Help For Next Years Costume

[ram]

Whats up 405th! First time poster Mac here, and although this is my first post ive been using this site for the last 2 months to build myself an awesome Mark IV suit. I took it on its debut run to this years Otakon and I have to say it sure is an attention grabber.



Here's a few pics from the con.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdQCrHrXaao[/media][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc-h864hIvI[/media]





I made the suit using the typical pep/fiberglass method and plan on remaking a few pieces before next year's con.



I have also been seriously consitering molding the pieces with smooth on products but before I do I had a few questions for the vets on the site.



-Approximatley how much would it cost for enough smooth on materials to mold and cast the whole suit. (Ive never worked with the materials before so I have no idea how far a few gallons will go)

-Should I decide to mold the pieces I plan on using flex foam 25 for atleast the lower half; can I paint the foam with spray paint in the same manner as the fiberglass pieces or will it just flake off when it flexes.





And finally I get to the main reason for this post. My friends were so impressed with the attention my suit got at this year's con they want to do costumes to compliment mine for next year. One wants to be a flood carrier and the other a covenant hunter. Any tips or tricks for making either of these costumes? Has anyone made pep files for hunter armor, anyone know of an easy to use free 3d program so I can make my own? Does anyone have a hand on some high def reference pics I could use.

 

[HaloFreakX]

NICE! That guy looks like he's enjoying it a liiittle too much.

 

[howaado]

Great work on your armor, and yeah Master Chief always grabs attention at Otakon. 2 months, you must have worked on it nonstop.

NICE! That guy looks like he's enjoying it a liiittle too much.

Look up Razor Ramon (comedy routine "Hard Gay" where he walks around Tokyo annoying people), plus that guy was hilarious.

 

[ba2808]

your suit looks awesome. it looks better than mine.

 

[GiR3892]

WOW 2 month! NICE good work on your suit lol at videos would have been more hilarious doing the traditional pwned danc on his face

 

[versusINK]

since nobody actually answered any of the questions you asked, I guess I will. haha. Hunter armor can be found on the wiki [link]. I know there's another version out there somewhere, but I can't remember where. The one one wikia is missing things like arms and legs, though. As for a flood carrier, ftw? how are you gonna do that? and why? that thing is gonna be ugggggg-lee. There would be no way to see, and no foreseeable way of building it unless you old a huge bulbous wart with arms out of flex foam. As for a free 3d program, try Blender. You can pick up a book on it pretty much anywhere to help you learn. If you don't wanna model them yourself, I can do it, though. I study animation and 3D modeling, so it'd be good for my portfolio anyway. I'll model anything you want. PM me if you want my help or have any more questions.

 

[ram]

Im not quite sure yet how I want to build the majority of the bulkiness in the flood carrier costume but I think expanding foam looks the part for the outer bit. Making the whole thing out of expanding foam is impractical though due to weight and such. As for visibility I feel like a hole in the front covered over by the same type of cloth used on grim reaper masks and painted over to match the rest of the costume would be appropriate. Making thigh and shin pieces wold be fairly easy I can just cover some sort of $#!T and thigh pad with expanding foam. Id only really be concerned about the costume being recognizable as a carrier, if my friend wants it to be more precise than thats on his own time.



Here's roughly how a person could fit inside the costume. In the costume model id probably slide the face hole higher into the main body just for practicality. My friend is only 5'4" so that helps.

 

[Haven923]

AMAZING work. I've been working for nearly 2 months and I don't even have the entire thing pepped yet!! Good lusk on the Hunter and Carrier, too!

 

[adventchildmatrix]

ive been working on the hunter armour for a while you can find my topic in the pep and carboard armour section

the files were created by me and unitspartan#007

not all the files have been finished yet as i haven't had much time of late

 

[RedTogusa]

Really nice armor, especially seeing as it only took you 2 months to make.

With the Flex Foam-it pieces you can only use brush on water-based acrylic or latex paints. Normal acrylic won't work, I found out the hard way.

 

[ram]

adventSpartanMatrix

Posted Today, 10:30 AM



ive been working on the hunter armour for a while you can find my topic in the pep and carboard armour section

the files were created by me and unitspartan#007

not all the files have been finished yet as i haven't had much time of late

I found that thread earlier and DL'd all the files. Some of the links arent working it seems, however I found the origional full model online somewhere. I was hoping for pieces with a bit more detail though. Just curious, did you come up with any ideas for the back spikes yet?

 

[pooper]

Love the suit! Excellent job bud! Good luck on the Carrier form costume... looking forward to seeing that!

 

[ram]

I plan on using expanding foam for the majority of the exterior/visible parts of the flood carrier costume. I know that the foam sticks very well to fabrics so I was consitering just spraying the stuff onto a pair of sweats leaving room for joints. Although it sticks well to fabric im not sure what kind of damage 2 days of walking around in them would do. Then I plan on constructing a simple cod piece with a similar shape to the spartan cod and covering it with expanding foam. The body will prove to be much more of a challenge. My origional idea is to blow up a bunch of large balloons tape them together in the proper shape and then spray more foam on the outside. Then pop the balloons once the foam dries and ill have a nice shell. I'll probably have to do something else to add more support though, I feel like a 3"-4" layer of expanding foam wont be enough.



Heres a good idea of whats in my head

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJULyg3Mvw8[/media]



Also I came across an interesting technique browsing the predator costume making site, they use a paint on latex rubber over a of muscle suits and cotton balls to get interesting textures and a skinlike finish. Where would I get this paint, and would it really make a difference?







Looking at these two pics makes me thing that expanding foam wouldnt be a bad idea for the exposed back of the hunter. Again im still concerned whether the foam will hold up attached to the undersuit, as well as how much it will inhibit movement.

 

[adventchildmatrix]

I found that thread earlier and DL'd all the files. Some of the links arent working it seems, however I found the origional full model online somewhere. I was hoping for pieces with a bit more detail though. Just curious, did you come up with any ideas for the back spikes yet?

i've been making a HD version of some of the pieces but time is a little sparse at the moment

the spikes i've been working on making them solid and attaching to a harness and then having them jut throught the back of the armour