New to 405th and EVA foam

[master_colt_117]

Hello all,

I am new to this forum but not to halo, I have always enjoyed the series since CE first came out. Looking to dive into a EVA foam build project knowing that it is going to take a lot of time and patience. I have been doing a ton of research the last week and have downloaded a pepakura designer program along with a halo 3 mkVI standard definition file from the armory (H3 chief is my favorite). Still need to watch videos and learn how to use it, of course eventually learning how to apply it to foam. I'm just wondering what tips and tricks you all would recommend? Mechanically I'm very strong in that skillset, so assembly I'm not worried about, it's all of the tedious prep work I'm looking for a little guidance on. Thanks in advance!

 

[Sean Anwalt]

Sharp blades, a straight edge, lots of patience, sharp blades, a knife sharpener, patient and tedious cutting, and sharp blades.

Pay attention to what pieces you'll need to add a bevel to, and practice those bevels on scraps. If you can financially afford it, I'd even recommend using a whole square of the foam just to practice the bevel cuts and angles.

Pay attention to your dreams, and work them slowly but carefully. Also:
Don't use hot glue. It's messy and gives you choppy results.

Once you've finally got all the patterns cut out, glue them together with contact cement. Hash marks across seams will help you align them.

Good luck, man! H3 Mk.VI is a classic choice!

P.S. *SHARP* BLADES!

 

[xXDashIVXx]

Sean pretty much summed it up. Harbor freight usually has the cheapest floor mats I could, but if you can get it for less, do it! You always need a sharp knife. If you don't, your edges will start to tear and not be clean. The second you start to feel tired or that there is resistance, sharpen that blade. I recommend contact cement as an adhesive, but where a respirator AND work outside when you use it. Some good references to look at are Andrew dft, punishedprops,eviltedsmith, and many more on YouTube. If you have any other questions we can always help you too! Good luck on your build and I hope to see updates every now and again!

 

[master_colt_117]

You guys are all great, very supportive and motivational. I know this will take a long time to build but it's something I've always wanted to do. Once I get to the assembly portion of all the pieces, I'll be happy. Just getting all the pepakura stuff figured out and translating to foam will be a challenge. I've been watching tips and tricks on how to clean up pep files to be easier with foam and it honestly seems easier then trying to stick all those pieces of card together. H3 has always been my favorite of the series and most sentimental to me. I figured an H3 chief would be best to start out and then if I do a second set one day, I'll do sometime custom. I will be honest, branfuhr studios does amazing work on helmets, I think I'm going to buy one of his h3 ones for my helmet because it just looks so perfect. I can't believe how well he has reproduced his work to look so amazing. As for the build itself, I don't like hot glue, it's just not very strong. I'm going to use a contact cement for initial joining and then once a section is done, I'm going to use shoe goo to reinforce the seams from the back side. Shoe goo is amazing and pretty much indestructible. I use it a lot now and it's incredibly strong and very flexible. I built a full ghillie suit using it and I've never lost a piece of burlap from the suit. I'm excited and hopefully can get some pictures posted soon. Just need to stock up on all the supplies and get this pep thing going. Thank you everyone!

 

[xXDashIVXx]

For pepakura, I built my whole suit using pretzels files. Never edited them or cleaned them out. Just printed, traced, and cut. I understand how this could have been a HUGE mistake, because I didn't even test it, but they all fit good! (Except for the h4/5 knife which is WAY to big because it is scaled to be spartan size irl

 

[master_colt_117]

oh ok so would you recommend pretzel files? I don't know much about that. I've done a ton of research on the pepakura stuff about scaling all of my body measurements to the pieces but I do not intend to do a card stock/ fiber glass build. I like the look of the foam suits better. I've been watching videos on how to manually convert pepakura files to make the pieces more compatible to foam builds, but its going to be a lot of work just modifying every piece before I even start printing. I am larger in body build (lean/fit 200 lbs) so I'm not to worries about the original scaling of the files being to big because of chief proportion being 7ft tall. I'm willing to scale every piece, but I'm also open to "tricks of the trade" to save a little prep time too.. thanks!

 

[master_colt_117]

the more videos I watch, it seems that the card stock/resin builds would be easier than eva foam and gives alot crisp detail and sharp edges, plus the idea of using bondo to give it the smooth look also appeals to me. Let me ask the question to experienced builders.. which do you prefer? I'm planning to spend the time to do this but I need to spend that time wisely, I want a product I'm truly happy with at the end. Thanks!

 

[Sean Anwalt]

Foam is cheaper, but the details take longer to work. Fiberglass and bondo is more expensive, but if you know what you're doing, you won't lose details. Temperature for drying the fiberglass resin is a deal, tough. You don't wanna bring it inside at all until it's dry.

So honestly it's up to you.

 

[xXDashIVXx]

pretzel is a person that did all the conversions for you. here is his google docs sheet with most of his files on it.

Pretzel's Foam Conversions and Templates - Google Drive

I know there are also pepakura files on the 405th that are only for eva foam use. I was talking about my recruit armor build above, and the files I got off of pretzel were already converted and scaled, as most of them should be. all I did was printed the paper sheets out, cut the pieces out, traced them onto the foam, cut the foam out, glued the foam together, and etc. from there. I have yet to do the pepakura resin method but I want to. I currently only have experience with foam. I hope this helps

 

[master_colt_117]

pretzel is a person that did all the conversions for you. here is his google docs sheet with most of his files on it.

Pretzel's Foam Conversions and Templates - Google Drive

I know there are also pepakura files on the 405th that are only for eva foam use. I was talking about my recruit armor build above, and the files I got off of pretzel were already converted and scaled, as most of them should be. all I did was printed the paper sheets out, cut the pieces out, traced them onto the foam, cut the foam out, glued the foam together, and etc. from there. I have yet to do the pepakura resin method but I want to. I currently only have experience with foam. I hope this helps

Man that is a huge help, thank you very much! I'm going to download his foam converted files, play with both pep and foam versions on the designer and make my decision. Because I'm intending this to be a winter project, I may stick to foam because no outside resin curing, but then again it would probably take all winter just to glue all the card stock together and I could fiber/resin in the spring! I'm liking the look of expert foam builds alot, great skill, but I love the detail that card stock fiber builds capture also. Thank you everyone for the huge help, hopefully before to long I can get some pictures posted.

 

[master_colt_117]

Well after playing with the foam h3 files and watching hours of angelegend... I'm committing to a foam build for sure due to time comfort and durability of the finished product. It's going to be a tough strong suit as I always over engineer things. I'm going to take my time and enjoy the adventure of building armor I've been wanting for a long time. Thank you all for the help! The pretzel files were a huge deciding factor! Not nearly as intimidating now

 

[master_colt_117]

Well.. figured I'd practice a little before starting my suit. This is my first Eva foam creation. H3 pistol with a few small tweaks from other halo pistols. Mainly the heal/mag area are different just cause I like that look better. Still have to figure out the grips then it's on to plasti dip! This was completely free hand as well, didn't use any templates for this, just wanted to learn the material

 

[xXDashIVXx]

wow that turned out great! especially for free handing. it is very clean and you added the safety/side details very well, and the trigger is perfect!

 

[master_colt_117]

Thanks man! I cut in the grips somewhat similar to the h3 pistol, sorta. I loosely follow images of it but blended in features from other halo magnuns. Free hand was fun, gave it my own character. I'm going to seal the seems up today with quix seal and hopefully get it coated with plasti dip. I'll post more pics once that's done. I'd say this was a successful practice run just getting used to working with the material. Do you guys happen to know how well scaled the pretzel files are? I'm curious if I should just print and start cutting for my mkvi suit

 

[xXDashIVXx]

I would look at the dimensions for the armor when you pull it up. all of my recruit armor individual pieces were perfect as it was, and so was my reach recon helmet. the halo 3 turret was scaled perfectly. the only thing that I have done out of his spreadsheet that wasn't scaled correctly was the halo 4/5 knife, and that was game accurate so it was huge. maybe a third to double the size it should be. it was longer than the length of my helmet.

 

[Cactus117]

This pistol came out great ! I'm looking forward to see your build !
About the glue, I prefer hot glue because you can replace the piece when the glue is still hot. But be careful about the way you stick the pieces together to avoid a glue "eruption".

 

[xXDashIVXx]

This pistol came out great ! I'm looking forward to see your build !
About the glue, I prefer hot glue because you can replace the piece when the glue is still hot. But be careful about the way you stick the pieces together to avoid a glue "eruption".

Yes, but hot glue burns you, leaves a gap in between the prices, isn't very strong and can easily be pulled off, and the hairline strands get everywhere! It's good if your looking for a temporary solution, you need something fast and cheap, and your magical like Andrew dft

 

[master_colt_117]

I've been having good luck with angelegend method. He uses that 5 second lock tite and smooths out the seams with scrap foam. I used qwik seal to seal and imperfections.I'm painting as we speak, still massaging that to look right. Definitely been a great learning experience, definitely room for improvement, but learned a lot for my armor build coming up very soon. I'll probably build another h3 pistol, much more accurate to the game version by using templates.

 

[Sean Anwalt]

magical like Andrew dft

I dont' think Andrew DFT is magical. He is excellent with his quality of work, but not magical. What he *IS* is patient and experienced. If you don't rush things and avoid using excess glue (of any sort) you could get the same results as him, easily. It is just a matter of practice.

 

[xXDashIVXx]

I dont' think Andrew DFT is magical. He is excellent with his quality of work, but not magical. What he *IS* is patient and experienced. If you don't rush things and avoid using excess glue (of any sort) you could get the same results as him, easily. It is just a matter of practice.

But no matter how his edges turn out, how he uses the glue, or anything else, he always gets it to look perfect... I think he makes the one in the tutorial and then makes another one that he casted...