HoundsOfMeath
New Member
Hey friends first build thread so it probably won't be the most organized. I'm going to try to do this to help myself get back on track to finishing the marine.
I'll include some of the references I used but I'll link the rest to a drive folder for anyone interested. I'll also be including the files I used and links to as much of the retail items I used as I can.
Backstory
I've been working on and off for a while on a Halo ce Master chief but it's no where near finished. Planet Comicon 2023 was coming up and I heard that a large group from the 405th Midwest was going to be there along with many members I've looked up to for a while. I was at the con the year before but with no cosplay. I really wanted to be a part of the community and didn't want to miss the opportunity. So I decided on trying to speed build a halo 3 marine. I started off with the 405th armory files and the AndrewDFT patterns but almost immediately became dissatisfied with the lack of detail, that's when I miraculously found SpiderMonkey60s Marine speed build. I was kindly gifted the files and got to work immediately with only one month before the con. I never want to do that again lol, I did NOT take care of myself during that month. The schedule was work on the armor till 1AM every night, prep for work, sleep, and then wake up at 5:30AM for work. I ended up watching all of Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad during that month. Anyways after gluing the last buckles on the night before the con, it was time. I had a wonderful time with everyone and it was great to meet all of you. I want to thank everyone on the 405th Discord who encouraged me while making this.
HUGE thanks to Spidermonkey60 for his halo 3 marine files. They are the best Halo 3 marine files out there IMO and he's given me permission to link them here for you. Another huge thanks to PlanetAlexander who modeled the halo 3 marine rucksack for me!
Please check out these build threads as well, they were a massive help during all of this !
NobleofDeath16s reference thread
Fallens Halo 3 Marine Pilot
www.405th.com
TurboCharizards Halo 3 Marine Pilot
www.405th.com
SpiderMonkey60s Halo 3 Marine Speed build
www.405th.com
Here's how I'm going to try to structure the thread
1. Completed build commentary including: Files used for armor, in progress photos, Post build detail photos, commentary on the build process
2. Ad on plans and fixes including: Files used and progress photos
3.Purchased parts list
Completed build commentary
Starting off with the helmet. I initially used the 405th armory files but they were pretty inconvenient to put together. I instead use the below file made by TurboCharizard.
Next would be the chest and back lots of big pieces, but Spidermonkey60s files were superb and very easy to follow making for a very fun build. I used 10mm foam for most of it to keep it pretty rigid.
Here you can see the collar on the back armor was pretty tall. This made the helmet shift pretty badly whenever I turned by head at all, so I cut it down.
Here are some more detailed photos of the back armor post build. The strapping was a lot of fun, I got the inspiration from Dust Factory Makes on Etsy DustFactoryMakes - Etsy
The shoulder straps are made from a the straps off of a USGI Duffle bag , 1" webbing, buckles, d rings velcro. 2" metal slides and 2" to 1" webbing reducers.
The end of the straps are securely velcro strapped to the inside so that the straps can be completely removed if necessary to thread other item and buckles on like the magnetic buckles for the upcoming back pack . The "rivets" were just half fake pearls. I also plan to add a ton of neodimium magnets to the inside of the raised center square on the back.
The chest
Pretty fun, first time success build, you'll want to reinforce as much of the under arm connection to the chest plate as possible, there will be a lot of stress there.
I used two sided 2" velcro for the webbing on the chest, it's threaded through the chest so it can be removed if you want to slip pouches with loops on like the perfect horizontal pouch I copped from work. Plus with it being velcro you can attach and infinite number of things to it
I connected the under arm front and back using quick release bike helmet buckles, at the time I only could find red and black ones so I had to paint them black and that paint has quickly faded. In that case I will be linking the all black ones I founds recently.
Shoulders
These were easily the most challenging pieces to build but I was very satisfied with the result
And here is the AMAZING shoulder brace someone on the discord shared with me, perfect for strapping on just about any shoulder armor. You can see it already has velcro on the side strap, all I had to do was sew on some velcro on the top part of the shoulder and Blam perfect. Here's the link to the shoulder harness
Amazon.com
The ab plate was always meant to be a temporary piece so its the lowest quality part of the armor, I just took the ab file from Spidermonkey60 and added the cod flap. From the references I used it appears to be soft armor, perhaps some space age kevlar, when I made it the first time I made the ab part too thick so it likes to stick out pretty far. It's just held in place by the belt and the cod flap is secured to the pants with some velcro.
When I make this again I plan to make the ab section much thinner, ad some ridges to the outline and overlay the whole piece with some dark stretchy fabric to simulate soft armor
Butt fanny pack
This was pretty fun. I stole a tightening knob from a saw for the cog on the back and added a zipper so it can open up. Currently it's set up to be able to be removed from the belt with velcro, however that means it pretty loose and can be knocked off easily. So I'll be modifying it to securely attach to the belt, either different looping or possible alice clips
The thighs were pretty simple but definitely needed some improvements after the first time I wore it out. They're made out of just one layered of high density 5mm foam and worbla. My mistake the first time was actually looping the thigh straps through the slits cut through the pads. Surprisingly only one tore while dance with zero skill at the con, but that was enough to ruin it . So right now I'll just be remaking one of them, adjusting the Hight on the strap that connects to the belt because they sat too low, adding magnets in-between the foam and worbla for props and such, and strengthening the strap attachments. Oh and also adding fake rivets
Knees, calves, and shins
These were pretty easy again thanks to spider monkeys files, however I decided to go with the 405th Armory files for the shins specifically. I liked the more curved nature of those files . I made these at the tail end of con crunch so I don't have any in progress photos. The knees were quick and attached to these knee pads I found at harbor freight. I'll link them for anyone interested.
If anyone has any suggestions for minimalist but secure knee pads I'd love to see them. I had to heavily modify and reinforce the velcro on these .
The calves "WERE" pressure fit but after day one at the con they stretched enough to constantly fall down so I will be attaching them via velcro to the knee pads.
The shins like I said were made using the 405th armory files, just 6 pieces of 5mm foam with the straps sandwiched in between with E600
"PAIN"ting
Seeing as I made this is just a month, I was painting till 1 -2AM the last few days before the con just to get it done in time.
All of it was hand painted with liquitex paints. Thankfully their darker green worked perfectly for the marine. Some black here, light grey there. I used Plaid fx shiny and matte blue and purple for the blood.
Ran out of file space
I'll include some of the references I used but I'll link the rest to a drive folder for anyone interested. I'll also be including the files I used and links to as much of the retail items I used as I can.
Backstory
I've been working on and off for a while on a Halo ce Master chief but it's no where near finished. Planet Comicon 2023 was coming up and I heard that a large group from the 405th Midwest was going to be there along with many members I've looked up to for a while. I was at the con the year before but with no cosplay. I really wanted to be a part of the community and didn't want to miss the opportunity. So I decided on trying to speed build a halo 3 marine. I started off with the 405th armory files and the AndrewDFT patterns but almost immediately became dissatisfied with the lack of detail, that's when I miraculously found SpiderMonkey60s Marine speed build. I was kindly gifted the files and got to work immediately with only one month before the con. I never want to do that again lol, I did NOT take care of myself during that month. The schedule was work on the armor till 1AM every night, prep for work, sleep, and then wake up at 5:30AM for work. I ended up watching all of Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad during that month. Anyways after gluing the last buckles on the night before the con, it was time. I had a wonderful time with everyone and it was great to meet all of you. I want to thank everyone on the 405th Discord who encouraged me while making this.
HUGE thanks to Spidermonkey60 for his halo 3 marine files. They are the best Halo 3 marine files out there IMO and he's given me permission to link them here for you. Another huge thanks to PlanetAlexander who modeled the halo 3 marine rucksack for me!
Please check out these build threads as well, they were a massive help during all of this !
NobleofDeath16s reference thread
Fallens Halo 3 Marine Pilot
Foam - H3 Hornet Pilot - V1 Complete
Backstory I've been wanting to remake my first build for awhile now. Back in 2016 I did a speed build DFT Marine. It wasn't too bad considering I was still new to this hobby and had never built a suit to completion. However, it's not very accurate, overweathered, and falling apart. Plus my...
www.405th.com
TurboCharizard's Halo 3 Marine
Work has been dumb so I haven't been able to work on this as much as I would have liked recently but hey, Pilot Helmet update. If you guys are familiar with how I'm dumb and will just entirely redo something if it's not to a level I'm happy with, I present you the reason why I designed a new...
www.405th.com
Foam - Halo 3 Marine Speedbuild
So I have C2E2 in Chicago in one month, and as much as I love my spartan suit, it can be very difficult to wear for long periods of time. So with that in mind I have decided to build a Halo 3 marine! The helmet will be a cast, and I will also be attempting the Black undersuit/shirt thing they...
www.405th.com
Here's how I'm going to try to structure the thread
1. Completed build commentary including: Files used for armor, in progress photos, Post build detail photos, commentary on the build process
2. Ad on plans and fixes including: Files used and progress photos
3.Purchased parts list
Completed build commentary
Starting off with the helmet. I initially used the 405th armory files but they were pretty inconvenient to put together. I instead use the below file made by TurboCharizard.
Next would be the chest and back lots of big pieces, but Spidermonkey60s files were superb and very easy to follow making for a very fun build. I used 10mm foam for most of it to keep it pretty rigid.
Here you can see the collar on the back armor was pretty tall. This made the helmet shift pretty badly whenever I turned by head at all, so I cut it down.
Here are some more detailed photos of the back armor post build. The strapping was a lot of fun, I got the inspiration from Dust Factory Makes on Etsy DustFactoryMakes - Etsy
The shoulder straps are made from a the straps off of a USGI Duffle bag , 1" webbing, buckles, d rings velcro. 2" metal slides and 2" to 1" webbing reducers.
The end of the straps are securely velcro strapped to the inside so that the straps can be completely removed if necessary to thread other item and buckles on like the magnetic buckles for the upcoming back pack . The "rivets" were just half fake pearls. I also plan to add a ton of neodimium magnets to the inside of the raised center square on the back.
The chest
Pretty fun, first time success build, you'll want to reinforce as much of the under arm connection to the chest plate as possible, there will be a lot of stress there.
I used two sided 2" velcro for the webbing on the chest, it's threaded through the chest so it can be removed if you want to slip pouches with loops on like the perfect horizontal pouch I copped from work. Plus with it being velcro you can attach and infinite number of things to it
I connected the under arm front and back using quick release bike helmet buckles, at the time I only could find red and black ones so I had to paint them black and that paint has quickly faded. In that case I will be linking the all black ones I founds recently.
Shoulders
These were easily the most challenging pieces to build but I was very satisfied with the result
And here is the AMAZING shoulder brace someone on the discord shared with me, perfect for strapping on just about any shoulder armor. You can see it already has velcro on the side strap, all I had to do was sew on some velcro on the top part of the shoulder and Blam perfect. Here's the link to the shoulder harness
Amazon.com
The ab plate was always meant to be a temporary piece so its the lowest quality part of the armor, I just took the ab file from Spidermonkey60 and added the cod flap. From the references I used it appears to be soft armor, perhaps some space age kevlar, when I made it the first time I made the ab part too thick so it likes to stick out pretty far. It's just held in place by the belt and the cod flap is secured to the pants with some velcro.
When I make this again I plan to make the ab section much thinner, ad some ridges to the outline and overlay the whole piece with some dark stretchy fabric to simulate soft armor
Butt fanny pack
This was pretty fun. I stole a tightening knob from a saw for the cog on the back and added a zipper so it can open up. Currently it's set up to be able to be removed from the belt with velcro, however that means it pretty loose and can be knocked off easily. So I'll be modifying it to securely attach to the belt, either different looping or possible alice clips
The thighs were pretty simple but definitely needed some improvements after the first time I wore it out. They're made out of just one layered of high density 5mm foam and worbla. My mistake the first time was actually looping the thigh straps through the slits cut through the pads. Surprisingly only one tore while dance with zero skill at the con, but that was enough to ruin it . So right now I'll just be remaking one of them, adjusting the Hight on the strap that connects to the belt because they sat too low, adding magnets in-between the foam and worbla for props and such, and strengthening the strap attachments. Oh and also adding fake rivets
Knees, calves, and shins
These were pretty easy again thanks to spider monkeys files, however I decided to go with the 405th Armory files for the shins specifically. I liked the more curved nature of those files . I made these at the tail end of con crunch so I don't have any in progress photos. The knees were quick and attached to these knee pads I found at harbor freight. I'll link them for anyone interested.
If anyone has any suggestions for minimalist but secure knee pads I'd love to see them. I had to heavily modify and reinforce the velcro on these .
The calves "WERE" pressure fit but after day one at the con they stretched enough to constantly fall down so I will be attaching them via velcro to the knee pads.
The shins like I said were made using the 405th armory files, just 6 pieces of 5mm foam with the straps sandwiched in between with E600
"PAIN"ting
Seeing as I made this is just a month, I was painting till 1 -2AM the last few days before the con just to get it done in time.
All of it was hand painted with liquitex paints. Thankfully their darker green worked perfectly for the marine. Some black here, light grey there. I used Plaid fx shiny and matte blue and purple for the blood.
Ran out of file space
Attachments
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