Jaku's Venator, Marine, and Misc builds

Status
Not open for further replies.
Yes.....it is a precarious dive into my dementia :confused::confused::confused::confused:......oh.....you mean about foam-smithing......as my wife is so fond of saying "Hon, you are a chock full of useless information. Get back to work on the house." You are very welcome and glad to impart my knowledge. Now get back to work on the house.......!!! HOh wait....that's not my line.....I say...." In a minute".....3 hrs later "What do you need now?".....That's usually when the FRYING pan becomes a FLYING pan.
 
ok Leiutenant Jaku, I'm going to be brutally honest w/ you.........I've done worse ;)......oh yes I have........but you have potential and room for improvement. Several points that scream out to me that I have also done in the past, is poor cuts. Either your blade isn't sharp (or sharp enough), your cut lines are not 100% straight, or your bevel isn't fully to the edge of the top of the foam so that the edges don't meet properly at the joint. These 3 things alone can cause the gaps you are currently suffering from in your pieces. A metal ruler can eliminate 60% of this problem right off the bat. So if you don't have one....get one. Any office or Art supply location will have. Don't use the plastic or wood ones....terrible.

Next is hot glue. This is something that can get out of hand. People swear by it while some people avoid it like the plague. It is a matter of preference. In your case, you have embraced in as most spectacular fashion. I'll be buying stock in a hot glue manufacturer before the end of the day. I would say less is more.....the less you see of it the better your joints will be. You can go crazy on the back end of anything for reinforcement.....but let's try not to get it on the outside of your pieces or visible during fabrication.

Gaps: This also is a topic of hot debate. How to fill in those dam holes. And again there are many ways that they can be fill in, and is a matter of preference. I have used hot glue, caulk, spackel (don't use), and Durram's water putty.....That last one is a form of plaster that air dries to a hard substance like plaster or joint compound but the PSI is much higher and is much more durable...I would not recommend that method for you unless you have extensive working experience w/ it, and yes I do. Now hot glue is a quick way to fill gaps that cools rapidly allowing you to continue working right after a minuet or two, but has a tendency of forming a concave "pit" as it cools depending on the size of the hole being filled. This can be filled in again later but will need to be either smoothed down w/ an implement or sanded down....which in of itself isn't easy. The foam around tends to sand quicker forming a mound of hot glue left behind. Now caulk has a viscosity that prevents it from forming that dip but can take several hours to cure....time that you can't touch the piece because it can distort the seam, pull away the caulk and the gap could reform. Both of these methods have their pluses and negatives but both work. I would also advise that depending on the size of the gap, a piece of blue painter's tape on the inside of the foam piece to prevent glue or caulk from just falling straight through. Caulk is also a bit easier to sand down so for those little holes...I use that. It gives you a bit more working time to smoothen out. And since it is a latex base, it won't eat the EVA but adhere to it better. The down side is you must use a paintable "flavor", because if you used one for the bathroom and sinks.....those are waterproof and won't take paint. Look for the painter's caulk.

Keep in mind.....this is my technique......you don't have to follow it if you have your own maddens to your method.

Now in your last batch of pics, I see you cut down 2 pieces of foam on chest right by the shoulders.....not sure why you did that. Is it because they were sitting too high or protruding too far out? Not sure.....regardless, they need a bit of help. Before I can do so, I need to know a bit more about the situation.

Overall, I agree w/ PerniciousDuke. One look and you knew its was a Venator chest piece.....so kudos to you. Now its on to detailing this bad boy out, filling in the gaps and painting. Great job man!!! Don't get discouraged........, we are our own worst critiques.
Which ones by the shoulder are you talking about. The last ones are on the bottom and the gray parts by the shoulders werw supposed to be cut, but one side was done poorly
 
OK, so the cuts were intentional.....1 of 2 ways to clean this up......1) Replace the section w/ a new piece of foam. 2) sand down the section until smooth. This will take time either way. Best to sand it down......splicing in a new piece takes practice. Not something you want to try out on a built section w/o prior experience doing. If you can get yourself a sanding foam block, something like this, Single_Sanding_Block.jpg , you can do it better than w/ a sanding belt (hard to get the correct angle once built) or the flat sandpaper which is equally difficult to get the final piece flat.

I've also have great success in concealing seams and structural mistakes w/ sheets of craft foam.

Ok so just to explain this, a before and after:

I had just spliced in the entire collar section to bulk it up (it was too short) After that was done.....w/ all the seams, glue marks and mistakes....it looked pretty rough (think more colorful meta-fores that involved excrement in various sizes and aromas than allowed to say out loud here).
IMG_0293.JPG IMG_0294.JPG

Enter craft foam....This also took a bit of time to figure out how to do, but the end result was an almost seamless looking piece. Which covered all those mistakes and poor seams as well. Bonus!!
IMG_0316.JPG IMG_0317.JPG

And paint conceals even more:


IMG_0567.JPG
 
OK, so the cuts were intentional.....1 of 2 ways to clean this up......1) Replace the section w/ a new piece of foam. 2) sand down the section until smooth. This will take time either way. Best to sand it down......splicing in a new piece takes practice. Not something you want to try out on a built section w/o prior experience doing. If you can get yourself a sanding foam block, something like this, View attachment 253600 , you can do it better than w/ a sanding belt (hard to get the correct angle once built) or the flat sandpaper which is equally difficult to get the final piece flat.

I've also have great success in concealing seams and structural mistakes w/ sheets of craft foam.

Ok so just to explain this, a before and after:

I had just spliced in the entire collar section to bulk it up (it was too short) After that was done.....w/ all the seams, glue marks and mistakes....it looked pretty rough (think more colorful meta-fores that involved excrement in various sizes and aromas than allowed to say out loud here).
View attachment 253601 View attachment 253602

Enter craft foam....This also took a bit of time to figure out how to do, but the end result was an almost seamless looking piece. Which covered all those mistakes and poor seams as well. Bonus!!
View attachment 253603 View attachment 253604

And paint conceals even more:


View attachment 253605

Craft foam with contact cement pressed into place and then sanded down with a rotary tool is my go to. Flex shaft on the dremel and a barrel sanding bit has saved me a lot of headache in the past and hidden a lot of indiscretion.
DSC_0446.JPG
 
Indiscretion......???? I wan't aware that you could be so intimately involved w/ foam that discretion was needed......something your not telling the wife....hummmmmm?
 
Indiscretion......???? I wan't aware that you could be so intimately involved w/ foam that discretion was needed......something your not telling the wife....hummmmmm?

I play fast and loose with foam. It get's pretty messy sometimes.
 
filling in the gaps first......any details you make, might be interfered with because of said gaps. Also if you did have to file/sand anything down, your details would be destroyed. Leave the detailing for last thing before painting.
 
So which is recommended, detailing first or filling gaps?
I figured I would do details first but if you have any tips do speak up. :)

Honestly it depends on the details for me. If adding the details is going to be adding more material and the possibility of creating more gaps, detail first. If adding details is going to be removing material and go over seams potentially, filling gaps first.
 
I like taking screen shots in the customize screen on the Xbox one then I view them on the Xbox app on my phone when building. Like this
View attachment 253649 View attachment 253650 View attachment 253651
I may be able to get some for you if I get on my Xbox at some point
Thank you, that might be nice
I don't think I could unless there is a way to preview armor, because unfortunately I have not unlocked the venator armor yet. Someone needs to make a site to preview armor if they haven't already.
 
so unfortunately my cats like to claw up foam, not really built stuff but just stored foam, so I was thinking that it might be fun to build them a scratching post since they like the foam, and have a platform up top. and then I thought "I wonder what halo thing is like that?" and then I remembered these.
th.jpg
so now I will be working on this as well. pics soon, I'm too lazy to get my phone right now.
 
Your doing great Leiutenant Jaku, keep it up. You do need to work on your cuts though......they are still a bit raw and jagged. You need a sharper edge on your blade. You can also hit the edges w/ a 220 grit sanding block/sponge to get rid of the pull marks on the cuts.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top