OSDT Build - Back in action

[AngelVirusX]

Wow, I look forward to the full reveal, your progress pictures are looking great! I'm printing out the GA SMG now and am excited to put it together. I think it's cool you've got the whole arsenal right off the rip. Keep it up!

Thanks!

It was more of a "I don't have time to paint, but I have time to print things." So just kept going with any leftover filament I had, printing as many add-ons and guns as I could. Still wanting to do the GA BR I have and find a sniper rifle eventually. Maybe a SPKR? We'll see!

 

[AngelVirusX]

So first, I'm finding the gloss black too black and shiny. I found a Perfect Match gunmetal spray that should do the trick. I've nailed down the paint process to only needing one can of spray to cover all the armour pieces, so I think one coat would do to sort of brighten it up.

Next, I took some shots of each piece and threw them into Procreate to try and test my purple colour scheme out. I think it's pretty balanced, but the end it might change.

Emblems and text. I'm not wanting to go too far with text everywhere, but I think I want to add a few more. Maybe the classic blood type on the shoulder? Possibly ODST on the forehead area of the helmet?

Any suggestions?

(Yes, UNSC emblem covers an ammo box. It's meant to be on left end of the breast plate.)

 

[Hype]

Color is definitely where you get to make the ODST yours. Other than the emblems and text on the chest, there really isn't much to it, maybe the medical reference info on the left shoulder. Personally, I am not a fan of asymmetrical patterns, but don't let me dissuade you. I like to keep it closer to the reference material and then make some slight changes, like a real UNSC soldier who might be able to push the rule just a bit to add some personality, but not so much that you get called out.

 

[AngelVirusX]

Gunmetal a go! Finally got to getting gunmetal on it and I think it looks much better than before.

Time to start masking! Finally got both my purple hex visor and a matching purple for my accents. I was pleasantly surprised at how close they both match, as the purple paint I had at the time of getting the visor was more of a purple/blue than purple/red that the visor was. Excited to get it all painted up. Cold weather is coming up :/

Also I'm kind of an idiot, for buying a product but making an assumption about it. The visor film I bought is just a film. That might seem like an overstatement of the obvious, but I had the assumption all these years that it was a sort of vinyl. I'm still not 100% sure how I'm going to make it out, but I'll damn well try. First attempt is going to be to cut out the visor shapes, based on the 3D printed buck I'm using for the visor model, transferred to the film and spray gluing it on the inside. Fingers crossed, other wise I may have to go without it.

 

[YTunz]

Wow this is coming along great! It looks really good, and I cant wait to see a full suit up! Do you have anything for as a holster for your pistol, also what brand spray paint are you using? I've seen similar cans at a local nerd store, and I never thought about using mini-paints for armor.

 

[AngelVirusX]

I don't have a holster yet, but I definitely had some thoughts for something hooked onto the thighs.

It's Montana Gold, good sh!t. I think it's "professional" spray paint and other than having to relearn how to spray with them, they lay a great colour down.

I had to buy a bunch for a 501st approved Shore Trooper build and when I needed a colour that local stores didn't have, I found a store in-province that I could get shipped from.

 

[AngelVirusX]

Yep, it's purple.

Still lots to do outside (add stencils and clean up the liquid latex) but it's getting real close. Ready to start working on it inside.

 

[AngelVirusX]

Not dead!

Life took over and this project has essentially been in storage since Oct :/ Not happy about it, but finally have a con to go to that can drive me to wrap things up. Took a few days off and got to grinding, let's see what we got!

-Shotgun clips installed. I can now keep the two pieces locked together and it looks somewhat legit!

-Also gave it a round of black accents for contrast and a shells rack that's left to attach. Rack needs to be secured and shells right after. Still needs some weathering.

-Spent most of one of the mornings masking for stencils and highlights.

Sewed some straps for the belt hanging parts, so now I just have to secure those together. I also attempted to dye one of the two visors I formed, but ended up messing it up in two ways. One, I dunked the visor into the forbidden soup when it was WAY too hot, so I just ended up ruining the shape as it melted like butter. Second, it was the wrong visor dye, not the iDye Poly. Somehow I missed that when I bought it months ago. Ffs. Got a new one coming in, so I should be able to get it done pretty quick, knowing what I know now. The biggest setback with that is that I don't have a spare visor I was going to tint red for the spare helmet, which was going to be given to my brother for his birthday this week. He'll have to wait...

Long list of little things left, but I should be wrapped up in time for this weekend at Timmins Con.

 

[N8TEBB]

One, I dunked the visor into the forbidden soup when it was WAY too hot, so I just ended up ruining the shape as it melted like butter. Second, it was the wrong visor dye, not the iDye Poly. Somehow I missed that when I bought it months ago.

Ah both classic mishaps. Oh well, helps us learn eh? If you've made your visors from PETG, it's rated max temp is 140 Fahrenheit / 60 Celsius. I tend to push that to 145 F, but that's about as hot as you'll want to go with the water.

Also, I didn't realize until I read "Timmins"... you're a fellow Ontarian! Howdy!

Your suit is looking fabulous so far!

 

[AngelVirusX]

Thanks! I think I follow you on Insta, love the armour and hammer. I'm sure I'll see you around!

Last visor I tinted was years ago, so I should have refreshed myself with the process. I did manage to do the process right after that, dropped the temp down to 160, using the ruined visor for practice. But realized my error with having not gotten the Poly dye. At least I had a spare!

 

[AngelVirusX]

Some updates from this week, but sadly won't make it in time to finish up for this weekend. I definitely need another two days to grind this out.

Otherwise things are coming along well. Got an old pair of combat boots, "scuffed" up the weapons and rigged a bunch of the hip pieces.

And yes, one knee cap is shorter than the other. There was an issue with the print and when I started sanding, it came off easily. So instead of trying to re-attach it, I bondo'd it and finished it like that.

 

[AngelVirusX]

Finally got a few hours to work on it, but made some good progress this long weekend. I can see the end!

 

[AngelVirusX]

Back at it. Took a day off work to do straps. Spent the better part of the day doing them so it feels like I got nothing done, but damn, it finally feels like it's starting to all come together.

Undersuit: Airsoft pants and jacket. Vest is a cheap Police one from Spirit Halloween. I want to make a better one one day, but for now this works. Belt and construction suspenders from Canadian Tire.

Straps! I rigged the shoulder bells similar to how I have my Shore Trooper and E6000 some velcro under my construction suspenders. Thigh straps (on the right), where the male end of the clip is sewn with enough space to loop around my belt. Female end has the clip sewn tight with elastic. I hoping for these to be slightly adjustable, but still tight and no tear of mid stride. Crap, I just realized I should sew the strapping ends so that it doesn't accidently comes out.

Two-part Epoxy time!

Looks about the same as before, but this time with shoulder bells attached.

And then I remembered I had this visor film! I've seen some people use these as visors alone, but I'm hoping to trim up mine to fit the shape of my visor and hot glue the edges to the visor/helmet.

Thighs up next. Just putting some simple black foam on the inside. The piece above my knee feels like it's going to be super tight and digs into my thigh. I need to heat up the part again and try to make it more comfortable.

Getting close to done! Needs some weathering and a few details after all this. In the meantime I printed a few accessories again lol.

 

[AngelVirusX]

Visor film installed! Visor from Iconprops!

Just hot glued the edges to the edges of the visor.

 

[AngelVirusX]

READY TO DROP! (beard poking through, forgot the balaclava for this test run)

Still a few things left like weathering and some highlights. The thighs fit a little weird, the bottoms are too close to the knee caps and get sorta stuck. Might have to trim the top end of thighs to bring them higher more comfortably.

Upgrades slowly incoming as well. Printed a combat knife, ODST backpack and AR. I'll just have to find some time to finish those up.

Took me over a year of on and off work to get this going and I'm really happy to finally see it all put together.

Looking forward to getting a photoshoot done and maybe a 405th event!

 

[N8TEBB]

oh my goodness THIS LOOKS GREAT!!!
Really looking forward to seeing you and your kit at Fan Ex this year. Well done man.

 

[CaptainFawx]

That purple and black combo is excellent.

Your prop weapons are crazy good too!

 

[AngelVirusX]

Soooo things got a little sidetracked. I ended up wearing this for a local con, but got really bothered by the first con suit-up.

While worn, I felt incredibly warm where it was a hot day and the arena didn't had poor circulation. I found the thighs and calf pieces hard to walk in, rubbing against each other and feeling really stiff in them. Afterwards looking at the pictures I got really discouraged with the overall look as well: My chest plate was set too high, exposing an unarmoured area over my abs. My balaclava not working and it being hot, forcing me to not wear it, exposing my beard underneath. And the over all look feeling too clean. Also my back is essentially bare, with just the airsoft jacket and suspenders.

Oh and the suspenders. I have had issue with them as they are tied to my belt, holding all the belt and thigh pieces up, but not feeling exactly the full OSDT look. It's been hard to try and incorporate it into the build.

Since then, I have been printing more and working on correcting those issues:

Thigh pieces: Trimmed the circular part off and shortened the piece. Still requires finishings (bondo fill and paint on the edges).
Calf pieces: To be trimmed behind the calf for a better fit. Hopefully I wont have to trim more than a little to keep it in line with the original shape.
Chest plate: Just to set the suspender clips lower. That should fill the gap.
Balaclava: New balaclava bought that should sit better up over my nose.
Clean to dirty look: All parts to be weathered and sealed in a matte clear coat.
Suspenders: I think I finally settled on a foam chest piece (to be painted) to wear underneath the suspenders, giving some detail to the back. Then I'm slowly building an ODST pack to wear overtop.

In the meantime, I've printed a few more props to bring along, AR assembled to be processed and painted, and the Halo First Aid kit. I've been also been working on a few Helldiver props to do a Helljumper swap when the situation arises.

Also also, I've been prototyping a mountable SOCOM holster for my left leg, to hang off the left thigh piece. Printing the first full attempt after some quick tests. Mounting with Chicago screws.

With all that, I should be on track for Timmins Con 2026 in April.


Cheers and thanks for reading!

 

[SpartanSweed]

That socom holster is what I’ve been missing all my life, that’s incredibly cool

 

[AngelVirusX]

I might put up the file on a Ko-fi or something if it works out.

It would work for Galactic Armory's ODST SOCOM and their left thigh pieces at 100% scale.