Questions about building ODST Armor

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Your not wrong starting simple can be a good way to get going. I have a couple friends who are just getting into cosplay and I told them buy a pack of foam from harbor freight for cheap and follow along AndrewDFT to learn the tricks and skills needed for just about any foam build. Regardless if they plan on wearing it. Just to learn foam smithing. I only really suggested chest and shoulders here due to the lack of foam OP has. Hell I havent even finished the chest on my build yet. Life just came at me fast lol. But I do fully understand your side .
man i wish i had that advise when i started. i started off with the pep/body filler helmet and 3 years, literal blood and tears it was finished and now i struggle to motivate myself to finish my odst pistol and smg let alone start with the armour.
 
man i wish i had that advise when i started. i started off with the pep/body filler helmet and 3 years, literal blood and tears it was finished and now i struggle to motivate myself to finish my odst pistol and smg let alone start with the armour.
I get that motivation can be hard but draw inspiration from all the awesome threads here
 
I know pepakura looks like a lot but I recently started using it and it is quite easy.
I started with Andrew DFT tutorials and It really helped with learning templates and how to cut and improvise with EVA. If you have the extra foam i would recommend following one of his tutorials to have a video to watch.
Best of luck
 
now i struggle to motivate myself to finish my odst pistol and smg let alone start with the armour.
Well, that can be an issue. I only got motivated to do anything when I realized it can be done. Like you've seen, my armor progress is coming along alright, even though I was traveling and am out of foam for the time being. The armor you see took me roughly 12 hours overall, and the pistol took me three hours. It isn't super complicated using DFT, but when NobleDip said :
I know pepakura looks like a lot but I recently started using it and it is quite easy.
He was right. Most people find pep relatively easy, but I suppose nothing can technically be called 'easy' when building foam armor. I hope you and I make our way into the ODST's soon, Shadow.
 
I know pepakura looks like a lot but I recently started using it and it is quite easy.
I started with Andrew DFT tutorials and It really helped with learning templates and how to cut and improvise with EVA. If you have the extra foam i would recommend following one of his tutorials to have a video to watch.
Best of luck
i agree pepakura is easy but annoying when you get the scale wrong and only notice when its mostly constructed but when i got to adding car body filler to smooth out the edges of my helmet i did a really bad job and it really hit my motivation as i was putting all this effort in with no progress and then the visor became a massive pain.

i am currently working on making DFT's odst pistol and smg but me being a perfectionist i decided to mod his design to have working features and look more closely to the games which has made making them harder than if i followed his instructions but i am close to finishing them and i am happy with how they have turned out.

thanks :D
 
Well, that can be an issue. I only got motivated to do anything when I realized it can be done. Like you've seen, my armor progress is coming along alright, even though I was traveling and am out of foam for the time being. The armor you see took me roughly 12 hours overall, and the pistol took me three hours. It isn't super complicated using DFT, but when NobleDip said :

He was right. Most people find pep relatively easy, but I suppose nothing can technically be called 'easy' when building foam armor. I hope you and I make our way into the ODST's soon, Shadow.

the pep helmet was easy but using the body filler to smooth the edges led to an endless cycle of body filler and sanding that was going nowhere and figuring out how to make the visor also took forever.

I am working on DFT's smg and pistol which would be easy and finished by now but i decided to mod his design to match the games more realistically which means it takes much longer to make them.

glad you are making good progress with your costume and hopefully one day i will finish mine :D
 
the pep helmet was easy but using the body filler to smooth the edges led to an endless cycle of body filler and sanding that was going nowhere and figuring out how to make the visor also took forever.

I am working on DFT's smg and pistol which would be easy and finished by now but i decided to mod his design to match the games more realistically which means it takes much longer to make them.

glad you are making good progress with your costume and hopefully one day i will finish mine :D
Visors are hard. I have been working on a visor for my ODST on and off for months.
 
So, I apologize for the long time since my last posting, but I realized I had forgotten to take pics of my building process, so I didn't have anything. The picture has since become slightly inaccurate, because I am expanding my chestplate to fit me better, but the rest is correct. What does everybody think? And don't worry, I have the Tailbone Plate as well, it's just behind me.
 
20210104_214538.jpg
 
Fantastic work! What I really appreciate out, is that you can visually see from the quality photos that you took your time. Thats honestly the most important part of any costume you see someone make. Your cuts are emaculate, even your bevels on the breastplate which I remember being SUCH a pain when I first did the DFT suit.

I have a few tips for you! I saw you were thinking of using a trashcan for the backpack, and I love the idea! Even better, is most store bought items like that list the primary material that they are made of. My holy grail is to use "This to That." It's a website your can find on a simple search to determine what adhesives work best with what materials. PPE as always is a must!

Second, as daunting as Pepakura is, treat it like you are learning to ride a bike. Make mistakes with it. Scale something that could fit your neighbors cat or cover your TV. I also highly advise using your budget the purchase the full program. It might cost a bit off the bat, but you are then able to save the files you alter for future reference or even altering further. Its indisposable. I know a lot of people recommend Armorsmith nowadays but the versatility of Pep vs Smith is unquestionably beaten out.

I also highly recommend even just investing into a resin helmet. Helmets can be a immense pain to scale as I previously mentioned; and getting a helmet teaches you the basics of working on a cast piece. Usually as well, a supplier also offers the visor that fits their bucket perfectly! I really learned my painting technique on casted products because its such a focal point that you slow down and learn what works for you and what doesn't.

Final tip alongside painting. Take your time with it. Walk around in the armor, imagine what kind of environment your character is. Muddy? Rocky? Sandy? It'll leave different wear across the armor. Scratches should be prevelant but not overbearing to the overall piece. And use multiple shades of colors to achieve shadows to lighten or darken your flat zones! And make sure finally to heat seal all that pretty armor before applying plasti or whatever you choose to seal it. (Though you can always choose not to seal! Foam will just absorb more paint which means using up more of that budget you mentioned)
 
Fantastic work! What I really appreciate out, is that you can visually see from the quality photos that you took your time. Thats honestly the most important part of any costume you see someone make. Your cuts are emaculate, even your bevels on the breastplate which I remember being SUCH a pain when I first did the DFT suit.

I have a few tips for you! I saw you were thinking of using a trashcan for the backpack, and I love the idea! Even better, is most store bought items like that list the primary material that they are made of. My holy grail is to use "This to That." It's a website your can find on a simple search to determine what adhesives work best with what materials. PPE as always is a must!

Second, as daunting as Pepakura is, treat it like you are learning to ride a bike. Make mistakes with it. Scale something that could fit your neighbors cat or cover your TV. I also highly advise using your budget the purchase the full program. It might cost a bit off the bat, but you are then able to save the files you alter for future reference or even altering further. Its indisposable. I know a lot of people recommend Armorsmith nowadays but the versatility of Pep vs Smith is unquestionably beaten out.

I also highly recommend even just investing into a resin helmet. Helmets can be a immense pain to scale as I previously mentioned; and getting a helmet teaches you the basics of working on a cast piece. Usually as well, a supplier also offers the visor that fits their bucket perfectly! I really learned my painting technique on casted products because its such a focal point that you slow down and learn what works for you and what doesn't.

Final tip alongside painting. Take your time with it. Walk around in the armor, imagine what kind of environment your character is. Muddy? Rocky? Sandy? It'll leave different wear across the armor. Scratches should be prevelant but not overbearing to the overall piece. And use multiple shades of colors to achieve shadows to lighten or darken your flat zones! And make sure finally to heat seal all that pretty armor before applying plasti or whatever you choose to seal it. (Though you can always choose not to seal! Foam will just absorb more paint which means using up more of that budget you mentioned)
First of all, thank you so much for all of this!
I am really happy that people seem to like what I have done, because it has been a pain at times. My motivation is lacking for completion though, but I think I can finish soon.
As for the resin helmet, I looked at a few, and ran into a couple problems. I have a big head. Like, so large the xcoser odst helm is too small. Do you have any other ideas? I would love to hear anything you might have, because the Helmet is stumping me.
I will try with the pep stuff. I'm not sure how it will go, but we shall see. And besides, this armor won't be my last, hopefully, so I can always improve next time.
I will consider how to input the paint job recommendations you gave me, thank you for those by the way, and I am going to seal the armor. Because that will help protect it.

Thank you again, NobleOfDeath16, and everyone else who has helped me thus far!
 
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