Half-Life 2 Hev Mkv Suit

[eternallydusk]

Good work! I think your ideas for magnets and velcro are good as well. I dont know how well the magnets would work if you wanted it tight to your undersuit though... Velcro seems like a faster alternative, and if you lose weight the belt will still fit like a charm! :lol

True, it might be a good idea to use embedded magnets for the hinges and velcro to hold the pieces to the undersuit. Though, if anything, I'll probably gain weight- I'm 125lbs. :lol

 

[Gallard]

Well with the help people around here give you'll never have to worry about technical problems!

Some guys on here are geniuses and have awesome plans.

 

[eternallydusk]

Ok, today's update... completed the left bicep and the right forearm. The bicep was easy, but the forearm was much more difficult. It was made up of a bunch of unnecessarily small parts, and it was hell cutting out and piecing together. I somehow ended up with a few extra parts that didn't fit anywhere and some holes without corresponding peices, so I kind of mashed them together. It fits; it doesn't look good, but it fits. It won't matter when it's resinned, right? Trying it on, it fit fairly well, gave me restricted arm movement, but not any more restricting than I expected. It'll do fine.



I'll update tomorrow-er, today, with pictures. I'm hesitant to do the other forearm piece next (it was really frustrating), so I might change things up and do the thigh piece instead.



Can't wait for pepping to be over with.

 

[eternallydusk]

Evening, everyone. Sorry for the lack of updates, the electricity has been on and off with all the thunderstorms in my area. Luckily, everything is already printed out, so I was able to pep some more stuff. I finished the thigh an hour or two ago, but my camera is still out of commission, so I haven't been able to take any pictures of that or the forearm yet. Rest assured, they fit well and look good.



I just picked up a respirator that should work to protect me from resin and fiberglass. I've been on the lookout for cheap paintbrushes, but have yet to find anything within my budget. If you guys have any suggestions, feel free to say something. I have some money set aside for resin, so that can be started as soon as I complete the chest. That's going to be tough. ;o;



In other, more interesting news, I've been thinking about some possible modifications to make the suit more interesting. I looked into EL sheets to light up the lambda symbol on the chest (it's the h) but they don't sell yellow or orange EL sheets. Something more realistic is to hot-glue a small pocket flashlight into the outcropping on the forearm. In the game, there is a flashlight (even though it gives no distinction where it's coming from) that you use in a large part of the game, including Ravenholme. Oh, Ravenholme... so awesome. In any case, I might be able to rig a small hookup so I can press a button set into the end of the forearm to turn on the flashlight. Kinda nifty, not too important, but something to think about.



Someone else in an ancient thread on another website suggested setting up small speakers to say the phrases the HEV suit says to you in various situations. It's kind of overkill, and the situations would probably not be relevant (user death imminent? multiple fractures detected)), but again, something to think about.



Time to move onto the left forearm. I can't believe I'm moving through it so fast.

 

[NuggetWarmer]

Awesome, looking great. I'll be watching this thread.

 

[eternallydusk]

Oi! It's Nugget! I'm so grateful for all the work you did on the model, you made this possible. I'll try and make you proud! ^-^



I am doing the final pieces for the left forearm, so I'll be doing the left thigh tomorrow. I looked around for small flashlights that would be powerful and have the ability to be turned on and off without reaching into the arm piece. Found this. Looks like it could work: have the light come out of the outcropping, and have the switch come out of the very end of the forearm, so that I can turn it on and off with my other hand without too much difficulty. I could probably find a cheaper version, but I'm still looking. Good match though!

 

[eternallydusk]

Sorry for another reply without content, but my camera should be up and running tomorrow so I can take a picture of all the pieces I've finished. Just got the left thigh done, so now all that's left is the chest and shins. I think I might just get the chest out of the way so it can be done. Still not looking forward to it.



In the way of further suit enhancement, I looked up to see what other features the game describes the suit as having. Clearly, most are impossible (heads-up display, zoom function?) but it did say there was a radio. Kind of confused me, I don't recall that ever being mentioned in game, but I think I might run with it. I'm going to acquire a cheap older-generation iPod and integrate it into the interior of the chest (out of sight), running the headphones into the shoulders so I can grab them and put them on. If I really want to go all out, I might install a remote into the left forearm by the wrist so I can manipulate it without much difficulty. xD (Well, really going all out would be to install speakers, but this is all hypothetical.)



Today, I visited TruValue and picked up some fiberglass resin and some disposable brushes. My grandfather owns the type of respirator I need, so I'll grab it tomorrow or sometime soon so I can be ready for the next stage.



Pictures up tomorrow!

 

[eternallydusk]

Ouch, I finally got a camera up and running and the forums went out of commission. Well, I was busy over the downtime, and I have the results on film!



I finished the chest a few days ago. It was as I predicted- hella tough and very time consuming, but boy was it worth it. Here's the front:

Here's the back. I chose to keep the handle, rather than remove it. I think it looks cool, and it's a prime location to stick an LED.

Here's everything else I've completed to far, minus the incomplete shin.

Aaaand here's the mostly complete right shin.

I made it as big as possible, and it fits with some room, which is good. I won't be adding the flaps on the tops and bottom so they don't scrape my leg.



In other news, I've reconsidered integrating an iPod. I guess it's a little cheesy, and it'll probably be pretty costly. Ah well. I emailed Valve about my project, and they actually responded! Gabe Newell forwarded it to the art director of Half-Life 2, who designed the suit, among a bunch of other things. He said it was awesome and wanted to be updated!



I bought most of the supplies for the resin and fiberglass stages. I'll get started as soon as I finish the shins, which should happen before I leave for a weeklong vacation to celebrate my graduation. I'll be coming back fresh and recharged.



And finally, I've been in contact with null.exe to seek some advice. He's kind of put the project on hold while he works on other kickass stuff, like steampunk armor. He's given me some great ideas to solve some conceptual problems, and it'll be awesome having him help me out when I'm in a bind.

 

[eternallydusk]

Wow, life's been busy. Where does the time go? I've resinned and glassed the biceps, thighs, and forearms. The right thigh warped because of my overuse of MEKP (and it fell over when drying.... oops) so I'll have to repep that tonight, but so far that's been the only "casualty". Tonight I'll resin the shins and glass them tomorrow.

As I prepare to go forward with the next step, I need some help on sanding and bondo. I'm not quite sure how to do both- from what I can tell, you apply primer to the piece, sand it with 80-100 grit sandpaper, apply bondo to the sanded areas, sand down the bondo, and then spot putty any remaining problem areas. The problem is these instructions are a tad vague for such an important step. Can anyone clarify this to a noob? :c

My due date is impending which causes me some worry- July 31 is zero hour. I need to start to order the various parts of the undersuit and finish all of the resin and fiberglassing before I go on a weeklong family vacation and Northeastern University orientation, which will eat up some time I will be sad to lose. I won't lose hope, however, that I'll have this finished by July 31st. It can still happen!

 

[mage26]

Hey! It sounds like we're in the same boat. I'm also building this suit and I've finished resining and glassing all the arm pieces, working on the belt and leg pieces. My due date is July 22 for Comic Con. You can see pics of my build so far here. I think we have the same questions about how to bondo and sand it. Good luck to you!

 

[eternallydusk]

I actually saw your thread up on the replica prop forum when the 405th forums were down. Cool to see someone else taking on such a momentous project. If you care to ever talk about the mutual difficulties we must be facing, you can hit me up on AIM at plainoldconnor.

 

[Gaming Geek]

Nice to see others doing the same things I want to start up on.

I didn't start until now due to time restraints. There's no way to finish up a costume like this in under 2 months with the free time I have.

I'll be watching you guys, and seeing what you do.

 

[null]

Everything looks really flash!

Great job with it, you should post some test fitting pictures to show us all how it looks!

 

[Uncle Fellow]

I'd like to know about prepping the armor pieces for bondo as well. I'll likely be experimenting with that within a week of now, so it would help to know so I don't have to go through gratuitous amounts of trial and error.

Also, it's really cool to see someone doing Half-Life 2. One of my all time favorite games!

 

[eternallydusk]

Agh, I'm up another night without much of anything to do, so I suppose it's time to update. My gloves came in, they look perfect and feel great. My undersuit is ordered, too. I chose to use a plain black lyrca undersuit rather than piece together a more accurate looking one due to time constraints (which are the same reason I'm opting out of weathering- sorry, null). I am, however, going to work on the kevlar padding. I'm thinking black cotton duck canvas over cut apart pieces of camping pad or some other standard foam shaped to appear like it does on him. Gotta dig up the old sewing stuff, blarg. I found some glasses that look perfect on eBay, too. The boots are causing me no small amount of worry, but I'm thinking I could be crude with it considering it isn't as integral as the rest of the suit.

The crowbar, though, is going to be a problem, as I can't take a real one into Otakon. It's considered a weapon. Anyone know of a pepakura crowbar, haha?

Most of the small pieces are sanded, they look and feel good. I dug up a mouse sander I found in my garage and used it to clean up the parts that refused to sand well by hand. The chest piece is going to be fully fiberglassed by tomorrow night, and then I can quickly start sanding.

I'd like to know about prepping the armor pieces for bondo as well. I'll likely be experimenting with that within a week of now, so it would help to know so I don't have to go through gratuitous amounts of trial and error.

Also, it's really cool to see someone doing Half-Life 2. One of my all time favorite games!

I looked into some helpful threads on the Pepakura forum, though most of it appears to be time-tested trial and error. Perhaps you should try it on a test piece or on some random cardboard you have, to get a feel for it and not cost you a valuable pep piece you'll be kicking yourself over in the future.

Look who's talking, though. I haven't even started bondo yet, I'm still sanding.

Everything looks really flash!

Great job with it, you should post some test fitting pictures to show us all how it looks!

Thanks, null. ^-^ You've been a great help, trailblazing many of the stuff I'm doing now. I'm sure when you complete your suit, it'll be superior in every way.

I've gotta get on taking more photos, indeed. My brother's camera is the only one working in my house at the moment, and he's touchy about letting me borrow it- he'll probably only let me borrow it once or twice- so I was kinda putting off taking pictures until they are closer to being finished. I assure you, the moment I reach that point I'll get a plethora of shots up.

 

[eternallydusk]

Presenting- the first update with pictures in over a month! I got my camera fixed (finally) and I've got a ton of pics to show off. :3

Here's a shot of everything except the chest and belt- those are off in a corner somewhere. You might notice three bicep pieces- I'll get to that later.

Here's the bondo'd, but unsanded right gauntlet. I did a horrible job on this one, but a bit of sanding will clear that up!

This is the nearly finished left gauntlet. There are still a few dips here and there I need to spot putty out, but I'm really happy with it. c:

Oops, turns out I accidentally made *two* right biceps. Epic, fantastic fail on my part, too, considering I didn't realize that until after I had pepped, resinned, glassed and partly bondo'd the second one. This is the pepped left bicep.

Here's the resinned, glassed and sanded shin. This will be the next thing to bondo after I do the other thigh.

The finished right bicep. This one was easy, I really enjoyed smoothing it. :3

The problem right bicep. It has one layer of unsmoothed bondo on half of it. If anyone wants this, speak up. I'd hate for it to go to waste. It's unscaled, so if you are building the suit and the biceps fit you without scaling it, I might be able to save you some time.

Sanded, glassed and resinned left thigh piece.

Almost done right thigh. Need to do some more sanding of some problem areas.

Side by side of the two thigh pieces. :3

And, by request, trying on the thigh pieces. They fit pretty well, though the shorts kind of bunch up. Of course, that won't be a problem when I'm in my lycra suit, but whatever. My only concern- they occasionally scrape together when I walk. Might have something to do with the shorts, but I'll still have to be conscious of it when I walk around so I don't make any annoying noises in public.

So that's what's up. I need to get back to the unsanded gauntlet. I'm making pretty good time, but my deadline's been moved a week earlier because my cousin is flying up a week before the convention, and it wouldn't be cool to work on this when she's around.

Wish me luck folks, I'm gonna need it. [/barneyreference]

 

[Leda]

Freaking nice sanding job.

 

[eternallydusk]

Freaking nice sanding job.

Thanks! I spent many hours smoothing each piece after I bondo'd it. Satisfying experience. :3

 

[Gaming Geek]

Much farther along than I am. I'm still trying to gather the materials to make a suit. It's hard when you keep getting major expenses showing up unexpectedly.


Watching. Looks nice, but don't you loose details when you used the bondo on top? How do you add some material on top while still keeping the right angle?

 

[null]

Much farther along than I am. I'm still trying to gather the materials to make a suit. It's hard when you keep getting major expenses showing up unexpectedly.
Watching. Looks nice, but don't you loose details when you used the bondo on top? How do you add some material on top while still keeping the right angle?

If I may add the answer to this (I know, not my thread), but the only "details" you're trying to keep are on the shins. The rest of the model, you're actually trying to smooth out and reduce edges and ridging and smooth everything out.

The trick to keep the details you want and remove the stuff you don't want is to do many thin layers instead of one or two thick ones.