1st Build Building a Reach Hybrid Suit

[shortstack]

Hey babes! I've been active on the discord for a couple of weeks now but I wanted to officially start my build thread.

I started off by using my Christmas Bonus from work to buy myself a lovely Ender 5 Plus. She's been working day and night for me the last couple of days. The first stuff I printed we're pieces to assemble a Reach magnum with room for electronics (will link tutorial in next post I mention it). Now, she's cranking away at the second half of my helmet. I gotta say, I went through a lot of heartache and filament figuring out the helmet.

My helmet is going to be the Scout model from Reach. It has a very teeny tiny neck hole. I did not discover this issue until I had already printed the first half of my helmet. Turns out that whole armorsmith is incredibly useful, it's not infallible. I had improperly scaled the helmet due to difficulties with the software. I figured out, finally, though, to use 3D builder to cut down the model to ONLY the neck hole after rescaling it. Well I found a neck hole size that worked.

Then I told the discord about my success and started a new print. Thank God I said something when I did. They stopped me from getting too deep into that print with some assurances that the neck hole is just inherently too small for the model, and if I used the properly scaled neck hole, the helmet itself would end up uncomfortably massive.

I rescaled it once again. I've found a happy medium between "literally a child's helmet" and "bobblehelmet". The first half of it is done, and the second half is printing away as I type this. I'm excited to keep y'all updated on my progress, and I'll start posting pictures once I have something to show off!

 

[shortstack]

Hey, what suggestions do you guys have for making myself taller without the suit looking weird? I'm only 5'3 so it'll be a little difficult to rep a Spartan lol

 

[Cadet]

You can use lifts in your shoes to give you some added height, and the Reach Boot base should be able to cover it fairly well. However, honestly I think the best option would just be to embrace it and just use the ability of being able to scale prints prints to make everything perfectly proportional to you. If the costume is scaled perfectly, then in pictures of you you wouldn't even be able to tell your height.

 

[Fallen]

Hey, what suggestions do you guys have for making myself taller without the suit looking weird? I'm only 5'3 so it'll be a little difficult to rep a Spartan lol

I feel your pain. As individuals on the shorter side, we'll not be able to reach true Spartan height (unless you did a 12 yr old Lucy). Plus (speaking from personal experience) it's frustrating to always be the really short person in group photos. There are some options to add a little height.

Option 1: Put inserts in your shoes like these which with all 4 layers will add ~3.5".
Option 2: Wear thick soled shoes or platforms with the boot built around that shoe
Option 3: Combination of 1 and 2
Option 4: Construct your boots with a wedge as part of the construction such as here

I'm sure there are other options, but these are common ones I've done or looked into doing. Be mindful that you'll want to practice walking in your boots regardless of whatever you choose. Personally, I like option 4 the best where possible.

 

[shortstack]

I feel your pain. As individuals on the shorter side, we'll not be able to reach true Spartan height (unless you did a 12 yr old Lucy). Plus (speaking from personal experience) it's frustrating to always be the really short person in group photos. There are some options to add a little height.

Option 1: Put inserts in your shoes like these which with all 4 layers will add ~3.5".
Option 2: Wear thick soled shoes or platforms with the boot built around that shoe
Option 3: Combination of 1 and 2
Option 4: Construct your boots with a wedge as part of the construction such as here

I'm sure there are other options, but these are common ones I've done or looked into doing. Be mindful that you'll want to practice walking in your boots regardless of whatever you choose. Personally, I like option 4 the best where possible.

I've been thinking about the wedge idea, but I'm going to save myself some time. A common style of heels for women is actually a wedge shoe. I'm just going to buy some of those in black to save some time and effort. Thanks for your suggestions, I'll probably go with the inserts too!

 

[Dire]

Also some high density upholstery foam in your helmet, like 2-3 inches, which could give you maybe 3.5 inches to your height

 

[shortstack]

Update! Baby's first bucket has been fully printed and assembled!

I then used my rotary tool to saw away at the head hole until it fit me. Then I took some 80 grit sandpaper to smooth it down a little bit, but I'll be lining the head hole with spot putty too, just for a more even shape. After sanding it down, I (in true dumbass fashion) took off all my PPE and put it on my head to see how it felt. Got tons of dust in my eyes. I'm crying out the eyedrops as I type this.

Even though that happened, I'm still pretty excited and pretty proud.

 

[marinesniper]

Update! Baby's first bucket has been fully printed and assembled!
View attachment 300886

I then used my rotary tool to saw away at the head hole until it fit me. Then I took some 80 grit sandpaper to smooth it down a little bit, but I'll be lining the head hole with spot putty too, just for a more even shape. After sanding it down, I (in true dumbass fashion) took off all my PPE and put it on my head to see how it felt. Got tons of dust in my eyes. I'm crying out the eyedrops as I type this.

Even though that happened, I'm still pretty excited and pretty proud.

I have done the same thing with an old helmet to see how if fit not fun at all. then i did blow the next one out and then tryed it on and decided to rondo the inside and then tryed it on again and the smell about knocked me out hard lesson learned lol. glad your ok except a few tears.

and by the way the helmet looks awesome nicely done..

 

[shortstack]

Working on filler priming today! I coated the inside of the helmet with a resin epoxy I got from home depot to help it hold together a bit better.

I'm also printing the hand plates tonight for the same treatment tomorrow (minus the resin). Ordered a few sheets of foam from TNT to start working on the body pieces!

 

[N8TEBB]

Working on filler priming today! I coated the inside of the helmet with a resin epoxy I got from home depot to help it hold together a bit better.

I'm also printing the hand plates tonight for the same treatment tomorrow (minus the resin). Ordered a few sheets of foam from TNT to start working on the body pieces!

Looking forward to seeing the progress! You got yourself a nice printer. Also, welcome to the short spartan gang! It's a nice place to be.

 

[shortstack]

So I bought a palm sander. Thinking about all the hand sanding I've done so far makes me die a little inside. However, the helmet is coming along nicely. I just have some fine grit and then spot sanding left! Then.... It's painting time. Will post a picture later.

 

[shortstack]

My TNT foam sheets came in today! I'm going to start with the boots, since I've never worked with foam before. Easier to scrap a small part than a big one. Also! I printed my handplates yesterday. I'm almost done with the last of the sanding on ye olde helmet. I also got my risers for my shoes and I'm sketching out a pattern to add pleather details to my morph suit for my undersuit. If anyone has tips on any of these, please let me know!

 

[RandomRanger]

Awesome! This build is gonna be great, I can feel it

Note though: If you've never worked with foam before, I'd recommend doing the handplates first. They're the smallest and easiest to throw out/remake, whereas properly building boots has a number of issues unique to footwear. I see you printed them... but I still think it'd be a good exercise. They cost almost no foam, but if you don't want to do that it's understandable. I just suggest shying away from boots since those typically need reinforcement, actual shoes, risers, and etc. whereas the rest of the armor is more or less "build it"

 

[TillXValhalla]

Welcome to the foam gang.

 

[Phoxcario]

Can't wait to see more of your builds!

 

[N8TEBB]

yeee haw its foam time! Good idea to start with something small, I definitely had to scrap my first foam piece lol

 

[Spiderboy196]

foam gang oh yeah. cant wait to see more of this!

 

[Mysticporo]

Lov'in the progress so far Shortstack! can't wait to see how the rest comes out!!!

 

[NobleofDeath16]

Always been a fan of the Halo: Reach Scout. Not enough out there. Well done!

Also, I am the exact opposite of RandomRanger . Id rather start at the boots for because there's so much room to hide crimes when learning. Plus it gives you that integral learning curve of how to properly reinforce seams and plan for high stress sections of armor. That and its fun to just have goofy over-sized shoes first before anything.

I also tend to start with helmets when I worked with clients, because at least if they don't know if they want to do a full suit, they still have a kickass display piece. I learned most of my painting tricks from working on them.

 

[RandomRanger]

I mean, if you do boot covers then it probably doesn't matter. I say what I did because I use sacrificial shoes in my builds, which makes boots by far the most expensive part to build.
At the end of the day though, it's whatever works for you