New to foam, not to 405th

[Duckster18]

Hey guys, I haven't been on here in 2 years and haven't finished my first build(looking to get back into it). I've also been seeing a ton of foam builds that look amazing and I'm looking to start a Halo 4 foam build, once my original build is finished. I know foam is way less expensive than a pepakura build, but I just don't know where to even begin, besides looking up foam templates and cutting them out. After that, I have no experience with it. I was gonna make the helmet with pepakura(seeing as it'll last and I can wear with any suit). Does anyone have any tips, tricks, or guides I can follow?

 

[CLOTHAR]

I have finished one full suit with foam, and am a good ways into another. Some general tips that I would pass on are:
Sharp knives will make your life much easier. Simple exacto, or box cutter knives work great. Be sure to have replacement blades close at hand, or a sharpening stone to keep your blades sharp.
Hot glue works well for holding everything together. With patience and experience you can get very clean seams.
Contact cement is also a good option for gluing it all together, however it is a slower process than with hot glue.
You can make templates from any pepakura file. I print on card stock, as it makes tracing easier, and I pin the patterns to the foam.
You can make pretty much anything with 90* or 45* cuts. I use a simple wooden block to make cuts.

I do have a basic video guide I made that might be useful. Best of luck!

 

[Duckster18]

Thanks man! That's super helpful! I wanna finish my first build and then work with foam. It just seems a lot easier to me and way cheaper. I do wanna make helmets out of pepakura, resin and bondo. The helmets just seem like the better option. Some people though bend the foam, which seems mind blowing to me cause its suppose to be a fairly tough material. Do you use EVA foam?

 

[krango]

I'm in the same boat mate! I work with pvc, closed cell, wood, and abs vacuform, but foam stopped me in my tracks. I was wondering how folks were getting such clean cuts, and even beveled edges without a saw.

so hot knivesaren't good forEva?a

 

[Duckster18]

I'm in the same boat mate! I work with pvc, closed cell, wood, and abs vacuform, but foam stopped me in my tracks. I was wondering how folks were getting such clean cuts, and even beveled edges without a saw.

so hot knivesaren't good forEva?a

I mean most foam build tutorials I see its just a marker, the templates, box cutter and glue. No idea how people are getting these edges and stuff, cause my glue cant hold all that well.

 

[Duckster18]

Good news! I think I have found all my Pep files for my foam build! Like my Reach one, I wanna make it based on my Halo 4 armor permutations. That being said, my Spartan looks like this:

I believe I have all the files needed for it

Helmet:
-Scout[X]

Legs:
-X69 Narrow[X](has all files butt, shin, etc)

Arms:
-handplates[x]
-Shoulders[x]
-forearms[gauntlets]

COD:
-Mk. VII[x]

Chest:
-Orbital[x]

 

[krango]

very nice, i hear the 20 to 30 dollar high temp hot glue guns are key, and i use a bondo applicater to scrap the glue while its hot, its basically like plasti dip texture after wards, but you have to work fast. that's the down side.


are you making your own visor? :confused

 

[CLOTHAR]

You can use hot knives, though I personally don't. All you need is a sharp knife, and make one continuous cut. Remember that is a slicing motion, NOT a sawing motion.

As for glueing, yeah Hi-Temp glue is much better. And it just takes patience and practice to get good seams. You can also do some cleanup work afterwards if they are messy.

And bending the foam is pretty easy with a heat gun. Again it takes some practice to get the hang of it. Too long and it can warp or melt, too short and it doesn't stay.

I like the look of you spartan. I look forward to seeing how it turns out.

 

[Duckster18]

Yeah, I basically spent my day looking up foam tutorials and how to make it look professionally done. Guess this builds main expense will be the heat/glue guns ha. I'll have to do some texts before I really get into the build.

 

[Duckster18]

very nice, i hear the 20 to 30 dollar high temp hot glue guns are key, and i use a bondo applicater to scrap the glue while its hot, its basically like plasti dip texture after wards, but you have to work fast. that's the down side.


are you making your own visor? :confused

Idk yet. There are only a handful of people who have done the Scout helmet and I have no idea how they did the visor. Any hints?

 

[krango]

I know of a guy who does polycarbate, on a jig, and put the texture on it as he's forming it, I guess its a thin sheet

 

[Duckster18]

hmmm that's better than nothing. I mean the only visor I ever made was just curved. Just heated it up, cut the hole for it and glued it in. Honestly, thats the best part of my suit is the helmet.