Foam ODST Build - Upgrade Time Again

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Not much work that's worth showing. I started on the shins and have all of the pieces traced and the rough cuts. I need to spend some time marking which ones need to be bevelled before I go crazy cutting them out completely.

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But I did get some new "toys" in. I've not really tried using my airbrush kit, and to start using it more, I wanted a simple airbrush. So I found this single-action one (the kit came w/ 2 dual-action airbrushes) to start off on. Also came across these Vellejo Air paint set with a bunch of grays. I think it was actually an Air Force color set for model planes that I plan to try out for the suit repaint.

Although I'm working primarily on upgrades for Halloween, because I want to shift focus to my next suit afterwards, my goal is that everything I finish is something I am ok with keeping long term. Of course plans may still change.
 
Was sick most of the week, so didn't work on my suit much, but I managed to get the knees built and plastidipped.

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I cut some foam strips that I've heat-sealed and plastidipped. Plan to get out the airbrush and test out paint options for the thighs, knees, and shins while starting to construct the shin pieces.

If I get the shins done with enough time, I'm most likely to update the back and shoulder straps before going to add in my missing boot covers. Also need to give myself plenty of time for the repaint on existing parts.
 
Been awhile since I've had much of note to post. Progress has been slow but steady over the past couple of weeks. I started working on the thigh plates, but had a fair bit of work before even starting to pep.

I needed to scale up fairly significantly in order to make the pieces fit around my legs, but scaling up that far would make them way too tall and require cutting off too much material in order to fit me in all dimensions. The solution? I pulled the piece into Armorsmith to get the scaled dimensions. From there I got my ratios and pulled the model into Blender to adjust it how I needed. Finally I was able to open the model in Pepakura Designer and unfold it.
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So far one thigh plate has been assembled, and I plan on using 4-6mm foam to make the inner thigh straps. After doing this for the thighs, I'm debating re-doing the shins this way as well. That way they'll stay as a more uniform piece.

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In another step, I finally finished printing off all of the pieces for my MA37 and have started sanding imperfections. I don't plan to get every piece picture perfect before assembling, but I want to get some amount of smoothing done before I glue it and make some parts less accessible.

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Finally, here's my updated progress board (link in first post) of where everything stands. Nothing is moving further than "Harden" as this point as I want to get all pep pieces to "Shape" before continuing forward. You'll notice a fair bit of red labels (blocked). The ones in "TODO" are blocked on everything else being finished. Those pieces are my nice-to-haves and as such, I don't want to look at the board and keep thinking I need to get started on them right away. Shin pieces are also blocked until I decide whether or not to adjust the scale as described above and re-pep. They'll work sliced as they are, but it would be preferable to not have a gap between the front and back of the shins.

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What is this program?
 
What is this program?
I mention at least 3 programs and vaguely reference a 4th back in that post, so I'm not sure which your talking about, but here's my list of software I use for building:
Pepakura/Templates:
- Pepakura Designer
- Armorsmith

3D Modeling:
- Blender (or)
- Fusion360 (or)
- Tinkercad

Planning/Progress:
- Trello

Photo Editing:
- Photoshop
- Lightroom

Update:
Got the first shin constructed. I'll make the second then clean up seams and round out the sharp edges.
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I did a test of airbrushing the base coat for my armor and testing the flexibility. Good news, no paint cracking. I need more practice w/ an airbrush, but isn't that the point? I'll test out the coloring for the shins and thighs primary color.

Side news on the 3D printing front, I switched my PTFE tube on the CR-10 to Capricorn, and I started having under-extrusion problems. I'm going to reinstall the original tube and see if it was just that my PLA (Hatchbox) has a tolerance greater than what the inner diameter of the PTFE tube allows. Also need to get the Flashforge filament swapped out and start printing w/ that again.
 
Got the calves constructed and starting to plastidip them. Here's how the first one looked.

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I spent a fair amount of time in Pepakura measuring the raised and lowered edges to get a close as possible and used my dremel to create the bevels and round out some of the sharp edges.

I also went through my existing suit and picked out the priority of pieces to rebuild and worked on figuring out paint scheme for the repaint of the whole suit. No shops around me had the exact paints I'm looking for, so I ordered them and should get them today and tomorrow. Need to buy more plastidip tonight, and get the shins and calves connected with elastic.

In other news, while I wish I could have been there (tickets started at over $200) the 2019 Stanley Cup Champions banner went up on Wednesday.
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24 days remaining for these upgrades.
 
Now that all of the gray paints I ordered have come in, I made my "swatches." Every square was heat sealed and given 3 coats of plastidip. All of them were painted with the same airbrush and marked on the back in sharpie with the color it was getting before being painted. All of the flat paints are Vallejo Model Air, and the two metallic ones on the bottom right are Vallejo Model Color (mixed 7 drops paint to 3 drops reducer), and my airbrush was cleaned between each paint color. Some swatches still had cleaner in it when I started spraying that caused imperfect finishes, but there's enough that worked on them that I didn't bother repainting.

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The metallics don't show up very well because they reflect, so I'll add pics of those without the overhead light later.

Now to compare to my reference photos and decide what color scheme I want. I'm hoping to get my (re)paint done this week(end). My company announced what day we're doing our Halloween festivities, and it's earlier than I thought it would be.

I also started making decals for upgrading my helmet and will supply the file after I've confirmed they'll work.

20 days remaining.
 
I picked my color scheme and started painting. I got the primary color on all new parts, and I need to sand all of the old parts so that they're prepped for new paint.

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Paint Scheme:
Primary: Aggressor Gray
Dark: Ocean Gray
Light: Light Gray
Black and Silver where needed

Also printed off a new stomach plate. The old one was pepakura and always a little warped, so why not print off a new one?

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Material: Hatchbox PLA
Printer: Flashforge Creator Pro
Layer Height: .15mm
Infill: 15%
Shells: 2

The overhang above the "circle" had supports fail, and it didn't print well. Because it's an area that you can't really see when worn and the paint there is going to be dark (likely black) I plan on putting a back on the gap after removing the failed section and not worrying about it.

I also played around with ideas for my microphone. I'm going to glue an elastic strap where it sits in the image so I can slide mic base in and position it at my mouth without having to wear it with the head piece. But first to remove the padding and repaint. My new visor should arrive this week to dye and chrome; plus I have new fans to install.

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I'm hoping to have this all done by next Oct 25 so that I have some buffer room.
 
Nice, that's quite the list!
Upgrades are gonna be great
 
We've reached the point of no return with the old parts. Helmet, cod, belt, and shoulders have been sanded down and reprimed. Today that fate will be sealed for the ribs, forearms, butt, and sides. The back may end up getting its rebuild instead of repaint right now. I'll decide this weekend. Should take at most a day to construct that.

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And what's that thing covered in blue tape? Why the new visor that arrived yesterday and got holes drilled for install. I wanted to get it fitted in the helmet before I dye and chrome it.

14 days remaining
 
I finished sanding all of the remaining parts and finally made the decision that I'm going to strip and repaint the back plate for Halloween. I'll do a rebuild by C2E2, but with less than 10days remaining, I prefer to focus my energy on paint, decals and wiring.

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Sanded down starting w/ 80grit and working to 240 grit. I then primed every piece and decided to add a layer of black mostly because the gray primer was too close to the Aggressor Gray paint I was using and it was hard to tell where I'd painted. Shins also got finally assembled. Calf and shin are connected with 3 elastic straps on either side which lets me slide it on and up enough to put my boots on. If time permits (or for C2E2 if not), I will replace the elastic w/ velcro instead for easier packing and putting on.

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Areas that are getting another color than the base gray I didn't bother painting over since they're getting something else anyways.
Oh and I rebuilt the hip plates because why not? Really when it was so simple why wouldn't I get those done? Still need straps installed from the old ones, but ready for that.

Finally, I dyed and chromed my visor. I ordered a clear visor from Sean Bradley and used iDye Poly Turquoise to dye it. I allowed the temp to get a bit too hot and it warped some, but did a test install on the helmet afterwards, and it's not noticeable when installed. Then chromed the back using Spaz Stix Mirror Chrome spray paint lightly on the inside. You can buy this in either spray or airbrush paint.

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I think this will be my final post before my deadline. Helmet nearly done. It's painted, but I'd like to get the decals added, and want to adjust the visor a bit and add some foam around the bottom so there's not a gap there.

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Side note: I think the forearms might be my favorite.
 
Looks awesome, and dang those forearms turned out amazing. Way better than mine!!
 
After getting all straps done and doing a test fit, I still had time, so I added a few decals and weathered my gear. I'm still debating another layer of "grime" using burnt sienna, but it's just going to depend on how much time I have tonight to add that. Once I start the first one, I'm committing to all of them. Used a wash of black followed by raw umber in this pass, and I think the burnt sienna will add another layer of mud look whereas the current looks more like grease to me.

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Another test fit tonight before packing away for Wednesday. My office is happy to finally be getting cleaned and organized now that this is ready even though I'll be doing more updates by C2E2.
 
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I'd say wearing my suit was a success yesterday. I got a lot of compliments and questions about how I made it. I want to ask permission from others that were in group photos before I post those here, but I'll post them (with or without faces covered) after I hear back.

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I managed to get someone to take photos that (I think) will work for deployment submission and have those already, so now I'm debating if I should submit for deployment in its current state. I know I have more improvements I want to make whether adding details, updating for fit, or just for comfort, but I also think that going through the deployment process should give me more feedback to help make those improvements.

Edit:
I looked more closely through the pics I was going to submit for deployment. Probably going to want to redo them first due to 2 issues.
1) They didn't get photos of the right side of the suit.
2) A nut holding the elastic strap around my right arm fell off, and the strap is dangling in the photos. Thankfully at least it's a simple repair.
 
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Didn't think it deserved its own thread, but SKS Props' Black Friday Sale is live now. (It's over now)


On suit update. Reorganizing my crafting space and then will start upgrades for C2E2. Going to take potential deployment photos and likely submit this current iteration so that I can prioritize my changes.
 
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