Need help on what can be done to help make my armor look better

[VocableGold]

The main thing I know I need to fix is adding lights and fixing the little thing that goes under the front of the torso armor, I just wanted some ideas of what could be done to make this armor look less bad besides redoing the whole thing in foam.

 

[KaeSpoon]

Welcome VocableGold!

You've got an outstanding set of armor there; I love the robot arm. Excellent work!
First off, I don't think you need to completely remake this build unless you really want to; it looks fine the way it is. That being said; a couple things I notice are that your chest appears to be mirrored at the front, the front plate details are symmetrical, and they are missing their shield emitter sockets. You also have a few print lines visible that catch the light at certain angles. If you plan on going for in-game accuracy, a proper undersuit and decals are a crucial part of the Spartan.

Don't be discouraged in the slightest; 3D printing is a hard thing to master (there's a reason why I avoid it at all costs). You have a great Spartan build; don't hesitate to strut your stuff out there!

 

[Zink]

looking Great as is. As Kaespoon said the layer lines do stand out in brighter environments. Filler primer can help out a lot giving it a smoother look with plenty of sanding and coats but gets kinda expensive when you have to put on many coats, Bondo putty gets recommended a lot since it is easy to sand however I haven't used it myself yet.

 

[VocableGold]

looking Great as is. As Kaespoon said the layer lines do stand out in brighter environments. Filler primer can help out a lot giving it a smoother look with plenty of sanding and coats but gets kinda expensive when you have to put on many coats, Bondo putty gets recommended a lot since it is easy to sand however I haven't used it myself yet.

Thank you I I didn't realize how noticeable the layer lines were. One of the things I found that helped with layer lines is wood putty, it works really well for PLA plastic but I don't know how well it works on other things.

 

[VocableGold]

Welcome VocableGold!

You've got an outstanding set of armor there; I love the robot arm. Excellent work!
First off, I don't think you need to completely remake this build unless you really want to; it looks fine the way it is. That being said; a couple things I notice are that your chest appears to be mirrored at the front, the front plate details are symmetrical, and they are missing their shield emitter sockets. You also have a few print lines visible that catch the light at certain angles. If you plan on going for in-game accuracy, a proper undersuit and decals are a crucial part of the Spartan.

Don't be discouraged in the slightest; 3D printing is a hard thing to master (there's a reason why I avoid it at all costs). You have a great Spartan build; don't hesitate to strut your stuff out there!

Thank you for your help, I did not realize that the front was mirrored but thats an easy fix to do. I was already planning on trying to get some lights for the shield emmitors. Where would you reccomend I acquire decals and a better undersuit?

 

[SinisterPropz]

Biggest thing I can reccomend is an undersuit. It’s crazy how something super simple as a padded undersuit can change the overall look and bring the suit to the next level. Try searching for “Padded Paintball” shirts and see what fits your kit. I attached a picture to show an example of my armor with the padded undersuit.

 

[Spartan4204]

Thank you for your help, I did not realize that the front was mirrored but thats an easy fix to do. I was already planning on trying to get some lights for the shield emmitors. Where would you reccomend I acquire decals and a better undersuit?

If you're looking for decals like emblems, or the little details and markings on the armor, I'm pretty sure Jasonthebombero is pretty knowlaged with water transfer decals, shoot him a message about that.

 

[marinesniper]

as SinisterPropz said something like a padded under suit or go all out like mine and get rubber parts to fill the gaps like i did make a world of differance and even if you have a layer line here or there no one will notice with the under suit on they will focus on that. but again there is nothing wrong with the armor just take your time, if you need help just reach out to me i will help you as much as i can.

 

[SinisterPropz]

as SinisterPropz said something like a padded under suit or go all out like mine and get rubber parts to fill the gaps like i did make a world of differance and even if you have a layer line here or there no one will notice with the under suit on they will focus on that. but again there is nothing wrong with the armor just take your time, if you need help just reach out to me i will help you as much as i can.

Did you get your soft parts from Walt over at WelshCreations?

 

[marinesniper]

Did you get your soft parts from Walt over at WelshCreations?

yes sir i had him make me a set till i can get my model all made in to molds i made my own set just got to get the molds done then im going to make a run

 

[Lojak]

To really help slam this home, YOUR ARMOR LOOKS GREAT! For realize. The scale looks correct, good poppy color choice, and it seems easy enough to move around in. Projects like these are only ever "bad" if they complete fail to reach our intended goal, and even at that point it only means the project isn't over.

If you want to keep crafting on this, you definitely should. Layer lines have been mentioned, and you can either sand everything back down and smooth it all out as suggested before. Or, you could lean into them. This is sci-fi super armor from fantasy soldier land, you can decided how it really looks. Mjolnir has layer lines because it is 3d printed in titanium. So you could add some weathering details like chipped paint exposing shiny metal, then do some only washing were you aim to make some of your layer lines show.

Thats just some mind set stuff, make the project what you want and don't worry about other people's standards. This is hobby-fun-time.

More practically speaking, add. Add decals. Add weathering. Maybe add some under suit elements like a chest gasket. Tell a story with your details; where they have been? who they have fought with and against? They got a freaking robot arm! That had to happen somehow.

Keep at it, this armor is only going to improve.

 

[SinisterPropz]

Everything Lojak said is spot on, just remember at the end of the day you created a complete unique Spartan you can call your own. Most of the time you are your own worst critic and in reality everyone is here for the love of the games lore and creating.

 

[KaeSpoon]

Thank you for your help, I did not realize that the front was mirrored but thats an easy fix to do. I was already planning on trying to get some lights for the shield emmitors. Where would you reccomend I acquire decals and a better undersuit?

Someone already responded do you, but thought I would as well!

An undersuit can be made or bought. Most people make theirs either out of EVA foam, fabric, or a mixture of both. KitKatGoose has an excellent build with an incredible undersuit, which you can find HERE. As for decals, I think most use a cricut machine to print them out or paint them on manually. I have a high quality PNG file for the Halo:Reach decals on my desktop; I'll send them over when I get home this evening.

If you have any more questions, do not hesitate to ask!

 

[Lojak]

Someone already responded do you, but thought I would as well!

An undersuit can be made or bought. Most people make theirs either out of EVA foam, fabric, or a mixture of both. KitKatGoose has an excellent build with an incredible undersuit, which you can find HERE. As for decals, I think most use a cricut machine to print them out or paint them on manually. I have a high quality PNG file for the Halo:Reach decals on my desktop; I'll send them over when I get home this evening.

If you have any more questions, do not hesitate to ask!

Another decal option - I have tried but want to get a go - is Electricknite's method. Seems like you just need a normal printer. Would be nice if it works as smoothly as in the video.

 

[SinisterPropz]

Someone already responded do you, but thought I would as well!

Another decal option - I have tried but want to get a go - is Electricknite's method. Seems like you just need a normal printer. Would be nice if it works as smoothly as in the video.

If you have a cricut you can make decals that you can paint on as well, kind of like a stencil.

 

[PapaBear271]

Hello VocableGold,

It's very brave of you to come here and be judged by your peers and ask for critiques and help to improve your cosplay to the next level. Everything that I say here is to provide constructive criticism and try to help you achieve the look you want. I tell people, the only person my armor needs to please is me! I've only read some of the above replies above so I may duplicate some stuff already said.

A little background about myself, I only recently got into cosplay fabrication. I started back in September 2022 when I decided I wanted to do the 405th with my son Pipninja and I wanted to build my own Spartan outfit. Because of my build and stature, I'm 6'4" and 260 lbs, I decided to do Jorge S-052 from Halo Reach. I finished my build the morning of October 13, 2023 the day of the HCS cosplay contest when I finished painting Etilka, Jorge's gun. I won that contest. I have deployed as a Tier 3 Spartan in the405th. So that said, I hope some of the advice and techniques I recommend below help you achieve your goals in the 405th and your cosplaying adventures.

The first thing I noticed on your pictures were your print lines and seams. I know these are a bitch to fix, but they should be addressed. They should be filled and sanded. I've used bondo and sandable filler primer on my print lines. SpartanJohn uses XTC-3D resin for print lines and I'm sure other can recommend other types of fillers. That said, you should really spend the time to fill and sand your seams and print lines.

The next thing I noticed was your undersuit. I am not a fan of the plain black undersuits many of the 405th guys use. I bought one of body suits that has a Halo-esque pattern/designs printed on the suit. Here is a link to the one I got. I bought the 3x for my size and it was almost too big:

Halo 5 Jameson Locke Armor Cosplay Costume Bodysuit For Kids Adult Men | eBay

From top to floor. Thigh Circumference. The length from left shoulder to right shoulder. Shoulder Width. The inseam length from crotch to ankle.

www.ebay.com

I made some modifications to this suit.

1. It comes with full finger gloves built in. I cut the fingers off so I could put my gloves on over top of them and be able to feel my fingers better.
2. I cut the heals and toes off leaving just a stirrup . It's a spandex type material and was really slippery in my shoes. My shoes are slip-ons and I slipped right out.
3. I replaced the back zipper with a heavier duty zipper. I left a tab at the bottom of the zipper to hold and put a long pull string on the zipper tab (like a wetsuit) so I can zip it myself.
4. I added a zipper in the fly. This is so I don't have to totally disrobe to go to the bathroom!!! Very Important!!!
5. I bought some cheap kids knee and elbow pads on Temu. I removed the actual padding, painted them to match the color, and sewed the plastic elbow cups onto the suit directly

As you can see in the below pic, I also made and ab-wrap. I have seen two ways to do this that I like. Mine is made from 10mm foam glued together with no ventilation. It is rather warm and I do have a little issue with over heating. I split mine on the Right side as with Jorge's gun, I would be facing most pictures left side forward. I attached my spine plates directly to my ab-wrap. I'm rockin a dad-bod so it also acts as a bit of a girdle for the fluffy midsection. You can also look to Pipninja's way of doing an ab-wrap in the next link. He is the gungnir spartan in the pic below. His has some ventilation and looks beautiful but zips up the back where I wanted to attach my backplates directly to the ab wrap. I may still make one like his one day...

Pipninja's Reach Spartan Undersuit

So finally the time has come where I show my process of making my Reach undersuit!! First and foremost, I want to give initial credit to WandererTJ , Because He is the one who made the pepakura model of the undersuit that I used to make my patterns, and KitKatGoose , Who I originally got the...

www.405th.com

Finally, the last thing I see is the paintjob. In some areas it looks really good, but others, in my opinion, the paint chipping and scratches could be better. The dirt wash in the yellow areas looks good, but the robot arm doesn't look like you did any dirt/grime wash. My process was quite intense to get the effect I wanted. In the second pic of your arm, there is a couple of dabs of silver for chip/scratches, that in my opinion (respectfully) do not look realistic. There is no grime from use or battle. Again, this is not to judge you, but to help you.

My painting process all starts with primer for 3d prints or sealer for foam. After that, I used just simple metallic zinc craft paint and go over everything. To do the chipping effect, I used liquid latex masking fluid on on the raised areas that would get worn or scratched in normal use of the armor. IMO the latex mask gives a much more realistic chipped/scratched paint effect later in the process. After masking I applied a number of base coats as needed for uniform coverage of whatever base color I wanted. Next was a dirt wash of 25% black, 25% burnt umber (thank you Adam Savage for recommending that color), and 50% water. I liberally apply the wash to my part. The process of rubbing off the excess wash also removes the latex masking goop. From there, I go over the chipped areas (the now exposed metallic zinc) with some shimmering silver to highlight the scratches and give it a two tone metallic look. I put a final coat of DecoArt DuraClear Matte Varnish on top to seal the paint.

Here is a link to my whole build process photos if you want to see how I built my kit:

Jorge Build - Google Drive

drive.google.com

Here is a good, up close video of my suit: Jake Lucky on LinkedIn: #gaming #halo #esports #news #creative #innovative | 19 comments

So again, my critiques are to help you achieve your desired outcomes. If you have any questions about anything I did or how I did it, please feel free to reach out to me.

PapaBear271

 

[KaeSpoon]

Someone already responded do you, but thought I would as well!

An undersuit can be made or bought. Most people make theirs either out of EVA foam, fabric, or a mixture of both. KitKatGoose has an excellent build with an incredible undersuit, which you can find HERE. As for decals, I think most use a cricut machine to print them out or paint them on manually. I have a high quality PNG file for the Halo:Reach decals on my desktop; I'll send them over when I get home this evening.

If you have any more questions, do not hesitate to ask!

I apologize for the delay, I had to go digging through my desktop. I have attached a high-quality image of the Reach decal sheet for you to use on your build.

 

[N8TEBB]

Hello VocableGold,

It's very brave of you to come here and be judged by your peers and ask for critiques and help to improve your cosplay to the next level. Everything that I say here is to provide constructive criticism and try to help you achieve the look you want. I tell people, the only person my armor needs to please is me! I've only read some of the above replies above so I may duplicate some stuff already said.

A little background about myself, I only recently got into cosplay fabrication. I started back in September 2022 when I decided I wanted to do the 405th with my son Pipninja and I wanted to build my own Spartan outfit. Because of my build and stature, I'm 6'4" and 260 lbs, I decided to do Jorge S-052 from Halo Reach. I finished my build the morning of October 13, 2023 the day of the HCS cosplay contest when I finished painting Etilka, Jorge's gun. I won that contest. I have deployed as a Tier 3 Spartan in the405th. So that said, I hope some of the advice and techniques I recommend below help you achieve your goals in the 405th and your cosplaying adventures.

The first thing I noticed on your pictures were your print lines and seams. I know these are a bitch to fix, but they should be addressed. They should be filled and sanded. I've used bondo and sandable filler primer on my print lines. SpartanJohn uses XTC-3D resin for print lines and I'm sure other can recommend other types of fillers. That said, you should really spend the time to fill and sand your seams and print lines.

The next thing I noticed was your undersuit. I am not a fan of the plain black undersuits many of the 405th guys use. I bought one of body suits that has a Halo-esque pattern/designs printed on the suit. Here is a link to the one I got. I bought the 3x for my size and it was almost too big:

Halo 5 Jameson Locke Armor Cosplay Costume Bodysuit For Kids Adult Men | eBay

From top to floor. Thigh Circumference. The length from left shoulder to right shoulder. Shoulder Width. The inseam length from crotch to ankle.

www.ebay.com

I made some modifications to this suit.

1. It comes with full finger gloves built in. I cut the fingers off so I could put my gloves on over top of them and be able to feel my fingers better.
2. I cut the heals and toes off leaving just a stirrup . It's a spandex type material and was really slippery in my shoes. My shoes are slip-ons and I slipped right out.
3. I replaced the back zipper with a heavier duty zipper. I left a tab at the bottom of the zipper to hold and put a long pull string on the zipper tab (like a wetsuit) so I can zip it myself.
4. I added a zipper in the fly. This is so I don't have to totally disrobe to go to the bathroom!!! Very Important!!!
5. I bought some cheap kids knee and elbow pads on Temu. I removed the actual padding, painted them to match the color, and sewed the plastic elbow cups onto the suit directly

As you can see in the below pic, I also made and ab-wrap. I have seen two ways to do this that I like. Mine is made from 10mm foam glued together with no ventilation. It is rather warm and I do have a little issue with over heating. I split mine on the Right side as with Jorge's gun, I would be facing most pictures left side forward. I attached my spine plates directly to my ab-wrap. I'm rockin a dad-bod so it also acts as a bit of a girdle for the fluffy midsection. You can also look to Pipninja's way of doing an ab-wrap in the next link. He is the gungnir spartan in the pic below. His has some ventilation and looks beautiful but zips up the back where I wanted to attach my backplates directly to the ab wrap. I may still make one like his one day...

Pipninja's Reach Spartan Undersuit

So finally the time has come where I show my process of making my Reach undersuit!! First and foremost, I want to give initial credit to WandererTJ , Because He is the one who made the pepakura model of the undersuit that I used to make my patterns, and KitKatGoose , Who I originally got the...

www.405th.com

Finally, the last thing I see is the paintjob. In some areas it looks really good, but others, in my opinion, the paint chipping and scratches could be better. The dirt wash in the yellow areas looks good, but the robot arm doesn't look like you did any dirt/grime wash. My process was quite intense to get the effect I wanted. In the second pic of your arm, there is a couple of dabs of silver for chip/scratches, that in my opinion (respectfully) do not look realistic. There is no grime from use or battle. Again, this is not to judge you, but to help you.

My painting process all starts with primer for 3d prints or sealer for foam. After that, I used just simple metallic zinc craft paint and go over everything. To do the chipping effect, I used liquid latex masking fluid on on the raised areas that would get worn or scratched in normal use of the armor. IMO the latex mask gives a much more realistic chipped/scratched paint effect later in the process. After masking I applied a number of base coats as needed for uniform coverage of whatever base color I wanted. Next was a dirt wash of 25% black, 25% burnt umber (thank you Adam Savage for recommending that color), and 50% water. I liberally apply the wash to my part. The process of rubbing off the excess wash also removes the latex masking goop. From there, I go over the chipped areas (the now exposed metallic zinc) with some shimmering silver to highlight the scratches and give it a two tone metallic look. I put a final coat of DecoArt DuraClear Matte Varnish on top to seal the paint.

Here is a link to my whole build process photos if you want to see how I built my kit:

Jorge Build - Google Drive

drive.google.com

Here is a good, up close video of my suit: Jake Lucky on LinkedIn: #gaming #halo #esports #news #creative #innovative | 19 comments

So again, my critiques are to help you achieve your desired outcomes. If you have any questions about anything I did or how I did it, please feel free to reach out to me.

PapaBear271

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Bookmarked this post. Very useful info