Huge Challenge For Me, Please Help! :)

[slightly insolent]

Hey everyone, thanks for taking time to read this and hopefully provide some amazing information.

Since Halo: Reach, I've been in LOVE with the GUNGNIR helmet and I always thought to myself "owning a fully functioning helmet like this would be incredible". Now that Halo 4 has brought back GUNGNIR with an entire set, I am heavily determined to make a very high quality, expensive cosplay outfit. I will of course wear it to events but also keep it as a prop on a mannequin..

anyways, you may be thinking how I may see out of it. Which brings me to my question.

1. GUNGNIR provides plenty of space as it is a big funky helmet, I was thinking maybe either making or purchasing 3D reality goggles, then building the helmet afterwards to suit the size nicely. But I have no idea how to set the camera where the monocule is. Obviously I would need a mini wireless camera, but how would it connect to the 3D goggles? Would I be better off wired? I want colored picture, but it doesn't have to be incredible quality. I just want to see people around me & where I'm going. PLEASE JUST TELL ME HOW I CAN MAKE THIS WORK LOL. Are there any health risks when doing this?(I think this is a great idea and a huge step on making my dream of having a real gungnir helm but please tell me if this is a terrible idea, I am a total noob when it comes to electronics! But if it does sound like a neat idea, perhaps people can do this with other helmets such as locus with a unnoticable little spy cam, etc.)


2. How would I go about making glowing over shield lights on every armor piece? THIS IS ALSO HIGHLY IMPORTANT.

3. Like I said, I want it VERY high quality. How would I go about making the armor? Paper is not an option as it seems way too weak and cheap. I seen people say EVA foam? Are there any other alternatives also? I seen some videos of where people dont even use pepakura, they just go from looking at it and it looks great. Is that raw talent or.. ?

4. What would go underneath the armor? In Halo 4 the Spartan under armor looks very scaly and rubbery, how would I go about mimicking this?


I know I have a LOT of tedious work ahead of me on this long journey, and I am going to practice before hand. As far as price goes, I don't want cheap at all, but I don't want mighty expensive either. I just want nice, highly durable, rough armor with a good camera and lights.

If you haven't seen it already go to YouTube and search "Halo 4 The Didact Project" before you tell me I'm asking for too much etc etc. Because I know it can't be impossible... Also "Pink Female Wetwork Armor Halo 4"


please don't be rude or bash me, I love halo and I really want to do this on my spare time. I hope I made enough sense. Thank you!!

P.S. I still am debating whether or not I want to do full Gungnir or rock a mixed, custom set. I want it to be very lore like but I want to look awesome too. Gungnir Body, Arms, and Legs are pretty big & I'm a pretty tall but slim guy so I don't wanna look too funky. My Spartan is currently rocking:

Helmet: Gungnir
Torso: Pioneer
Shoulders: Warmaster
Forearms: Inner-Plated
Legs: Outer-Plated

I love the way it looks, I've been using it for the longest time.. But would you recommend I use the whole gungnir instead? Sorry if this is a lot of questions! Lol

 

[HALOSPRTAN]

For the answer to one of your questions, i recommend using 2 documentation cameras( the ones that dont record but show live feed, and put them evenly spaced on both sides so you have binocular vision and it doesnt look weird Im not so sure on how to do the connection between the camera to the 3d vr goggles, but i think you should look through the sticky on electronics before you go into this. many questions you have may have already been answered. If you are going for very high quality, pepakura resin bondo is the way to go. They are more fragile, but if you put the time in, you get more out of it. I have been working on how to replicate the hexagon texture for a long timeand i have just decided that i will try and make a model in cad, 3d print it, then make a plaster mold and pour latex to get the texture. I have no idea how to do an overshield over the whole suit:eek, but some other people might.
And lastly, no one on this forum will bash you or insult you without them getting severely reprimanded. If you dont follow forum rules such as profanity and double posts etc. you may get a reminder from another person to edit our post before mods find it, or just PMing you about the rules. I also recommend you read through all of the stickies that are relevant to your project before you just ask for peoples help. Other people help, but in the end it is your effort, not other people's that gets the build done. Hope this helps

 

[slightly insolent]

Absolutely, thanks for the response!

 

[slightly insolent]

So wait. Where would I go to discuss the electronic stuff?

 

[Shirou]

Like HALOSPARTAN said use pepakura for the high quality is a good choice, but I recomend u do it with foam modifying the pep files for foam and then putting more details with cardstock foam. If u dont know how to modify them u can also ask people who know for how to do it or ask if they can do it for u. I know pepople who know about this and I think they can help u with that. Go to my profile and search in my friends cha0skn1ght, he's very good at this, in his ODST post he has the odst files and venator too for foam, and also search on facebook Cali Cosplay too. I think they will help you, but about the helmet, make it with pepakura, its the best way.

I hope this helps you a lot

 

[slightly insolent]

Absolutely, thank you very much !

 

[Zaff]

Another recommendation if you're still dubious about pepakura would simply be: don't stop there. Build the pieces, get them as detailed as you want them to be, and then mold and cast them in a material you feel is durable enough to suit your needs. But this is definitely an area where things can get expensive, as you will not only need to cover the materials for the initial build, but also materials for creating the molds, and then the cost of whatever material you use for the cast. If money was no object and I knew how to work with the material I would love to make a full suit out of Duraflex (although I'm not sure they actually sell the material or if it's only available as pre-made body kits). There are also numerous plastic and/or silicone options for casting. There are help threads in the stickies for molding/casting as well as the electronics thread mentioned by Halospartan.

I can only offer a rough and entirely untested theory on the overshield effect. My thought is a clear acrylic layer on top of the armor with embedded fiber-optic lighting, as led's would be too "spotty" and EL wire would have noticeable strips rather than an overall glow effect. I don't know how well fiber-optic lights would work either, nor how expensive such a kit would be, not to mention the need for either having a power source in each individual piece of armor or being able to discreetly link them all into one source.

For the undersuit I would look into the "rubber/leather"-look spandex/lycra in 4-way stretch and then airbrush the hex pattern on after the suit is put together (there are tutorials and how-tos all over the net for making body/catsuits).

As for the armor itself, my opinion is always "go custom."

 

[EVAkura]

2. How would I go about making glowing over shield lights on every armor piece? THIS IS ALSO HIGHLY IMPORTANT.

If you are referring to the glowing aqua-blue lights on each piece, then the coolest and most epic solution to that would be electroluminescence. They make cut-able sheets (just use scissors) and you should be able to get quite a few from a 8 1/2" X 11" sheet. It will take A LOT of careful planning though, as you will want to maximize the amount of lights you get from each sheet by placing templates down before cutting as this material is still fairly expensive. Also, you would have to keep in mind that you need to have either a positive and negative terminal exposed on the edge of the sheet for connection OR a thin connective piece to link one mass to another. If done correctly, I would think you would be able to do the whole suit in two sheets. The other challenge would be wiring them up. Since I am sure you will not want to have a power supply for each piece of armor (that would be VERY expensive, and a ton of switches just to turn on your suit), I would suggest incorporating the wires into an undersuit with some sort of quick connects exposed where each piece of armor will go... and leaving enough excess wire to allow for your body's movement.

 

[slightly insolent]

I think ima use the pepakura, but just do a LOT of detail into it. I talked to someone and he said you can have it as strong enough to where you can sit on it and there won't be a blemish. My only obstacle it seems now would be the undersuit haha! It's gonna be crazy tough! Is it really stenciled? It looks 3D but stenciled at the same time.

 

[slightly insolent]

That seems like alot lol xD and I am very unfamiliar with all this stuff xD I think ima just skip the light part as it feels like it'd be too much of a hassle. If I can have some sort of white glowing fabric at the very least that'd do

 

[slightly insolent]

Also guys I'm not working on it yet. I have PLENTY of time to do it. I'm just trying to prepare and see what ideas and advice work the best for me. I'm loving the responses so far!

 

[Zaff]

Even in your own thread, you might want to avoid double (or in this case triple) posting. And yes, the in-game undersuit looks like it's actually textured, but it's difficult to get that same texture while still having something that's flexible and breathable, which is why I suggested using an airbrush.