Halo 5 DataPad in 24 Days

[TetriLys]

Finally making myself be brave enough to post a thread. Am I using this to actually hold myself accountable, or am I just distracting myself so I don't have to start on it yet? Well, I reckon we'll find out in the following days. I already know I'm going to format this thread weirdly, so forgive me for that.

The Goal:
Build and complete a DataPad from Halo 5: Guardians before July 24, 2025 (Raleigh GalaxyCon) so I can get Steve Downes and Jen Taylor to sign it

The Challenge:
In spite of my (albeit minimal) research, I have yet to find any tutorials on building a DataPad. I have found TacPad resources, but none so far for DataPads. We're flying by the seat of our pants here, folks.

The Obstacles:
Intense, all-consuming burnout and severe lack of time (40 hour work week + life responsibilities + miniscule social life)

The Fallback Plan:
Buy a dang poster at the autograph table

The Vision:

(screenshot from game)

(Pulled from a 2014 thread on Polycount)

(pulled from Video Games Artwork) *B is my personal favorite tbh

(Created by DeviantDragonclaw on DeviantArt)

The Materials/Tools:
11x14 Clear acrylic plexiglass sheets (4)
A gray sheet of plastic I had previously cut from the lid of a storage bin (I made a sanding box)
Dollar Store foam darts
Foam board
Rulers
Crafting/Xacto blades
Paint
Sandpaper
A (maybe) semi-functional cricut
A crapton of glue
+ a variety of bits n bobs from my craft/cosplay stash
And a dream

Since I can't use my printer, we're eyeballing it all. I really like the idea of having a frame around it, as pictured in photo examples 2 and 3. I think I'll make the dimensions like so:

Sooooo... yep. Don't think I can type much else without actually doing some crafting. Any input/advice or simple moral support would be much appreciated! Hopefully you'll see me back here with some progress fairly soon.

Thanks for taking the time to read all that!

 

[Parzival]

This is going to be amazing! Heck yeah! I love things like this.

 

[BlazingForge]

Dude... this project seems really cool and I don't think anyone has tackled a project quite like this yet! I'm super excited to see how this ends up going!

 

[M21]

This is insanely cool, i absolutely need to keep watch on this!

 

[TetriLys]

Day 1 (June 29 - day of initial post): Realized the acrylic sheets I had were too thin (had bought them for helmet visors). After a momentary mental crisis (I had hoped to only use supplies I already had on hand) I ordered the correct type of acrylic sheet (1/4" thickness) and scrounged up some rechargeable LEDs that I never installed in my car (installed as in... peel n stick). Congratulated myself for saving that packing foam from the 3D printer I haven't used yet. Made a crummy template out of contractor paper so I could at least feel some semblance of progress.

Day 2: Brainstormed at work. Had the brilliant idea that I would make the grip removable so I could recharge the LEDs easier. In my head, this sounded incredibly simple. Just make a switch/latch type thing so the grip would click in place and I wouldn't have to worry about the acrylic part falling off. Made the world's most useless latch while my supervisor wasn't looking (thin cardboard, tape, and a pen spring).

Alas, the latch wouldn't work. My brain was fried. It was 11pm and I was wondering when in the hell I had lost my ability to stay up until 3am without so much as a yawn. I wanted to keep the creative momentum going, especially since the acrylic sheet wasn't going to be delivered until Day 5 (supposed to be, anyway. Bezos, don't fail me now (he's done it before)), so I made a more tangible template out of foam board. May I remind you that I was intensely sleepy when making this, so the placement for the grip is off.

Day 3: Familial responsibilities had me getting home at 11pm... Got my dad to agree to cut the acrylic for me once it's delivered, because power tools = cool AND scary. He's going to use his jigsaw with the blade I bought that's supposed cut acrylic well enough. No progress to report.

Day 4 (today): Putzed around at work again (used paper, tape, pen and a ruler). This time I was trying to figure out how to design the grip without making it removeable. Working idea is leaving a hollow area that's covered by a flap on the backside of the grip for ease of access, that way I can still insert/remove the LEDs as needed while having the stability of the grip being permanently attached. Obviously, the simplest solution would be to glue the grip directly to the acrylic and just make the backside thicker for the LEDs to fit... but then they would be illuminating the acrylic from underneath - which wouldn't give the desired type of "glowy" that I was looking for. If the LEDs were to illuminate the acrylic from the side, the light would appear as if it were coming from inside the acrylic (at least... this is my theory. Mythbusters taught me to enjoy being wrong because that helps you learn, but man please let me be right this time).

^These photos are what we have as of right now... Yeah, haven't progressed as much as I wanted to, but the creative process is still fun! I'm going to start working on the actual grip I will be using on the prop - will use the foam board in place of the acrylic for now. Hopefully I'll get some significant results to upload.

Thanks again if you read all that!