How long did it take you to make your armor?

[Doray]

I am new at this so I wanted to see how long it took people to make there spartan armor!

 

[marinesniper]

mine it did not take long because mine is 3d printed but the painting and i think i can do better set me back a lot but i have worked on my master chief on and off for 2 yrs

 

[Jev]

Well I'm going pretty slowly and I'm 5 months in currently. Of course it could be done faster though if required. 3D printing armour would be more of a waiting game as opposed to foam which would be as fast or as slow as you would craft it.

TL/DR: It varies depending on the material and how fast you want it to be.

 

[FalseShepherd]

This is a tough question bc there are so many variables involved that are unique to the individual. What method are you using, how much time can you actually commit on a daily/weekly basis, how much detail are you going for, etc.

My pep ODST has been in progress for 4 ish years I think? But largely that's due to grad school, a desire to not rush and make a bad product, and stating a family. Also pep takes a long time. I have seen some people crank out full suits in a few months, others take years.

 

[Fallen]

Everyone works at their own pace, depending on what they're building, methodology, experience, detail level etc. Even a single individual may take massively varying amounts of time depending on the build.

For the Halo builds I've done here's my best estimate for each:

• DFT Marine (2016) - 2 weeks - simple build with minimal details and not a lot of parts
• ODST (started 2015 finished 2019) - worked on and off, rebuilt many pieces, various methodologies including pepakura, foam, and 3d printing, upgraded several times between 2019 and 2022 as well
• H3 Marine/Pilot (2022) - 4 weeks - had a hard deadline, predominately foam with some 3d printed parts
• Mk VII Deathly Poison inspired color (2023) - 10 weeks - self-imposed deadline, worked around the clock many weekends, mostly foam w/ some 3d printed parts
• Mk VII Peppermint Laughter (2023) - 4 months, worked in spurts sometimes taking weeks in between working on it, same methodology and files as other Mk VII, most progress was made in the final month

I don't have exact working hours for each of those builds, so even the timeframes I have aren't exactly accurate. The ODST for example I worked on a bit in 2015, but the only part I made that year I scrapped when moving in 2016 then barely touched the build again for almost a year.

 

[Bloxxer]

As others have said, it really depends on how much time you have to work on it, and how much time/effort you choose to put into it. I worked on my suit off and on for about a year and a half before I fully finished it. It took me a little more time than planned due to failed prints (this was my first build, so I was still learing the basics of 3D printing and printer maintainence), the brutal cold winters of ND, school workload, work, etc.

 

[rickrtickr]

There have been a couple of good responses here that seem to cover a lot of the spectrum for build times.

Largely your build time will vary on a couple of factors:

• Your available build time per week.
  • Do you only have a couple of hours a day to work? it will take "longer" just because it is a process that takes time.
• Do you have experience with the medium? with experience comes speed, and proficancy. so start with smaller simpler parts before tackling the bigger and more statement suit pieces.
• What is the level of detail you are expecting? High-detail suits have inherent complexity that requires more time and effort to get right.
• Which suit (or combination) are you making?
  • There are a wide variety of suits and armor that make up the Halo franchise. And some are more technical on their face and others are simple products of their time and do not have the level of detail to construct.
  • do you already have a unified vision of what pieces you plan to use? doing the leg work to know what you want to make and how to piece it together is a great help to having consistent progress. (I didn't have a consistent vision of what I wanted and "wasted" time building parts of my armor that I ended up not using.)
• Do you already have the space and tools to begin the process?
  • there are a lot of methods of making armor and they all have a different set of tools and materials. Check out the tutorials section of the forum to find the way you are going to build and learn all you can.

All that said I will give a simple example of version 1 of my armor:
I used a method called Pepakura. It is an older method of crafting and can be extraordinarily time-consuming to start out with.
it took me nearly 7 months just to get all my armor into a state where it could be hardened.
Then another 5 months to harden, detail, and paint.

The process can be time-consuming but depending on the method things can be faster.
I have used eva foam and an eye for free hand to make new pieces over the years and I can build and finish pieces in just a couple of weeks. (with about 2-4 hours of build time during weekdays.)

So find your niche. start with something simple like the hand plates for the back of a glove. then build something you wouldn't mind displaying if it is the only other thing you finish (a simple helmet to start with) and then work from there. use what you finish as inspiration for the next piece and just keep working. don't depend on someone else's timeline. build at your pace and come here for support if you run into snags.

We are more than happy to give advice and pointers on things to make the process easier. And if you need an honest review of a completed piece there are plenty here that can give constructive criticism on ways to improve.

At the end of the day, this is a hobby and should be fun for you. I wish you luck and look forward to seeing what you can bring to the community!

 

[N8TEBB]

I started at the beginning of may and finished at the end of august. I worked on it a few hours each day after work (I was working full time at the time) and on weekends. My suit is a foam mk7 btw.

So 4 months of diligent work to complete

 

[Emp Frosty]

Your armor will take as much time as you want to put into it. My first set of armor made from EVA foam took me about a month and a half I'd say. That set was following the DFT ODST templates and while not terrible I t didnt come out bad for a first attempt with any kind of foam. My second suit took about a year for me to make and was 3D printed. I worked on it on and off as I started flight school. 3rd suit took me about 6-7 months to make and had even more features than the second (also 3D printed). I'm currently working on 3 back to back suits and am aiming to take about 2 and half months on each without a drop in quality.

My point being though, the more time you take on your armor the more experience you'll have when you decide to go on to the next set and you'll be able to do it faster at a higher quality too. Usually.

 

[Chronomize]

Mine took me two months... Which I didn't even realise was fast until after. It was 3D printed. It took like two or three weeks to print, and I basically speedran sanding, bondoing, applying primer, and paint (of course sanding between each step). All while working my full time job AND high school (I'm homeschooled). A few of my pieces aren't scaled right, though, and I still have yet to reprint them.

 

[Jev]

Mine took me two months... Which I didn't even realise was fast until after. It was 3D printed. It took like two or three weeks to print, and I basically speedran sanding, bondoing, applying primer, and paint (of course sanding between each step). All while working my full time job AND high school (I'm homeschooled). A few of my pieces aren't scaled right, though, and I still have yet to reprint them.

2 months for printed armour!?!
My guy, you're a menace to society

 

[PapaBear271]

Mine took 14 months to build off an on. The last 6 months where 20-30 hours a week spent on the build. Here is a link to 400+ build photos:

Jorge Build - Google Drive

 

[he4thbar]

So i'm a pretty consistent but not overkill builder when I do have a deadline to meet. I work 40 hours a week and probably work on cosplay a couple days a week or once a week depending on how close the deadline is or if I have other things going on. Sometimes i'll take a couple weeks off though.
this is from start to fully finished including one weapon prop.
my first ever build; ODST foam + pep helmet: 7 months - Learning curve bites here and you will have rebuilds but worth it in the end and probably put more time into this one because I was excited
foam fallout t45 Power armor: 12 months. This build was huge so it took a bit longer for sure, and life happens.
2 Rakshasa foam armor + 3d printed helmets and visors: 11 months. At this point i've gotten pretty good at foam work and since I made one set of rakshasa, the second one was easier.

Realisticly, it's better not to look at the overall time it will take for you to complete a project, if I did that I probably wouldn't start them. However it is good to have an end by date.
I found for myself it was much better to set goals for how much I want to get done per week or per month; "I will get the leg armor glued together this weekend" Even if I just end up cutting out the armor from foam that's more progress then no goal at all.

 

[Gibson Slayer]

I am new at this so I wanted to see how long it took people to make there spartan armor!

Mine´s in the final steps of completion. I started this project over a year ago (Halo Infinite Master Chief from the 2020 E3 gameplay), right now I´m remaking the shins (as they ended up being small in scale, so I have to redo them again). But taking that into account: I´ll be giving myself over 2 months to finish painting and so on.

Taking all this into consideration, I would say a year if you really want all the intricate details (I´m making it on foam); and 3d printing: over a few months, but the results can be spectacular.

(Also, to make myself clear: it´s been over a year but with some interruptions (collegue, jobs, so on...), so if you have full free time, you could get it done in less time , good luck!).

 

[SinisterPropz]

My build was around 8 months for the first iteration, I went back and remade the chest plate for a better fit and added weapons to the arsenal (Spartan Laser, AR, Magnum) as well as just making overall improvements all around. I’d say it’s an ongoing project as I’m currently working on improving pieces still but all in all a solid year of work to get it to the point it is now.

 

[Negativecacti]

For me it all came down to how much mental power I was able to put out. My mk.7 took me around 5 months to do from start to finish, while my rakshasa took just over a month to do. My reach build took me a year to do, but I have one suit I kept improving is my gen2 recon suit, which has been worked on from 2018 to 2023. It's really just how much brain power, effort and time you can put towards it. Some work on your suit is better than none but trust me the burn out is real and makes things difficult to continue, but just stick with it and it'll turn out.