CplYapFlip's Yellow Reach Spartan

Status
Not open for further replies.

CplYapFlip

BMO
405th Regiment Officer
Member DIN
S237
**Spoiler Alert: A large amount of this thread boils down to "ask TurboCharizard for specifics"

Halo Reach was my first full experience with Halo. I was loosely introduced to Halo 3 a year or so after it came out, but with Reach I got to play in the beta, play online and level up with my friends. So it was the natural choice for my first Halo armour build~!
If you haven't heard of the game mode Super Saiyans-- low grav, SpLasers and melee only, forced yellow colour, much shouting. So of course I needed to be yellow.
b34n vanity.png


Initially I was looking at doing my spartan with sintra. We're friends with a fair number of Mando Mercs who swear by the durability of sintra, and I was worried about doing a foam build because I tend to bump into things, drop things, etc-- and I didn't want to accidentally destroy my own costume. We decided to go for it and mix in some other methods based on the complexity of pieces. This was around September of 2018. I promptly did no work on the costume until Feb/March since I was hoping to wear it for a convention in April. If you know why I'm like this, by all means help me out.

The one upside of my procrastination is that TurboCharizard was nearly done his Daisy 023 build (which you should go check out). It showed me that 3D printed armour would be sturdy enough for my concerns about clumsiness. If you're curious about the process of printing my suit, those are questions for TurboCharizard. He printed as many pieces as he could before the original convention I was hoping to debut at-- but it was physically impossible for the little robots to spit it out in time. So we had a box of bits, and we tabled it for Otafest in May.
61620336_335657020451577_2312202515749273600_n.jpg DSC_0116.JPG
I'm also an absolute genius, and decided to go away and visit family the weekend before the convention. To the same city the convention was in. So I flew home, to drive 14 hours and get back to where I just was. Again, if you know why I'm like this, be all means help me out.

About a month out from the con, with about 6 days lost to visiting family. Bring it on. Time to get sanding while the last pieces were printing. We picked up a second sander so my friend could help me out while she waited for her own project's foam clay to set.
DSC_0129.JPG DSC_0118.JPG

Time for a mini game: Where have I sanded on this beige piece?
DSC_0123.JPG
Cool. Where did I sand on this grey piece?
DSC_0124.JPG
Yeah. Maybe this is really obvious to people who work with 3D printed objects all the time, but holy crow was I amazed at just how night and day the difference was with the grey pieces. I made my way through the beige pieces but the grey pieces were just such a treat of simplicity.

I sanded everything down with 80 grit, and because of the aforementioned clumsiness-- I dropped my chest piece, and just my luck (or foolishness) I dropped it on the epoxied seam and it popped into two pieces (it started as 4 pieces, so, at the very least, it could have been worse).
DSC_0173.JPG DSC_0166.JPG
Once it was put back together and everything was sanded TurboCharizard was a peach and coated everything in XTC-3D for me.
DSC_0172.JPG DSC_0148.JPG DSC_0147.JPG DSC_0168.JPG DSC_0149.JPG DSC_0150.JPG DSC_0169.JPG DSC_0170.JPG 61564409_386733228612460_916679409765711872_n.jpg
Which I then sanded with 220 grit. Leary about having broken my chest piece, TurboCharizard also did the good ol "Slush n Brush" on the chest, back, biceps, thighs and the many pieces for the feet. It's a... resin? lining on the inside of the armour pieces for extra strength/durability. (He used it in Daisy and I imagine its mentioned in his thread~!)
I was cleaning up drips after it had cured, but lost track of time and realized I had to go to work. I was really excited to really see the fruits of my sanding labours though so I did the first layer of primer to help me get through a long shift of serving tourists.
60219781_2018757855086474_2945659674503938048_n.jpg

Fantastic. So we primed it white, and TurboCharizard worked on the pieces we opted to do in foam.
60331256_395955084577418_190658292668694528_n.jpg 60269324_2197865580525918_2472350193970839552_n.jpg


And that was basically the last time I touched my armour until I got back just before the con. But while I was gone, TurboCharizard carried the whole thing to the finish line. Ask him if his back hurts. (it does)
He also threw together a foam Recon helmet for me, even when I had accepted I wouldn't have a helmet for Otafest wellllll before we had even started printing pieces. It made me realize how excited he also was for my Spartan debut.
60442044_602620840252144_4001700649786933248_n.jpg 60437708_434183090475957_3526489340555296768_n.jpg 60077007_445849759507948_7683746004926988288_n.png 60480467_883618118655555_6139515596259196928_n.jpg 60224736_432778127499341_5488819383671193600_n.jpg 60220291_358663294779326_4480774861194526720_n.jpg


I got home Tuesday night and we left Thursday stupid-early to be on the first ferry off the island. So I spent Wednesday doing the last pieces, mashing hot glue and foot pieces to my boots and packing up. We picked up our other nerds and drove approximately 11% of the way across Canada.

61733120_399787693957230_8523135846113607680_n.jpg


I actually finished attaching pieces to the boots in our Air BnB the night before wearing it. And even as I was finishing the second boot I was looking at the first one I did wondering what I was thinking with the flimsy attachment points. Somehow, even though I had tried the first boot I did on after I had attached all the pieces-- we weren't able to do the boot up once I had the thigh and shin pieces on. Could be because of Turbo's large fingers vs the teeny tiny zipper pull. Could be shifting of pieces in transit. but since they were relatively snug fit boots we said heck it and I just wore them unzipped.

Our Air BnB had carpet we weren't allowed to wear shoes onto, so it meant we had to get ready standing in the front hallway. We gave ourselves a little bit more room by laying the lids of our armour tubs on the floor. We had to do a bit of puzzle solving to figure out buckling each of us into our chest pieces and getting Turbo's biceps buckled to his undersuit-- bit of a fox, rabbit and lettuce situation since I needed to bring my elbows close together to maneuver the tiny buckles inside of his arms. But we got it sorted out and as he grabbed the last pieces we needed I took some shaky, shuffle-y steps around the front hall. I was fairly stressed out, worrying I wouldn't be able to walk very quickly but I was determined to make it to the convention even if it took me an hour to walk the six blocks (in the rain. Yayy Calgary)

I ended up holding the tops of the thigh armour and doing a weird penguin shuffle. I thought maybe the shins might be too long (or just sitting incorrectly because we didn't have the time to figure out foam padding to help the pressure fit). So after about two blocks we stopped under a breeze way to remove the thighs and carry them with us instead. As soon as I took the shins off though I thought maybe that would be enough range of motion to make it the last of the way there and we picked up our helmets and the shins and carried on---

I made it three steps from the breezeway when I understood the real problem I was having. My "under suit" was a cheap pair of leggings and a turtleneck, which in fact TurboCharizard used for his initial test fit of his own Reach Spartan--which is why it had straps already affixed for the armour pieces. His foam pieces. And while my 3D printed pieces might not have the weight of some of the other methods they were absolutely heavier than foam. So within those few steps, the thigh pieces had realized their new found freedom of no longer being held up by the shins-- and were making a bee line for the ground and taking my pants with them.

fan-freaking-tastic.jpg


So I resumed holding the armour in place and we made it a few more blocks before my shoddy hot glue job on my boots began to come apart. We were just around the corner from the convention when a passerby ran up to me to hand me a piece of Turbo's boot, colour me surprised after picking up I think 3 of my own pieces at this point. So we got to the doors of the con and I put my stuff down and Turbo ran off to find some glue for his own boot problem.

I texted some of our friends and tried to get situated. I found that the cheap-o leggings that were fighting with the thigh pieces had truly done their best since a hole about the size of my palm had ripped open above each of the straps. God speed straps, you really fought for me.

We did take a couple pictures with local peeps before I waddled back to the Air BnB. If you look closely you can see the troubles in my boots. But just take the Jojo at face value.
61982586_336871246990813_992660997594415104_n.jpg


But if anything I've learned from years of photography is applicable to modeling, its how to hide **** so I also got a pose hiding most of the mishaps. Though if you look closely you can see the hole on the thigh :lol:
61816572_635412956977212_6992557575111704576_n.jpg


I collected some friends to hold various pieces of my armour so we could head back to the AirBnB in about quarter the time it took us to get to the convention center. I put on my non-torn black leggings I had worn with my Nana Shimura costume the day before and was a waist up Spartan for the rest of the day.

My mom took my picture. It was a pretty big deal guys.

Also my make up was on point. My friend didn't notice my eyeshadow matched my armour until after I changed, and she likes make up-- so I figured I'd point out for anyone where make up isn't really their thing ;)
62039479_1451458124994841_1359914404010786816_n.jpg


We got changed and brought our helmets out to the 405th panel there, and I realized I was 5000% about to succumb to con plague. Sunday was great.
61881660_356314508421640_4095069854367744000_n.jpg

Despite nearly all the things going wrong that could have gone wrong, I had a lot of fun and I'm excited to wear it again. I'm going to rig up a heavy duty garter belt of sorts to try and sort out these unruly Spartan Thighs.
60648587_402981957217246_1348661727134220288_n.jpg
Similar to this, but with webbing and velcro and hopefully hidden under my space belt. I'll also attach the knee pieces and take the belt in a bit since it like to drift down my hips significantly after the thigh pieces were removed. I'm going to work on this over the next couple days so I can perhaps wear it to a local one day con next weekend-- if not then, then hopefully to the Summer Con down in Washington.

Most important thing is to always say yes to getting ice cream, and keep on goin' ~~
61299771_1265006110328963_1828002892234096640_n.jpg
 
**Spoiler Alert: A large amount of this thread boils down to "ask TurboCharizard for specifics"

Halo Reach was my first full experience with Halo. I was loosely introduced to Halo 3 a year or so after it came out, but with Reach I got to play in the beta, play online and level up with my friends. So it was the natural choice for my first Halo armour build~!
If you haven't heard of the game mode Super Saiyans-- low grav, SpLasers and melee only, forced yellow colour, much shouting. So of course I needed to be yellow.View attachment 270615

Initially I was looking at doing my spartan with sintra. We're friends with a fair number of Mando Mercs who swear by the durability of sintra, and I was worried about doing a foam build because I tend to bump into things, drop things, etc-- and I didn't want to accidentally destroy my own costume. We decided to go for it and mix in some other methods based on the complexity of pieces. This was around September of 2018. I promptly did no work on the costume until Feb/March since I was hoping to wear it for a convention in April. If you know why I'm like this, by all means help me out.

The one upside of my procrastination is that TurboCharizard was nearly done his Daisy 023 build (which you should go check out). It showed me that 3D printed armour would be sturdy enough for my concerns about clumsiness. If you're curious about the process of printing my suit, those are questions for TurboCharizard. He printed as many pieces as he could before the original convention I was hoping to debut at-- but it was physically impossible for the little robots to spit it out in time. So we had a box of bits, and we tabled it for Otafest in May.
View attachment 270624 View attachment 270599
I'm also an absolute genius, and decided to go away and visit family the weekend before the convention. To the same city the convention was in. So I flew home, to drive 14 hours and get back to where I just was. Again, if you know why I'm like this, be all means help me out.

About a month out from the con, with about 6 days lost to visiting family. Bring it on. Time to get sanding while the last pieces were printing. We picked up a second sander so my friend could help me out while she waited for her own project's foam clay to set.
View attachment 270603 View attachment 270600

Time for a mini game: Where have I sanded on this beige piece?
View attachment 270601
Cool. Where did I sand on this grey piece?
View attachment 270602
Yeah. Maybe this is really obvious to people who work with 3D printed objects all the time, but holy crow was I amazed at just how night and day the difference was with the grey pieces. I made my way through the beige pieces but the grey pieces were just such a treat of simplicity.

I sanded everything down with 80 grit, and because of the aforementioned clumsiness-- I dropped my chest piece, and just my luck (or foolishness) I dropped it on the epoxied seam and it popped into two pieces (it started as 4 pieces, so, at the very least, it could have been worse).
View attachment 270613 View attachment 270608
Once it was put back together and everything was sanded TurboCharizard was a peach and coated everything in XTC-3D for me.
View attachment 270612 View attachment 270605 View attachment 270604 View attachment 270609 View attachment 270606 View attachment 270607 View attachment 270610 View attachment 270611 View attachment 270618
Which I then sanded with 220 grit. Leary about having broken my chest piece, TurboCharizard also did the good ol "Slush n Brush" on the chest, back, biceps, thighs and the many pieces for the feet. It's a... resin? lining on the inside of the armour pieces for extra strength/durability. (He used it in Daisy and I imagine its mentioned in his thread~!)
I was cleaning up drips after it had cured, but lost track of time and realized I had to go to work. I was really excited to really see the fruits of my sanding labours though so I did the first layer of primer to help me get through a long shift of serving tourists.
View attachment 270591
Fantastic. So we primed it white, and TurboCharizard worked on the pieces we opted to do in foam.
View attachment 270595 View attachment 270594


And that was basically the last time I touched my armour until I got back just before the con. But while I was gone, TurboCharizard carried the whole thing to the finish line. Ask him if his back hurts. (it does)
He also threw together a foam Recon helmet for me, even when I had accepted I wouldn't have a helmet for Otafest wellllll before we had even started printing pieces. It made me realize how excited he also was for my Spartan debut.
View attachment 270597 View attachment 270596 View attachment 270590 View attachment 270598 View attachment 270593 View attachment 270592


I got home Tuesday night and we left Thursday stupid-early to be on the first ferry off the island. So I spent Wednesday doing the last pieces, mashing hot glue and foot pieces to my boots and packing up. We picked up our other nerds and drove approximately 11% of the way across Canada.

View attachment 270619

I actually finished attaching pieces to the boots in our Air BnB the night before wearing it. And even as I was finishing the second boot I was looking at the first one I did wondering what I was thinking with the flimsy attachment points. Somehow, even though I had tried the first boot I did on after I had attached all the pieces-- we weren't able to do the boot up once I had the thigh and shin pieces on. Could be because of Turbo's large fingers vs the teeny tiny zipper pull. Could be shifting of pieces in transit. but since they were relatively snug fit boots we said heck it and I just wore them unzipped.

Our Air BnB had carpet we weren't allowed to wear shoes onto, so it meant we had to get ready standing in the front hallway. We gave ourselves a little bit more room by laying the lids of our armour tubs on the floor. We had to do a bit of puzzle solving to figure out buckling each of us into our chest pieces and getting Turbo's biceps buckled to his undersuit-- bit of a fox, rabbit and lettuce situation since I needed to bring my elbows close together to maneuver the tiny buckles inside of his arms. But we got it sorted out and as he grabbed the last pieces we needed I took some shaky, shuffle-y steps around the front hall. I was fairly stressed out, worrying I wouldn't be able to walk very quickly but I was determined to make it to the convention even if it took me an hour to walk the six blocks (in the rain. Yayy Calgary)

I ended up holding the tops of the thigh armour and doing a weird penguin shuffle. I thought maybe the shins might be too long (or just sitting incorrectly because we didn't have the time to figure out foam padding to help the pressure fit). So after about two blocks we stopped under a breeze way to remove the thighs and carry them with us instead. As soon as I took the shins off though I thought maybe that would be enough range of motion to make it the last of the way there and we picked up our helmets and the shins and carried on---

I made it three steps from the breezeway when I understood the real problem I was having. My "under suit" was a cheap pair of leggings and a turtleneck, which in fact TurboCharizard used for his initial test fit of his own Reach Spartan--which is why it had straps already affixed for the armour pieces. His foam pieces. And while my 3D printed pieces might not have the weight of some of the other methods they were absolutely heavier than foam. So within those few steps, the thigh pieces had realized their new found freedom of no longer being held up by the shins-- and were making a bee line for the ground and taking my pants with them.

View attachment 270627

So I resumed holding the armour in place and we made it a few more blocks before my shoddy hot glue job on my boots began to come apart. We were just around the corner from the convention when a passerby ran up to me to hand me a piece of Turbo's boot, colour me surprised after picking up I think 3 of my own pieces at this point. So we got to the doors of the con and I put my stuff down and Turbo ran off to find some glue for his own boot problem.

I texted some of our friends and tried to get situated. I found that the cheap-o leggings that were fighting with the thigh pieces had truly done their best since a hole about the size of my palm had ripped open above each of the straps. God speed straps, you really fought for me.

We did take a couple pictures with local peeps before I waddled back to the Air BnB. If you look closely you can see the troubles in my boots. But just take the Jojo at face value.
View attachment 270625

But if anything I've learned from years of photography is applicable to modeling, its how to hide **** so I also got a pose hiding most of the mishaps. Though if you look closely you can see the hole on the thigh :lol:View attachment 270626

I collected some friends to hold various pieces of my armour so we could head back to the AirBnB in about quarter the time it took us to get to the convention center. I put on my non-torn black leggings I had worn with my Nana Shimura costume the day before and was a waist up Spartan for the rest of the day.

My mom took my picture. It was a pretty big deal guys.

Also my make up was on point. My friend didn't notice my eyeshadow matched my armour until after I changed, and she likes make up-- so I figured I'd point out for anyone where make up isn't really their thing ;)
View attachment 270621

We got changed and brought our helmets out to the 405th panel there, and I realized I was 5000% about to succumb to con plague. Sunday was great.
View attachment 270617

Despite nearly all the things going wrong that could have gone wrong, I had a lot of fun and I'm excited to wear it again. I'm going to rig up a heavy duty garter belt of sorts to try and sort out these unruly Spartan Thighs.
View attachment 270622
Similar to this, but with webbing and velcro and hopefully hidden under my space belt. I'll also attach the knee pieces and take the belt in a bit since it like to drift down my hips significantly after the thigh pieces were removed. I'm going to work on this over the next couple days so I can perhaps wear it to a local one day con next weekend-- if not then, then hopefully to the Summer Con down in Washington.

Most important thing is to always say yes to getting ice cream, and keep on goin' ~~
View attachment 270623
I'm sorry there were some problems, but it sounded like you had a great time nevertheless! The suit looks amazing!

Minigame time! You sanded the middle peice down the edge of the tan/beige peice, and on the right side of the grey one... did I win?

What the actual heck is that icecream?!?! It looks sooo good and weird but I am also disgusted of its rainbow magicness :lol:

By any chance do you have pictures of the mandalorian suits? I would love to see them...
 
I'm sorry there were some problems, but it sounded like you had a great time nevertheless! The suit looks amazing!

Minigame time! You sanded the middle peice down the edge of the tan/beige peice, and on the right side of the grey one... did I win?

What the actual heck is that icecream?!?! It looks sooo good and weird but I am also disgusted of its rainbow magicness :lol:

By any chance do you have pictures of the mandalorian suits? I would love to see them...

I had actually sanded all of the beige one. Not really fair for an actual mini game, whoops :whistle:

It's Ube flavoured ice cream in a taiyaki cone. If you've never had taiyaki I 300% suggest you find it somewhere and try it.

Here's my favourite colour of the many mando friends we have kicking around
61308256_326175444742714_2484588256604192768_n.jpg
 
Rinzlerr blessed me with a couple shots at a local one day con~~

271266
271268


As intended, the garter belt isn't very visible. I've highlighted it so you can see it. It mostly did it its job! It needed to be a bit more tightly cinched both for the straps to the thighs and around my waist. But they weren't trying to make friends with the ground as much and I had a vastly easier time walking. I still need to learn how to walk (understanding how my shin and thigh pieces interact) and I've got some funkiness going on with my boots that I've got to sort out still.
I also got a weird blister on my thumb? Seemed like my gloves were stressing out my finger tips.
I don't know if I'll have time to really fix any of that before Summer Con this weekend though, but they're mostly quality of life fixes and nothing I consider too drastic.
271270
271272


My second time suiting up definitely went a lot more smoothly, but I had the same amount of fun-- a lot :D
I thought this statement through. While I did have a lot fun being a spartan at Otafest, this time I didn't have to walk 6 blocks in the rain only to walk back and get half changed. And this time had bubbles. Sentiment is the same though~
DSC04272.jpg


All in all, the experiment was a success.
 
I love the little Ducat emblem! <3

Blisters are annoying, but they go away sooner or later! If you dont have time to fix the glove, put a bandaid on your finger in that are and it should help prevent the rubbing. I'm glad you seemed to fix all your problems, and that you had a great time!(no icecream though?)
 
That bubbles img is amazing! I never thought I'd see the two go together, let alone well!
Suit looks good too, great attention to detail :D
 
I love the little Ducat emblem! <3

Blisters are annoying, but they go away sooner or later! If you dont have time to fix the glove, put a bandaid on your finger in that are and it should help prevent the rubbing. I'm glad you seemed to fix all your problems, and that you had a great time!(no icecream though?)

I know right? Hope PerniciousDuke has some instagram-worthy ice cream lined up for us this weekend ;)
 
PREVIOUSLY ON DRAGON BALL Z, we last saw our heroes heading down to Washington SummerCon, where good times were had but Instagram-able Ice Cream was forgotten. (but more importantly good times were had)
DSC_1253.JPG
[See Pictured, Good Times]

Fair warning: I'm about to use some pretty technical terms, try and keep up with me okay?

While we were there, I took a better picture of my Space Garter Belt. I think when I update it, rather than an individual strap down the side of my hip-- I'll do a strap on both the front and the back side to help with the problem I have with my thigh plates spinning out of place constantly.
DSC_1248.JPG
DSC_1309.JPG

I ripped my stompy-bois apart to try and better situate the armour pieces both for walking better, and to make sure they were firmly in place before we shoved my spartan into a giant suitcase to take across the country for Outpost in Philly. Where I got to meet some of y'all, and you know the twist my story is about to take--

This genius is too good at punching, and broke her hand two weeks to Outpost. Oops.
Snapchat-1218997439.jpg
Snapchat-1150541027.jpg

DSC_1397.JPG
[this face says oops]

So I was extra determined to get my cast off and Spartan up for our next con which was Anime Revolution (we're not gonna talk about Anime Revolution right now though, because hoo boi). We reprinted my lower-leggy-bits to be shorter so I would have more range of motion around my knees. I still need to add some upholstery foam around the ankle to lift said-lower-leggy-bits and again get even more range of motion (hopefully)

Check out the amazing result of Rinzlerr 's photos and my own editing coming together.
DSC02308.jpg

Ooh, ahh! That recon shoulder though girl!

Look a little closer at my foot however and you can see how janky my stompy-bois are. I tried to attach my toe caps with heavy velcro--which in fairness to me, is pretty solidly on without any pressure put against it.
But once the lower-leggy-bits are pushing against toe caps I could take maybe half a step before they just popped right off. I wound up holding my toe caps in my helmet and standing very still for a couple of photos before running away from the rain.

*** However that day I had a little girl, maybe 7-9 years old run across the Olympic Plaza in the rain because she thought I was so cool looking and she wanted a picture with me. By far, the absolute highlight of wearing my Spartan to date. But I look forward to the chance that something could top that~

I "fixed" my toe cap problem by putting an elastic strap that goes from behind the yellow/black edges and around my ankle. I occasionally need someone to straighten out my toe cap for me but its overall much more manageable. Unfortunately the shoes inside of my stompy-bois have started to deteriorate, the wedge heels were made out of a crappy foam material that has cracked and I'll need to find some different bases soon enough.

20191027_131745.jpg

[See how my the black and yellow/silver foot part is sitting a bit too forward-- and how low my lower-leggy-bits are on my actual leg. Gotta lift that up and push that back]

So where are we at with my Spartan? What are the things I want to make, to change, to do?

Having played Reach on PC, I want to remake my thighs plates to also be a bit shorter. The only Spartan armour I had extensively been around when we were scaling mine, was TurboCharizard 's Spartan III, which he purposely made to have a more "larger than life" super hero feel. Seeing the female spartan model in game, I realize for my own build--my thigh plates can definitely size down a bit. Again, we're searching for that better range of motion. I know the Spartan walk takes some getting used to, but if you see my comical shuffle you would understand why I want to adjust these pieces haha.

I'm going to sweet talk Turbo into helping me take tentative first flight into the foamsmithing world as well--I'm hoping to figure out a way to make my thigh plates removable without having to take off the lower-leggy-bits and stompy-bois. I'll draw up the idea I'm kicking around and bounce it off you fine folk soon.
I also want to tackle that under-layer on the chest piece, after seeing how Spartan Owen and Hazel have an inner vest to accomplish that shoulder gasket effect I'd really like to try it out and bring some dimension to my non-armoured parts as well. Perhaps even next year tackling a proper undersuit.

I'm also thinking about bidding adieu to the Commando shoulder in favour of adding more CQC elements to my armour, as we work towards making me a CQC helmet as well. Oh darn, I guess I'll have to play a lot of Reach and save up so I can unlock all the armour <3
 
1612129963364.png
unknown.png

Oh darn, guess I played a lot of Reach and unlocked a bunch of armour so I could make my spartan for real~!

At some point in our initial creation of my armour, my shoulders switched sides-- I think it was so TurboCharizard and I would both have Recon on our right arm. But what do I know, I have to hold my hands and out and do the "which one makes an L" far more often than the average adult should.

Turn and the face the stage, ch-ch-changes I want to make:

I think I'm going to bid adieu to my Commando shoulder in favour of CQC. Commando gets in the way of dabbing, what can I say? This is the change I'm least confident about however.

I fell for the Breacher Collar, probably since shot gun has always been one of my favourite weapons.

The CQC helmet attachments weren't available in Vanity (at the time of building my Spartan way back when). My CQC helmet is like 90% sanded and ready for painting too! So long Recon pals, hello CQC gang.

Speaking of painting, biggest change is that I'm 99.9999% sure that I want to change my secondary colour, leaving behind my teal (which I knowingly selected a paint colour significantly darker than whats available in game) and moving onto lavender.
Partly because I love purple, partly because I know exactly where to get the paint, and partly because I sold my soul to 7 handsome Korean men.
I leave that 0.0001% chance to change my mind purely because I'll have to sand down the teal and I don't know if I'm motivated enough. But I think so (y)


Still to be done:

My thigh pieces need the section on the inner thigh which we planned to do in foam.

I mentioned it earlier in the thread I believe, but at HOD Owen and Hazel have these delightful vests in order to get that gasket around the arms. I wanted to try that since I don't have that detail at all as it stands.

I'll need a new knife since mine was never attached and got spirited away to become part of TurboCharizard's Reach Marine kit.

I believe I also mentioned it earlier, but I'll need to replace the boots that I attached my armour pieces to-- so I definitely want to perfect how the pieces attach when I do.

I think more folk might have this detail, but SgtSkittle117 stands out in my memory-- I love the idea of having some needles sticking out of a piece of the armour. The pink will be a great splash of contrast to the cooler tone of my lavender too.
I would probably do them in the CQC shoulder, but I also would only do them if I ever decide to finally outfit this shebang with lights.
If asked "are you gonna put lights in that" I would currently answer as "tempted".
 
i live disney GIF


Resurrecting my build thread because my favourite con announced its dates for 2022 and I'm like

What Is This Christmas GIF by Death Wish Coffee

could it be motivation?

Beyond that huge injection of feeling like life is worth living again I also have the added motivation of the 25 hr Extra Life Stream coming up where I'll hopefully get to be one of the folk playing armoured Reach. So I should probably put some effort into the To Do List that is my Reach armour.

Turn and the face the stage, ch-ch-changes I want to make:

I think I'm going to bid adieu to my Commando shoulder in favour of CQC. Commando gets in the way of dabbing, what can I say? This is the change I'm least confident about however.

I fell for the Breacher Collar, probably since shot gun has always been one of my favourite weapons.


The CQC helmet attachments weren't available in Vanity (at the time of building my Spartan way back when). My CQC helmet is like 90% sanded and ready for painting too! So long Recon pals, hello CQC gang.

Speaking of painting, biggest change is that I'm 99.9999% sure that I want to change my secondary colour, leaving behind my teal ... and moving onto lavender.

Still to be done:

My thigh pieces need the section on the inner thigh which we planned to do in foam.

I mentioned it earlier in the thread I believe, but at HOD Owen and Hazel have these delightful vests in order to get that gasket around the arms. I wanted to try that since I don't have that detail at all as it stands.

I'll need a new knife since mine was never attached and got spirited away to become part of TurboCharizard's Reach Marine kit.

I believe I also mentioned it earlier, but I'll need to replace the boots that I attached my armour pieces to-- so I definitely want to perfect how the pieces attach when I do.
For the next few weeks leading up to the stream we're gonna forget I have anything below the torso since that's all that will be visible on camera. So strike anything below the waist on the To Do List. Leaves us with these pieces:

20211016_121406.jpg

First step is switching from teal to lavender, which to my absolute frustration was photographing as a light grey, which you can see in these WIP photos I took while masking on the bracers. Slightly purple, significantly less purple in photo and just not hitting the notes that I wanted.

20211016_140142.jpg20211016_140142.jpg

Despite receiving weather warnings for torrential downpours, it was mercifully somewhat sunny out so I got the arms all masked off (I might mask off the teal on the chestplate/belt before the stream but I'm not gonna stress about it)

Fun tip, if you're too lazy to run some warm water into a bucket, thick thighs do in a pinch.
20211016_140831.jpg


I was worried the new purple I picked up this morning would be too dark, and I was planning on testing spraying the too-light and the too-dark at the same time, or ghosting the too-light over the too-dark, and instead I sprayed on the first few layers of the new purple was hashtag blessed, its perfect.
20211016_150357.jpg


20211016_164133.jpg

Timbits for scale.

I'm rather pleased with how it came out, even if its not the cleanest paint job. I was a candy coated spartan in the past, but I'm looking forward to trying out weathering and a finding a non-gloss clear coat to help cut down on the base colours being gloss.

I also realized that since my previous aesthetic was glitter makeup to match my secondary colour, I needed to update my glitter stash and ordered some purple glitter that should be here in time for the stream. I'll probably do a makeup test with it and hopefully I'll do a pre and/or post stream check in.
il_794xN.png


Sheen, sparkle sparkle.

What I'm going to try to do before Extra Life but I'm not gonna beat myself up too much and risk chasing away my new found motivation to work on cosplay List™ :
  • Curve Commando shoulder with some metal to help keep its shape
  • Fill the small crack that will arise from bending it into shape
  • Paint Yellow:
    • CQC helmet
    • Bottom of Commando Shoulder
  • Paint Purple:
    • Top of Commando Shoulder
  • Paint Black/metal details:
    • bracers
    • biceps
    • shoulders
    • CQC helmet
    • (double check chest/back plates as well)
  • Repaint the Cat Emblem because masking that off seems like a pain
  • Attach:
    • Commando -> shoulder
    • Recon -> shoulder
    • Hand plate -> glove again
 
20211105_222231.jpg
20211105_221955.jpg


The purple has started and I'm digging it. My glitter showed up weeks after the stream, thanks general state of the world and shipping. And I completely forgot to take a selfie while in armour, but hopefully you saw some of the Extra Life stream :D

I'm excited to work on as many upgrades as I can before Otafest in May. Maybe I can bump up to Tier 2. If I get far enough to do an undersuit and lights, maybe I can aim for tier 3 :oops: We shall see! How far I get before Otafest depends on what other costume I prepare, and I have a few ideas so I should probably decide ASAP and get started lest I end up in con crunch.

Updated To Do List: canceled, completed ☑, added
  • Curve Commando shoulder with some metal to help keep its shape
  • Fill the small crack that will arise from bending it into shape
  • Sand:
    • Shins
  • Paint Purple:
    • Top of Commando Shoulder
    • Chest piece
    • Belt
    • Thighs
    • Shins + Knees
    • Boots
  • Paint Black/metal details:
    • bracers ☑
    • Bracers (metallic details)
    • biceps ☑
    • shoulders
    • CQC helmet ☑
    • (double check chest/back plates as well)
  • Repaint the Cat Emblem because masking that off seems like a pain
  • Paint Yellow:
    • CQC helmet
    • Bottom of Commando Shoulder

  • Attach:
    • Commando -> shoulder
    • Recon -> shoulder ☑
    • Hand plate -> glove again ☑
  • CQC Shoulder Gang rise up
  • Breacher Collar
  • Knife
  • Weathering
  • Shoulder Rigging
  • Add straps to Thigh Rigging
  • Add padding to shins for pressure fit adjustments
  • Thigh Gaskets
  • Armpit Gaskets
  • Replace Boots + Reattach armour pieces
Eventually:
  • Duct-tape pattern for undersuit
  • Undersuit
  • Carve out light sockets
  • Cast some translucent pink needles
  • Bake cookies as payment to get TurboCharizard to wire lights
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top