Help with Master Chief armor! :D

[MeganMassacreNJ]

Hello everyone! My boyfriend and I wanna cosplay Master Chief and Cortana, him and I need help on how to make the armor, preferably the Halo 4 armor. I was thinking Pepakura or Foam but not sure what would be easier. Any help would be awesome! ^__^
We don't have a lot skills when it comes to cosplaying, so if anyone could make the armor for us, he is willing to pay for it.

 

[theTavernKnight]

Start by reading the Noob Stickie forum posts. Decide if you want to make it out of resin/bondo cardstock paper or out of foam. Read the tuts and watch the technique videos posted in those forum posts and elsewhere in 405. Learn as much as you can from there. Start crafting.

There's no one way to make a Spartan.

 

[MeganMassacreNJ]

We were thinking of the Pepakura way of making it, but not sure what would be easier for us beginners, Foam seems easy. Hmm. Not sure.

 

[surfahbum808]

Read the stickies on both and determine for yourself which would fit you better. Some people like foam and others pepakura. Both have their pros and cons so you'll have to determine which suits your needs better.

 

[MeganMassacreNJ]

Read the stickies on both and determine for yourself which would fit you better. Some people like foam and others pepakura. Both have their pros and cons so you'll have to determine which suits your needs better.

Will do.

 

[BeanwaterFox]

From my experience, foam is quicker and easier for everything except the helmet. The helmet I feel is easiest to do by pep. The foam loses some detail (though I've seen some pretty detailed foam suits), but but provides good mobility and flexibility. Pep takes longer and involves hazardous chems, but as long as you used safety you'll be fine. Pep allows for greater detail and a more sturdy structure by either fiberglass or rondo.

 

[ImpactBlue]

We were thinking of the Pepakura way of making it, but not sure what would be easier for us beginners, Foam seems easy. Hmm. Not sure.

As mentioned each have their own challenges and foam is relatively quicker to build. The forearms took me quite some time to put together but once I got one the other one was relatively quick because I knew how it all went together. I'm currently building my Mjolnir Mk V armor out foam, it presents quite some challenges especially getting some more details on it. I chose foam because I'm more familiar with building stuff out of that but I find it can be unforgiving especially if you don't cut it out right, bend it right or glue it right and can be a costly mistake. I also went with foam because my workspace, my apartment living room, is definitely not the place to be fiberglassing or any of the sort and I'm honestly not familiar or comfortable with working with that. I also don't have any where else to be fiberglassing, etc anyways. None the less it's whatever you're most comfortable with, there are tons of tutorials here and I spent at least 4 - 5 months just researching, reading, watching and following other builds. I'm really enjoying the foam work actually and I think future builds will be with foam to really "master" that medium. I'm still in hardcore n00b status though.

 

[CoolC]

You actually need both. There are pros and cons for both, but personally I prefer foam for several reasons. For the suit, make it entirely out of foam. As for the helmet, stick with pepakura.

1) Foam is easier and quicker compare to pepakura. In less than 2 weeks, I completed most of my kids Spartan 4 Warrior armor. However, it does take experiece working with foam. Check my tutorial video below to start.
2) No chemicals to deal with. All you need is hot glue gun. Once the armor is done, you seal the foam with Plasti-dip and paint.
3) Foam allows mobility. My kids wore their ODST armor (out of fiberglass). They could not move much in their suit. With foam, they could run.
4) Foam is much cheaper. 2 packs of EVA foam can run about $20-40, depends where you buy them. With fiberglass, you can easily spend $300 and above.
5) Foam is light and easy to strap together.

You can achieve the same level of detail using foam. Most people use EVA foam to make the big pieces. Foamies (or craft foam) is used to create the details. Foam armor can last a long time. It may require some repainting and maintenance after each wearing. Then again, that goes the same with fiberglass armor.

Here is the tutorial on my YouTube channel. It receives quite a lot of good reviews.

And here is the most recent pieces of Spartan 4 Warrior that I just completed. Still missing some details. You get the picture.

 

[Jonsey]

i thought pepakura was pretty easy for just starting out but that's just my opinion

 

[CoolC]

i thought pepakura was pretty easy for just starting out but that's just my opinion

Easy is a relative term. It is easy for seasoned pepakura master, not so for a noob. Chest piece for Halo 4 Master Chief goes about 30 pages. That could take 8-10 hours to pep, if you are really good.

That is just one piece of the puzzle. Once pepakura is done, you need to resin, fiberglass, bondo, sand and paint. The bondo and sanding may need to be repeated 3-4 times if you want quality finish. With foam, you just need to glue and then paint.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel for some of the work that I did on bondo and foam. Here is another video of my son's armor made from fiberglass and foam. Can you tell which is which?