1st Build Cody's ODST Build Thread

[ODSTCody]

That's an awesome amount of progress! I think that it is a great idea to stay brushed up on foamsmithing, some of the best builds I've seen are fully foam! I've personally never been one for using the chipping method on my props and armor, but what you did looks great! If you want any ideas for finishing I have a full tutorial video showing some methods for making scratches and dents on props up on my YouTube. I'll also have a 2 part tutorial for making an ODST helmet from starting with a raw print moving all the way to a fully weathered helmet that I'll have out the second and third weeks of February if you want some other ideas or inspiration.

I can't wait to see your full suit and helmet, if they end up being as good as these two parts I'm sure they'll be great!

Thank you for the kind words, friend. Do you happen to have a link to that video (for weathering effects)? I don't mind what I've done for my helmet, but if there are better methods (that also don't include having to scrape frozen toothpaste off of the pieces) for making battle damage, then you've got me interested.

great progress!

Cheers, dude!

 

[DeltaAlphaZulu]

Thank you for the kind words, friend. Do you happen to have a link to that video (for weathering effects)? I don't mind what I've done for my helmet, but if there are better methods (that also don't include having to scrape frozen toothpaste off of the pieces) for making battle damage, then you've got me interested.

Cheers, dude!

So for this video the weathering portion is towards the end of the video. The video that shows off weathering on a helmet won't be out until February 15th.

 

[ODSTCody]

Those weathering effects are fantastic. I really wish I'd done that instead of the chipping effect I did (because the chipping looks alright, but that looks way, way better).

Do you think I should combine them, or start over?

 

[DeltaAlphaZulu]

Those weathering effects are fantastic. I really wish I'd done that instead of the chipping effect I did (because the chipping looks alright, but that looks way, way better).

Do you think I should combine them, or start over?

I would do both! You may like the effects over the chipping that you have already done, if not go ahead and rebuild it an just use the other effects. Either way practice is always good!

 

[Lukavago]

Great video, very well put together!

 

[ODSTCody]

Another status update, with some good news, some bad news, and some neutral news:

The good news:

First, my 3D printer, which was out of commish for many weeks, was fixed after MicaHusky so graciously walked me through fixing it, so I'm back to printing, which leads me neatly to my next points:

The second half of the good news is that after doing a few calibration tests and successfully printing a cube, I printed this bad boy:

Discord 405th members and anyone who saw the first Avatar movie probably recognize this - it's an AMP suit combat knife, albeit scaled down to be used by a person. That said, despite being scaled down, it's by no means small - the knife is way larger than I was anticipating. I'll get around to priming it, painting it, and making a sheath out of spare foam. Still, I'm overwhelmingly delighted by how the knife turned out - not perfect, but just being able to hold it and swing it around makes me feel good.

The bad news:

With the printing gears turning once again, and with the decision made to have someone else print the bulk of the costume for me, I was able to turn my focus on the radio backpack (aka. the one Mickey wears in Halo 3: ODST) I bought on Etsy, but it was then that I realized that the files - while of top quality and sliced exceptionally well into easily-printable parts - were plagued by the same issue that the Colonial Marine costume I once tried to make had: nonexistent documentation. This isn't helped by the fact that in analyzing the model, I didn't see any sort of places where you could attach hinges or whatever (and when it comes to this sort of thing, on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is total noob and 10 is master, I'm a 0), and the files didn't come with any assembly instructions at all.

In short, the bad news is that I don't see myself making the radio pack, and therefore, this costume has effectively lost half of its gimmick (because then all I've got is the CNM on the helmet, at which point I'm basically a reskin of Buck), unless someone has made this specific backpack variant and can walk me through what I need to do to at least assemble it, but ideally also make it function like a backpack.

The neutral news (which I guess leans in favor of good news):

Aside from that major pothole in the road to a completed costume, the project will continue as planned. It's lost a major part of its identity, but I'll finish what I can of it (which pretty much means finishing the helmet, printing/priming/painting the Halo 2 Anniversary shotgun as my primary [that or a pair of M6Cs or an MA5 - Halo has no shortage of good guns to use], and then painting and strapping the armor once I get that ordered and it arrives). Status updates for this particular build might become much less frequent as a consequence of this. Once more, however, if anyone can actually figure out a way (with as much depth and instruction as possible) for me to make use of the backpack file I want to use, that would be fantastic, but I won't be bitter if that doesn't come to pass.

Anyway, with the realization that the plan to incorporate a backpack (or at least, the one that best fits this concept) is FUBAR, I'm at least more confident in going for a more general and modular (for other ODST concepts) approach going forward, where most of the costume is the foundation of other variants.

That's all for now, folks. Thanks for reading and being here.

 

[DeltaAlphaZulu]

Another status update, with some good news, some bad news, and some neutral news:

The good news:

First, my 3D printer, which was out of commish for many weeks, was fixed after MicaHusky so graciously walked me through fixing it, so I'm back to printing, which leads me neatly to my next points:

The second half of the good news is that after doing a few calibration tests and successfully printing a cube, I printed this bad boy:

View attachment 327607
View attachment 327608
View attachment 327609

Discord 405th members and anyone who saw the first Avatar movie probably recognize this - it's an AMP suit combat knife, albeit scaled down to be used by a person. That said, despite being scaled down, it's by no means small - the knife is way larger than I was anticipating. I'll get around to priming it, painting it, and making a sheath out of spare foam. Still, I'm overwhelmingly delighted by how the knife turned out - not perfect, but just being able to hold it and swing it around makes me feel good.

The bad news:

With the printing gears turning once again, and with the decision made to have someone else print the bulk of the costume for me, I was able to turn my focus on the radio backpack (aka. the one Mickey wears in Halo 3: ODST) I bought on Etsy, but it was then that I realized that the files - while of top quality and sliced exceptionally well into easily-printable parts - were plagued by the same issue that the Colonial Marine costume I once tried to make had: nonexistent documentation. This isn't helped by the fact that in analyzing the model, I didn't see any sort of places where you could attach hinges or whatever (and when it comes to this sort of thing, on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is total noob and 10 is master, I'm a 0), and the files didn't come with any assembly instructions at all.

In short, the bad news is that I don't see myself making the radio pack, and therefore, this costume has effectively lost half of its gimmick (because then all I've got is the CNM on the helmet, at which point I'm basically a reskin of Buck), unless someone has made this specific backpack variant and can walk me through what I need to do to at least assemble it, but ideally also make it function like a backpack.

The neutral news (which I guess leans in favor of good news):

Aside from that major pothole in the road to a completed costume, the project will continue as planned. It's lost a major part of its identity, but I'll finish what I can of it (which pretty much means finishing the helmet, printing/priming/painting the Halo 2 Anniversary shotgun as my primary [that or a pair of M6Cs or an MA5 - Halo has no shortage of good guns to use], and then painting and strapping the armor once I get that ordered and it arrives). Status updates for this particular build might become much less frequent as a consequence of this. Once more, however, if anyone can actually figure out a way (with as much depth and instruction as possible) for me to make use of the backpack file I want to use, that would be fantastic, but I won't be bitter if that doesn't come to pass.

Anyway, with the realization that the plan to incorporate a backpack (or at least, the one that best fits this concept) is FUBAR, I'm at least more confident in going for a more general and modular (for other ODST concepts) approach going forward, where most of the costume is the foundation of other variants.

That's all for now, folks. Thanks for reading and being here.

Do you remember the name of the shop you got the files from, a lot of people who have halo files on Etsy are a part of the 405th. If they're TurboCharizard's files I'll be doing the ONI pack later on, so I might be able to help you out with how I do mine.

Edit:
Also where were you wanting to put hinges at? Sometimes you can use magnets to make lids removable and not have to fight with making holes before or after printing your part and still be able to access the inside. Strapping can also be use to make hinges that have a bit more slop to them so you don't have to fight them if your placement of the hinge joint isn't perfect.

 

[PlanetAlexander]

Building on what Delta said, if you contact the Etsy shopowner, they may be willing to give you some tips on assembling the parts you bought.

 

[UnrealPaprika]

I'll just jump in here to say it's looking good so far. Also, don't give up. I'm over a year into my build and I'm crawling along... Just gotta stick with it.

 

[Dire]

Just patiently-ish waiting for more armor to be printed.

 

[ODSTCody]

Do you remember the name of the shop you got the files from, a lot of people who have halo files on Etsy are a part of the 405th. If they're TurboCharizard's files I'll be doing the ONI pack later on, so I might be able to help you out with how I do mine.

Edit:
Also where were you wanting to put hinges at? Sometimes you can use magnets to make lids removable and not have to fight with making holes before or after printing your part and still be able to access the inside. Strapping can also be use to make hinges that have a bit more slop to them so you don't have to fight them if your placement of the hinge joint isn't perfect.

It was indeed Turbo's shop that I got those from. A tutorial would be really helpful.

I'll just jump in here to say it's looking good so far. Also, don't give up. I'm over a year into my build and I'm crawling along... Just gotta stick with it.

Thanks, man.

Just patiently-ish waiting for more armor to be printed.

Mine or yours?

 

[Dire]

It was indeed Turbo's shop that I got those from. A tutorial would be really helpful.

Thanks, man.

Mine or yours?

Yours of course, with the fancy smancy 3D printers.

 

[ODSTCody]

Yours of course, with the fancy smancy 3D printers.

Ohhh, I see now. I was just a bit confused, but that makes sense. Thanks - I plan on placing the order for the armor (to have it printed for me) tonight or tomorrow.

 

[ODSTCody]

Small update time:

First, a new 3D printed piece. I should preface this by saying that I spoke too soon re: my last update - my printer has gone back to its old BS, and the problems are bad enough to where I'm not only going to get a new bed from the manufacturer (if I'm able to), but also a new printer (not to completely replace the troublemaker, but to supplement it). This printed part was printed for me by a dude on Etsy, and I have to say, the quality is extremely impressive.

I still have a lot of work to do on my helmet, to include possibly re-priming the helmet, repainting the helmet, vacuum forming the visor, padding, and electronics, but this is a pretty big step knocked out (apart from minor sanding required at the very top).

Speaking of Etsy, I'm delighted by the fact that I was given a status update by the seller I placed an armor order for. After doing some scaling, he has since begun printing the pieces. The first one, as you'll see, is one of the standard shoulders (I also ordered one Romeo shoulder and one Mickey shoulder, with the reason being that I plan to make a sniper). It looks flawlessly smooth from the photo he sent me, which was before sanding, which makes me wonder how smooth it'll be post-sanding.

That's all I've got for now. The good news is that things are still moving, and it's exciting being able to make progress, no matter how minor.

 

[ODSTCody]

Another progress update, both from the guy making my armor and from me:

For the Etsy seller who's printing the armor sans helmet for me, he's been sending me photos periodically. The coolest ones I'll show you are one of the gauntlets, and a box containing quite a surprising amount of printed parts.

Now, as for me, I've been working on two fronts: digital, and printing (yes, you heard that right). To address the latter real quick, I went mainstream and ordered myself an Ender 3 (a stock Ender 3, not Pro, V2, etc.), which was annoying to set up, but ultimately proved to (so far) be a quality purchase. The end(er - had to make that pun) result of my first successful (armor) print (since the first print was a test model) is what you see below:

The digital side of things is the prelude to something I'm really excited to actually make.

A while ago on the 405th official Discord server, I spoke of a hypothetical idea to paint camouflage in the color scheme and pattern of CSAT's Chinese troops and gear (from Arma 3, my favorite video game), which got a few responses of encouragement. I've been thinking of that ever since then, and by this point, my choice of paint job has shifted from standard black/grey + colored markings (Clone Wars-style) to a more earthy, tropical camouflage pattern based on CSAT's colors for jungle environments.

I made a thread yesterday and also spoke with some community members in the Discord server, both of which led to A) figuring out the colors I'll use; and B) the exact pattern of colors. I was originally going to do the whole suit in that hex pattern, but was talked into instead using the hex pattern as accents in certain parts (such as the upper rings of the helmet, the wings of the bottom of the shoulder piece, the hip plates, etc.). I'm considering also painting it on the thigh armor, since the models I have (which are being printed for me) are relatively flat and smooth.

As a side note, something else I'm excited about for my armor order is that I'll be having not only the H2A shotgun printed for me, but also a pair of H2A Magnums printed for me as well, so I'll be able to channel my inner Captain Rex and have clone trooper-like pistol holsters for a pair of my favorite pistols in Halo (well, tied with the Gunfighter Magnum from H5).

 

[N8TEBB]

Welcome to the 3D printer gang!!

 

[DeltaAlphaZulu]

Another progress update, both from the guy making my armor and from me:

For the Etsy seller who's printing the armor sans helmet for me, he's been sending me photos periodically. The coolest ones I'll show you are one of the gauntlets, and a box containing quite a surprising amount of printed parts.

View attachment 327893
View attachment 327894
View attachment 327895

Now, as for me, I've been working on two fronts: digital, and printing (yes, you heard that right). To address the latter real quick, I went mainstream and ordered myself an Ender 3 (a stock Ender 3, not Pro, V2, etc.), which was annoying to set up, but ultimately proved to (so far) be a quality purchase. The end(er - had to make that pun) result of my first successful (armor) print (since the first print was a test model) is what you see below:

View attachment 327896
View attachment 327897

The digital side of things is the prelude to something I'm really excited to actually make.

View attachment 327898

A while ago on the 405th official Discord server, I spoke of a hypothetical idea to paint camouflage in the color scheme and pattern of CSAT's Chinese troops and gear (from Arma 3, my favorite video game), which got a few responses of encouragement. I've been thinking of that ever since then, and by this point, my choice of paint job has shifted from standard black/grey + colored markings (Clone Wars-style) to a more earthy, tropical camouflage pattern based on CSAT's colors for jungle environments.

I made a thread yesterday and also spoke with some community members in the Discord server, both of which led to A) figuring out the colors I'll use; and B) the exact pattern of colors. I was originally going to do the whole suit in that hex pattern, but was talked into instead using the hex pattern as accents in certain parts (such as the upper rings of the helmet, the wings of the bottom of the shoulder piece, the hip plates, etc.). I'm considering also painting it on the thigh armor, since the models I have (which are being printed for me) are relatively flat and smooth.

As a side note, something else I'm excited about for my armor order is that I'll be having not only the H2A shotgun printed for me, but also a pair of H2A Magnums printed for me as well, so I'll be able to channel my inner Captain Rex and have clone trooper-like pistol holsters for a pair of my favorite pistols in Halo (well, tied with the Gunfighter Magnum from H5).

That print turned out good! Same to the color concept you have there as well!

 

[ODSTCody]

Welcome to the 3D printer gang!!

Thanks, though it's worth mentioning that I already own two and have been printing since 2020-ish. This is my third printer.

That print turned out good! Same to the color concept you have there as well!

I appreciate it. The support material still sort of lingers on the print in certain areas and I've been unsuccessful in dislodging some of it, so if you or anyone else has any feedback on how to get it off of the print, I'm all ears. I also owe thanks to you for the color concept, since you were the one who gave me that advice.

 

[N8TEBB]

Thanks, though it's worth mentioning that I already own two and have been printing since 2020-ish. This is my third printer.

Welcome to the More printers than me gang lol

 

[DeltaAlphaZulu]

Thanks, though it's worth mentioning that I already own two and have been printing since 2020-ish. This is my third printer.

I appreciate it. The support material still sort of lingers on the print in certain areas and I've been unsuccessful in dislodging some of it, so if you or anyone else has any feedback on how to get it off of the print, I'm all ears. I also owe thanks to you for the color concept, since you were the one who gave me that advice.

I know that larger layer heights can cause problems with removing supports. I know unfit armory printed at a really high layer height before so he may have some advice for you in that regard. As for what I do is I'll usually use the cutting pliers that came with my printer then use sand paper for anything that I can't cut off without damaging the print.