ODST Build 1: The Journey Begins

[MrJamin]

Gosh. Just got my two year notification... 2 years still haven't finished my first suit...oh well.

I do have some updates to post just gotta take some pictures. Also with a nice break coming in my PA program I am hopefully gonna make some progress in the coming few weeks.

As someone that is also over 2 years without a finished suit - I feel ya.

 

[Angus314]

Take your time and work on it when you're having fun! There's no better project killer than burnout and self doubt. You've got this!

 

[FalseShepherd]

Take your time and work on it when you're having fun! There's no better project killer than burnout and self doubt. You've got this!

I'm not burned out or self-doubting. Thats the problem. I would love to work on it, I just dont have time right now. Soon tho! I actually do have an update just need to get some pictures.

 

[FalseShepherd]

I still dont have pictures. I am bad at remembering that. I got one shin pepped during my winter break and I need to wait for warmer weather for the resin stages. My SMG is printed and assembled and im working on smoothing and whatnot.

The chest base layer is also kinda not great. I got it split and strapped up but honestly it's too small and because its pep that makes it really uncomfortable. Also, it looks kinda bad...


It's not far off from being ok it's just off enough that I think I need to remake it. Also forgive my messy basement.

The next thing about it is I'm not sure it should be a hard surface. Looking at the Cosplay guide, it looks like that layer is more of a rigid fabric layer like a Kevlar material or something.



I need to redo the layer anyway so I will probably try to make it a soft layer that has that kinda thick, heavy duty look to it. maybe something lightweight but skinned with canvas or cordura or something... I am considering making it out of foam like everyone said I should but my foamskills are just so ... meh. Anyway, that piece is on the backburner until I have time to really get into it.

I have also been working on the inner thigh pieces for my thigh pieces. I am making them out of foam and have the general shape down and they look pretty good. I haven't had time to finish the pieces up yet, just got my toes wet a little with foam work by cutting out the general shape. I dont have pics, but i will try to take some eventually, also of the SMG and my shin. I am moving forward with this project just very slowly. Maybe it will be done by the time I graduate PA school... I wouldn't count on it though since I don't have any more long breaks ever again...

 

[FalseShepherd]

Finally took some pictures of what I have been working on. Still didnt get one of the SMG...someday i will take one. Here's the thighs tho. That black piece is like a base layer for the inner thigh foam. I am going to add on strips of foam to make the "ribbed" parts as you can see in the pic from the cosplay guide. I just haven't made those strips yet.



Also here is my shin that I did and the knee that goes with it. When it finally warms up I will begin the resin steps and whatnot on that bad boy.




Not a ton of progress just some of the pics I promised.

 

[he4thbar]

If you don't want to add on foam for the ridges, what I did was cut out a v shape about half way through the foam width and that looked good too. whatever you prefer though! great job so far

 

[Shadow the ODST]

Finally took some pictures of what I have been working on. Still didnt get one of the SMG...someday i will take one. Here's the thighs tho. That black piece is like a base layer for the inner thigh foam. I am going to add on strips of foam to make the "ribbed" parts as you can see in the pic from the cosplay guide. I just haven't made those strips yet. View attachment 314603View attachment 314604View attachment 314607 Also here is my shin that I did and the knee that goes with it. When it finally warms up I will begin the resin steps and whatnot on that bad boy. View attachment 314605View attachment 314606 Not a ton of progress just some of the pics I promised.

wish i thought of doing it that way. i made each strip individually and glued them on one at a time to the rest of the thigh, which was a massive pain in the arse to git them to fit and line up.

 

[FalseShepherd]

With the weather heating up I am once again prepping for resin and bondo work! I have regrown my beard though having quit my healthcare job to go back to school. Anyone have any respirator recommendations that work with beards? I do not keep my beard long so it should fit in any respirators ok, Im more worried about the seal. I have been looking at full face respirators on amazon, but not much really talks about the seal with a beard...

 

[S225]

While I've not had issues using a respirator with a short beard outside, I will not argue with OSHA's recommendations on this topic. If you can smell bondo and the like, something is not right.

 

[FalseShepherd]

---

Oof. It has been a minute! Unfortunately, I don't have much in the way of update. But I do have a little so, let's go!

The thighs look awesome.



I got the strips glued on and everything covered in plastidip to even out the color. I don't know how to weather it such that it looks like fabric/kevlar type stuff. Get to that later. I have been working on the pants and attaching the thighs so that they stay in place. I am using two snaps per thigh sewed into the pants and "glued" onto the armor AND, bc that wasn't strong enough, I am adding in a strap from the thigh piece to my belt. I initially didn't want to do that bc I didn't want the strap to be visible, but it hides perfectly under the hip plates so, win! Need to do a final fitting with the straps in place to see how it actually all goes together. I will say it's pretty uncomfortable. It's definitely wearable, but I see the allure of foam. By the time I harden and get my pieces testable and realize that they are  just too small, I have sunk a lot of work into them and I don't want to redo them. That's a problem for v 2.0.



I also tightened up and improved the butt piece so it sits well on my belt.

Let's see... I broke my smg again while smoothing out the barrel and put it back together. It keeps breaking along print lines. I am really seeing how orientation of a print can make it stronger and will absolutely take that into account on future prints. And I haven't started the resin process on the shin bc I still haven't bought a new respirator. I did finish one boot covers too!



Oh yeah! And my cod piece came disconnected from the straps that were holding it in place. Just need to reglue it. Shouldn't be too much of an ordeal.

I think that's everything from the past 2 months... See you in two more!

 

[TaroTeaFox]

---

Oof. It has been a minute! Unfortunately, I don't have much in the way of update. But I do have a little so, let's go!

The thighs look awesome.

View attachment 318944View attachment 318943View attachment 318939View attachment 318940

I got the strips glued on and everything covered in plastidip to even out the color. I don't know how to weather it such that it looks like fabric/kevlar type stuff. Get to that later. I have been working on the pants and attaching the thighs so that they stay in place. I am using two snaps per thigh sewed into the pants and "glued" onto the armor AND, bc that wasn't strong enough, I am adding in a strap from the thigh piece to my belt. I initially didn't want to do that bc I didn't want the strap to be visible, but it hides perfectly under the hip plates so, win! Need to do a final fitting with the straps in place to see how it actually all goes together. I will say it's pretty uncomfortable. It's definitely wearable, but I see the allure of foam. By the time I harden and get my pieces testable and realize that they are  just too small, I have sunk a lot of work into them and I don't want to redo them. That's a problem for v 2.0.

View attachment 318942View attachment 318945

I also tightened up and improved the butt piece so it sits well on my belt.

Let's see... I broke my smg again while smoothing out the barrel and put it back together. It keeps breaking along print lines. I am really seeing how orientation of a print can make it stronger and will absolutely take that into account on future prints. And I haven't started the resin process on the shin bc I still haven't bought a new respirator. I did finish one boot covers too!

View attachment 318941

Oh yeah! And my cod piece came disconnected from the straps that were holding it in place. Just need to reglue it. Shouldn't be too much of an ordeal.

I think that's everything from the past 2 months... See you in two more!

I just went through this entire thread and I have never felt more inspired!! Dude, your progress is so inspiring and your work is incredible!! Can’t wait to see more in the future!

 

[FalseShepherd]

I just went through this entire thread and I have never felt more inspired!! Dude, your progress is so inspiring and your work is incredible!! Can’t wait to see more in the future!

Wow! Thanks you! I'm glad you're feeling inspired! That's a tremendous compliment!

 

[FalseShepherd]

I am maliciously replying to this thread. Punish me if you dare.

Anyway, I actually am alive and have been able to make some progress the past couple of weeks. Nothing that looks very interesting but a lot of resin, fiberglass, Bondo, rondo, sanding, spot filler, and more sanding. My rattle can of primer died and so I can't start painting yet. Also been working on other 3d print projects doing sanding and filling print lines.

But for this armor, I resin-ed, and fiberglassed the right shin, knee, boot cover and heel thingy. I got rondo on everything except the knee to protect me from pokies. Bondo'd the boot stuff and spot filled and sanded and did a layer of sandable filler primer just to get it super smooth. So that's ready for painting. Just need to get more paint... At least I hope it is. It's hard to tell with all the patchwork colors.

Shin/knee needs Bondo still so that will be fun.
Also I did some secondary colors and details on my pistol. And have been doing Bondo to smooth out the seams on my rifle. I didn't get a pic of the rifle yet because it still looks gross. I will post a pic when I get it not looking gross.


And then shin and knee pad look basically the same bc they need Bondo and stuff still...



Maybe make more progress soon. Depends on if my budget allows me to resupply my spray paint, acetone, fiberglass, etc... I also need foam to redo the chest base layer, and ink for my printer to print out stencils and whatnot. But since October is coming I'm gonna focus on printing Halloween decorations so might be another while before I have significant progress.

I look forward to necro posting in another couple months!

 

[Rock Lobbster]

"He will win who knows when to necropost and when not to necropost."
- Sun Tzu (probably)
Luckily it's not necroposting if it's your own thread! Glad to see you back at it!

 

[FalseShepherd]

So, I wanted a slightly different black color to paint my rifle with so that it would a little bit contrast with the matte black that I otherwise use. I gave my 2 year old son the choice of which black and he chose this one:

. Turns out it's technically dark chestnut or something so it has some brown to it... It's kinda cool tho... I'ma going to go with it and see how I like the finished product. Also, real glad I finally got the smg all out together and seems more-or-less smoothed out!


I did a little suit up and realized that everything looks awesome. However, there ain't no way I'm getting my shins on and my combat boots. So... Gonna downgrade my shoes to sneakers bc ideally I want to be able to put all this on without help. In case I'm in a position where my wife is not available to be my handler.

Bigger issue, however is that the knee piece I have doesn't fit with the shin and the thigh where they are. I do think it's a little oversized (it's a long story but it's from a previous attempt), but I'm not sure if maybe I need to redo the shin again and make it a wee bit shorter to accommodate the knee piece. I didn't think to take a pic when I noticed the prob so if I have time in the next however many days I will try to get a pic up for reference.

 

[CasuallyFlacid]

That SMG looks awesome, man. I ent for a more metallic finish on mine. And ya, suiting up is always an issue with me. my Mjolnir takes me a little under an hour to put everything on but luckily my wife is able to help me out.

 

[ReservedTaco]

That SMG looks amazing! It makes me really excited to work on mine after seeing how well yours has turned out

 

[FalseShepherd]

Hey! Guess who's back for 1 post and then probs gonna disappear for another 6 months?!

Have not really made any progress on the armor but did do a NERF Ma40 conversion!

By now, we all know how this goes: take it apart sand down the emblems, wipe everything with acetone, paint, put it back together, pray that it still works, weather, clear coat. Bla bla bla.

I kinda forgot to get pics of all the steps but here's what I got:



I love how it turned out. It's such a satisfying prop: the weight and the size all feel really good. I left the tip orange in case I bring it to a con and they care about orange tips...
I also cut the mag to make it fit a little more flush with the mag well but haven't finished it yet so I didn't take a pic of it.

I need to put batteries back in and make sure it still works. A lot of the buttons got kinda sticky through the painting process.

 

[Wicked Demon 15]

Hey! Guess who's back for 1 post and then probs gonna disappear for another 6 months?!

Have not really made any progress on the armor but did do a NERF Ma40 conversion!

By now, we all know how this goes: take it apart and down the emblems, wipe everything with acetone, paint, put it back together, pray that it still works, weather, clear coat. Bla bla bla.

I kinda forgot to get pics of all the steps but here's what I got:

View attachment 333148View attachment 333147View attachment 333143View attachment 333141View attachment 333135View attachment 333145View attachment 333149View attachment 333142View attachment 333132View attachment 333133View attachment 333136View attachment 333129View attachment 333130View attachment 333131

I love how it turned out. It's such a satisfying prop: the weight and the size all feel really good. I left the tip orange in case I bring it to a con and they care about orange tips...
I also cut the mag to make it fit a little more flush with the mag well but haven't finished it yet so I didn't take a pic of it.

I need to put batteries back in and make sure it still works. A lot of the buttons got kinda sticky through the painting process.

That's amazing! I might have to do this too!

 

[N8TEBB]

NICE dude! I hope it fires just as good as it did! Even if it doesn't that's one slick prop!