Belakor's Landfall ODST armor build

[Belakor]

dude thats an awesome tip i just tryed it and it works real well thank for that

Glad I could help out, though I can't take credit for most of the tips and techniques I use. A lot of them are things I've picked up over many years of making stuff and have just transferred them over to prop and costume making





Some progress again, forgive the crap quality, don't have the good camera right now.





That's the progress for today, ran out of glue so I'm at a bit of a standstill until I can get more. Finished off the first upper shoulder and got the second close to being done (waiting on more glue ), also got the first of the lower shoulder pieces shaped though it needs more shaping.

Put the curve in the first hip plate too and started shaping it, decided it was a little too thin so I've started adding a third layer of plastic.



Tomorrow will probably be more cutting, getting everything ready for when I've got more glue.

 

[Belakor]

'Tis quiet in here…



Anywho, more progress.

First up is the first knee, I used Ruze's ODST knee (Bottom of that first post) and modified it slightly, as seen in the first two pics here:







Basically removed the unneeded pep parts, printed it (on regular paper), transferred that to some heavy card, and used that card as templates for cutting the pieces out of the plastic. No glue yet, either today or tomorrow, so everything has been dry fitted to test it all.

Still need to cut two more of the "wing" type pieces on the sides of the knee… then cut everything out again for the right side



Last night I cut the templates for the smaller of the two butt packs, this one is totally scratch-built:



Then used the templates to cut the plastic, as per usual



Again everything has been dry fitted and waiting for glue. There'll be a reasonable amount of shaping on this and I need to cut the bumpy things on the top. I also cut a hole out of the back to allow access for when the time comes to attach it to the rest of the armour.



Currently sketching out the little parts that connect the hip plates to the front of the undersuit/vest/whatever, after that I'll start sketching all the accessory parts for the pouches.





Unrelated to this build but I've been playing with QR Codes:



That one failed but the next should work well, not sure if I'll put one on the ODST yet (since it's not accurate) but if I can hide one somewhere I will.



That's it for now I think, will either edit this or post again when I make more progress.

 

[kupokitty]

Fascinating. What's a QR code? I've seen something like that before, but I don't know what it is.

 

[Belakor]

Fascinating. What's a QR code? I've seen something like that before, but I don't know what it is.

QR Code is a type of 2D barcode, there's some info on them here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_Code

But basically it's some fancy squares that you use to encode text or URLs that people can then scan on a phone (or other device) to gain access to the encoded information. I'm pretty sure that one above should take you to 405th.com, had it actually worked I found an app for the iPhone the other day called QuickMark that reads and also creates them so I've been trying to find reasons to use it



I thought it might be neat to have one on my armour so if people ask how I made it and have an iPhone or something they can scan it and be redirected to my WIP thread.

They can be pretty small too so you could hide them all over the place... so many possibilities





Edit: Here's a page for generating codes if anyone wants to mess around:

http://qrcode.kaywa.com/

and this page has an .ai template for creating vector versions:

http://www.fellowcreative.com/2009/05/playing-with-qr-codes/

 

[mkshane81]

I thought that looked familiar. They have something similar for the blackberry family of phones.

 

[Belakor]

I thought that looked familiar. They have something similar for the blackberry family of phones.

Interesting, I was actually looking for a reader for my Blackberry not long ago but didn't have much luck. Seems a lot of phones are getting readers now though, it's interesting to see how often the codes pop up now.





Finishing the template version of Ruze's ODST legs now too, figured I'd add an early progress pic:



Will probably end up doing a mixed media type deal with these, part 3mm styrene, part 1-2mm, and maybe some fiberglass... will see

 

[JediStumpy]

QR Code is a type of 2D barcode, there's some info on them here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_Code

But basically it's some fancy squares that you use to encode text or URLs that people can then scan on a phone (or other device) to gain access to the encoded information. I'm pretty sure that one above should take you to 405th.com, had it actually worked I found an app for the iPhone the other day called QuickMark that reads and also creates them so I've been trying to find reasons to use it

QR's codes...brings back memories of a semester learning and playing with nothing but linear, QR, Maxi, Matrix, and PDF417. Fun times with lasers.

The QR code is a lot bigger overseas than in the states. In a few year every cellphone in the US will be able to read this type and many other types of bar codes. Britain and Japan is big on QR codes.



You keep on trucking there Belakor! You might not have everything done quick but it just makes it more fun to fallow along!

 

[kupokitty]

Oh, that's what it is. I think I found one inside of a CD case once.



I think it would look awesome on the back of a helmet, a shoulderpiece, a shin, etc. Basically any piece with a flat area, as long as it somehow fits into the design/paint scheme.





Edit: What's this say? ;D

 

[Ruze789]

I'm loving this build!

I've also started modifying or remaking pep files to work better for use with plastic... it sure does cut out a lot of steps going straight to plastics instead of cardstock, resin, bondo.

You're moving about 900 times faster than I am on it though!

 

[DjLoki13]

Oh, that's what it is. I think I found one inside of a CD case once.



I think it would look awesome on the back of a helmet, a shoulderpiece, a shin, etc. Basically any piece with a flat area, as long as it somehow fits into the design/paint scheme.





Edit: What's this say? ;D http://qrcode.kaywa.com/img.php?s=8&d=Epic Non-Fail

epic non-fail



hahah



-Loki

 

[Belakor]

QR's codes...brings back memories of a semester learning and playing with nothing but linear, QR, Maxi, Matrix, and PDF417. Fun times with lasers.

The QR code is a lot bigger overseas than in the states. In a few year every cellphone in the US will be able to read this type and many other types of bar codes. Britain and Japan is big on QR codes.



You keep on trucking there Belakor! You might not have everything done quick but it just makes it more fun to fallow along!

They don't seem to be very popular here but hopefully that'll change in time, there's just so many uses for them! Just the other day I was thinking it'd be cool to have one on movie posters that you could read to get more info on the movie and maybe local showing times. Stuff like that would be handy



Thanks That's one of the drawbacks of trying to get everything as accurate as possible, everything takes forever It should be worth it though, obviously for me and hopefully for everyone following

Oh, that's what it is. I think I found one inside of a CD case once.



I think it would look awesome on the back of a helmet, a shoulderpiece, a shin, etc. Basically any piece with a flat area, as long as it somehow fits into the design/paint scheme.





Edit: What's this say? ;D

I've been thinking about sticking one on the back of my old Mk V helmet (since it's black), might have to make another perm shoulder or two for experimenting with too



:lol Haha that's good, the url gave it away afterwards but the reader picked it up straight away

I'm loving this build!

I've also started modifying or remaking pep files to work better for use with plastic... it sure does cut out a lot of steps going straight to plastics instead of cardstock, resin, bondo.

You're moving about 900 times faster than I am on it though!

Thanks Ruze!

It really makes things much easier doesn't it? Pretty much no more tabs to cut, parts to fold, and no more hot glue As well as the resin and bondo and no real worrying about the cold weather



Things have been pretty slow this past week or so but now that I've got more glue I should be back to my usual pace… at least until I run out of something else







So, making progress again…



Upper shoulders essentially done:



Just needs the three screw holes and paint. Paint will be left 'till last.



The first lower shoulder can be seen on the far right here:



Still needs some tweaking of the curves and some sanding.



First of the knees has been assembled:



It still needs the upper and lower greeblies and screw holes on bot of the "wings"



Other stuff being worked on…



Butt pack:



Needs a whole lot of sanding and the upper rim needs lots of shaping (plus the inner bumpy things have to be made)



First part of the shin:



Nothing special here, just some styrene that makes up the lower part of the front of the shins, need to make three more and add another layer. I think these will be one of the few pieces that I make out of the 3mm styrene.



Finally, the second lower shoulder piece:



Been glued now and I just have to shape it and sand it.



That's it for now, hoping to have the hip plates and hip links done in the next few days. After that I'll probably make a start on the chest packs, they pretty much revolve around the center piece so I've got to get that right before I can do anything else.



Still got a good two months to finish up, or at least get it wearable, shouldn't be too much of a problem… I'm going to be starting my Yoko sniper rifle shortly but I don't think that'll slow things down much. Time will tell :unsure

 

[mabolzichjjl]

any updates so far? i wanna see it put together!

 

[Belakor]

any updates so far? i wanna see it put together!

Yes, I think there are...





I've been staring at my reference photos more and more recently and decided my torso piece was too inaccurate so... I hacked some more off it:



It fits much better now and isn't as scary to put on or take off… sometimes there was that feeling that once it's put on it may not come back off :lol

Still it's just a temporary fix, the whole thing will be scrapped eventually...



The rest of the updates are fairly minor.



I put more of a curve in the hip piece:





Started to shape the second lower shoulder piece:





Cut out a notch in the top of the knee for the first greeblie type piece:



I still need to design and print the ABS greeblie for the lower part of the knee and finish building the top part.



There's been some minor work done on the smaller butt pack:



The problem is that it takes a while for the filler to fully cure so I can't really do a lot on that at the moment.



Started on the bigger of the two butt packs as well:







Last thing I did recently was start laying out the shape for the "dog tag" type decal on the shoulder:







That's about it for now, I'm hoping I get the time to make a trip to the city to pick up a sheet or two of lighter plastic. The 3mm is good but too heavy for the shaping I need to do on some parts, then I'll finally be able to make a real start on the shins and forearms.



More progress updates to come as I make it, stay tuned

 

[gingersnapples]

nice

 

[turtle509]

very nice work, truely an elite build

 

[Belakor]

nice

Thanks

very nice work, truely an elite build

Thanks, hopefully it'll eventually be considered "Elite" worthy though I won't move it myself... just as I wont sticky my own stuff, just seems wrong.

Hi. Do you think you could put a template on here for the cardboard shoulders you made and soon please? i have to have some armor done for a friend soon. Thanks.

I might look at getting the templates up but it probably wouldn't be for a while, I really need to fix up a few pieces and I'd probably get my shoulders all finished up first. There are a couple of pep versions around though, based the Landfall and H3: ODST versions.





No real progress to speak of on the armour, been dealing with other things and haven't had time to get stuff done. I did pick up my new ODST boots today and will try to get the toe caps mocked up and then built properly. I did have the toe cap done already but it didn't really fit like the screen used piece so I'm going to redesign it

I did get quite a bit done on the larger butt pack before I got busy:



It's proving to be quite a difficult piece to do since it seems change from shot to shot, because of the mud and such, why couldn't they clean them off a little? :lol

 

[Kodorei]

Cardboard FTW! I love cardboard and it's nice to see cool projects developing around it.

It's a medium that is totally underestimated.

 

[Belakor]

Cardboard FTW! I love cardboard and it's nice to see cool projects developing around it.

It's a medium that is totally underestimated.

That it is, I'm not one to use it as a final product but it's perfect for prototyping parts and creating templates for plastic



Nothing significant to report really, mostly little tweaks here and there... I actually forgot about some of the work I did the other day and only just remembered I had stuff to do

Took some photos of everything outside while the sun was out:







The little plastic bag on the far left of the first two photos is all the templates (both the used ones and some to use still)



Still spending most of my time on this project going through references, I discovered that I could export a full video as a sequence of PNG images while capping the new Reach video so I've got the Landfall video exporting now. Should be loads more references to add to my pretty substantial collection, hopefully there'll be some angle I've missed before so I can perfect some of these pieces

If all goes well I should have some decent progress to show by the end of the year, maybe some other interesting stuff too

 

[kupokitty]

Looking good, Belakor!

 

[tomcuthbert]

looking really good. what kind of plastic are you using for your knees and stuff? the build looks solid.