Long-Term Metal Armour Project

[Spitfire22V]

As I mentioned, this really hasn't been done before (lots of people have said they are, but never gotten anywhere), so you're really on your own here and it's up to you to figure this all out.

I would suggest getting in touch with the professional welder you plan on hiring and ask him what materials to use, since he is the one who's going to be welding it.

My initial thought would be to use aluminum sheet since it's relatively light, but as I understand, it's not very conducive to being welded.

 

[CoolC]

You did miss the second part of that statement, where the paint job matters. Cars are still being painted the same so for the people that dont know they think its the same old. If a halo suit is painted to look like metal it looks unreal, but if it looks plasticy then people think its a cheap suit, no matter how much work has gone into it. Thats my opinion anyays.

You are way off on being cheap. I give you two great examples. If you were here long enough, you may have heard of awesomeness of our Adam. He appeard in OXM last year. His suit did not look plasticky or cheap. Another example is our very own Longshot. http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/25298-LongShot-X-s-Mark-VI-HD-MJOLNIR-Armor-WIP

Painting is important, but it depends on the skills of the painter. If you are a skilled air-brush painter, you can paint a paper armor into a realistic metal armor. The point I am making is don't assume that we are using "liquid plastic", our end product is going to look like plastic. At the end of the day you want to wear a set of armor that you are proud of and at the same time comfortable.

Anyways here is my plan so far...

Plan:
Maintain communication with 405
Possibly do a sizing test somehow...
Get Materials
Start shaping the metal in smaller pieces
Get professional welder to adhere the pieces
Make visor and front part of the helmet
Carve foam to fit the helmet, adhere the foam.
Paint the exterior
Wear proudly down the street

Did I leave anything out/any suggestions?

Yes. Tons of cash. Anyone at 405th can tell you that making an armor using "inferior liquid plastic" is an expensive hobby. Be prepared to shell lots of money if you want people to weld the parts for you.

Finally, unless if you have some type of forming machines, you will not be able to get the helmet to the final form, or as accurate to the helmet in Halo. Small parts are particular difficult. The curvatures of the helmet are also impossible. Just imagine you size your helmet wrong, you need to start all over again.

If you continue with this route, I extend my luck to you. Statistically, not to downplay your effort, you are looking at a failed project. Trust us. All of us completed any armor can tell you working with paper is difficult enough. Working with metal...right, Spitfire, time to move on...

Thanks bro, I will try to get started asap, so that people know Im legit about doing this. Now I just need to find out where i get some sheet metal... Any ideas one what type of metal/alloy I should work with? Im thinking just the cheapest stuff for now considering i am probably going to have to make two helmets due to mistakes on the first one.

Wow, you really have not clue what materials you will need? Really, good luck!

 

[Clock Faithless]

As I mentioned, this really hasn't been done before (lots of people have said they are, but never gotten anywhere), so you're really on your own here and it's up to you to figure this all out.

I would suggest getting in touch with the professional welder you plan on hiring and ask him what materials to use, since he is the one who's going to be welding it.

My initial thought would be to use aluminum sheet since it's relatively light, but as I understand, it's not very conducive to being welded.

Alright sounds good, the welder hopefully will be a friend of mine so I'll ask him a bunch of questions. Someone really needs to get that pep file directory working, an organized spot for 3d files would be rather handy, considering I haven't found any templates or anything besides pictures for the Scout helmet. But ill keep looking...

 

[Clock Faithless]

Finally, unless if you have some type of forming machines, you will not be able to get the helmet to the final form, or as accurate to the helmet in Halo. Small parts are particular difficult. The curvatures of the helmet are also impossible. Just imagine you size your helmet wrong, you need to start all over again.

Well I am currently apprenticing at a machine shop, so I will be learning and making money at the same time. Also im not going for accuracy so much as a realistic look, feel and sound. I also am anticipating on having to make more than one, this isnt my first rodeo on a large project (although the other one was wood).

If you continue with this route, I extend my luck to you. Statistically, not to downplay your effort, you are looking at a failed project. Trust us. All of us completed any armor can tell you working with paper is difficult enough. Working with metal...right, Spitfire, time to move on...

Like I mentioned before, im expecting to fail, this whole thing is a learning process. And the best way to learn is to fail, am i rite?

Wow, you really have not clue what materials you will need? Really, good luck!

Im 16 give me a break...

 

[ventrue]

Yes. Try search for it using the search bar.

I have been, i would just prefer to have someone tell me where it is if they know rather than me having to go through 20,000 posts to find it.

More like 2000: http://www.google.de/search?hl=de&q=reach scout helmet site_405th.com#q=reach+scout+helmet+site:405th.com

Aside from that, unless welding is a prerequisite, you might want to look at 3D printing. You can have that done in metal as well, takes 4 weeks instead of 4 years and costs 10 $/cm³ at both Ponoko and Shapeways for stainless steel. I don't want to add that up, I'd guess it's somewhere in the tens of thousands of Dollars for a full suit, unless you want the pieces to be massive metal, in which case you better call NASA and sell it as a spacesuit to receive added funding. The result will need some further work, you can use Bondo for that, just like on one of those old metal cars.

Finally, tip on forum usage: You can click the symbol in the lower right corner of multiple posts to preselect them. This will put multiple quotes into a single reply of yours.

 

[Clock Faithless]

More like 2000: http://www.google.de/search?hl=de&q=reach scout helmet site_405th.com#q=reach+scout+helmet+site:405th.com

Im new to this whole pepakura thing, will the object file still open in the pep viewer?

Aside from that, unless welding is a prerequisite, you might want to look at 3D printing. You can have that done in metal as well, takes 4 weeks instead of 4 years and costs 10 $/cm³ at both Ponoko and Shapeways for stainless steel. I don't want to add that up, I'd guess it's somewhere in the tens of thousands of Dollars for a full suit, unless you want the pieces to be massive metal, in which case you better call NASA and sell it as a spacesuit to receive added funding. The result will need some further work, you can use Bondo for that, just like on one of those old metal cars.

I meant 4 years for the whole suit, the helmet should only take 3 1/2

 

[ventrue]

Im new to this whole pepakura thing, will the object file still open in the pep viewer?

Not sure what you're talking about, but Pepakura Viewer is definitely wrong. Get the Designer.

 

[Clock Faithless]

Not sure what you're talking about, but Pepakura Viewer is definitely wrong. Get the Designer.

Yeah I got it now, i thought the viewer should have been alright but i guess not. I sure am getting myself into a butt load of tits with this one... But i am excited, should be lots of fun.

 

[Clock Faithless]

After a quick trip to Rona, i decided I will be doing the foam base first kind of as a template for sizing, so that its easier to base my metal forging off of. This was because silly rona didnt have sheet metal, but they did have foam, so Ill carve something out of it, post some pictures so you guys can comment, and then start working on the metal fabrication.

 

[Clock Faithless]

well, that was a delicious break. From which I have decided I will not be doing a metal helmet as my first project, I was a little too ambitious. My plan for now is to make a foam core (even though I got the wrong type of foam) molded to the shape, and then fiberglass it and add carbon fiber for the black parts. Any comments?

 

[Clock Faithless]

And if I don't post pics of progress by then end of January (pretty good resolution I thought), lock this thread up cause I probably wont actually ever do anything.