Halo Reach Custom Spartan w/ FOAM - First Build

[Chainsaw ninja]

well for a militaristic look for paint which is going to be dull and not shiny you should try flat matte paint. as far as foam is idk if you need clear coats to protect but if you do i use krylon 2x matte clear or something like that hope this helps! great build

 

[Apothacary]

Thanks for all the supportive comments

And time for a quick..

UPDATE

Got the boots done today. Did it free hand using RoxyRoo's method. Hope I did half as well as her haha.

 

[Fireryne]

Im starting to think that everyone has spare shoes laying around to use for there boots. Ive seen at least 5 posts now with shoes inside of there boots. I have to figure out how to talk my wife into spending money one shoes to "ruin" in her opinion. Looks great though keep up the hard work.

 

[Xav kitsune]

question, if you are male why did you use the female handplates?

 

[Apothacary]

Im starting to think that everyone has spare shoes laying around to use for there boots. Ive seen at least 5 posts now with shoes inside of there boots. I have to figure out how to talk my wife into spending money one shoes to "ruin" in her opinion. Looks great though keep up the hard work.

This does not ruin them, my shoes simply slip in and are held there by a strap on the top. And thanks, I've been grinding away at this as much as humanly possible.

question, if you are male why did you use the female handplates?

I like the female handplates a lot more, they look cooler, as well as look lighter weight, which is what I'm going for with my spartan. (More of a recce, fast moving, lightweight style)

 

[Vandoore]

Pretty cool shoes, nice job there.
And warframe woo go tenno

 

[Apothacary]

Pretty cool shoes, nice job there.
And warframe woo go tenno

Thanks, and YAH, Warframe is AWESOME.

So another little UPDATE

Got the shins and the knee plates done, all that is left is the helmet. 3 more days!! Got primary paints and some other version of plasti-dip, so I'm going to be painting the finished pieces. While they are drying I'm going to tackle the recon helmet, in foam. Hopefully I'll have more pics up tonight.

I also got a top and bottom for my undersuit, so washroom breaks will be easier than in a morphsuit. I also wasn't a fan of the zipper showing on the back, though when I get to the full spine it won't show anyways. Next few days will be fiuring out the mounting of armour to said undersuit as well. Unfortunately, I don't have enough time to do add detail, but it is on my list of things to do in the future.

The shins were pretty quick to do, I half used templates, and half free-handed them.

Here are the knee plates.

 

[db64]

I hope it's not to late but I would recommend this brand of paint since you want a realistic finish. I use it to paint everything in my build and it's give a nice flat metal look to the foam once painted. More over, it's cheap and your can find it at Canadian Tire
http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brow...1091P/Krylon+Camo+Black+Aerosol.jsp?locale=en

 

[Apothacary]

I hope it's not to late but I would recommend this brand of paint since you want a realistic finish. I use it to paint everything in my build and it's give a nice flat metal look to the foam once painted. More over, it's cheap and your can find it at Canadian Tire
http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brow...1091P/Krylon+Camo+Black+Aerosol.jsp?locale=en

I have my paint already, but thanks for the help.

Alright another quick update of what I got done today. Even though it was quite humid, I managed to get some plasti-dipping done. I also put some buckles on the boots, now they don't half fall off when I wear them haha.

What I've got left, and hopefully will have done in 2 1/2 days :

Plasti-dip the boots, and add another layer to the chest piece.
Paint everything.
Cut out templates for helmet (doing as I type this)
Build foam Recon helmet
Plasti-dip and paint helmet, also find some visor tint, don't want a transparent visor haha.
Find a way to attach the knee plates...

PICTURES

I think it turned out quite well. Layer is mostly matte/flat black, very few foam bubbles.

And here is the only problem I have, there are tiny holes that are just large enough not to get filled by the sealer. Though I can't fix it in time, any solutions for the future?

 

[Mangos]

A little bit of paintable silicone caulking will fill in those holes and still allow you to plasti-dip/paint your armour.

 

[Apothacary]

So, I have unfortunate news: Regardless of my efforts and time, the suit is no where near complete enough to show up at the con with it. Half my pieces are still in need of touching up the paint job, as well as weathering and detailing. I realized, as much painting as I've done before, I don't know enough to get the weathering results I am pleased with. And there could be nothing worse than showing up to the con with a suit I am not even happy with. The helmet hasn't even been started, and I still have not managed to mount the knee plates to the undersuit. So I guess my next goal is a year from tomorrow. I'm feeling incredibly disappointed, but I learned a lot. Don't worry, I will still be working away at this suit, and will update when I can. (Though the updates will come slower, now that I have to start looking for a job - graduated from college a month ago, this project was my summer break)

I just want to say thanks to everyone who helped out with tips, as well as all the supportive comments, and views. I can honestly say I learned more in this month than I think I learned in some of the months of my condensed college program, and that's quite something. I also learned that this is a project that takes LOTS of time, especially if it's your first one. I still have sooo much to learn.

Thanks again ladies and gents of the 405th, and keep building. I know I will.

~ Adam,
AKA Apothacary

 

[db64]

What a shame.Sorry for you I was hoping to be able to see it for real this weekend. At least you will be able to make an even more awesome suit for next year
Keep working and don't discourage yourself!

 

[Apothacary]

What a shame.Sorry for you I was hoping to be able to see it for real this weekend. At least you will be able to make an even more awesome suit for next year
Keep working and don't discourage yourself!

Will do, and will definitely be looking around for you haha.

 

[db64]

Will do, and will definitely be looking around for you haha.

Just to be sure that you will not search for me in vain, I'm only gonna be there Saturday.
Congratulation for becoming an infantryman

 

[Courage]

Im sorry to hear that it wont be ready. Really, you've gotten a lot done in a short amount of time, give yourself a pat on the back.

 

[Hyperballistik]

I wouldn't worry to much about the pin holes I know the bug you especially when you built the suit and have to keep looking at them but no one will really notice them, I built 3 foam suits so far and all of them have little pin holes like the one your showing in the pic, I knew where they were when I was painting the suit but now I don't even notice them, but if you want to fill them the easiest way I have found is to use Alex Plus window and door sealer caulking, make sure its flexible and paintable, take your finger rub it over the imperfections then take a damp smooth sponge and wipe off the excess let it dry if the pit is still there just repeat a second coat and you should be good

 

[Apothacary]

Im sorry to hear that it wont be ready. Really, you've gotten a lot done in a short amount of time, give yourself a pat on the back.

Thanks a lot, I didn't really know how much time these things took, and hearing that makes me want to get right back into it, and finish the job. Except it's gonna one up my previous goal haha.

I wouldn't worry to much about the pin holes I know the bug you especially when you built the suit and have to keep looking at them but no one will really notice them, I built 3 foam suits so far and all of them have little pin holes like the one your showing in the pic, I knew where they were when I was painting the suit but now I don't even notice them, but if you want to fill them the easiest way I have found is to use Alex Plus window and door sealer caulking, make sure its flexible and paintable, take your finger rub it over the imperfections then take a damp smooth sponge and wipe off the excess let it dry if the pit is still there just repeat a second coat and you should be good

Thanks a lot! I think I'm going to use this to fix my seams on the armor as well, hopefully it clings to roughed up spray paint.


Alright, quick update time:

Montreal Comic Con was AMAZING, especially it being my first con, EVER. All the amazing costumes were inspiring. I really wanted to get back and finish this suit, as well as make it better, and start on something else (thinking GoW Cog armour). Though I couldn't work on it the following week, since the project is at my mom's place, and I was with my dad. Really need to find a way to work on this at two separate locations...

Got the majority of things painted, now need to weather and detail, as well as perform some touch ups. Now that I'm not on a time frame, I'm also thinking of fixing this armour up and working out all the problems I had with it. This includes using some sort of filler, i.e. caulking, as mentioned by Hyperballistik, and getting rid of all those seams. (I'm a stickler for detail and perfection (within my capabilities), ESPECIALLY when not on a timer)

Aforementioned unsightly-ness :

And to top it all off, here's a shot of what I've got painted. You can't see it well in the picture, but my armour is actually more of a cyan/ greenish blue colour.

I know this wan't much of an update, but hopefully I'll have more to come soon.

 

[Spartan 420]

Sick build! You're almost finished now man! It's a shame you couldn't get it in time for the comic-con. But atleast you still had a good time! I'm not going to comic-con until I have a suit finished, and it'll be my first time too.

Nice to see everything painted too, I like the colour scheme. What helmet are you going for?

One last question, the white outer-layer of the torso, what's that made from? Thin EVA foam?

Thanks
-S420

 

[Apothacary]

Sick build! You're almost finished now man! It's a shame you couldn't get it in time for the comic-con. But atleast you still had a good time! I'm not going to comic-con until I have a suit finished, and it'll be my first time too.

Nice to see everything painted too, I like the colour scheme. What helmet are you going for?

One last question, the white outer-layer of the torso, what's that made from? Thin EVA foam?

Thanks
-S420

Hey thanks a lot, you should post a link to your build in your siggy so I can check it out haha. And the white stuff on the torso is 2mm craft foam, AKA Foamies. Also, I'm going for the recon helmet (I know, a LOT of people have done it, but I love it so much.)

 

[Spartan 420]

Hey thanks a lot, you should post a link to your build in your siggy so I can check it out haha. And the white stuff on the torso is 2mm craft foam, AKA Foamies. Also, I'm going for the recon helmet (I know, a LOT of people have done it, but I love it so much.)

Gotta love the recon

We've decided not to start a build thread until we have something worth showing, right now it's just sketches, templates and flat pieces. My main focus right now is actually to get my workshop finished so I can do my build in peace and not in the house, so most of it is on hold right now, I'm just ordering tools and supplies at the moment.

Just had a full read of your thread to get up to speed with everything. I wouldn't worry that you missed the comic-con. Cause now you can perfect your suit, and have it ready in time for all the different cons next year. You've done really well so far, now the rush is over you can just relax and take your time with it. Let me know what sealant you use to fill your gaps when you get around to it, I'm interested so I know what to get if It ever happens to me. By the way the scaling on what you have so far looks perfect.

2 questions, if you don't mind.
You said you had issues getting the foamies to line up when covering your torso, how did you remedy that in the end?
And what did you use to coat your armour before painting? Was it Plasti-dip?

-S420