elevan's mk vi build

[elevan]

Hello all, here's my Mark VI build. I'm one of those people who never finishes things. Hopefully with all of your support and encouragement I'll get this done by summer's end. I'm working on several parts of the suit but mostly the helmet. Here's what I've got so far. It's flying squirrel's model.


I'm familiar with just using resin and glass cloth for strengthening. For this one I thought I'd try my hand at rondo, hence the pepped visor. I prefer it to the old fashioned way, took me way less time but I guess they both have their uses. I sandwiched my matte cloth in between two healthy layers of rondo and I'm very pleased with the resulting strength. I'll post some of today's work later...

 

[DaSlacker]

Looking good so far, keep plugging away.

 

[whiteninja1990]

nice. from the looks of it you gotta real steady hand. I know what you mean about never finishing things. I still haven't finished the Recon Helmet I was Gonna make. as a result I have to start over(my cat pounced on it.)

 

[elevan]

it's a real problem... I have a recon myself actually awaiting completion.

 

[whiteninja1990]

yeah I'm looking at almost 54 dollars to get this helmet just to the resined stage. 20 for printer ink, 14 for more cardstock, and 20 more for resin. and I still haven't preordered Reach. no job
this is what it looks like. unfortunatly I didn't find belkors until after this one. (if you look close you can see my Venom mask under the helmet )

 

[elevan]

Here's an update on my build. I've been smoothing out my seems with an air powered dynafile...works really well. I cut out the visor and cleaned it up a bit and dremeled out my ear openings. Let me know what you think!

 

[Shadowshail]

Wicked! It looks so straight! Great job and good luck on the rest of it!

 

[elevan]

http://www.405th.com/[ATTACH=full]92332[/ATTACH]Hey guys, sorry it's been so long since I've updated this thread. I've been busy finishing my Bachelors. In my post grad depression I started back to work on this thing. I finally ordered my visor...I'm not doing the dual, I'll probably either leave it alone or use a pinstripe material. I bought it off amazon for around $10 shipped.

[ATTACH=full]92330[/ATTACH]

After several cuts with the good ole dremel I finally fitted it in. Advice to anyone who's not done this step yet...tape your visor before you begin to fit. It's a two for one: it'll keep your visor from scratching and you'll have to tape it anyway to paint. I did remove tape and film for the parts of it I glued to the helmet tho.


[ATTACH=full]92331[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=full]92332[/ATTACH]

I've got just about all of it smoothed out to my liking but I still have some filling in to do between helmet and visor in some places... anyone have any solutions? I was thinking a paintable caulk or just bondo. Let me know what you guys think!

 

[Spitfire22V]

The helmet looks fantastic! Excellent job on the smoothing.

Regarding the gaps in between the visor and helmet, I'd suggest reading Blackula727's Tutorial on Installing and Detailing Visors. I can tell you first hand that the results using his method are great.

Also, please tell me you're going to add the "rebreather" tubing on the cheeks! :cool It's such a shame to see people omit that detail on otherwise great helmets. Yours definitely deserves that extra touch!

 

[elevan]

Thanks for the compliments and advice...and yes I'll be adding tubing as well as the LED's anyone have a good link to some cheap LED's?

 

[Spitfire22V]

I got mine from Oznium.com. Prices seem decent, quality is great, service was fine, shipping was fast. No complaints!

 

[LongShot X]

WOW!
Nice work on smoothing the helm. It's looking really good!

What color are you going to paint it?

 

[elevan]

I'll probably just do the traditional drab with all the black accents and the battle damage as well...

 

[smallluke172]

looks great, are you cutting the visor? keep up the good work!

 

[elevan]

I haven't really decided yet...I might etch the details in if anything. On another note, I ordered my LED's and holders yesterday. I found some for really cheap on eBay...thank you China.

 

[Starvinartist80]

Fantastic work smoothing out the helm. You've managed to create one of the most uniform surfaces I've seen. When you sandwiched the fabric between rondo layers, did you apply the fabric while the rondo was wet or do a traditional glass layer and then just add the second rondo layer?

 

[elevan]

Fantastic work smoothing out the helm. You've managed to create one of the most uniform surfaces I've seen. When you sandwiched the fabric between rondo layers, did you apply the fabric while the rondo was wet or do a traditional glass layer and then just add the second rondo layer?

Thank you! I glassed the outside, put one layer of rondo inside and applied my matte before it cured, then sealed it up with a second layer of rondo. I think the rondo method is way easier than the traditional resin and matte.

 

[slawrence]

this may sound a stupid question but can i use rondo on other parts like thigh and shin?