First Time EOD Build

[Rayg3Qwitt]

I started this build yesterday and have made some good progress. Don't worry about the pink, my wife is a teacher and only had pink cardstock lol. I found it fairly easy to cut, glue and resin the helmet. My plan was to build the helmet first (hardest part) and if I can do that, then the rest should be doable.

I just fiber glassed the inside of the helmet. I used Fiberglass Resin and Fiberglass mat. Hindsight being 20/20 I would have liked to use the cloth. It looked less stringy. In the end I only had a small handful of strings poking up that were easily snipped with scissors. The helmet feels solid (except for around the neck where I couldn't quite get the fiberglass mat to cooperate. It is covered in resin though.

From the moment I downloaded the pep software I have about 12 hours of solid work into this helmet already. Quite the project, but I am super stoked about it.


It begins...
I

Gluing is done. I am happy with my very first pep glue job.


Got the fiberglass done and outer coat of resin. It feels strong. I'm not to concerned in making it over reinforced as it will just be used as a costume piece. In the pics (below) the helmet was dry, but it is still curing. Will let it sit over night and see if I need to go over any piece again.



The next step for this helmet is to get some bondo and smooth it out.

My questions at this point:

1. Is it okay if the neckline is not glass reinforced and just resin'd?
2. If this is fully covered in resin is it now waterproof?
3. Do I need to sand the resin before adding bondo?
4. Should I use bondo to add details like vent lines, texture raises etc... Or can I use foam in conjunction with Pep? and just bondo/paint over the foam?

Thank you so much for all the amazing posts. I have been all over the faqs and newcomers posts.

 

[KoopaTroopa]

Great job! Im glad to see someone doing this helm.
1. You need to fiberglass the neck line. I didn't and some spots started to cave in under the pressure of bondo and sanding process.
2. Can't say im a 100% sure but if you have enough coats of resin than it should be water proof.
3. Yes you do need to sand the resin before applying bondo, the rough surface helps the bondo to stick. After sanding take a damp rag and dry it off, the dust will make the bondo not stick as well.
4. Me personally I used bondo to do all the detail, here's a good video on detail bondoing.

Keep us posted on your progress.

 

[Rayg3Qwitt]

I chose this helm mostly because it has always been one of my favorites. Also because I have an extra pair of orange Oakley lenses that fit this like a glove.

Great job! Im glad to see someone doing this helm.
1. You need to fiberglass the neck line. I didn't and some spots started to cave in under the pressure of bondo and sanding process.

Okay good to know. I had to do some trimming to be able to get the darn thing off my head. I will wait for it to fully cure as I am sure there is a couple more places I need to add some glass to.

 

[Master Builder]

Wow I am working on the exact same helmet.

It looks like you have a better pep file then the one I used (I really hate the one I got, so inaccurate, and I don't know how but they even managed to mess up the length on one piece so I had to custom cut it just to fit. The model itself was not even symmetrical.) But I learned that you really have to be picky when it comes to picking the pep files.

 

[Rayg3Qwitt]

Wow I am working on the exact same helmet.

It looks like you have a better pep file then the one I used (I really hate the one I got, so inaccurate, and I don't know how but they even managed to mess up the length on one piece so I had to custom cut it just to fit. The model itself was not even symmetrical.) But I learned that you really have to be picky when it comes to picking the pep files.

Thanks. Yeah I got lucky. I just picked the file from Supertaco. I just started on my chest piece. I scaled it up a little and rearranged the pieces. It printed all of the pieces on top of each other lol.

 

[Rayg3Qwitt]

Quick question. When downloading my pep file for my chest I got confused. I am building a Halo 3 EOD. I got halfway done with the chest and realized that I was just building the chest attachment. So do I download the Basic Parts--> Torso pep and attach the chest piece to that?

 

[Halo Master]

Quick question. When downloading my pep file for my chest I got confused. I am building a Halo 3 EOD. I got halfway done with the chest and realized that I was just building the chest attachment. So do I download the Basic Parts--> Torso pep and attach the chest piece to that?

Yes, you make the base H3 chest. Then attach the permutation onto that. Looking good BTW

 

[Chernobyl]

Hindsight being 20/20 I would have liked to use the cloth.

Always use fibreglass cloth. It's far, far easier to work with than mat - mat is used for large-area applications, like boat hulls, where delicate detail work isn't too important.

I'm not to concerned in making it over reinforced as it will just be used as a costume piece.

Two external layers of resin, one internal layer, and then a layer of fibreglass, SHOULD do the trick. But then again, I'd advise maybe a few extra coats on your body pieces later on down the line, since those will be contact-heavy and always the first pieces to suffer during a deployment.

My questions at this point:

1. Is it okay if the neckline is not glass reinforced and just resin'd?
2. If this is fully covered in resin is it now waterproof?
3. Do I need to sand the resin before adding bondo?
4. Should I use bondo to add details like vent lines, texture raises etc... Or can I use foam in conjunction with Pep? and just bondo/paint over the foam?

Thank you so much for all the amazing posts. I have been all over the faqs and newcomers posts.

1: I'd glass the neckline just to be sure, and then be sure to pad it out with something to ensure you're not scraping your neck when you move your head. Again, sturdy is never a bad thing, and resin layers are less superior to glass.
2: It depends. Resin IS waterproof, but if you've missed any small pinholes where water might leak into the helmet, or if there's a thin patch, then you'll get leaking which might compromise the paper base. The bondo layer will help to seal the helmet up, though, so you should be fine.
3: Definitely. If you put bondo onto smooth resin it won't adhere as well, meaning it's liable to lift and crack later on. Take some mid-grade sandpaper and give it a good scuff, but don't go crazy and scratch all your resin coating off.
4: Either is good, but bondo rarely adheres well to foam - Cereal Kill3r has some excellent tutorials on how to cast detail using bondo/rondo. Foam details do work, however.

 

[Rayg3Qwitt]

Thanks for the responses HaloMaster and Arcanine. I am not seeing a file for Halo3 Mk. VI Biceps. Could I just use the Mk VII? If not, then what file should I use for designing the biceps?

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks for the responses HaloMaster and Arcanine. I am not seeing a file for Halo3 Mk. VI Biceps. Could I just use the Mk VII? If not, then what file should I use for designing the biceps?

Disregard the above lol. I clicked into shoulder and there is the bicep peps. AS YOU WERE!

 

[Rayg3Qwitt]

So I followed the Armor Scaling Guide and measured from just above the inside of my elbow to the top of my shoulder (10.5"). Converted that to mm and plugged it into designer. I felt that my pieces looked a little small and the result was a miniature shoulder that is no more than 8" tall. I bumped the numbers i used against Robot Chickens build. I used 267mm for height, 148mm for width and 124mm for depth.

Can anyone tell me why I ended up with a piece that was 1/3 what I inputted?

 

[Termhn]

Well there's a few possible issues... did you tell it to resize the pieces to fit printable area when you printed? If so, tell it not to resize. That would be the most obvious problem... it's not as if pep just magically makes it smaller than what you tell it... did you measure the piece and see that it's actually smaller than what you told it? I would suspect it just looks smaller and it's actually not. If so, then just increase the scale and print it again.

 

[Rayg3Qwitt]

I get that the program doesn't magically screw up. That is why I asked for possible solutions lol. It was def too small lol. Trying again.

 

[Crimmson]

After you unfold the file and scaled it use a tool in the program that measures between two point that you select. Convert it to inches. Measure the diameter of the openings and then the height selecting two points. I usually select two points on the circumference of the openings, top and bottom. Then I adjust the scaling using only one input. For forearm and bicep pieces I usually only change the scale on the height and the open up the openings after I harden a piece(assuming you are going traditional pep methods). This works for me, that being said you are going to have experiment and see what works for you.

Also keep in mind, where do you want the openings of the piece to land on your arm. Say you scale a forearm to 8 inches total from the elbow piece to the wrist opening. The opening for the forearm or elbow side might be a little high up, but if you measure from opening to opening then you will know pretty much where the forearm piece will be on your forearm. I on ly used the fore arm as an example. Hope this helps and sorry for not posting pics but I am on my phone.

 

[Rayg3Qwitt]

Thanks a lot for the help Crimmson. Good things to think about and try. Much appreciated.

 

[Rayg3Qwitt]

I finished the left shoulder/bicep. Finally after a few failed attempts at scaling I think I got it figured out. It fits my arm good. I have large shoulders and I think the shoulder could be just a little bigger but overall I think it fits well. What do you think?

 

[Master Builder]

I finished the left shoulder/bicep. Finally after a few failed attempts at scaling I think I got it figured out. It fits my arm good. I have large shoulders and I think the shoulder could be just a little bigger but overall I think it fits well. What do you think?

Hey that looks good! your peping skilzz are going up.

I got some decent progress on my helmet as well (I do not mean to bom-rush in any way, I just wana help): http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/42218-Halo-3-EOD-Helmet-(first-build)
If you want any help on yours, I am more than happy to tell you how I got this far on my helmet.

 

[Rayg3Qwitt]

Hey that looks good! your peping skilzz are going up.

I got some decent progress on my helmet as well (I do not mean to bom-rush in any way, I just wana help): http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/42218-Halo-3-EOD-Helmet-(first-build)
If you want any help on yours, I am more than happy to tell you how I got this far on my helmet.

Thanks! I will take you up on that. I have never bondo'd before. So when I get there I will let you know!

 

[Rayg3Qwitt]

Really confused on my shoulders. I made the Halo 3 MK VI shoulder/bicep as shown above. Now getting ready to make the EOD shoulder pad. According to pics of EOD armor the shoulder covers most of the upper part of the MK VI shoulder/bicep.


Do I just attach it? or Do I remove part of the MK VI shoulder to accomidate the EOD?

 

[Rayg3Qwitt]

Here is my left forearm piece. It is the perfect length, but there is so much extra room inside. Is this normal? It fits great around my wrist, and like I said is the right length. How the heck do I get this to fit my forearm?

In the designer it only lets you change one dimension and it automatically changes the other 2 dimensions. Though I feel like I need a 20" forearm to keep this thing in place.

 

[Termhn]

You pad it with foam or something else. It's normal. The models are made for Spartan proportions which you more than likely aren't. Or you can edit the 3d model itself if you really want to make it contour to your body better.