My First Build! Halo 3 Mk VI MC build

[jworley503]

Hey guys! Got the bug to build a full set of armor and joined the community a couple of weeks ago to get some ideas and inspiration. I downloaded the 3d print files from the wonderful Moesizzlac and began my print. I've gotten a bit into the process over the last couple of weeks, but decided I wanted to document my progress here for you guys.

When I initially started the build, I attempted to print the files as is. After printing a couple of sections of the torso, I realized very quickly that the scaling wasn't exactly meant for a man of my.....proportions. I decided to import the files into Armorsmith and scale them out to my size.

After exporting the files, it was time to start the long process and printing. I decided to start with the torso. I took the scaled torso object and exported it from Armorsmith and loaded it into Bambu Studio. There, I cut the file into 8 seperate objects and began printing. The Bambu X1C does an amazing job with these pieces. So far I have experienced very minimal flaws, and those that I have experienced are due to my settings within the slicer more so than anything.

I made a slight mistake with cutting the files that I noticed once I started assembling the pieces. I meant to slice the print at the seam between the chest and back clip. Absent mindidly, I just cut it down the center. This caused a bit more work for me further down the line. I used my rotary tool to cut the piece at the appropriate spot and attached the cut piece to the backplate to create the connection point I initially wanted.

I also ran into a few small issues when connecting the pieces that can be seen in the images below. Initially, I wanted to connect the pieces with quick set epoxy. I've always had trouble with this so I have no idea why I made this decision..... I made a rather larges mess of the epoxy of the front of the pieces that I am in the process of cleaning up/sanding down in the processing stages post print. With the back piece, I decided to instead use super glue for the initial connection, and then add the epoxy to the seams on the rear for some additional strength.

Being a bit impatient, I decided to run a coat of Rustoleum Camo across the top of the chest piece to test color. More so, just curious on how the color would look. It came out quite a bit darker than I expected and so I sanded it back down and began the process of filling seams between pieces with bondo spot putty and spraying filler primer.

While waiting on bondo and filler to dry, I've started working on a couple of different parts of the suit. First off, I took one of the failed pieces from earlier in the process and decided to color test a bit more. I ran a base layer of Behr Luck of the Irish. I then spot covered with the rustoleum camo, followed by a light dusting of the Luck of the Irish once more. I then went back over the piece with a simple black wash to add a bit of grime and detail to the piece. While this came out ok, I think in the future I am going to change a few things with the paint to achieve exactly what I am looking for with the color.

I also decided to use the waiting time to start working on the abdominal piece for the undersuit. I am using EVA foam for the detail pieces, but I am not quite sure what I will use under this. I plan to at least have an H harness, but haven't settled yet on wether I will simply wear a breathable morphsuit as a gap filler or look for something that incorporates both the harness and clothing into one.

With the EVA foam abominal pieces, so far I have laid out a simple design based on images I have pulled from game samples. I then cut these designs into 2mm EVA foam and layered it. I intentionally left the foam a bit tall at the top portion. Eventually, I want to add velcro strips to the front and back of the piece to ensure it stays connected to my body as well of the chest portion of the armor. I think this will give the midsection a much more jointed feeling. I did a bit of work with the dremel to the mid section to get the grid effect that is on the in game armor but I am not entirely happy with it. Eventually, I would like to print and cast the midsection and gap pieces in polyurethan rubber, but this will do for now until I get around to it. I still plan to coat the foam with plastidip and then add some highlight paint to get a more realistic look.

Currently, I am waiting on bicep pieces to print and filler to dry for an adequate time as to not gum up my sandpaper too much. I'll keep you guys posted of the progress!

 

[jworley503]

So today, I reworked the grid for the mid section and sprayed some plastdip. This made this look much more put together. I plan to continue a bit of dremel work to clean up some of the edges. Question though... As I've layered the EVA, some of the cut out parts show seams. How do you guys tend to handle filling and covering seams in those types of areas?

 

[jworley503]

Second set of sanding done and its looking much better already. Chestplate has been primed again but there are a few spots I'm deciding between hitting with more bondo or just incorporating it as damage in the final look. Still need to run another coat of primer on the backplate, but I've ran out of light and it's getting a bit cold. Also, the collar pieces came off the printer this morning so i decided to lay them in to check the fit. I wont attach them until post paint though.

While waiting for primer to dry today, I decided to mess around with making a neck seal. I used EVA foam and plastidip for this again. I freehanded the pattern and played around with layering. Once again, I plan to eventually cast this piece in poly, but working with what i have around ATM.

 

[MicaHusky]

My suit is this exact set from Moe. All the parts work well and the only things I found that I needed to heavily modify were the neckline (I cut it a bit so it stopped chafing my neck, and added weather stripping to the resulting edge to make it softer), and the thighs I ended up using a slightly modified version from JTF4 that has the inner thigh cut out to replace with EVA panels instead.

 

[jworley503]

My suit is this exact set from Moe. All the parts work well and the only things I found that I needed to heavily modify were the neckline (I cut it a bit so it stopped chafing my neck, and added weather stripping to the resulting edge to make it softer), and the thighs I ended up using a slightly modified version from JTF4 that has the inner thigh cut out to replace with EVA panels instead.

Luckily, because of the scaling the neckline is fitting well for me. I still plan to do something similar though and add some foam around the edges to create a "seal" for filler. I was also thinking of doing something along those lines with the thighs. I'll definitely have to take a look at those files.

 

[jworley503]

My suit is this exact set from Moe. All the parts work well and the only things I found that I needed to heavily modify were the neckline (I cut it a bit so it stopped chafing my neck, and added weather stripping to the resulting edge to make it softer), and the thighs I ended up using a slightly modified version from JTF4 that has the inner thigh cut out to replace with EVA panels instead.

Also awesome job on the weathering there. That paint jobs looks phenomenal!

 

[jworley503]

Things are coming along nicely. Took a bit of a break from sanding the large pieces today. Used a coat of xtc-3d on the back piece to add a bit of smoothing. Tomorrow I'll add another layer of primer and start the final sanding on the chest piece. The back piece will follow the next day. Printed the Lower half of the helmet and assembled. Then I did a bit of initial sanding on it. Just enough to smooth some print lines and hide seams. I'll add spot putty to it once I have the entire helmet printed and assembled. Overall im happy with how the project is coming along so far.

 

[MicaHusky]

Looking great so far! One thing I found makes things easier with large areas with the spot putty; you can water it down with acetone to make a "paint" of sorts with it. Almost like mixing wasabi into a thing of soy sauce. It makes it super easy to apply a thin coat of it to large areas to smooth out layer lines and such; instead of using XTC-3D which can get pricy if you use a lot of it. I used that on some of my lager areas so I didn't have to sit there sanding for hours on end.

Also, invest in a cheapo palm sander at the hardware store. for larger areas where you're trying to knock down the seams between parts and make them more level with each other in preparation for spot putty-ing them, it saves SOOOO much time.

 

[jworley503]

Looking great so far! One thing I found makes things easier with large areas with the spot putty; you can water it down with acetone to make a "paint" of sorts with it. Almost like mixing wasabi into a thing of soy sauce. It makes it super easy to apply a thin coat of it to large areas to smooth out layer lines and such; instead of using XTC-3D which can get pricy if you use a lot of it. I used that on some of my lager areas so I didn't have to sit there sanding for hours on end.

Also, invest in a cheapo palm sander at the hardware store. for larger areas where you're trying to knock down the seams between parts and make them more level with each other in preparation for spot putty-ing them, it saves SOOOO much time.

Thanks for the advice on the acetone. I'll definitely have to pick some up and give it a shot.

I have a palm sander. I've used it a bit but when I first started on this I just assembled, applied bondo to try and hide seams, and then started sending. Let me say, that was definitely a lot of added sanding.... I've realized quickly that sanding the prints before applying any type of primer or putty makes a huge difference. I will 100% be making better use of it prior to any putty or primer work in the future.

 

[jworley503]

Phew, a couple of busy days at work have kept me from doing as much as I wanted to the armor. I took some down time during meetings (>.> I'm not slacking) to add magnets to the neck seal and build a cover for the connection to make sure it was well hidden.

I also finished out the sanding on the chest and back piece. I'm thinking I'll probably do one more coat of primer for good measure and then start some of the finer grit sanding before applying the metal base coat. I rigged up strapping on the underside of the armor to hold the chest and back together. I still need to add clasps on the top side of the connection to get everything flush once i have it on. Either way, this allowed me to at least wear everything I have so far unassisted. There's something about putting everything on for the first time that just feels cool. (Ignore my dirty mirror...)

 

[jworley503]

Oh, I also snagged some silicone from a friend who had a bit left over from a previous project. I decided to print a mold and do a test run before investing in more plus pigment. I had a bit of resin dye laying around and decided to see how that worked as well, but sadly it didn't quite color as well as expected.

Other than thr color, the mold came out great though. Looking like I will be investing in some more silicone for t

he soft parts. Question though, should I stick with silicone casting or go with another material that might breathe a bit more?

 

[jworley503]

Last one for the night >.<

Had some plastidip left over and decided to spray the test cast that I did. I have to say, I think this might just turn into a final piece if this holds.

 

[MicaHusky]

I’m gonna speak from experience here; having a non-breathable material around your torso like that is a TERRIBLE experience. I had a pseudo-wrap I made with pleather and I was sooooo sweaty on my abdomen while wearing it. Not a pleasant experience. I can’t even imagine a solid sheet of silicone.

 

[MrJamin]

I have a full silicone ab wrap from EVAkura and personally I love it. Yes, it can get warm and sweaty, but it really adds a nice finish to the abdominal section of my suit.

I think the one you made looks awesome!

 

[jworley503]

I’m gonna speak from experience here; having a non-breathable material around your torso like that is a TERRIBLE experience. I had a pseudo-wrap I made with pleather and I was sooooo sweaty on my abdomen while wearing it. Not a pleasant experience. I can’t even imagine a solid sheet of silicone.

Thanks for this. I was kind of feeling the same about it but without the experience wasn't sure. I may end up recasting with PU and then just trimming out the pieces and attaching them to a more breathable material like a compression shirt. At least doing this I would have a way for some air to get in to help wick away sweat.

 

[jworley503]

Not much of an update. Still waiting on my printer to finish spitting pieces. I've been slacking a bit here and had some downtime with my printing due to some work stuff happening ATM.

While waiting for stuff to print, I laid down paint on the helmet and torso pieces. I'm super happy with how the color came out. It looks a bit brighter in the pics than it is in person but either way, I'm still loving it.

 

[jworley503]

I have a full silicone ab wrap from EVAkura and personally I love it. Yes, it can get warm and sweaty, but it really adds a nice finish to the abdominal section of my suit.

I think the one you made looks awesome!

Thank you! I really like the look of the cast ab section and agree. It really does add so much to the armor overall. I'm really thinking im going to end up casting all of the "gasket" pieces for the gaps in the armor in PU and probably recast the ab/midsection in PU as well. Probably either seperate the pieces and attach them to something or create relief cuts and still attach a breathable backing.

 

[PlanetAlexander]

Build is looking great so far! I'd recommend not relying on the Plastidip holding onto the silicone though - practically nothing sticks to silicone except itself, so unfortunately you might find the Plastidip flaking off after little use.

 

[jworley503]

Build is looking great so far! I'd recommend not relying on the Plastidip holding onto the silicone though - practically nothing sticks to silicone except itself, so unfortunately you might find the Plastidip flaking off after little use.

Thank you! I'm really happy with it so far.

And yeah, I actually started working with the piece a bit and the plastdip peeled right off. Oh well. Luckily I was somewhat planning on recasting in PU anyways.

 

[jworley503]

Small update before the night is out, I think I have almost finished off the paint on the helmet. First time airbrushing in a while but I think it turned out pretty well. (Ignore my messy craft area.)