Elite Honour Guard 2.0

[Manta]

It hasn't even been a month and I'm already moving on from my foam honour guard outfit...
Ordered a neptune 4 max printer to replace my old ender. Once I figure out how to fix the mesh
on this model, I'll be ready to print a detailed elite that doesn't have crease marks

 

[Manta]

Okay I've got all the pieces prepared for printing and I'm ready to test-print the most problematic helmet first! Every other armour piece took me a few hours to prep, this helmet took me 2 weeks and lots of help from very nice friends

 

[Manta]

Test print came out successful! The nose part didn't print cuz it's scaled very small, but I'm so happy this print worked out, especially the horns.

 

[elNoX]

Wow. looks awesome! I would love to print a honour guard minature one day.

 

[billeybob250]

IT HAS BEGUN i look forward to this.

 

[Parzival]

Wow, yeah I'm following this build for sure. You killed it with your foam build!

One day I would like to pursue a Elite build too.

 

[Manta]

First full-sized print done! Looks great but weighs twice as much as the completed foam helm. Love how sturdy it is tho.

 

[Zackurai]

Are you gonna reuse your sexy head sculpt or make a whole new one, also watching this too, looking forward to it!

 

[Manta]

he doesn't look too happy

 

[Zackurai]

“Sad, depressed Sangheili wort, wort, wort”

 

[Manta]

This was a tough one to modify

 

[Manta]

This helmet weighs 4.5kg and I don't like that

 

[Ruuqo]

Yeh, major downside of filament vs foam....
Excited to see this finished though.

 

[billeybob250]

This helmet weighs 4.5kg and I don't like that

Would it be worth it to potentially replace the horns with foam? they seem like they would be where most of the weight is.

 

[Manta]

Would it be worth it to potentially replace the horns with foam? they seem like they would be where most of the weight is.

ive considered it, but the foam tends to warp and lacks structure so i might reprint the horns with less walls instead

 

[Zackurai]

I had to take a second look at your “hoof” thing, thinking it was an alien object

 

[Ruuqo]

ive considered it, but the foam tends to warp and lacks structure so i might reprint the horns with less walls instead

It might be an idea to make a thin frame of one side of the horns and use foam to get the thickness you need. Holds shape and structure, still allows any printed details if you use the outside layer, and the foam will halve it's weight. You could actually do the same for any other thick sections like the front 'fangs' of the helmet. You just will have to be aware of warping mid-print because you're printing a significantly thinner piece.

Thin filament wall for structure and detail, foam for thickness and weight reduction. Little bit more fiddly and time consuming, but might be worth it in the end. Sort of like how cosplayers use worbla over foam, but instead you're doing the reverse where the foam's added after. It's not so much possible for the head part of the helmet, or for spartan helmets, because they're already designed to be as thin as possible while remaining structurally sound.