My First Build, My First Thread - Crafting Nostalgia

[StattingUp]

Introduction
Hello everyone, im incredibly excited to be a part of this community. My name is Doug and I go by StattingUP (Name change pending mod ). I am 25 and an avid cosplayer. Based out of Pennsylvania, I frequently attend NYCC and Philly Comicons. Dragoncon was the next destination but... well yeah thanks 2020.
I cant wait to grow my skills, meet/talk with members, and showcase the work that I am proud of. Hopefully I can help others with problems and learning experiences of my own while building my very first suit of Master Chief Armor.

I grew up with halo, its always been a part of my life. I met one of my now 14 year long best friends through halo. I knew that one day id make my own Master Chief costume. I knew I wanted to do it right though. I developed and researched as many skills as I could over the past 4 or 5 years that I've been cosplaying. After New York Comicon 2019 I knew it was time to make chief. Using this thread, Ill be updating my progress and communicating with you awesome people. Encouragement, constructive criticism, questions, and friendly conversation are all welcome!

Master Chief - Mark VI
Although I own a 3D printer, I chose to build Chief out of Foam. Specifically, Halo 4 - Mark VI armor. Halo 3 was actually my favorite halo, but the thicccccccness of the halo 4 chief armor made me choose it. The files that I used are actually from this very forum, The Armory. This is my very first foam armor build and first of this magnitude. It was daunting to say the least at first. Through on and off bursts of productivity, more so recently, I've managed to finish Boots, Shins, Knees, Butt guard, Forearms, Booster packs, Shoulders, and Biceps. I have the Thighs, Abs, Chest, Gloves, Helmet, and under suit to finish yet. I am 6'1 205lbs, athletic build for reference. After all the armor is complete I will be going back over to address any missing details or things I just want to adjust. This build is not 100% game accurate as ive added some of my own touches and judgement calls. Overall though, it leans heavily to match what was seen in the original. Below you'll find my current materials used and my current progress pieces.

Materials Used Thus far
SKS Props - HD Foam
Thin foam sheets from craft stores
Loctite 5 second super glue
Hot glue
Heat gun
Dremel and various other power tools
Box cutters and other pointy objects
Ender 3 Pro 3D Printer for Guns (Battle Rifle and Magnum)

Progress
All of these are shown in the order that I did them. I was proud to see my cuts and seams become increasingly better over the time I worked so far. If you have questions or critiques lets discuss! I didn't want to write a book for my first post so I left out a ton of detailing. (I know this is still a book.)

Biceps and Shoulders
The biceps and shoulders were the very first pieces I made. I believe i will go back and adjust the detail pieces on the shoulders. They will also need mounted to one another.

Forearms
The forearms were a pain, but once they were finished I was incredibly proud. The extra detail really makes these things pop. I mounted the elbows to the forearm for flexibility and fitting purposes.

Booster Pack and Upper Back
I am actually not thrilled about these. I had several mess-ups and just overall frustrations. The middle is 100% going to be remade as I botched a seam that you cant see, but I will always know its there. I also believe I should redo the boosters and get the shaping better, the bump outs on the inside gave me some hassle and could be redone.

Boots
Man these were fun to see turn out. I will be cutting the bottoms and adhering a shoe... Could really use some shoe suggestions. Ones that will make sense and be comfortable to wear all day at a con.

Shins and Knees
The Knees still need attached for ease of movement and fitting. The backs of these shins were a learning experience with some crazy hard angled cuts and shapes. They gave me the biggest delay and frustration as i threw away many attempts to finally get something I was okay with. My inner perfectionist.

Butt Guard
Who doesn't love a good Chief butt? I loved making this piece as it was pretty simple and the curves came together really awesome. I made some creative choices for the top middle as I couldn't find high res reference pics and the circle was what was included in the pep files.

First Fitting!
This was my first test fitting, nothing is strapped. Everything held on by luck and gravity. Excuse the top part of the boot as I was using the wrong side combo. They each have a correct matching pair

3D Printing
This is in an early stage but i am currently printing a Halo 4 Battle rifle and Magnum as my accessories for the project. I will update later with progress on this!

Current!
That's it! You're all caught up with my build progress and I've been incredibly excited to share my progress and talk with all of you. I will continue to update this thread and reach out for tips and tricks. If you'd like to keep up with me follow me on Instagram @StattingUP

 

[Benton188]

That is some impressive foam work sir! I can't stop staring at the beveled edges they're just so clean and smooth.

 

[Harri51]

Wow! I am impressed and such a detailed build thread. It is great to see your work and can't wait to meet you. Welcome to the 405th and eventually Colonial Regiment.

serenko3 make sure you follow this build. Look like we are finally getting a chief.

 

[StattingUp]

That is some impressive foam work sir! I can't stop staring at the beveled edges they're just so clean and smooth.

Thank you! I am a huge perfectionist so if i mess something up it gets thrown out... good and bad trait ahha.

Wow! I am impressed and such a detailed build thread. It is great to see your work and can't wait to meet you. Welcome to the 405th and eventually Colonial Regiment.

serenko3 make sure you follow this build. Look like we are finally getting a chief.

Wow thank you too! really cool to hear this feedback. Gives me motivation to keep going hard!

 

[StattingUp]

UDPATE TIME! I've finished 3D printing and currently have the unfinished Magnum and BR. The BR is assembled and ready to start post processing. I have some seams to fill and endless sanding coming but this piece turned out amazing. Printed in 21 or 22 separate pieces using PLA at 10% infill, Ender 3 Pro. I haven't decided which scope/sight I want to attach yet. Any Suggestions??

3D Printing - Battle Rifle

 

[Harri51]

I say the multi threat scope. Or a more holographic kinda one. They really looked best on the br85

 

[StattingUp]

Hi all! I took a break over the holidays and im about to kick it into overdrive and continue cranking out chief. Im currently working on the thighs and have one almost completed (See below). Pain in the ass... the individual parts of the thighs were not hard, but assembling it was not fun. I have some pretty ugly seams that maybe I will only notice, but will need to work out.

What im still looking for, maybe some of you can point me in the right direction.

1. Under suit options? I've seen foam, motorcross armor, others. Looking for some posts or resources to help make my decision.
2. Gloves? is there a go to Halo 4 or general master chief glove that looks great?
3. Shoes/Boots.... This is a big one, looking for comfortability and something that wont draw attention.
4. Helmet lights/light tutorials
5. Clothing? Maybe goes with the under suit?

 

[Harri51]

Wow! Glad you took the time this last holiday season. But man. One. Love the black manta in the back. Two. I see the minor seams barely but that is an easy fix man.

So those questions.
1/5: the undersuit clothing and foam/whatever material is kinda on and the same you can check with Spidermonkey60 TheTAB01 and I think Asgardianhammer can all help you with this better than I can.

2: gloves. Generally mechanix or something like that is a good style to go with. But I would say a basic pair that is black because of a armored fingers the gen 2 has.

3: The shoes. Find a comfy pair either cover them/ dye(paint) them black or get solid black shoes smelms nails the shoe area on his suits....also. Undersuit question for him too his Linda in amazing
4: the lights. There are so many people. But also YouTube is a great choice as well. RandomRanger and Tab are both good resource I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[Asgardianhammer]

My halo 4 undersuit was a dye sub print from herostime.com get the thicker cloth version if you go down this road with the gloves separate. Mine didn't fit very well so I didn't even use them.

 

[TheTAB01]

Hi all! I took a break over the holidays and im about to kick it into overdrive and continue cranking out chief. Im currently working on the thighs and have one almost completed (See below). Pain in the ass... the individual parts of the thighs were not hard, but assembling it was not fun. I have some pretty ugly seams that maybe I will only notice, but will need to work out.

View attachment 301662View attachment 301663View attachment 301664
What im still looking for, maybe some of you can point me in the right direction.

1. Under suit options? I've seen foam, motorcross armor, others. Looking for some posts or resources to help make my decision.
2. Gloves? is there a go to Halo 4 or general master chief glove that looks great?
3. Shoes/Boots.... This is a big one, looking for comfortability and something that wont draw attention.
4. Helmet lights/light tutorials
5. Clothing? Maybe goes with the under suit?

Thanks for the mention Harri51, I'll be glad to give some advice!

1/5. The undersuit I made was from the materials, as follows:

a. Motocross armor, looks nice and allows for buckles to be glued on for better part mounting, gives a more "Armor" look for the belly area and helps to prevent belly hangover, also makes the spine look armored. But make sure to use a few clothes pins to help keep the velcro on and from sliding off. [LINK HERE]

b. Under suit, suit... Basically, I bought a pair of compression pants and a compression shirt (long-sleeved) and then, eventually, sewed them together and made it have a invisible zipper... The motocross armor has breathing holes, that if you don't wear something to cover your arms, will show your skin. But in the end, I just wish I bought one of these morph suits with an integrated balaclava. [LINK HERE]

c. Balaclava, if you buy what's above, you can use that balaclava, or get a fancy one that has cool patterns on it for less than 25 USD.

D. Nut cup, PLEASE wear a nut cup when wearing any type of compression clothing. The last thing you want to do is humiliate yourself by showing a "print" of yourself (that's the technical term). I'll let you find that.

e. Black socks help while wearing the boots, make sure they're comfy and wont stand out from your undersuit.

2. Harri is spot on with the mechanixs gloves, I like to get mine to where they look armored, I could have bought mechanixs, but I bought [THESE ONES HERE]

3. I just used hiking boots that I spray painted black, something like [THESE] would suffice. Make sure they're just comfy and the extra little bit of support on the ankles helps through the day, but not too high to show, but high enough to tie the laces with the armor you'll glue onto them.

4. Oh boy... Yeah, I would get a battery pack for your suit first, I found a somewhat large one that fit inside of my buttplate square area and ran the wire up my back and into my helmet. I have one switch that switches between from powering the light straight on, with a 12v battery, it makes it very bright, which helps navigating with the helmet on, but too bright from cameras, and then using a resistor that would allow the light to be turned on, but not blindly bright so that people can look at you and take photos. I honestly forgot what ohm resistor I used.

A. I would personally add fans into this with a switch that flips them on and off. I used a voltage regulator to help control the fan speed for when they're on (mine are loud fans for laptops that were laying around, but you can buy ones that are much quieter online). This helps significantly to defog and stay slightly cooler.

B. I also used a vinyl tube that I cut to be about 6" long, cut a small hole in the middle of it to bite onto, sealed the ends, and then made two other downard facing holes on the side that would face away from the helmet. This SIGNIFICANTLY reduces fogging within the helmet, by angling your breath away from the inside.

C. Don't mind the helmet design being not shaped as well for my first suit, the front is a bit caved in, so I dremeled the crap out of the inside to cut back the hot glue tit took to originally get the curse-ed visor to stay in damn place after burning myself a few times.
-That LED you see just inside the helmet was to let me know that the "high beams" where on without having to put my hand in front of the helmet and stare at them to see the difference between low and high.
-That long lead gets shoved into the back of the helmet when plugged in, this helps to plug in my helmet before putting it on.

I would have more photos, but my flight back to where I have my armor is in a few days, I'll try to remind myself to take some photos for some extra tips and tricks in how I made my under suit when I get the chance. But feel free to message me a reminder in a week from now.

I hope this helps! Stay healthy and stay safe!

Sincerely,
TheTAB01

 

[Dampfhulk]

ich realy like your work. i love to work with eva foam. 3 d prints is not so my world but also cool

 

[StattingUp]

Thanks for the mention Harri51, I'll be glad to give some advice!

1/5. The undersuit I made was from the materials, as follows:

a. Motocross armor, looks nice and allows for buckles to be glued on for better part mounting, gives a more "Armor" look for the belly area and helps to prevent belly hangover, also makes the spine look armored. But make sure to use a few clothes pins to help keep the velcro on and from sliding off. [LINK HERE]

b. Under suit, suit... Basically, I bought a pair of compression pants and a compression shirt (long-sleeved) and then, eventually, sewed them together and made it have a invisible zipper... The motocross armor has breathing holes, that if you don't wear something to cover your arms, will show your skin. But in the end, I just wish I bought one of these morph suits with an integrated balaclava. [LINK HERE]

c. Balaclava, if you buy what's above, you can use that balaclava, or get a fancy one that has cool patterns on it for less than 25 USD.

D. Nut cup, PLEASE wear a nut cup when wearing any type of compression clothing. The last thing you want to do is humiliate yourself by showing a "print" of yourself (that's the technical term). I'll let you find that.

e. Black socks help while wearing the boots, make sure they're comfy and wont stand out from your undersuit.

2. Harri is spot on with the mechanixs gloves, I like to get mine to where they look armored, I could have bought mechanixs, but I bought [THESE ONES HERE]

3. I just used hiking boots that I spray painted black, something like [THESE] would suffice. Make sure they're just comfy and the extra little bit of support on the ankles helps through the day, but not too high to show, but high enough to tie the laces with the armor you'll glue onto them.

4. Oh boy... Yeah, I would get a battery pack for your suit first, I found a somewhat large one that fit inside of my buttplate square area and ran the wire up my back and into my helmet. I have one switch that switches between from powering the light straight on, with a 12v battery, it makes it very bright, which helps navigating with the helmet on, but too bright from cameras, and then using a resistor that would allow the light to be turned on, but not blindly bright so that people can look at you and take photos. I honestly forgot what ohm resistor I used.

A. I would personally add fans into this with a switch that flips them on and off. I used a voltage regulator to help control the fan speed for when they're on (mine are loud fans for laptops that were laying around, but you can buy ones that are much quieter online). This helps significantly to defog and stay slightly cooler.

B. I also used a vinyl tube that I cut to be about 6" long, cut a small hole in the middle of it to bite onto, sealed the ends, and then made two other downard facing holes on the side that would face away from the helmet. This SIGNIFICANTLY reduces fogging within the helmet, by angling your breath away from the inside.

C. Don't mind the helmet design being not shaped as well for my first suit, the front is a bit caved in, so I dremeled the crap out of the inside to cut back the hot glue tit took to originally get the curse-ed visor to stay in damn place after burning myself a few times.
-That LED you see just inside the helmet was to let me know that the "high beams" where on without having to put my hand in front of the helmet and stare at them to see the difference between low and high.
-That long lead gets shoved into the back of the helmet when plugged in, this helps to plug in my helmet before putting it on.
View attachment 301969


I would have more photos, but my flight back to where I have my armor is in a few days, I'll try to remind myself to take some photos for some extra tips and tricks in how I made my under suit when I get the chance. But feel free to message me a reminder in a week from now.

I hope this helps! Stay healthy and stay safe!

Sincerely,
TheTAB01

Wow I really cant thank you enough for this detailed writeup and the awesome advice. This is so incredibly helpful and im really thankful to everyone whos helped me thus far! I will 100% be reaching out to you further when I get to the fans/lighting of the suit, that's unfamiliar territory for me so the advice is great.

c. That sounds great, i have a regular black one, may try and find one with a pattern for that extra touch.
D. Dont worry, I wore compression clothing for my Black Manta cosplay and yes I did wear a nut cup haha! That is one of the golden rules of cosplay.
2. I really liked the gloves you linked, they have that look i was searching. I didn't see much when i searched amazon and google for "mechanixs gloves"
3. The link for the hiking boots are broken, but basically just look for something that's either black or can be spray painted that wont be noticed. Plus comfortable!

Thanks again, and hopefully I'll have some big suit progress updates coming this week. As I finish this post I am shifting over to my work station to work on the remainder of the thigh work.

 

[NobleofDeath16]

Now that is some solid foam work, stellar job! With the new year just kicking off, I can't wait to see how this thread progresses here on. There is never enough chief suits out there, let alone 343i era Chiefs!

 

[StattingUp]

Now that is some solid foam work, stellar job! With the new year just kicking off, I can't wait to see how this thread progresses here on. There is never enough chief suits out there, let alone 343i era Chiefs!

Wicked compliment, thanks so much! Colonial Regiment told me ill be the only Master Chief and I couldn't be more thrilled! Helps me stay motivated and shoot for the best work I can possibly do. This being my first build, I feel like I learn something new after each section.

 

[Jeffw773]

Love how it's turning out and the wiring inside the helmet looks really nice as well!

 

[PokProps]

WOAH!!!!! This is one of the cleanest foam builds I've ever seen in my life. can't wait to see another chief!

 

[Kevjohn]

This is amazing! I love how its coming together! Maybe I missed it, but can I ask where you got the files for the BR?

 

[StattingUp]

This is amazing! I love how its coming together! Maybe I missed it, but can I ask where you got the files for the BR?

I found it on thingiverse, search for Halo BR and itll be the most popular one. Believe its listed as Halo 5.

 

[Kevjohn]

I found it on thingiverse, search for Halo BR and itll be the most popular one. Believe its listed as Halo 5.

Awesome thanks dude! I’m currently going through a pistol at the moment, so that will be coming up on the list!

 

[thorn696]

Very nice foam work. Everything looks so clean. It's amazing to watch some of the new method's. I can't wait to see this all painted up.