looking at how much detail is gonna be missing from the in game model anyway, i'm gonna leave it as is unless the primer reveals a really crappy shape. Obviously there is some sanding still and a few detail areas plus the rougher (applied after the front and back) areas to worry about.

I also noticed in the halo 3 segments of rvb that the sections on either side of the visor are actually just cutouts in the top visor so i will actually be fine without them on my helmet. Lucked out there.

And from the extended forecast it looks like i have some painting weather in about 15 days, so that gives, me a little more time. i'm absolutely not going to rush it, but i am gonna spend long hours on it to push hard for that deadline. also keep in mind, this isn't my first experience with bondo. those 10 useless armor pieces i made from january to march weren't so useless afterall. they taught me the process and since i already know it, it's twice as fast. plus longshots method added even more speed. i was really shocked at how fast it came together last night.

 

[thorn696]

Bondo and glazing is looking really great. You can also use primer filler for the small little pits/lines. Over all I really like what I'm seeing so far.

 

[agordon117]

Thanks thorn and i'll look for the primer filler but i have 5 more unopened tubes of glazing putty so i think i'll be okay. I took a good look at the shin last night and saw that there is one spot on the back that needs a little more sanding but beyond that, the primer will decide (after i finish up the freshly started areas obviously).

 

[agordon117]

Alright, so i got some work done last night and everything is coming together nicely. by the end of tonight i hope to have both shins and both boots done with bondo but as usual, i'm not gonna rush it. there are a few low spots on the primed shin and i had just started the other one before bed. the shield light slot is mostly shaped but needs a bit more work to be perfect.

And the low spots

And the second shin

 

[PigBenis]

Not bad my friend keep it up!

 

[agordon117]

Thanks pig. I was gonna stop at home depot after school for more hardner and sandpaper but i ran out of work to do between classes today (did 2 calc assignments in 2 hours.... can i hear a woot woot?) So i went to home depot now rather than later. This way i don't lose any working time. Also, i didn't show that shin from its good side on purpose. When i do that i wind up looking at the pic several times and thinking i'm so close to done on the piece.

Also, i have a feeling this sanding block is gonna make life much easier. I was seriously hand sanding before.

 

[SpartanT117]

Home Depot you say? I shall look for these when I bondo all my pieces.

 

[agordon117]

yessir, and I've found that I'm not quite sure how I lived without the sanding block. lol.

anyway, here's my rant followed by some pics

okay so I got a ton of work done tonight (even though it's not as much as I'd have liked) and I learned a lot that should speed up my process. I tried bondoing multiple parts at once and sanding them in the "almost cured" state but it proved to be too much and I had some places that are gonna need lots and lots of sanding now. so in the future, I'm gonna need to stick with one large area or two smaller areas on the same part. I also made the shield light slot larger on the first shin and made the second one exactly the same. I believe the first shin is ready for paint after a quick 320 and 400 wet sand but I won't have the weather to do so for quite a while. The second shin is 75% done and the right boot is at about 50% in the bondo stage. I had planned to be done with both shins and both boots by the end of the night but I did only have 5 hours to work (if I had worked 5:00-10:00 rather than quitting at 9:30). My alarm is set for 5:00am and I'll have 5-1:30 plus 5:00pm-9:30pm to work tomorrow which is more than double what I had today. I'm definitely hoping to be done with the legs (boots, shins, thighs, codpiece) before I leave for the weekend (I'll also have the same extended work hours on thursday). All in all, it was a good day.

As far as remaining parts to order for this build, I ordered 12 14500 li-ions (1ea for the thighs, shins, boots, biceps, forearms, helmet, and chest), 2 x 5W speakers, a 2 channel mixer (allows me to plug the ipod I bought into the mixer and run wires to the speaker without having to make my own audio circuit from scratch), a 2" nylon tactical belt, army grade suspenders, and 25 hard drive magnets (they will hold the chest together and the back pieces of the shins in place) along with 25 white leds. all I need now are some single AA battery holders and some resistors. maybe some cooling fans for the helmet but I'm not gonna get too far ahead of myself. anyway, here are some pics.

 

[agordon117]

well, I needed a break (too much dang coffee this morning, lol) just now and decided to take pics of what I had done just for the heck of it. the toe of the boot might look the same but it's actually on its second coat of spot putty.

 

[thorn696]

Looks awesome.

 

[agordon117]

Thanks. I got to a point where i had to stop myself from doing any more sanding on the shins and right boot because those are going to get beat up the most anyway and, i just keep thinking that i have no problem redoing those parts (and only those ones. They kind of warped a bit during resin anyway) after halo 4 comes out and i wear the armor to the release while anything from the thighs up is staying for good.

 

[agordon117]

1st minor setback since I really started this back up two months ago. I didn't really think about it till it was too late but the masking tape adhesive is too strong and pulled off some of the PERFECT master chief green when I taped up the parts for some black detail. lots of pics and not a lot of time so I'll let the pics do the talking unless there are questions. also, very early in the day yesterday, I came to the conclusion that I was spending far too much time on the shins and boots since #1: those are two areas I was considering redoing after halo 4 comes out and #2: those will be the most beat up areas. I also started with them because the importance of the smoothness of each piece pretty much increases as you go up the suit (meaning the chest and helm are the two most important parts and the biceps and forearms are more important than the shins and boots).

and judging by the paint on my hand now vs in the next two pics, these next two were just before bed

any pink you see on the green parts is where the paint was pulled off by the tape. you can bet I'll be picking up some better stuff tonight.

I'll get better versions of the blurry pics tonight.