Armor Progress And Bad News...

[ShinigamiNG]

Unfortunately, I am currently writing this from my hospital bed. I won't go into too much detail but it looks like I might be spending a little bit of time here, at least until they can figure out whats wrong.



Wish me luck please, cuz I would very much like to jump back out there and get to work on my armor.



Anyways, let me get a few pics posted up, not the most amazing work but all of what I am about to post was done in 2 days.

Piece is not cut in two and has one layer of fiberglass. Will post more pics of it soon.

Has 2 complete layers of fiberglass, contemplating adding a third for extra strength. And I trimmed off the excess, perfect fit!

Has one layer of fiberglass, will addd at least one more.

Left Thigh, now has a single layer of fiberglass, will add more when I'm out of the hospital.

I've left this piece as one until Its strong enough later to cut it in two. Though I'm not sure exactly where I should cut it... And I need to pick up one of thsoe nice tactical belts lol.

Side view, I WILL cut out that middle part, I'm just using it as a handle and partial support for now.

2 layers of fiberglass on this piece, I think I'll do at least 3 for the whole thing, and a 4th layer on the butt piece. Hopefully that will allow me to sit fairly easily without fear of crunching it.

Now two layers of fiberglass and trimmed up on the right thigh. I've thought about adding a 3rd or 4th but I kinda like the fact its slightly flexible... That might be good when I go to sit...



Oh, and right now, all of this is a partial rush job, I will NOT be using bondo because I am on a limited time frame to get this done for Anime Fest Wichita July 10th-12th. I already have a helmet and Mark VI chest piece that I will be using, so I just need to finish the legs and the arms. I will return to this later and bondo the pieces to get all the details I want, but unfortunately for now, I just doubt I'll have the time.



Thanks everyone for the support and wonderful tutorials and pep files, I only hope that oneday I'll be able to contribute to this site as much as the rest of you. And please keep me in your thoughts and prayers while I go through this difficult time, The doctors are still unsure what is wrong but know it is serious and have me under constant watch. I'll be going through a few more tests tomorrow and probably the next day as well, wish me luck!

 

[Dagger06]

Best of luck. Look forward to having you well again and back to work on making armor pieces. Good luck with the rush job. I know it's hard to try and get things done quickly, trying to find the balance between saving time and still getting it to look nice.

 

[SavvyTank]

sorry to hear that. you should see if they will let you pep in the hospital. that might make you feel productive at lest.

 

[Das Brutus]

Get well and get back to armoring!

 

[Jeff Torres]

Wow man, I hope you get well soon, was this a result of the resining or something?

....We need every man to prepare for the Covies...can't have you layin' in bed....

Seriously though, get well man.

 

[yccars]

IF your state is a consequence of making your armor, tell them "I didn't wear a respirator, okay? Just give me some pills and I'll know better next time." Haha, just kidding.



On topic: How is the fiberglass cloth working out for you? I just bought the mat because I had seen it done before.

 

[ShinigamiNG]

Thanks for the good wishes guys, it isn't due to the resining or fiberglass lol thank goodness!



It looks like I'm about to be released to go home here in a bit, hopefully. And time to get home and get to work on my armor!



And get some food! OMG FOOD!



Oh, and as for the questions: I wore a respirator and as much safety equipment as I could, I don't want to ruin my lungs or eyes while sanding or working with resin.



As for the cloth, I only started using it because its all WalMart had at the time. I'm planning on buying some of the mat, because I hear its actually stronger. But the cloth itself still does really well and is fairly easy to work with. If I get home anytime soon I'll try to get some more pics up of a few other random pieces of armor, plus I don't know if any of you have seen my helmet yet, so I'll post that later too.

 

[Jeff Torres]

Well thats a relief, what was it?

On topic: Your stuff's looking good, keep up the good work

 

[ShinigamiNG]

Well, unfortunately I've been diagnosed with ulcerative colitus or however its spelled. Not very pleasant. On the upside, it is treatable with medication.



Back to armor, I started gluing together the Mark VI chest piece that I had cut out thursday before I went to the hospital, and I think it may be too big... I just suck at scaling or something. My shoulders aren't as broad as the Master Chiefs. Any tips on how i might be able to salvage it? It may only be like an inch too wide on my shoulders, if that. Maybe if I pad it right or strap it on good enough it won't ride too low. I just don't want to lose all of my arm movement from it being too big.



EDIT*****

Actually, due to my brain still being kinda slow from the meds at the hospital, I didn't realize I was holding the piece up wrong. It was actually warped in my hands and the shoulders looked too wide. After finishing it up, I think it may be just the right width, and if it is too big, its close enough that it will work for a rush job anyways. I'll post some pics of it tomorrow.

 

[Nightmare451]

Hope you get better soon dude. That armour is looking great

 

[ShinigamiNG]

Okay, some more progress. Again, this is just a rush job to get done for the Wichita Anime Fest on the 10th-12th of July. I will go back to fix and smooth the suit out even more when I have time. But I'm just trying to get the whole thing done before then. I'm making pretty good time it seems. Whole suit so far in about 2 weeks, including a 3 day hospital visit in the middle.



CQB Helm so far:

Now resin and fiberglass:

It looks slightly warped to me, but not too bad in my opinion. It'll take too long to fix it before the festival, unless I can get everything else done first.



Space Diaper:

Fits like a glove. Should I cut it in two and attach a belt inside? Or leave it like this and slide it on? Seems to fit fine that way.



Left and Right Shoulders:

Will be glassing these babies first thing in the morning.



Let me know what you guys think, I'm just trying to get it done quickly for now. And I know I need to resin the outside as well on most of my pieces, I just wanted to get the fiberglassing done first.

 

[ShinigamiNG]

Okay, so I was running out of fiberglass one day and didn't feel well enough to drive to Walmart to check if they had resupplied yet or not... (I bought their whole stock of fiberglass previously...)So, I made due with some sheet metal for some strength in a few areas. It seems to work extremely well in my opinion. Its not perfect but it works. And thats what matters to me at the moment. Gotta get this thing done. So here's some progress pics!

Hahaha, I can sit down! Take that Stormtroopers!



And all of this is fiberglassed on the inside, I just didn't get around to resining the outside yet. I doubt I'll have time though, and I'm pretty sure I don't have enough resin to completely cover everything...



But other than that, any comments, questions, or concerns are welcome.



I'd also like to know if anyone else has had trouble keeping the shoulder pauldrons in place by having the one strap go across your shoulders connecting them? It likes to slide down my back under my chest piece and cause all sorts of problems...



Oh, and I hope Moz is proud. Its not as cool or as much metal as he used, but I did kinda get the idea from reading in his Mark V thread... lol.

 

[Spartan Sauce]

Awesome job dude. How many layers did you fibreglass by the way?

'Cos I wanna be able to when I get around to it ;D



-Spartan-Sauce

 

[ShinigamiNG]

Awesome job dude. How many layers did you fibreglass by the way?

'Cos I wanna be able to when I get around to it ;D



-Spartan-Sauce

Well, with cloth, you need a good 3-4 layers to build up much strength. Its too flexible without it. But with mat, you can get away with 1-2 in most areas. But you may do 3 in more important areas. Like the butt-plate lol. I like being able to sit down...



And thanks for the compliments! I've finished painting the complete suit, I'm working on the undersuit at the moment, but once I get that ready I'll put it all on for a photoshoot! woo hoo! lol.

 

[Dagger06]

Looking good man. Best of luck getting everything finished in time.



Why do we keep showing up to Anime cons? =P Hah, well...Halo armor still always seems to be a hit at those places.



If you're having trouble keeping things in place, you could try sewing some velcro onto your undersuit (or safety pinning if you're lazy/short on time like me) and use that to keep it from shifting around. Usually for shoulder armor I'd say have a strap to the shoulder and another around your bicep though.



But velcro works wonders in a pinch.



Gratz on the ability to sit. :lol Another good reason to make your own suit instead of buying that overpriced "deluxe" licensed one. My buddy got that and had to constantly stand up because his butt was just a cheap piece of plastic and not reinforced with 3 layers of fiberglass. ~_0



For the waist area, I would say leave it for now, just in the interest of speed and getting everything done on time. But later down the line you'll probably want to rig it up to a belt just for easier access. Doesn't look like that'd be too fun to deal with if you drink a bottle of water before suiting up. But like I said, leave for now and worry about that when you're not on a short timetable.



Get some nice pictures! Looking forward to seeing them.

 

[ShinigamiNG]

Looking good man. Best of luck getting everything finished in time.



Why do we keep showing up to Anime cons? =P Hah, well...Halo armor still always seems to be a hit at those places.



If you're having trouble keeping things in place, you could try sewing some velcro onto your undersuit (or safety pinning if you're lazy/short on time like me) and use that to keep it from shifting around. Usually for shoulder armor I'd say have a strap to the shoulder and another around your bicep though.



But velcro works wonders in a pinch.



For the waist area, I would say leave it for now, just in the interest of speed and getting everything done on time.



Get some nice pictures! Looking forward to seeing them.

Thanks for the advice! I had thought about velcro but wasn't sure how it would hold up. Unfortunately with small time constraints and a tiny budget (Less than $5 now lol) I don't think I'll be able to do it before the fest... But, safety pins sound like pure genious lol.



Oh, and as for the belt... I got impatient and already cut it, used strapping and padding on the inside, and used some plastic clips and a little ingenuity to clip it back together... It seems to work quite well lol



Back to work on the undersuit, I'll try to get pics up tonight but it may have to wait till morning, sorry guys lol.