Halo 3 CQB/MkVI/Reach build

[Meade352mxs]

Hey, all. Been reading up on this forum for a while, watching a bunch of different builds from multiple different universes. I've been working pretty steadily on the beginning of my CQB/MkVI build for the last few weeks. Namely, the helmet. Somehow I got the scaling on my helmet all wrong and when it came out, it was insanely big. I went back and had my wife help me measure and re-scaled the helmet to the appropriate size. Three days later, here's what I have:

It's not the cleanest I've seen on here, but I'd be willing to say it's a high-end mediocre job, and with this being my third helmet, I wanted to finish something, dang it. Now that it's done, I'm so proud of just finishing the thing I can't wait to resin it, which sadly must wait until next week.

Now, all that being said, I'd like to solicit some input from the experienced members of the site:

1. Is there any specific way y'all do the folds and gluing? When I'm putting tabs together, I notice that sometimes the corners come up, and it drives me bonkers when I'm trying to get them to lay flat.

2. What is with the curves? I can't seem to get the triangle tabs to lay flat and still have the two panels connect like they're supposed to. Is it a timing issue? Is it something I'm doing wrong?

For information, I'm using a red and black pen (if you hadn't already noticed , and it seems to be doing a decent job; my fold lines are nice and smooth, but I just can't seem to get the fiddly folds to work like they're supposed too.

And if I'm being entirely too vague, you can tell me and I'll try to expound. Now to go get way too far over my head trying to do the chest piece. *cringe*

Thanks for reading!

 

[remption]

Nice work!

I'm a bit of a noob to this myself, and not entirely sure what you problems you're having, but I've noticed that even though some of the tabs have fold lines when you print them out, but they really shouldn't be folded... I have pepakura up and running so I can inspect each piece as I go, and decided if I really ought to follow the directions. But, otherwise, for glue, I just dab on a thin layer of hot glue and try to keep it pretty smooth.

The thing with Pepakura armor is it's really difficult to get the pieces to fit together perfectly like in the model display. Paper can be a tricky material, no matter how stupid that sounds, and you're always going to have minor flaws :/ you just have to figure out how to hide them and fix them as best you're able... bondo-ing helps a lot; it let's you hide mistakes and rework the surface.

hope that helps. As I said, I'm no master, but I've done some looking around the forums, and I'm pretty good at diy stuff. But yeah, nice piece and keep up the awesome work!

 

[Meade352mxs]

It actually does help, quite a bit. I'm working on the chest right now, and while I intellectually realized how big it was, looking at all 37 pages on the paper is way different than actually working with it and realizing how many more pages I have to do.

 

[thorn696]

You're pep looks good. And I'll second that answer Bondo hides allot of sin. You will get allot better with each piece that you do it just takes practice and/or doing. You'll do great. Keep use posted.

 

[Meade352mxs]

Thanks, Thorn. I think I'm so nervous about my work because this is the first full pep I've done. I've got most of the chest cut out, not including supports, and am grinding away on cutting everything out before I start folding. I'm trying extremely hard to hold back my impatience - which of course is making it worse - to start folding and gluing before I have everything cut out. Thanks for the encouragement, though. I'm determined to see this through, and I'll actually be able to buy the resin and respirator sometime next week (August 1st).

 

[ventrue]

Thanks, Thorn. I think I'm so nervous about my work because this is the first full pep I've done. I've got most of the chest cut out, not including supports, and am grinding away on cutting everything out before I start folding. I'm trying extremely hard to hold back my impatience - which of course is making it worse - to start folding and gluing before I have everything cut out. Thanks for the encouragement, though. I'm determined to see this through, and I'll actually be able to buy the resin and respirator sometime next week (August 1st).

Why? It's a lot easier if you do not cut everything out, that way you can look up parts in Pepakura Designer. If you cut everything out, the program becomes useless and you have to puzzle everything back together yourself.

 

[Meade352mxs]

Well, I've determined that I seem to work better by having everything cut out before I start gluing and folding, at least with the helmet. I had tried putting it together the first time while pieces were still waiting to be cut, and found that I had a lot of issues with parts being bent and not fitting together very well. The helmet shown is actually my second build, the first just did not end well.

Extrapolating from the helmet, I'm relatively sure that the chest will go together a lot easier if I have everything cut out. I'm going to have Pep up and checking out parts so that I can have an idea of where the pieces need to go.

 

[Meade352mxs]

So, got off work about an hour early tonight, and was able to get in a couple of solid hours of work, which managed to turn into this. I'm kinda proud of myself, not gonna lie.

 

[Meade352mxs]

So, small update. The chest is coming along mostly nicely, though there have been a few hiccups. Nothing major, just my eagerness starting to get in the way. Anyway, here's a pic of where the chest is now.

 

[vshore100]

Looking good so far. One of the biggest factors is patience. You will only get with each piece you build. You will find little things here and there you can do to make the job go easier. But I agree with Ventrue, while getting all of the cutting out of the way up front may seem like a good idea, you lose that time you thought you saved when digging through a huge pile of jig saw pieces. But to each his own, just my two cents.

Oh, and you should change the title of your thread. You're building a CQB not a CQC.

 

[aussiemaggot275]

Looks good!! I just recived my card stock (I bought it from the states, then realised you can get it here in letter, lol) I was planning to start my build tonight, but found out that we have no glue, so its going to have to wait. I will be building a CQB helmet as well, so I will be looking back here for help/insperation lol.

 

[Meade352mxs]

Oh, and you should change the title of your thread. You're building a CQB not a CQC

Noted, and changed. Thanks for the heads up.

I will be building a CQB helmet as well, so I will be looking back here for help/insperation lol.

Let me know when you start, Aussie, I'd love to watch your progress.

 

[aussiemaggot275]

I will be making a thread soon, I'm just sorting out some printer issues, then I'll be up and running.

Also, may I ask which file you used for the helmet? The one I settled on looks different, it has the visor included and looks a little longer.

_HD_CQBHelmetRobogenesis.pdo

 

[Meade352mxs]

Certainly you can ask! I used the CQB Helmet by WetOkole in the 405th Pep File download. Though I may take a look at the one you're using. I haven't seen that one before, and it looks like the folds might be a bit easier.

 

[aussiemaggot275]

Ah! I was looking at that one, but 2 parts that would make the top back of the helmet where over 2 pages, I couldent figure out how to get them on one page, so I went for another one.
But after looking at Vshore100's build, I've chosen to go with the model he used. Although, I've found a concept helmet from bungie, I'm gonna see if I can find any pep files for that one, it looks awesome!

 

[Meade352mxs]

That's an absolutely sick helmet. I actually think it would work better with the file you're using. The extra bits and bobs on the cheek pieces and the ear vents don't look like they would be too hard. That pic is going in my build inspiration folder. Thanks.

 

[aussiemaggot275]

This is true lol, glad I can help! I'm still throwing up between going with the file Vshore100 used, and requesting this helmet to be unfolded. But I sapouse I could like you said, detail the my current file to match this. Either way it will be a while till I can start, I've got the Lexmark tech support up in arms over my printer problem, it's been two days so far and they still haven't come up with a solution.
Anyway, don't mean to fill your thread lol, how's the pep going??

 

[Meade352mxs]

It hasn't been for the last couple of days. Finding the will to work after I get home is kinda hard when I get up at 8am with the kid, go to work at 3pm, get off work at 12am and go to bed at 1am... so, of course I'm up at 7am on a Saturday (courtesy of the dogs) and thinking about pepping the hand plates to take a break from the chest.

I'm sorry to hear about your printer; mine has a habit of randomly beeping for no reason, so it stays off. But thankfully it still prints okay.

 

[skullmeat]

Thanks, Thorn. I think I'm so nervous about my work because this is the first full pep I've done. I've got most of the chest cut out, not including supports, and am grinding away on cutting everything out before I start folding. I'm trying extremely hard to hold back my impatience - which of course is making it worse - to start folding and gluing before I have everything cut out. Thanks for the encouragement, though. I'm determined to see this through, and I'll actually be able to buy the resin and respirator sometime next week (August 1st).

I've pepped the same helmet! It was my first pep, and I cut everything out before I pieced it out together. One tip I have if you use that method, is that you have pepakura open while you do it, and organize the pieces on a table or something where they'd be glued. Like maybe have half the helmet laid out on one side and the other half on the other side. I've found it's actually just as productive as doing it the way Ventrue suggested above. It just depends which you prefer, cause as long as you're not on a time limit, then who cares how long it takes? If one way takes longer but keeps your interest up, then that's better than doing it quicker but burning yourself out :]

Also, here's my helmet. As you can see, it's not perfect either. This is quite a difficult helmet to start on for beginners like us, and that area near the top of where the visor would be, with the little protruding rectangle thing, is hella hard to pep right. Don't worry, your helmet looks great! Nothing a little bondo and sanding won't fix :]

 

[Meade352mxs]

That's a good-looking helmet, skull. You guys are definitely keeping me interested in finishing this. I've also been distracted for the last three and a half hours, looking all over this site at different builds and wishing I had the space, time and money to do them all.

Okay, now. Back to actually scaling the hand plates and trying to build them.