H3 Marine W.I.P

[Uncle Fellow]

So I find myself sitting around uselessly this summer with nothing to do, and a Dragon Con looming around the corner, and no costume! How unacceptable! Thus, I am doing something about it. Long story short, I stumbled across the 405th in my internet travels and I was really excited by what you people here do, and I wanted in on some of it. So, I watched some videos, read a LOAD of tutorials, downloaded some .pdos, and got to work. The costume: Halo 3 Marine.
Originally it was going to be an ODST, but I couldn't find the files for it, so I went with the marine instead. And I'm kind of glad of it now too. The pepakura is (for the most part) simple and easy, relative to the Mjolnir or ODST stuff. With a good 30 days of complete freedom to do nothing but work on this, I have no doubt I will be ready by mid-September.
I've spent the last week (from Saturday, with a 4 day trip/hiatus to Charleston, SC) toiling away. And to show for all of my work, I completed the helmet!

Now, I must say, it turned out far better than I thought. I must also say I wish I could go back in time and slap myself for deciding to do this piece first. For my first EVER attempt at pep, it was very painful... But I did learn fast! The later sections began turning out very good compared to the early stuff. Some areas are rougher than others though. The absolute worst is the very front bottom of the visor section. It almost caused me to start over again, but I managed on good faith that bondo might save me later on. I hope my good faith isn't badly placed. The picture should tell all.

All in all, it's a bit tenuous. It feels as though it could pop apart at any time . Hopefully once it is resined, that won't be a problem... Hopefully. However, the resin is going to wait on the helmet. I am worried about putting so much work to waste due to no experience. I am going to practice resin/fiberglass/bondo on the elbow pads first. The reason is that those things are a single sheet of cardstock. I could probably churn one out within an hour or two (unless my fast is everyone else's slow), so losing five or six to bad resin jobs is no sweat for me. Once I have that technique perfected, then I'll risk my helmet. Hopefully Wednesday or Thursday I should have some updates on that. I do still have to purchase the resin, fiberglass, gloves, respirator, safety glasses, etc. I also have to wait for my new eyeglasses to come in, as my last pair is currently somewhere at the bottom of the Atlantic (part of the reason I've been such a busy bee the last few days).

Cheers! :cool (And kudos to whoever spent the time to read that wall of text)

 

[Sarigueya2]

Nice!!!! I'm really excited too for my first armor!!!

 

[Uncle Fellow]

I have to say, it's a great feeling when you start seeing all of the hard work pay off. Even at this stage with nothing but cardstock to look at, it's enough to justify moving ahead with the rest of it and investing the time.

 

[Flyerfye]

Brilliant! A very ambitious first pep, good on you for going in full speed, and emerging victorious! It's one heck of a feeling seeing it all come together, even if it is just the pep phase. Everything looks good, clean folds, little warping... dang good work for anyone, particularly for your first pep project. Sounds like you have a plan for your working/learning progress, and it's a good one. Once again, well done, I'm very excited to see how this costume progresses!

 

[ShinigamiNG]

Lol I get kudos because I read the entire thing!

I also would like to welcome you to the 405th, and I'm glad that you decided to jump right in

After all, the absolute best way to learn something, is to do it yourself. I'm also very proud of you for doing so much reading and watching videos. Many of the tutorials here are EXTREMELY helpful. Some of them may seem over your head at first, but normally once you get to that particular part of the tutorial, you'll understand what it means. (Hopefully that will make sense once it happens )

Anyways, your pep work is looking really good so far. Very nice clean folds, and as you said, you got better at it as you went. I also agree with you on your idea of making a bunch of elbow pads and practicing your resining technique on them. That is a very smart idea, very smart indeed. One bit of advice I can give you, is to lightly apply the first coat of resin. Only mix a very small batch at first, maybe 1/2 a cup (if you are using kitchen measuring cups) and apply that very thinly. Don't push down very hard with the brush, just lightly spread the resin across your cardstock. That way it will be less likely to warp from too much pressure applied, or too much resin weighing it down. After you've coated the outside, let it dry, then coat the inside. Or vice versa, I'm actually not too sure which is best to resin first, I'm not sure it matters too much, most likely just personal preference. But after both sides have a coat, you'll definitely notice that its a little stiffer and feels a little more durable. Once you get to this stage, you won't have to worry as much about warping and ruining your piece. But you'll still want to be careful when you fiberglass it.

Hope this helps some Feel free to ask questions, I'll try to answer whenever I can. I've been down this road before, and I've made my fair share of mistakes. I've learned a thing or two about making your armor out of pepakura.

Oh, and as for the ODST files being down, I read in another thread that when they migrated the forums to a new host a week or two ago, a lot of the old threads and links either got deleted or just no longer work.

 

[OverKill]

Very clean work. Nice!

 

[Corin]

WOW! good job for first pep, and yh youll be able to fix the visor with bondo nothing to worry about really.

keep up the good work!

 

[Uncle Fellow]

Wow, One day and this thread is already at page three! Things move fast around here...

Anyways, thanks everyone for all the comments! Makes me a little less worried about screwing up horrifically (which I am just waiting to have happen). Now, on to the important stuff, the armor.

I find myself in a bit of a dilemma. I have two different types of elbow for the Halo 3 marine (which, by the way, if anyone has links to any marine pep files, please give a link; I'd love to have some more options as there is a lot of variation from set to set). I have no clue which one to use. One looks like it would fit far better for anybody who hasn't experienced graphical clipping in real life (ie most of us I hope). It's a bit more complex though, and lacks a few of the details that the reference pictures show. The other one is pretty much identical to the reference pictures, but it seems like it would have some comfort/mobility issues. I figure that I'll go ahead and give both a shot and see which one works better (since they are so quick to make, and I've got the time).

 

[Spartan Will 043]

Oh yeah, it's amazing !

 

[jake11124]

good job so far. I am building a marine suit and i am just starting the helmet, again. (my brother sat on it, don't ask). I would like to know where you got your files too. I got mine from the halo costuming wikia pep file index. They are the vrogy ones. As you said each set has great variety and i would like to pep the best pieces possible for my suit. I would also like to help you with your armor in the ways that I can.

 

[Uncle Fellow]

So, to my disgruntlement, I wasn't able to get the resin, respirator, etc. that I need today. On the other hand, I managed to make the elbow pads. As I mentioned earlier, there were two types of elbow that I had. They were both completely different designs, but based (if only vaguely in one case) on the ones seen in the game.

I figured it would be best to try them out in scale to make a decision. So I did that today, and I have two pictures of the mounted on my arm (stuck on there with low temp hot glue. Uncomfortable, but not painful). As it stands, I am liking the second one more, if only because it feels like something actually intended to provide a larger area of protection than a chocolate chip cookie. I am surprised by this, because on the computer I was liking the first one more. good thing I made them ahead of time, right?
Type 1

Type 2

Before I go ahead and start mass producing this elbow piece for resin experiments, I would like to know everyone else's opinions on which one I should use.

@jake11124: most of my files came from the wiki originally as well. I found another set in a thread somewhere here on the forums. I'm not sure about the creator's preferences on other people handing out his work, so I'll see if I can find the thread again for you. It's a nearly complete set, missing only the boot guards. It also has a pilot helmet and chest piece, as well as the communications backpack. The chest piece is more detailed, but the helmet is much simpler. A matter of preference I guess. I'll put up a link for you if I find it.

 

[jake11124]

Thank you for telling me about the files and ill see if I can find them myself too. I I were you I would make the type 2 elbow but at a smaller size. that way it's sort of a middle ground between the two. It would be more mobile than that size type two and look more like the reference material than type one. cant wait to see how your armor goes. Good luck.

 

[Uncle Fellow]

Out of curiosity, how long should I wait before going near the resin without a respirator? Once it's completely cured I'm assuming?

 

[this is haji]

around 2 hours should be enough, i leave a fan blowing too to keep the fumes out of the garage

 

[Uncle Fellow]

That's a good idea. I'll give that a shot next time. I'm just wondering because the dang thing still smells horrifically bad, and I am wondering if that is something to worry about. Speaking of which, my first resin attempt came out beautifully. No warping whatsoever, though there are a few spots I managed to miss. It really went down perfectly. I used just the right amount of resin, finish coating it just before it got too sticky to work, and it cured great. Definitely gives me confidence to move forward onto the next stage with fiberglass, and to do the helmet. I also came into possession of some useful pieces for the rest of the costume. I'll post some pictures in an update tomorrow. Thanks haji.

 

[jake11124]

Can't wait to see the useful pieces,and keep up the good work.

 

[Trando434]

Wow nice attention to detail

 

[Uncle Fellow]

Ok, so, an actual update at long last.
Yesterday I sat down and finally got to the resin work. As I said above, it went flawlessly. The only problem was that a few tiny spaces didn't get any resin somehow. I also should remind myself next time to not resin both the inside and outside at the same time. It only work this time because the piece was so small. In other words, I got lucky.

That aside, as the picture shows, it's still nearly identical to the cardstock one I made yesterday for my other elbow. It's nice and strong now, and feels more like plastic than anything else. As I have also mentioned though, the thing does smell absolutely terrible. I'm not sure if it is supposed to, but I'll just assume so. Nothing else seems to be wrong with it.
Anyways, there are a few things that have come into my possession which will greatly help in this project.

A complete set of elbow pads, knee pads, and wrist guards. A friend of mine just so happened to have them laying around and offered them to me when I mentioned my build. I figured I'd have a look, and amazingly enough (though the picture doesn't really show it), the elbow piece from my pep and the one from the gear fit together perfectly. I mean almost the exact same size. Now, as to how I will attach it exactly is still something to be determined, but I am considering velcro. Also, here is my attempt to recreate the gauntlets that many of the marines use. The gloves are a little heavy for my taste, so they will be lighter in the final build. But I think it came out good.

My next step is to get more pep finished (working on the shins right now) and then resin a large amount of my stuff. Especially the helmet, which is in dire need of strengthening (the humidity here is starting to show in the cardstock). I also have to work on masking the brand names on the pads, which stand out like a sore thumb in bright yellow-gold. kind of ruins the atmosphere of the costume I think.

EDIT: @jake11124: I found that thread with the other marine set. It's under the second grouping, in a link to a large collection. There's a folder in there of Halo 3 marine pieces. Some useful bits in there. http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/11333-Halo-3-Pepakura-Download-Hub!

 

[Trando434]

Again, lookin great! Id love to see how it turns out

 

[jake11124]

Thanks for finding that for me, I really appreciate it. Your armor is coming along well can't wait to see more.