Foam MJOLNIR Mark VI - Halo 3 Foam Build Thread

[Mirrorbright]

Hello all, my name is Daniel, I go by Mirrorbright. I am close to completing my first Halo build, and I'm excited to finally wear it to cons! Master Chief is the first costume I ever wanted to make, and I'm so happy to finally build his armor from my favorite Halo entry: Halo 3 (don't @ me). I should have been posting here through the entire build, so I'll pretend that's what I'm doing. I'll be updating this thread with photos and descriptions over the next few days.

This isn't my first time working with foam; I have done a few Overwatch cosplays. I used the following patterns:
Armor: Halo 3 - MJOLNIR Mark VI - Standard LD
Helmet: Halo 3 Mark 6 Helmet by Rainyfire
Gloves: Halo 3 - Mark 6 - Master Chief Armor Set - No Helmet by moesizzlac

Most of the armor will be foam, except the hands and helmet, which will be printed in ABS.

Here are a few finished shots, as a teaser:

You can see more finished shots of the build on our Instagram. Most of the pictures I post here will be WIP pictures. You can also checkout this YouTube series I did in making the costume: Mirrorbright Cosplay - YouTube

 

[Mirrorbright]

I started with the base armor, however I am notoriously bad at taking WIP pictures. I do have a few pictures of the completed pieces.

Nothing crazy here, just used the papakura templates to construct each piece. Everything is made out of HD Foam, and glued using Barge Contact Cement.

 

[Mirrorbright]

Like I said, I am terrible about taking WIP photos, so here's me trying on all the constructed pieces. This includes the primed helmet, of which I do have more photos for that coming later.

Each piece hasn't been detailed or refined yet, only glued together. No strapping either.

 

[Mirrorbright]

Now to add details. Since the pattern is low detail (as designed), I used screenshots, the 3d models, and even booted up TMCC to see what needed to be added. I then drew on my existing patterns what I wanted to add, and used 2mm foam to add to the construction.

Bonus points awarded if you immediately know what sections of the armor these belong to.

 

[Mirrorbright]

Shot of the chest piece after the details were added.

 

[Mirrorbright]

Oh I made the boots too. Instead of gluing them to real boots, I made them as boot covers. So when these eventually get upgraded, I'll be able to use the same pieces and won't have to remake.

They slip on, and are held in place with elastic bands.

 

[Mirrorbright]

Shot of me wearing all armor (sans hands) after details are added

 

[Mirrorbright]

I really really really wish I was better at documenting things. There are so many steps I can't account for in adding the details.

Sunken lines were made by scoring the foam, then using a heat gun to open them up, like you can see on the biceps.

Also something else I tried on this build was using foam clay (also from HD foam) to fill in seams. I think it worked pretty well.

 

[Mirrorbright]

Painting!

I did some experimentation, and found the best paint job was a base coat of gold, then a light top coat of Italian olive. Here are the specific products I used:

Gold: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Rust-Oleum...mer-In-One-Actual-Net-Contents-11-oz/50425934
Italian Olive: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Krylon-COL...int-and-Primer-In-One-NET-WT-12-oz/1000459565

But first, I sealed the foam with our good friend plastidip: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Plasti-Dip-Flat-Black-Flat-Spray-Paint-Actual-Net-Contents-11-oz/3543514

Oh before that, I used a Dremel to cut into the foam for battle damage.

 

[Mirrorbright]

The armor looks funny after painting gold. Like a Master Chief - C-3po hybird.

 

[Mirrorbright]

Next the Italian Olive. Bam!

Hopefully you can still notice the gold undertones in the paint job. Also painting flat acrylic black where needed.

 

[Mirrorbright]

Next, I included shadows using using black airbrush paint, and brushed on weathering highlights with silver drybrush. These two steps make such a difference.

 

[Mirrorbright]

I 3d-printed the hand pieces, then used fabric snaps to attach them to some cheap gloves. Here are those hand pieces already painted and weathered.

 

[Mirrorbright]

Another test fit (and shot for the 'gram). Still no strapping here, just seeing how the paint job looked on me.

 

[Mirrorbright]

Now for my "Baby" of the build: the 3d-printed helmet. Printed in one piece out of ABS on a CR10-S Pro v2. The STLs are listed in the first post in the thread.

I found this was the best way to print the helmet (there were several failed prints). I also printed this without an enclosure, so there were some separations in the lines.

 

[Mirrorbright]

Looking all pretty with supports cleaned off, ready for it's new life of being sanded every day for a week.

 

[Mirrorbright]

I use these two products on most of my 3d-prints:
Filler Primer: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Rust-Oleum-Flat-Gray-Spray-Primer-Actual-Net-Contents-12-oz/3728775
Spot Putty: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Bondo-Bondo-Glazing-and-Spot-Putty-4-5-oz/5001990455

After a round of sanding, I'll spray the entire helmet with filler primer. This will help fill in some of the printed lines, and highlight areas that need more help. For large defects or gaps, I'll use the spot putty.

I probably did this for like 10 rounds until I was happy.

 

[Mirrorbright]

Ready to paint!

 

[Mirrorbright]

Painting was the same process as the armor: Gold, Italian Olive, black shadows with an airbrush, then silver scratches/highlights dry-brushing.

This poor styrofoam head. He has no idea the life a-"head" of him...

 

[Mirrorbright]

The visor for the helmet was fun, because it's not something I have ever done before. I had created a small vacuforming machine using the instructions by Punished Props, so I wanted to use it to make the visor.

I 3d-printed the buck using the visor 3d-print, and turned on the support angle to 0 so supports will be printed at all angles. I'm sure there's a better way to do this, but I didn't have access to the original model to modify it the way I should have.

After printed, I finished the buck using filler primer again, and sanded it down so it was fairly smooth.