Rabbit's build

[TheRabbit]

Alright, worked on the chest some more today. Last night I fiberglassed some more of the interior of the chest to prep it for splitting. Today I figured out where I was going to split it.
Here's the latches I'll be using on the lower portion of the chest:

I then drew out where the holes will need to be, and decided where I wanted to split it:

Then I worked on figuring out how I'm going to split the top. I like this area of the chest as it looks like a latching point anyway:

So I made up some templates to give me a place to actually mount a latch:

And then glued them in place:

Now I'm going to resin them to reinforce them, draw in where I want them split, and then do the actual cutting.

 

[AI Blue Fox]

Clever. Nice to see you putting lots of thought into this.

 

[TheRabbit]

Alright, after lots of self-convincing I split my helmet in half. I decided that where it's at now, worst case is I lose a week worth of time. I think it came out really well, but the real test is going to be how it looks once it's bondo'd and painted, and how noticeable the split is. I intentially cut along mostly recessed lines to minimize the appearance:

Here's the cut highlighted:

I'm going to install a hinge here where the tape is:

I'll also install some small case clips at the back of the jaw to lock it in place.

It's pretty easy to get on and off now that it's split. I wanted to do this from the beginning because I didn't want to have to oversize the helmet or cut away the neckhole in order to put it on.

 

[Z0M8I3]

very nice work! The cut looks great, I'm sure it will hide well

 

[Mstruvmgc]

OOOOOOO spiffy sir. I like!

 

[Fxd2fght]

Like the creativity with the opening helmet. What was the motivation to make it open instead of traditional hole at the bottom?

 

[RSpartain7]

Looking awesome Rabbit!

 

[Hyperballistik]

Nice job and great thinking, no turning back now LoL

 

[TheRabbit]

Like the creativity with the opening helmet. What was the motivation to make it open instead of traditional hole at the bottom?

I wanted it to be a very close fitting helmet (the helmet build height is only 275), there's enough room inside for about 1/2" or so of padding on the top. The only other way I'd be able to get my head in there would be cutting out a lot of the base of the helmet. I also really liked the idea from the beginning of having a hinged helmet.

 

[rainbow dash]

Alright, after lots of self-convincing I split my helmet in half. I decided that where it's at now, worst case is I lose a week worth of time. I think it came out really well, but the real test is going to be how it looks once it's bondo'd and painted, and how noticeable the split is. I intentially cut along mostly recessed lines to minimize the appearance:

I'll also install some small case clips at the back of the jaw to lock it in place.

It's pretty easy to get on and off now that it's split. I wanted to do this from the beginning because I didn't want to have to oversize the helmet or cut away the neckhole in order to put it on.

WOW! This is a very interessting solution. Must have taken some guts to do this, because you could have messed up everything in just a single step! I'm glad everything went fine. Can't wait to see the finished helmet. I'm really curious about how noticeable the splitted area will be. The height of my helmet is similar to yours (278mm) so I have to find a way to get my head through, I may use your method.

 

[Fxd2fght]

I wanted it to be a very close fitting helmet (the helmet build height is only 275), there's enough room inside for about 1/2" or so of padding on the top. The only other way I'd be able to get my head in there would be cutting out a lot of the base of the helmet. I also really liked the idea from the beginning of having a hinged helmet.

Extremely smart and creative. This is a great build to watch take shape.

Looking forward to keeping an eye on the progress.

 

[Spartan_127]

I like what you figured out on the latches. I know from my son's build that it takes a lot of, how shall we say. . . Intestinal Fortitude, to cut off the back of the helmet. I hope that your hinge will work on it. I'm sure you've got it figured out! Great job so far. Can't wait to see what's next.

 

[TheRabbit]

Going to ask again here since I didn't get any replies the first time I asked. Does anyone know of some good, high quality, pictures showing high resolution detail for the MC armor? Now that the armor is hardened I want to work on carving some details in, but I can't find any good references for this.

 

[Carpathia]

I have a ton of Mk VI reference pics taken from in-game pics. I'm not sure where I got them, but when I get home I could put them into a zip folder and send them your way. I've been using these reference photos throughout my whole build so far.

 

[TheRabbit]

That would be helpful Carp, thanks!

Here's what I've been working on the past couple days:

I'm not sure how much I like it, I think at this point I'll probably just make the regular MkVI biceps.

 

[Carpathia]

Here's the link to a zip folder containing all the reference images I have...

http://www.4shared.com/zip/D7NKEWDU/Reference.html

It's a bit large (25.6 MB), so be warned.

 

[TheRabbit]

Found this incredible high res image of a MkIV MC from Halo Wars:
http://www.eklettica.com/spartan.html
http://www.eklettica.com/spartanlight1.html
Obviously the armor isn't the same as the MkVI armor, but a lot of the same details are present, just in slightly different locations. Going to use this as some inspiration for my detailing.

Some more random images to help with detailing:
http://data.primeportal.net/m1_iraqp/m1_broken_2/Dscf0096.jpg

 

[TheRabbit]

Pepped a Mk VI shoulder/bicep because I wasn't very happy with that elite ranger one.

Going to resin this one up during the day tomorrow and then work on pepping the right side.

 

[hyundai2806]

sweet glad someones started/tried that elite piece, likin the pep very clean
very nice work

 

[TheRabbit]

Woot! Look what just arrived:

Now I've got everything I need to start doing my detail work.