HALO 3 Marines

[UNSC Leatherneck]

Having long ago decided to make the Marine kit from Halo 3, I've searched the internet (and my friends' games, I don't own a 360) for references. Put simply, the marine kit in Halo 3 is impressive. Everything looks like it belongs. I think I have identified the elements that make up the kit.

The Uniform:
The uniform seems to consist of camouflage trousers in the BDU style. These are worn with a uniform top as evidenced by camouflage visible on the marines' arms. Whether this is a BDU-style top is inconclusive. The marines appear to wear a black undershirt which is visible around the neckline. The cover (hat) is an 8-point Utility Cover of the modern USMC style. The UNSC EGA is on the front. Black boots are worn with the trousers bloused over the boots. A belt with a quick release buckle is worn that supports pouches on the front and back and a pair of drop-leg modular panels on the thighs. gloves are worn with various styles being seen.

The Armor:
The marine armor is quite a bit different from the powered armor of the Spartans (duh!). Padding is present on the knees, elbows, and the torso underneath the hard armor. This is evident in a spine protector under the hard backlate. There is a plate on the forward part of the boots strapped around the boots. Greaves are strapped around the calves and a knee plate extends upward to protect the knees The torso is protected by a hard plate chest protector, a plate back protector, and over the shoulder plates/collar secured with straps and buckles. The chest piece has attach points for pouches and gear. Shoulder armor protects the point of the shoulder and part of the upper arm while some marines are seen with what appears to be forearm protection. In some pictures the marines appear to be wearing something like a cummerbund behind the belt. The helmet has several variants, mostly in the area of display mechanisms and NCO's are often seen in a utility cover instead of a helmet.

The Project:
I plan to use Multicam for the camouflage. It is easy to get and is a close enough representation. Black tactical boots will suffice for footwear. 8-point utility covers in olive drab are easily sourced and a hot press UNSC EGA can be applied to round out the look. The elbow and knee padding is easy enough, as are the gloves. torso padding will need some work, but motorcycle spine protectors should fit the bill for the back. Hard plates to be made are the boot plates, greaves and knee protectors, Torso front and back pieces, elbow protectors, and forearm protection. The helmet could be the single most difficult part of the build, but we'll see. I intend to make the armor durable enough for wear in a field environment (not that I would, but it's nice to think that it could).

I appreciate any and all comments, questions, and suggestions.

Semper Fi

 

[billydakid]

hmmm.. i think my helmet was a littler easier.... i had trouble sizing the armor correctly

if you watch halo land fall, the back plate and neck collar are 2 seperate peices.... probally because its more manuvrable so thats how i did mine


ive put this project down for months now... im gonna pick back soon

this is what made me give up

the shape was crappy crappy ( still not finished but fiberglassed ) so i lost the bill somewhere which didnt matter because it was wrong anyways

also i think it is a little oversized compared to the game but seems 1 to 1 to the landfall version ( size, not shape )

 

[FinnishSpartan]

good luck!

-Finish

 

[UNSC Leatherneck]

I've decided to vacuform the armor pieces. I looked at the options and that seemed to be the most logical, especially for making more than one suit. Hey, I wanna be able to equip at least a fire team (four marines). For the undersuit I think I'll look into using motorcycle body armor, as the padding seems to correspond to the padding under the marines' armor in-game, especially along the spine. I like the armor shapes you have there bloodxbrothers. The actual sculpting of the masters for the armor plates is the most daunting thing for me. I'm not quite up to attempting a helmet yet, so I'll cheat until then with the utility cover. I've never really done anything like this and I'm not quite sure where to start. Any suggestions?

Semper Fi

 

[billydakid]

i was really hoping that i could supply my airsoft team with the gear..... but i dont even bother thinking about it anymore

first i dont know if it would be very manruvable. so i not going to fiberglass anything thats not to important since it wont need to sustand 6mm pelets,

also... it takes way to long to fiberglass, sand, resin again, body filler , sand, body filler. this helmet is taking forever. that last pic was from a december and i just got started on it again a few days ago redoing alot of it since it was all out of porpotion. if i cant find my old thread of my progress ill start another

i once taught the MC would be impossible, but the more i look at it i can see how i would approach it with cardboard and i have been tempting to start on it.

once i finish this set of armor, im going to look more into vaccuforming so i can mass produce it lol. where do you live? if you reside in georgia ( out of some luck ) help would be pretty great since im doing this on my own for the first time

 

[shadow8136]

... dont need armor for airsoft.
wear some loose pants and a normal jacket, and glasses.

also, good luck with the armor! ppl on here hav made a lot of marine armor so look for reference pics!

 

[UNSC Leatherneck]

I live in southern Louisiana,so no luck there. I've never played airsoft, more of a matter of no one in my area playing than any other reason, but I have played paintball. You don't really need any more protection than the mask, but for scenarios having the armor and equipment is cool. Reference images are not a problem. I've been looking at that for some time now. What I have no idea about is where to start going about making masters for the vacuforming process. This is new territory to me.

Semper Fi

 

[UNSC Leatherneck]

I've been looking at reference pictures and videos (I've watched the Arrival Cutscene more times than I can count!) and I can't decide whether the shoulder yoke on the Marine armor is a solid plate or whether it is soft armor that holds its shape really well. The Weta armor has a soft piece there, but several in-game pics of the rear of the armor suggest hard plate. Any ideas? Also, I'm questioning whether vacuforming can produce plates that can convincingly replicate the thicker chest and back plates. I may need to look at casting those pieces in urethane or resin. We shall see. -Semper Fi

 

[helios]

Is that the neck brace-type bit? Cos I'm doing that as hard armour.

 

[Vrogy]

I live in southern Louisiana,so no luck there. I've never played airsoft, more of a matter of no one in my area playing than any other reason, but I have played paintball. You don't really need any more protection than the mask, but for scenarios having the armor and equipment is cool. Reference images are not a problem. I've been looking at that for some time now. What I have no idea about is where to start going about making masters for the vacuforming process. This is new territory to me.

Semper Fi

Excellent summary/breakdown of the marine costume in the first post. It'd go well in the wiki with a couple pictures highlighting the different elements.

I've seen vacuum-forming bucks out of lots of stuff- some folks like layered and sanded MDF, but I bet you could get away with heavily reinforced pepakura- resined, fiberglassed, mudded for shape, and possibly filled with foam for overall rigidity and compression strength.

If you could post a few reference pictures of the shoulder yoke, I'm sure you could get enough opinions to decide where to go. Personally, I think it'd be best as a thin vacuum-formed plate with little detail, a layer of soft foam on each side, and a covering of nylon fabric.

There's been talk somewhere around here about ways to back vacuum-formed plastic with fiberglass- that might give you the rigidity and durability you're looking for. I think the applications were boat hulls and car bodies.

 

[tubachris85x]

Not trying to be rude, I dont think some people are really understanding what can be used for vac-forming. I think I had explained this in a different thread, but you have to realize that the forming pressures can possibly crush a pepakura piece thats fibergalssed. If not that, it will greatly warp it because of the heat coming off of the semi-melted plastic combined with the vaccum pressure, and, that fibgerglass is strong, but can still flex. Foam filled might help a bit, but can be too soft unless you use something really dense. Some people have used foam for bucks, but they had to use a very dense product, but it had shown to not form any sharp details.

Another thing that you have remember, is the buck's mold life. I can only imagine that if you are successful with at least one pull, that you will most likely not be able to do another one, just because of the mold will be heavily damaged. I dont think that anyone would want to keep putting together pepkura models and fiberglassing everytime they need to make a buck for vac-forming.

Your going to need to make bucks out of a stronger material, such as wood or MDF. You will be much better off in the long run, and will save you alot of trouble.

 

[te flying ninja]

you look like your're doing great! why give up on the helmet? when you can modify it to your needs?

 

[Vrogy]

Not trying to be rude, I dont think some people are really understanding what can be used for vac-forming. I think I had explained this in a different thread, but you have to realize that the forming pressures can possibly crush a pepakura piece thats fibergalssed. If not that, it will greatly warp it because of the heat coming off of the semi-melted plastic combined with the vaccum pressure, and, that fibgerglass is strong, but can still flex. Foam filled might help a bit, but can be too soft unless you use something really dense. Some people have used foam for bucks, but they had to use a very dense product, but it had shown to not form any sharp details.

Another thing that you have remember, is the buck's mold life. I can only imagine that if you are successful with at least one pull, that you will most likely not be able to do another one, just because of the mold will be heavily damaged. I dont think that anyone would want to keep putting together pepkura models and fiberglassing everytime they need to make a buck for vac-forming.

Your going to need to make bucks out of a stronger material, such as wood or MDF. You will be much better off in the long run, and will save you alot of trouble.

Interesting. From what I've seen working with it the past several weeks, 2-3 layers of fiberglass is very rigid, not to mention the several base coats of resin, and several layers of rondo/mud on the outside of the pep piece.. at that point, a filling of a nice, hard foam like Great Stuff would take and propensity to rack out of the fiberglass.
Hell, if you're willing to drop the money into it, and it would cure properly, you could just fill many of these shapes right up with resin, which is definitely strong enough to vacuum-form over. Might even be able to add walls onto your base pep piece so you get a flat base merely via gravity.

We can test this, you know.. Say, on something like an EVA or EOD shoulder. We *do* live in the same city.

 

[tubachris85x]

Interesting. From what I've seen working with it the past several weeks, 2-3 layers of fiberglass is very rigid, not to mention the several base coats of resin, and several layers of rondo/mud on the outside of the pep piece.. at that point, a filling of a nice, hard foam like Great Stuff would take and propensity to rack out of the fiberglass.
Hell, if you're willing to drop the money into it, and it would cure properly, you could just fill many of these shapes right up with resin, which is definitely strong enough to vacuum-form over. Might even be able to add walls onto your base pep piece so you get a flat base merely via gravity.

We can test this, you know.. Say, on something like an EVA or EOD shoulder. We *do* live in the same city.

It would be more efficient to make molds of the pepakura pieces and then cast resin, bondo or plaster bucks to vac-form. It will save the masters as well as create a base for each buck after casting..

We can test this, you know.. Say, on something like an EVA or EOD shoulder. We *do* live in the same city.

I hope this is not directed towards me...

 

[UNSC Leatherneck]

These images are from the Gallery. There are more pics of the marine armor there, but I think these are representative of the marine armor.

The second pic is interesting because it suggests that the collar is actually a single piece with the back plate. Not having an X-Box is driving me crazy because I can't use the theater to look at the armor from every possible angle. Thank god for the internet.

 

[Overlord Ian]

i love the helmet, why give up on it?

 

[UNSC Leatherneck]

Does anyone have any idea what the silver fitting is on the lower part of the chest plate? The purpose of the upper fittings is obvious, but I can't, for the life of me, figure out what the lower one is for. Thanks.

 

[ShArK]

Hi all...

Leatherneck pointed me in this threads direction so I am here!

My Ideas for my amour are a mix of Both Weta and In-game H3 Armour..Weta seem to have the Right idea with the soft shoulder parts, as u can see in some pics the head with helmet rubs against it when aiming this may prove a bit of a problem If that section, particularly the sides, was hard armor. Maybe have a rigid neck section like Weta have used.

I may run with the Hard Shin/foot amour of the Game Instead of the soft of Weta origin...Again maybe a Mobility test is in order to ascertain what is the better..

All this Armour needs to be Airsoftable Ive been playing Airsoft over here in the UK for a good 12 years now, and i tend to Favor Armour for the Urban Games I play (they get a bit nasty), If i was to use this gear in woodland then Il go with a cover or Boonie and maybe a woodland pattern BDU...But i don't think that would happen as i tend to spend less time standing than i do Crawling In woodland.

Though Ive found over the years Airsoft is 90% Fashion 10% usability for most. (hell i used to Skirmish in USCM armor!)

Clothing wise..Im swaying towards The In-game Look though I do own a CRYE style top in woodland from my time with Airsoft International Magazine (it was issue kit) and the colour is slightly more "Weta", for the In-game look I may well use a Urban pattern of some description.

Boots Il be using the same as the Guys in the game...Black US issue Jungle boots with panama sole.

Weapon wise...Il be Modding either a FA-MAS or FN2000.

Forming the amour...Il be looking along the lines of Vac forming but this is the first time Ive ever decided to get off my arse and make something instead of buying it Who knows what il go with!...

Does anyone have Scale drawings they can share out?

S

 

[UNSC Leatherneck]

My Ideas for my amour are a mix of Both Weta and In-game H3 Armour..Weta seem to have the Right idea with the soft shoulder parts, as u can see in some pics the head with helmet rubs against it when aiming this may prove a bit of a problem If that section, particularly the sides, was hard armor. Maybe have a rigid neck section like Weta have used.

I think the best marine armor will be that which combines the best features of in-game and real world. Weta's armor is an interpretation of what we see in-game. Some of the in-game stuff may not work too well outside in the real world. That said, I think the soft shoulder yoke idea has merit and definitely deserves a look. Of critical importance to the armor is what is worn underneath. The marines definitely wear padding under the plates; it is plainly visible in-game. Getting the padding right is as important to me as getting the plates right. Well designed padding will keep the wearer comfortable and will cause the plates to sit properly on the body. This will go a long way to making the armor look realistic. I see it all the time in medieval recreation. A proper foundation makes the garments look orders of magnitude better.

 

[ShArK]

With regards to the under armor..Especialy for the torso..

This is what i had in mind..

Armor


My ideas for this being...
Its low cut As we can see in the Pics of in-game and weta the Top of the shirt is visible.
Its Low profile and In real life is used under Plate carryers...Obviously dont get the plates to fit this..
The velcro on the front will be able to attach the abb armor without it moving around to much..
The shoulders add a good area to anchor the marine "DAPS" Just like real world Armor systems..

Just pulling some real world Thought into this..

Also with regards to the back...Im sure with a bit of Close cell foam and sewing The correct pattern could be "etched" int the back of the vest?

Thoughts?