First Armor Wip Mark Vi

[momoss]

So I cut the chest in half the other day and lo and behold there was not enough space, so I did some modifications!

Now everything fits fine. The body armor took up a lot more space than I thought it would, and being a girl takes up some more space Lol. Now its time to resin and rondo those cardstock sections. After that it should be ready for some trimming and bondo work.

 

[bobvdijk]

Well this is going to be So AWESOME
good luck with the rest of the build!

 

[Anjose]

looks great' nice work

 

[Bountyknight]

very nice armor cant wait till i can re pep my helm as nice as yours

 

[momoss]

Okay its been a few days, heres whats been going on!

Been working on the boots. I trimmed a bit of the opening on the top so my foot could actually get inside, and let me tell you its a tight squeeze. Getting them on is easy, taking them off...good lord, but it is do-able! Lol Another costume with tight boots *sighs* At least I dont have to worry about them falling off. The boot armor stays on without anything to hold it in place even the toe caps, most likely because I was dead on with the scale. 1% smaller and I would have a big problem here. Of course I will have some system here to keep the armor on the boots besides that.

Hardened some more stuff. Biceps and Forearms are fiberglassed and the last 2 pieces of the cod piece are mudglassed. I filled in the holes in the helmet with rondo because I figured they were too big for any LEDs I plan on putting in there, when the time comes for a hole I'll drill em in. I'm on my 3rd can of resin now and my giant thing of bondo is almost all gone Lol Assault rifle really not looking likely to get done in time for Dragoncon. I cant afford another large thing of bondo (I bought a small one to do body work with). I still have visors and LEDs to buy!

I tried to rondo together the chest extensions but the tape holding them together failed during the process so I'll have to try to put it together again tomorrow. I didnt waste the rondo though, as soon as I saw it wasnt going to work I put it on my cod piece. The more rondo there the better! Lol

Oh and heres the stuff waiting to get BONDO body work on. I'll probably be doing that in a few days. I want to get everything hard first, I still have thighs and shins to fiberglass.

And here are my weapons waiting to be worked on. The poor things, I had no time for them because I have to get my armor past the bondo stage first before I can dedicate the remainder of resin and bondo to them. I think I'll get the pistols done, I'm hoping to, but the Assault Rifle is really not looking likely right now. Note the pep pieces in the background. If you look good you'll see my 2 old shins, my first thigh, and my tester chest. Theres also an EPIC FAIL cod piece which I stopped building halfway when I realized it was HUGE. Theres also a pep of an energy sword thats sitting in my room. Unfortunately I know for a fact I cannot even start on that this year, but watch out for an energy sword WIP next year!

Well thats the progress report for today. Hopefully by the 20th I'll have mostly all the armor smooth and ready for *gasp* OMG paint! I'm not even sure what color I want to be. Part of me wants to be red with white trim. Another part of me wants to be like a gunmetal black with white trim. I thought about being yellow but I already have a yellow costume in the form of Cyrax from Mortal Kombat and I dont want it to look similar to that. I guess its something to think about for the next week.

 

[momoss]

I test fitted the arm pieces today. My range of movement is actually better then I thought it would be but then again I'm not wearing the chest armor here either haha. The biceps fit snug but of course the forearm has so much space Lol I had to unzip off the lower arms of the body armor for the forearm to be positioned properly, but I dont mind that because now the arms will be more comfortable and less hot hopefully. However now I'll need to definitely add a lot of padding to the forearms. These have 1 layer of fiberglass. On the biceps I will reinforce stress points with rondo. I'll also put a layer of rondo in the forearms but just the middle and back part. The front of them where the hand goes I'll leave at 1 layer. I want the forearms to be able to flex a little bit so I can get my hand in there without fighting it.

I also rondo-ed together the chest. I'm going to do some bondo work on the joints where the chest is supposed to separate before I cut it apart again. Then the 2 pieces should come together nicely with no gaps or misalignment.

Oh I'm wondering, with the cod piece I added a thick layer of rondo and then a layer of mudglass over that. Is that strong enough for me to be able to sit in my armor? Because the thing is pretty solid now and standing up all day at Dragoncon is NOT the plan Lol

 

[momoss]

More updates!

The Armor's Current Status

Started bondoing with the helmet, I hate this phase already all the sanding is making me tired Lol There are all these annoying gashes and craters even after I sanded it smooth. I was thinking I wouldn't need spot putty, I thought wrong. I'll go get some next time I'm at Walmart. The handplates didnt need much work on them and they are pretty much ready for paint, and the thighs are still drying from being fiberglassed. I'm anxious to know how they fit now. I know I'll have to trim and scallop off behind the knee so I can walk properly.

While the bondo dried on the helmet, I trimmed the insides and cut the chest in half again. The 2 pieces come together great, and I cant wait to install buckles on it. I'll be hitting the chest with primer tomorrow. Only 1 shin is completely fiberglassed here. I ran out of resin again Lol 1 more can should do it for real. At least I'll have resin for my pistols now without a doubt.

The rest of the armor has been hardened and hit with primer. Some of these pieces dont need much bondo, but the cod piece will definitely need some work. The rain damage coming back to haunt me...Curse you rain!

I may buy a separate belt for the cod piece instead of trying to integrate it with the web belt that will hold up the thighs. Still not sure how I want to attach that thing yet. I really dont feel like burning holes in the web belt to install chicago screws. Speaking of the strapping, the other day I ordered a web belt and type H military suspenders that should be coming in by the end the week, so by next week I should have the strapping system going. Cant wait to start putting all the armor together.

 

[momoss]

More updates. I'm so tired of sanding and dremeling bondo on this darn helmet! Lol I think this is as good as its gonna get for me. I'll get spot putty for some of those gashes soon.

Started working on the boots next, hopefully those wont take as long as the helmet did...

And heres the rest of the armor primed minus the shins. The shins still need to be glassed and I need more resin for that D: The only thing ready for the paint are the handplates. After thinking about it and having money play a part in my decision, I'm going to be a red and white spartan. Walmart has some cheap 1 dollar spray paints and red and white are two of their colors, so yeah.

I shelved the assault rifle. I know for a fact now that its not gonna be ready. The pistols I'm still thinking I can get done, but those are definitely the only weapons I'll have for a while. Dragoncon in 21 days, time is flying and all my strapping gear has not arrived in mail yet... >__>

 

[AceNat]

nice looking helmet there! don't you just hate it when you sand and then get little pits.. at least you've got some spot putty though
hows the weapon hardening going?

 

[momoss]

nice looking helmet there! don't you just hate it when you sand and then get little pits.. at least you've got some spot putty though
hows the weapon hardening going?

The weapons...well I have not got to them yet. Lol Sadly the assault rifle is not going to make it for Dragoncon. I'll be lucky if I can finish the pistols. I'm trying to get my armor done asap first.

 

[momoss]

Well time for another update...

Should we be getting excited now?! I think so! LOL The gloves are done! For the paint I used red gloss (they dont come in flat) for the first coat, black acrylic for the black wash, silver spray paint on a brush for the scratches, and flat clear coat for the final layer. (It kills the gloss of the red and protects all my hard work! Yay!) I'll be painting all my armor this way. Now all I have to do is...everything else!

Theres everything else! Just got my fiberglass resin today and the shins are drying in the basement. Everything else is getting bondoed and patched up in the garage. The biceps, forearms, and boots are ready for extra details that I will carve in with a dremel.

As for the helmet, its about at that stage where it needs to be painted red now so it has the nice final primer.

And those are the extra goodies. The visor came in the mail on Friday, I was hoping it would come this week thats a sigh of relief lol I cant afford to get another one in time before Dragoncon so no dual visor...sadness. I finally found some corrugated tubing for the helmet, it'll need to be painted black. I hope black acrylic will do, I dont trust that cheap black spray paint at all >__> When I tried to blackwash with that it took the red paint off and I was like OMGWTF. Anyways, I got some LEDs at radio shack too. They are white ultra brights and there gonna go in the helmet. Those black sheets are thick craft foam. Instead of using plungers or garage door liner for in between the boots I'm going to try my luck with that stuff mostly because its dirt cheap and the garage door liner kinda felt like this stuff. I used it before on older costumes and they seem to do well. They can be ironed into shape and gorilla glue will hold anything together Lol

Well I have one more week left. I know the all nighters are coming...I can feel it. Time to stock up on the energy drinks and burn me some work music CDs!

Edit: Oh heres my paint plan. For some reason when I look at this I think of the coast guard...A Cost Guard Spartan! Haha All credit to the template goes to Scrubs. Thanks!

 

[momoss]

So, the Dragoncon parade cometh! Am I ready? Well...

Yeah! Now all I have to do is figure out a way to keep my visor from fogging up and blinding me and i'll be marching away with glee! So with that my build is done. I'll take more pictures later, I need to recover from my all nighter. ZzZzZzZz

 

[Lemon Pledge]

wow im speechless thats an amazing suit!! awesome work cant wait to see your next work,



just amazing

 

[Liq]

looks good! like the red with white stripes, haha. I have the same problems with my lenses fogging up, and I think I'm going to try the paintball antifog goggle spray and see if it works. It used to work like a charm with paintball goggles, so i don't know why it wouldn't work with a Halo helmet, heh.

 

[AceNat]

so awesome!!
i know there is a spray that divers use on their goggles, im going to be looking into it for my visors

 

[AngusX85]

Looks great! For antifog, I'd recommend getting the spray that is used to clean safety glasses. It has antifog mixed in with it usually and can be found at lowes or home depot.

 

[momoss]

looks good! like the red with white stripes, haha.

Yeah I like it too. Your suit kinda inspired that LOL. During the convention when my visor started fogging up I used their bathroom soap and just rubbed it straight on the inside of the visor with no water. It actually worked out pretty well. Only had to do it twice the whole day.

Oh and heres a better shot of the whole suit.

 

[LongShot X]

Fantastic! Glad to see that you got the suit done! Nice work!

I gotta get my A$$ working to finish mine off.

Cheers!

 

[Charlieiscool12]

the suit looked even better in person. great job momoss. im hoping to have mine done for monday at dcon

 

[momoss]

Well now that Dragoncon is done for me, I have a few kinks to work out on my armor. For starters I need to find another way to attach the toe caps to the boots, hot glue was not the way to go lol The thigh straps also kept coming a loose the 2nd day. I think I need to replace the plastic triglides with something that will clamp down on the straps and keep them there no matter what. And the cod piece straps all have to be reinforced with gorilla glue. The F1 cement and hotglue did okay but 1 strap always came a loose. As for convention damage, the thighs and shins took a beating. Im thinking about trimming or replacing the inner thigh plates entirely so the cod piece doesnt dig into it. The shins I'll just trim the back a little bit and they should be good. Even when the armor is done, there is more work to do. *Sigh*