First Build, Marine

[IronFather]

I am just starting on my first ever set of armor. I have selected the Halo: Reach Marine armor posted by FANGS. I'll log my progress here, and provide knowledge as I learn it. If anyone has wisdom to share please feel free to do so!

 

[BlazingForge]

First off! Welcome to the group! we are very glad to have you!

Second! what method are you doing? Pepakura or EVA foam? Considering EVA is more common I'm going to assume that you'll be doing that!
Heres our Foam Guide on the forums! Another thing you'll need to do is scale your armor! Simple Armor Scaling Tutorial here's a simple tutorial to help you scale your armor before you begin!

My biggest tips for EVA foam builds are.
- Keep your blade sharp: Resharpen or replace your blade every 10 cuts or so.
- Use contact Cement to combine parts: Contact Cement is toxic so wear a respirator and do this in a well ventilated area. Also apply in a light coat and wait until it dries. once it is slowly align your parts and combine!
- You can back your seems with hot glue but depending on where you live you definitely do not want to have hot glue as the main adhesive for parts.
- And the last you should dremel every edge even slightly if you'd like a really nice finish for your armor! This helps blend the entire suit together!

Main thing. Have fun! Enjoy the building process and spend time enjoying the time to learn! I spent 6 months learning through this community before actually even building my first suit! So enjoy the process!

Glad to have you here and I hope you become very happy with your build!

 

[IronFather]

First off! Welcome to the group! we are very glad to have you!

Second! what method are you doing? Pepakura or EVA foam? Considering EVA is more common I'm going to assume that you'll be doing that!
Heres our Foam Guide on the forums! Another thing you'll need to do is scale your armor! Simple Armor Scaling Tutorial here's a simple tutorial to help you scale your armor before you begin!

My biggest tips for EVA foam builds are.
- Keep your blade sharp: Resharpen or replace your blade every 10 cuts or so.
- Use contact Cement to combine parts: Contact Cement is toxic so wear a respirator and do this in a well ventilated area. Also apply in a light coat and wait until it dries. once it is slowly align your parts and combine!
- You can back your seems with hot glue but depending on where you live you definitely do not want to have hot glue as the main adhesive for parts.
- And the last you should dremel every edge even slightly if you'd like a really nice finish for your armor! This helps blend the entire suit together!

Main thing. Have fun! Enjoy the building process and spend time enjoying the time to learn! I spent 6 months learning through this community before actually even building my first suit! So enjoy the process!

Glad to have you here and I hope you become very happy with your build!

Thank you! I understood an acceptable process to be using Pepakura to print of templates for cutting the EVA foam so that's the angle I'm going at. I'm double checking the foam guide to re-check my process. my first two pieces are supposed to line up but aren't so I need to find a better way to cut at an angle.