My first build - Pepakura Mark VI Spartan Armor

[Jalean4]

I had the chance to begin placing some of my fiberglass cloth inside of my armor. PerniciousDuke suggested in one of his builds to use a spray-adhesive to help the cloth stick in place before you add resin to it. This made me think I could place all of my fiberglass cloth beforehand, so when it comes to adding resin, I'm not as worried about running out of time and I can focus on generating a nice even & saturated coat.



I have a lot of time left before my personal "deadline" (which is really a soft-deadline anyway), so I'm going to do everything I can as slowly as I can bear in order to achieve the best results that I can.
I can't work with the fiberglass/resin very often, usually only a few hours a week. This process might allow me to glue the cloth in place when I have free-time but am unable to work with the fume-producing chemicals. That way I can keep making progress at a faster rate than I have been able to thus far.

 

[ErMaC]

very smart to use dowels. That chest piece looks perfect.

 

[spleenbegone]

Great work, looks like things are coming along nicely.
Really like the idea of using spray adhesive to stick the fiberglass first.

 

[Jalean4]

Great work, looks like things are coming along nicely.
Really like the idea of using spray adhesive to stick the fiberglass first.

Thanks!

I've actually just been using Elmer's glue and it's been working well so far.

 

[Reclaimerite]

Your armor is looking great! Just curious, how many hours have you spent on this so far?

 

[LifeofBidney]

Jealous you went to the Anime Detour! Wanted to go so bad!
As far as your Pep! Looks really good and clean!
Keep up the good work!

 

[Lady Cue]

Absolutely fantastic work on the fiber glass. you have the looks of a pro already. be careful when sanding and working with FG though, my husband learned the hard way he is allergic to it. He breaks out in hives when he works with it. so wear safety equipment. keep this thread going as you progress. I love seeing fg projects the experience gained can take you places in jobs like automotive body work.

 

[Jalean4]

Your armor is looking great! Just curious, how many hours have you spent on this so far?

Hey, sorry I've been away for a little while.. work and weddings and stuff...

To be completely honest, I have spent countless hours... When in the Pepakura phase, I would watch a lot of tv/anime while working, which would decrease my productivity. I've been very on and off since moving on to resin and fiberglassing, so that too has reduced my overall productivity.

I wish I had kept track of the time I've put in, but the learning curve has been so high for me.. Like I said at the start of this blog, I began the project over 2 years ago, not knowing if I would pursue it to completion. But with what I've learned and the time I've spent within this community of builders, I will finish it this year.

 

[Jalean4]

Quick little update, for anyone who may care...

I've been able to do the first layer of fiberglass on a few pieces. Ran out of my first quart of Fiberglass Resin. It felt pretty good to run out of the hardening agent at the same time that I used the last drops of the resin. I'm at least getting the mix down pretty well.

I'm just doing some last minute double-checking before I head out to the garage. Hoping to rondo my helmet tonight. Wish me luck!

 

[Meatwad]

Good luck man! Can't wait to see some pics.

 

[Jalean4]

Before anyone barks at me for reviving a dead post...

I'm picking this project up right where I left it!

Almost a year later...

It's been a long winter, but it's finally getting warm enough in the garage to start working again.

Anyway, I was at the point with my armor to fiberglass and rondo the insides. I wanted to do a smaller portion of rondo first in order to make sure I was getting the mix down and applying it effectively. I rondo'd the hand plates and the ab plate, as they were smaller pieces and I was able to use up about one portion of my mix for all 3 pieces.

I think the mix may have been a little on the thicker side. It was a little chilly today (mid 50's F), which may have played a slight role in that.

I'm really excited to be back working on this project! I ordered a simple undersuit and gloves last night. I also found the new BoomCo. MA5 Assault Rifle, so I ordered that with the intention of bricking the inside and painting the gun to look more traditional.

 

[Jalean4]

Should Rondo feel tacky after it's hardened? I feel like I could scratch into it with my fingernail if I wanted to...

Yesterday I put a primer-coat on the hand plates, cause I don't think I'll do much bondo/sanding on them since they're so small. Maybe I'll do a little bit to smooth a few edges, but overall I don't think it's too necessary.

I also Rondo'd the top half of my helmet. I kept the mix a bit runnier this time so I could get it up inside the visor part of the Mark VI helmet without it gooping up too thick in there.

 

[Voren Marr]

Nice work

 

[Jalean4]

Sanding is a pain... I did a pretty pathetic job on my first attempt at applying bondo. I think I used too much hardener, so it got clumpy fast.

I did as much as I could with my sanding tool, I'll have to do more of the finesse sanding by hand later.. need a break. I'm pretty excited to see start seeing how the piece will be coming together. I'm pretty tempted to prime the whole thing soon to see what details I really need to focus on, but I know I've got a bit to do before I should really throw paint at it.

I'm glad I started with some of these smaller pieces, there's definitely been a steep learning curve for me.

 

[Jalean4]

I sanded most of the extra fiberglass/rondo from the inside/edges of the helmet today. Couldn't even squeeze my head through, not a chance... So I started shaving off a little bit from the sides in order to get it to where I could actually wear the helmet.

Finally got it on, cool! But wait... it seems pretty cramped, not a whole lot of room even for padding...

Not to mention, the jaw is pretty wonky... If I'm going to spend a bunch of time perfecting this armor with bondo, I'd better start with the best I can... (maybe a little bigger too)

I don't think the size looks too bad, I just don't want to shave off a ton more of the helmet in order to be able to put it on and take it off comfortably.
Looking at resizing the .pdo file, and luckily I kept my old sizing scales in a journal. I know the helmet fit before I fiberglassed it, but maybe that was just because it was paper and could give a little bit. Could it have shrunk? After all the helmet has been the longest pepped piece I've had... since 2014, and fiberglassed in 2016?

It's rainy and chilly anyway, so I can't do much work outside. I'm gonna pull the trigger on redoing it, now I'm just nervous that resizing it will be too big...

 

[LongShot X]

Nice pep work. Your folds look really sharp and clean.
As for resizing the helm... based upon how much I see was shaved off... I would suggest adding 10% or possibly 15% to the size and go from there. As a side note... I had to do some shaving on my helm too, but not enough to warrant a resize and re-pep.

Excellent progress!

Cheers!

 

[Jalean4]

Nice pep work. Your folds look really sharp and clean.

First of all, thank you! I never thought you would see this post. But I'm truly excited, I'm sure you saw I mentioned your Master Chief build when I first started this project.

As for resizing the helm... based upon how much I see was shaved off... I would suggest adding 10% or possibly 15% to the size and go from there.

Thanks for the tip. I re-measured the width of the helmet hole and re-scaled the pepakura file to fit more easily this time. I think it ended up inherently being 15% bigger. I think it might be a hair on the large side, but I hope that once it's saturated in resin it will shrink a little bit.

Again, I feel like it's a hair on the larger side, when I compare it to the chest piece. But I think once I'm able to wear the armor, it will look more proportionate.

It's been rainy and chilly all of this week anyway, so I'm not really losing progress as I wouldn't be able to work in the garage anyway. I'm able to do pepakura inside, while watching Bleach on Netflix...

More progress to come

 

[LongShot X]

First of all, thank you! I never thought you would see this post. But I'm truly excited, I'm sure you saw I mentioned your Master Chief build when I first started this project.

I noticed and checked out this thread, because the TITLE mentioned your build was a H3 Mark VI Spartan Armor. When I get the chance to lurk around, I usually search for new H3 Mark VI builds. I love reading all of the different techniques and ideas that each builder brings. Yours included.

#Subscribed !!

 

[Reclaimara]

Actually I have to say I loved your first scaling of the helmet... It seemed perfect size, not too big, but quite tighter-fit. From the profile however, seemed like a perfectly sized helmet. O_O

Good luck wiht hardening!

 

[rorywatts]

LongShot's built is a good one to get inspiration from, it's very impressive. Your works looking good so far keep it up, good job with the supports cause its easy to deform when your'e hardening