Reach Recon build

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Angus314

RCO
405th Regiment Officer
Member DIN
S314
What's up gamers! I'm finally doing the thread on my newest build! It's my reach Noble six spartan that will be a combo of 3d printing and foam work.

Goal:
5d3869a2-2d32-4c28-a451-75659176304d.jpg

(feel free to friend me on xbox!!)

So far I'm furthest on the helmet that I printed using the files from Moeslizzac on Thingiverse! He's a legend who's put out really great files! Thingiverse - Digital Designs for Physical Objects <-- check him out

easy cuts.png


First I took the file into Prusaslic3r and cut it into parts with my in-slicer cutter!
Cut again ez.png

It still didn't fit so I re rotated and cut it into quarters!
now you're ready to print.png

Now I'm ready to print!!
image0.jpg

First print off the printer was Awesome!!! but a little small for my head. Resizing and reprinting with armorsmith helped with that. I made the helmet as small as I could on my head so I dont get bobblehead syndrome but I have a really large head.

Screenshot 2020-12-27 013437.jpg


(ripped game files for reference on the left.)
I got the armor files from nerdforgedesigns on etsy! Reach Male CUSTOMIZABLE Spartan Base Armor Set 3D printable | Etsy
After printing I got to sanding with 60 grit,120,220,400 and then I wet sanded with 2000 grit sandpaper!
dda96a80-f4fd-4bc3-ad72-40d986031db9.jpg

Here it is pre-sanding on my head,
IMG-1079.JPG

post sanding!
helmet 1.jpg

I then slapped some filler primer and spot putty on there and sanded it down again with all the grits of sandpaper. 60 grit was probably too much and made more work for me than I needed but the end result was really nice
IMG-1225.jpg

this is after another coat of filler primer and more sanding.
I managed to get my attachments modeled and primed with the helmet.
IMG-1129.jpg

and I hit it with a coat of grey normal primer. After that, I was able to paint it black for an undercoat. I used a semi- gloss black.
IMG-1233.jpg

a couple of coats of that and it was ready for cat approval!!!
IMG-1274.jpg

These attachments were purchased from RockLobbster's Etsy shop and I printed them! They were great but I eventually got the itch to model my own. I'm hoping to model my own helmets soon!!!
IMG-1491.JPG

Here's the model I made! It will have lighting channels and be fully mountable! While doing that I needed to figure out a way to mount this to the side of my helmet. I took Moe's model and imported it into Blender. There I was able to boolean a block to the side and get a perfect cutout following the curve that let me place the auntie dot comms on the right angle.
nice.jpg

I was happy with the fit and angle it provided.
IMG-1222.jpg

With all this Cat approved, I moved to giving it a coat of orange.
IMG-1281.jpg

all masked off and ready to go! (don't pay attention to the comms unit. I should have masked it better lol.)
IMG-1282.jpg

Just a light first coat was nice to allow me to let it dry for 30 minutes and then return to go over it again. Before I went to paint I put the can in luke-warm water to heat it up a little. This let me provide more even coats.
IMG-1287.jpg

more coats. Unmasking was weird and showed a lot of places where paint leaked through.
B615C5BE-CC22-494C-BA85-A98B58FFF317.JPG

Looks good though! I was able to fill in where the orange leaked into the black with acrylic paint and while the acrylic had a different, more matte appearance, that was all remedied when I hit it with a top clear coat after I finished all the paint.
IMG-1418.jpg

Moving forward I needed to do the white decals. Not wanting to waste tape by taping the whole helmet, I used butcher paper taped over the huge areas and painters tape only to make the edges of around the white.
IMG-1422.jpg

It went well! Unmasked below!
helmet with painted decals.jpg

I painted in areas that used to be orange with black acrylic paint where they needed it! it worked out great! Next, I needed to add the green and I used the same masking and painting technique. To make this symmetrical was difficult.
IMG-1566.jpg

By this time I had other prints started and sanded. I wanted to test something so I started with just blasting them with a coat of filler primer first!
IMG-1586.jpg

IMG-1608.jpg


it was alright. Showed a lot of flaws that would be filled in with spot putty. This shows off how great nerdforge's models are though!! what a legend! Here's my model primed. It seems to work better with lower layer heights.
IMG-1607.jpg

I also wanted to try regular bondo and filler putty on the biceps and see what's easier to use. it's spot filler putty. use it. don't be shy. not having to mix things is WONDERFUL.
IMG-1564.jpg

spot putty and filler primer on the right. Bondo on the left.
I also made the UA attachment for the helmet just as a challenge!
73779ebb-9fbf-4085-ab9b-c6b1810fc46e.jpg

It's a very sloppy model construction wise but it works so I'm not complaining!
IMG-1684.jpg

Here's the print and here it is getting smoothed!
IMG-1699.jpg

By this time I also got the Auntie dot coms painted and weathered and I weathered the helmet. But not before I found some great window tint that works great for a visor!! Plus I test mounted the comms.
IMG-1771.jpg


Works great and doesnt go see-through with camera flash!
IMG-1785.JPG

I used Rub'n'buff on a rag to silver the edges for weathering and then gave the parts a great blackwash!
IMG-1786.jpg

Idk about you but I think that looks pretty good. On the side, I upgraded my Ender 3 with the Ender Extender kit to make it large enough to print a full helmet in one go!
IMG-2340.jpg

(regular sized benchy for scale) I'm very excited! changing and updating the firmware was a hassle but now I know some useful skills!
IMG-2407.JPG

I could have printed the whole recon in one go!
I'm also following RandomRangers youtube tutorials on foamsmithing! images for that to come but I'm basically building two suits at once lol. Anyway here are some wrap up pictures that I've taken with this recon that are a lot of fun :)
IMG-2503.jpg
IMG-2577.jpg
IMG-2583.jpg

and a little sneak peek at my next thing ;)
IMG-2618.jpg

see you in the next posts! If you have any questions please feel free to ask!!
 

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Already an update? Wow! I decided the mounting clip for the UA on the recon wasn't detailed enough for my liking! So I modeled a quick little thing in Fusion360!
Halo Reach (10).png

Example of in game you can see those two fangs on the sides of the clip!
79aefb04-c969-482b-90f1-ef6d203d8fbf.jpg
257f6318-0dd7-47a0-95f8-baac019bfca3.jpg

Here's the model and it on the helmet! Once it's sanded, filled and painted I think it will be a marked improvement!
 

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looks great so far! Im actually using the same files as you. When you bought the full set from him, did it include the version of the chest that has holes cut out for lights? If you're planning on adding lights, hmu, I made a version of the chest with holes in it so you could put some leds in there.

Also, something his files (and most suit files) don't include is the shoulder gasket section of the chestplate. I modeled my own version of this for his chestplate for my suit. If you want the files for this let me know and I can send them over.

Heres what the shoulder gasket looks like

125517071_3472933916138058_9166954107858018844_n (2).jpg125978154_281407913298409_3111218895051109618_n (2).jpg125358054_4045067985507945_8943196940609171192_n (1).jpg125295729_813853142876082_7450052331846965742_n (1).jpg
 
looks great so far! Im actually using the same files as you. When you bought the full set from him, did it include the version of the chest that has holes cut out for lights? If you're planning on adding lights, hmu, I made a version of the chest with holes in it so you could put some leds in there.

Also, something his files (and most suit files) don't include is the shoulder gasket section of the chestplate. I modeled my own version of this for his chestplate for my suit. If you want the files for this let me know and I can send them over.

Heres what the shoulder gasket looks like

View attachment 300795View attachment 300796View attachment 300797View attachment 300798
Yoo I have the same problem with the chestpiece! I would love a modded one for lights since I've been dreading printing the ones I had. That shoulder gasket looks great but I was hoping to make one out of foam! I'd still love the file though! might print it out of TPU.
 
DM me your email or something and i can send the chest to you. At first I thought about making the gasket out of something flexible, however after printing it, I can say that it being flexible is not needed, and the only difference being flexible would make is you might be able to get it on easier? My plan for the chest is to have it all one piece and slide it over my head onto my shoulders.
 
Update day! After a total failure on the Ender, I got the chest piece to print! ... until it ran out of filament while I slept. When that happened I just remeasured and printed the parts that didnt print when the filament ran out.
IMG_3123.jpg

ran out .jepgeg.jpg

I used PETG which was a bad idea. It gives off some fumes that it really shouldn't. that was no fun! however now, after printing the bottom front, I have a chestpiece!!!
prionting chest.jpg

After gluing it together, I'm excited to see something so massive come off my printer.
chest on.jpg
chest forward.jpg

and it looks like it fits perfectly! While that printed, I went on a sanding binge and sanded a bunch of pieces! (to be seen later) ((I forgot to take pictures))
Anyway!
I got to go paint a bicep I finished sanding! This follows in line with the working philosophy I'm holding while making this suit. I'm going to print and sand everything as much as I can but final sanding and finishing stages plus painting will go one piece at a time. This is so I can focus all my attention to every detail of each part. I started painting the bicep a while ago but cold weather outside prevented more painting.
first layer of green
IMG_2308.jpg

Got kind of a weird texture with this paint layer so I wetsanded it after two layers and before I masked for orange.
IMG_2741.jpg

Looks good but you can see some edges where there are tape crimes. I need to redo my taping technique... However that's nothing a little bit of weathering can't crime hide.
Next, I added the triangle and rectangle detailing. I wanted these to look good so I used an angle guide I printed.
triangle measguering.jpg
pencil.jpg

Then I taped it off and painted it with acrylic and a normal brush. I painted a layer on with a big brush to avoid brushstrokes as much as possible. I'd let each layer dry for 30 minutes before I'd go back in and add another layer.
traingelsr with tape.jpg
triangsle rougher.jpg

Some of the edges I got were rough so I just wetted them down with a brush and removed the excess paint with a fingernail. I continued to do the same thing with the front rectangle but in game it's almost impossible to see due to it being real faded??? So I made sure to keep the center of the rectangle thinner so you can see some orange still showing through.
paint tarpsed.jpg
rectangel no tape.jpg

In the end, I'm fairly pleased with the result. I cleaned up the edges and got to work with a blackwash.
weathering.jpg


Blackwash with some rub n' buff applied from the edge of a paper towel really makes a nice effect. I'm really digging this painting style and Hope you all like it too! I'm trying for tier 3 with this armor so I'd love to here any input on my paintjob that you think could be improved!!! This also was... before the accident. Tragedy struck! I dropped the thing. Now this bicep is the one I wanted to test with 0% infill. Which kinda makes it squishy. It did feel sturdy enough in my hands but when it fell from my hands onto concrete from my hands while standing, it cracked!!!
Heck.jpg
heckkkk.jpg

I tried to fix it with some glue and maybe blackwashing it would work??? It didn't TurboCharizard mentioned that maybe it would be covered by the jump jet attachment when I get to there but alas when I checked it does not cover up the offending areas. I plan on going in and really fixing the heck out of this. Look for that post in the future. Moving on, I finally really finished the UA attachment for my Recon helmet! I modeled the little fangs you see under the attachment in game! I wanted to use this as an excuse to really beef up the strength of the attachment to the UA so I could pick the helmet up by the forehead.
UA mount seperate.jpg
helmet UA.jpg

I really think this fills out the look and adds that good extra detail! :D
UA painted.jpg

I used CA glue with kicker added with a hobbyzone epoxy adhesive to really get it to stick down and wouldn't you know it, it really did! I can now pick up my helmet with the UA and also it looks just that little bit better. :) Now a problem I ran into was when the glue squished out from under the attachment onto the outside of the helmet its self. I tried to wipe it off but some was left over and turned white when I hit it with the kicker. Panicking, I actually used hot water to soak the glue and then used a q-tip with acetone on it to get rid of the glue. Fortunately I was careful enough to get the glue off without ruining the paint. Anyway that's all for this build that I'm willing to show y'all! I've got the backpieces printing now and parts of the codpiece printing as well. It's great!
 

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Already an update? Wow! I decided the mounting clip for the UA on the recon wasn't detailed enough for my liking! So I modeled a quick little thing in Fusion360!
View attachment 300792
Example of in game you can see those two fangs on the sides of the clip!
View attachment 300790View attachment 300793
Here's the model and it on the helmet! Once it's sanded, filled and painted I think it will be a marked improvement!
Hey I know that recon helm, just found this post brotha, that thing came out slick.
 
What's up gamers! I'm finally doing the thread on my newest build! It's my reach Noble six spartan that will be a combo of 3d printing and foam work.

Goal: View attachment 300747
(feel free to friend me on xbox!!)

So far I'm furthest on the helmet that I printed using the files from Moeslizzac on Thingiverse! He's a legend who's put out really great files! Thingiverse - Digital Designs for Physical Objects <-- check him out

View attachment 300748

First I took the file into Prusaslic3r and cut it into parts with my in-slicer cutter!
View attachment 300749
It still didn't fit so I re rotated and cut it into quarters!
View attachment 300751
Now I'm ready to print!!
View attachment 300752
First print off the printer was Awesome!!! but a little small for my head. Resizing and reprinting with armorsmith helped with that. I made the helmet as small as I could on my head so I dont get bobblehead syndrome but I have a really large head.

View attachment 300753

(ripped game files for reference on the left.)
I got the armor files from nerdforgedesigns on etsy! Reach Male CUSTOMIZABLE Spartan Base Armor Set 3D printable | Etsy
After printing I got to sanding with 60 grit,120,220,400 and then I wet sanded with 2000 grit sandpaper! View attachment 300754
Here it is pre-sanding on my head,
View attachment 300755
post sanding!
View attachment 300756
I then slapped some filler primer and spot putty on there and sanded it down again with all the grits of sandpaper. 60 grit was probably too much and made more work for me than I needed but the end result was really nice
View attachment 300757
this is after another coat of filler primer and more sanding.
I managed to get my attachments modeled and primed with the helmet.
View attachment 300758
and I hit it with a coat of grey normal primer. After that, I was able to paint it black for an undercoat. I used a semi- gloss black. View attachment 300759
a couple of coats of that and it was ready for cat approval!!!
View attachment 300760
These attachments were purchased from RockLobbster's Etsy shop and I printed them! They were great but I eventually got the itch to model my own. I'm hoping to model my own helmets soon!!!
View attachment 300761
Here's the model I made! It will have lighting channels and be fully mountable! While doing that I needed to figure out a way to mount this to the side of my helmet. I took Moe's model and imported it into Blender. There I was able to boolean a block to the side and get a perfect cutout following the curve that let me place the auntie dot comms on the right angle.
View attachment 300762
I was happy with the fit and angle it provided.
View attachment 300763
With all this Cat approved, I moved to giving it a coat of orange.
View attachment 300764
all masked off and ready to go! (don't pay attention to the comms unit. I should have masked it better lol.)
View attachment 300765
Just a light first coat was nice to allow me to let it dry for 30 minutes and then return to go over it again. Before I went to paint I put the can in luke-warm water to heat it up a little. This let me provide more even coats.
View attachment 300766
more coats. Unmasking was weird and showed a lot of places where paint leaked through.
View attachment 300767
Looks good though! I was able to fill in where the orange leaked into the black with acrylic paint and while the acrylic had a different, more matte appearance, that was all remedied when I hit it with a top clear coat after I finished all the paint.
View attachment 300768
Moving forward I needed to do the white decals. Not wanting to waste tape by taping the whole helmet, I used butcher paper taped over the huge areas and painters tape only to make the edges of around the white.
View attachment 300769
It went well! Unmasked below!
View attachment 300770
I painted in areas that used to be orange with black acrylic paint where they needed it! it worked out great! Next, I needed to add the green and I used the same masking and painting technique. To make this symmetrical was difficult.
View attachment 300771
By this time I had other prints started and sanded. I wanted to test something so I started with just blasting them with a coat of filler primer first! View attachment 300772
View attachment 300773

it was alright. Showed a lot of flaws that would be filled in with spot putty. This shows off how great nerdforge's models are though!! what a legend! Here's my model primed. It seems to work better with lower layer heights.
View attachment 300774
I also wanted to try regular bondo and filler putty on the biceps and see what's easier to use. it's spot filler putty. use it. don't be shy. not having to mix things is WONDERFUL.
View attachment 300775
spot putty and filler primer on the right. Bondo on the left.
I also made the UA attachment for the helmet just as a challenge!
View attachment 300777
It's a very sloppy model construction wise but it works so I'm not complaining!
View attachment 300778
Here's the print and here it is getting smoothed!
View attachment 300779
By this time I also got the Auntie dot coms painted and weathered and I weathered the helmet. But not before I found some great window tint that works great for a visor!! Plus I test mounted the comms.
View attachment 300783

Works great and doesnt go see-through with camera flash!
View attachment 300781
I used Rub'n'buff on a rag to silver the edges for weathering and then gave the parts a great blackwash!
View attachment 300782
Idk about you but I think that looks pretty good. On the side, I upgraded my Ender 3 with the Ender Extender kit to make it large enough to print a full helmet in one go!
View attachment 300784
(regular sized benchy for scale) I'm very excited! changing and updating the firmware was a hassle but now I know some useful skills!
View attachment 300785
I could have printed the whole recon in one go!
I'm also following RandomRangers youtube tutorials on foamsmithing! images for that to come but I'm basically building two suits at once lol. Anyway here are some wrap up pictures that I've taken with this recon that are a lot of fun :)
View attachment 300786View attachment 300787View attachment 300788
and a little sneak peek at my next thing ;)
View attachment 300789
see you in the next posts! If you have any questions please feel free to ask!!
Nice job on the build! What brand of tint did you use on the helmet and where did you get it from?
 
Okay looks like we're finally doing another update. This time the main focus is on the biceps!

Getting into it, I wanted to put this image here :)
playermodel.png

just because I like it.

It's been a long time since I posted so let's get into it.
I fixed my bicep! first I started by filling the gaps made by the cracks with spot putty and sanding it, plus the paint down.
bicep 1.jpg

I layered it on nice and thick so while it settled, the indent wouldn't be so deep that I'd have to reapply the putty.
bicep 2.jpg

I taped it off and slapped a new base coat of green onto the affected areas
image0 (1).jpg

really got to make sure it was nice and smooth there and we wouldn't be able to see the cracks underneath the paint.
image0 (2).jpg
image0 (3).jpg

I then threw on an orange coat while also coating my handplates! Putting a thin coat on first and then passing over it again later gave a really good surface. Next I remade the triangles the same way I made them before with the masking tape.
image0 (4).jpg
image0 (5).jpg

I'd say that looks pretty good even from close up! Next step is weathering. By this time I had also finished the final sanding pass of 2000 grit wetsand on the other bicep and got it ready for paint.
image0 (6).jpg
image0 (7).jpg

At this point I had lost confidence in my sanding abilities but we'll get to that later. When I slapped paint down on this second bicep, my masking job wasn't the best and I had some unclean lines. But I just remasked and got a good result after that!
image0 (8).jpg
image0 (10).jpg

Comparing it next to a weathered piece really shows how much a simple blackwash can do for a piece. Which is exactly what I did next!
image0 (9).jpg

To blackwash, I put a tiny amount of water in a cup and mixed it with a decent amount of black paint. I brushed it on and let it dry for 5 minutes, then I took a paper towel and wiped it off. Removing most of the watered down black paint, I got a nice dirty look.
image0 (11).jpg
image0 (12).jpg

I then put masking tape down again and added the detailing shapes.
Looking pretty good if you ask me! next they need topcoats and to be padded then they'll be complete until I make the attachments!
image0 (13).jpg

image0 (14).jpg

While I did all of this, I also got a few warm days during the winter to be able to sand and work on other pieces. This includes the codpiece, chest and forearms. I've been having a lot of trouble lately getting my pieces down to a level of smoothness that I actually like. I was getting frustrated with my chestpiece and so I just threw a coat of regular primer on top of it after a sanding pass and wouldn't you know it, it looked good!
image0 (15).jpg

There's still some work needed before I put paint on them but I think I'm gunna need to stop reusing sandpaper as much as I do because it just feels ineffectual anymore.
I started using woodfiller as a filler and then putting the bondo on top of it so I wouldnt use so much bondo. It's great stuff but you don't want to get it wet because it just turns into a paste. makes it easy to smooth but it isn't really sustainable.
image0 (16).jpg

I also started using a new filler primer that totally gives the pieces a nice thick coat and basically eliminates layer lines. It's wonderful stuff and if you don't mind spending a little bit more money per can, it gives great results and can let you be lazy lol.
image0 (17).jpg

With an unrelated but unrelated note, there was a 405th mountain photoshoot in the time since I last updated and ZeroSerenity got some amazing pics of me in my recon helmet!
image0 (19).jpg


image0 (18).jpg

It was a wonderful time getting to meet people in person again and I wore a facemask under my balaclava under my helmet to make sure it was safe lol. So much fun! I also got a cheap little testor's airbrush from hobbylobby. It's really poopy though because it runs off of a compressed air can and only has one pressure setting so the paint can be really splotchy or not even work most of the time. It's an interesting thing but it did allow me to customize the little mega constructs recon figure!
image0 (21).jpg

Before ^
image0 (20).jpg

after^
I also got art commissioned of myself by Allura Marsh on twitter!
image0 (22).jpg

Check her out here! https://twitter.com/RetroAutomaton

Alright I'm going to keep working on my chest and forearms and those should be my next big update! If you have any questions about the biceps or anything please feel free to ask!
 
Okay looks like we're finally doing another update. This time the main focus is on the biceps!

Getting into it, I wanted to put this image here :)
View attachment 305287
just because I like it.

It's been a long time since I posted so let's get into it.
I fixed my bicep! first I started by filling the gaps made by the cracks with spot putty and sanding it, plus the paint down.
View attachment 305288
I layered it on nice and thick so while it settled, the indent wouldn't be so deep that I'd have to reapply the putty.
View attachment 305289
I taped it off and slapped a new base coat of green onto the affected areas
View attachment 305290
really got to make sure it was nice and smooth there and we wouldn't be able to see the cracks underneath the paint.
View attachment 305291View attachment 305292
I then threw on an orange coat while also coating my handplates! Putting a thin coat on first and then passing over it again later gave a really good surface. Next I remade the triangles the same way I made them before with the masking tape.
View attachment 305293View attachment 305294
I'd say that looks pretty good even from close up! Next step is weathering. By this time I had also finished the final sanding pass of 2000 grit wetsand on the other bicep and got it ready for paint.
View attachment 305295View attachment 305296
At this point I had lost confidence in my sanding abilities but we'll get to that later. When I slapped paint down on this second bicep, my masking job wasn't the best and I had some unclean lines. But I just remasked and got a good result after that!
View attachment 305297View attachment 305298
Comparing it next to a weathered piece really shows how much a simple blackwash can do for a piece. Which is exactly what I did next!
View attachment 305299
To blackwash, I put a tiny amount of water in a cup and mixed it with a decent amount of black paint. I brushed it on and let it dry for 5 minutes, then I took a paper towel and wiped it off. Removing most of the watered down black paint, I got a nice dirty look.
View attachment 305300View attachment 305301
I then put masking tape down again and added the detailing shapes.
Looking pretty good if you ask me! next they need topcoats and to be padded then they'll be complete until I make the attachments!
View attachment 305302
View attachment 305303
While I did all of this, I also got a few warm days during the winter to be able to sand and work on other pieces. This includes the codpiece, chest and forearms. I've been having a lot of trouble lately getting my pieces down to a level of smoothness that I actually like. I was getting frustrated with my chestpiece and so I just threw a coat of regular primer on top of it after a sanding pass and wouldn't you know it, it looked good!
View attachment 305304
There's still some work needed before I put paint on them but I think I'm gunna need to stop reusing sandpaper as much as I do because it just feels ineffectual anymore.
I started using woodfiller as a filler and then putting the bondo on top of it so I wouldnt use so much bondo. It's great stuff but you don't want to get it wet because it just turns into a paste. makes it easy to smooth but it isn't really sustainable.
View attachment 305305
I also started using a new filler primer that totally gives the pieces a nice thick coat and basically eliminates layer lines. It's wonderful stuff and if you don't mind spending a little bit more money per can, it gives great results and can let you be lazy lol.
View attachment 305306
With an unrelated but unrelated note, there was a 405th mountain photoshoot in the time since I last updated and ZeroSerenity got some amazing pics of me in my recon helmet!
View attachment 305307

View attachment 305308
It was a wonderful time getting to meet people in person again and I wore a facemask under my balaclava under my helmet to make sure it was safe lol. So much fun! I also got a cheap little testor's airbrush from hobbylobby. It's really poopy though because it runs off of a compressed air can and only has one pressure setting so the paint can be really splotchy or not even work most of the time. It's an interesting thing but it did allow me to customize the little mega constructs recon figure!
View attachment 305310
Before ^
View attachment 305309
after^
I also got art commissioned of myself by Allura Marsh on twitter!
View attachment 305311
Check her out here! https://twitter.com/RetroAutomaton

Alright I'm going to keep working on my chest and forearms and those should be my next big update! If you have any questions about the biceps or anything please feel free to ask!
These are so beautiful
 
Remember how I didn't need to worry about the warning? Welp. We're well past that now. Let's see where did we leave off? Oh man alright I hadn't even finished sanding the forearms. Alright so learned lesson with the forearms and this is going to be a very long post. I sanded and primed and sanded those forearms and chest pieces for what felt like EONS. The thing that got me to feel more confident with them and to simply move on was giving them a layer of black primer. It really smoothed out the imperfections I was hyperfocusing on and were giving me so many issues. So a bit of advice would be to, if you feel like you're in a rut, try out the next stage, it won't hurt anything and you might be surprised by the results! alright time for pictures. I'm going to make a few posts in a row to kind of keep things a bit more organized. First is chestpiece. Oh man I think I'm repeating myself. It's fine probably.
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So for painting the chestpiece I was able to use a vinyl decal to mask off the UNSC emblem for the chest! Despite all this I know I am going to cover it with the straps later down the road.
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I was able to weather the chest and repaint some black areas that had spillover and I was really happy with the way it turned out!
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Used my vinyl cutter for some of the decals and used some paint so I can scratch some weathering into them! I also weathered the silver with a silver sharpie. it worked really well through stippling. Worked well!
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Placing the straps and attachments went so well! I was really happy with the color of the straps and did some modifying to get the painting right and the straps working!
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I placed strapping for the biceps and underarm pieces into my armor with rivets and washers. Elastic for parts that I want to move with me and webbing for the stuff that I just wanted to keep in the right places. I have to revisit the webbing on the shoulders since it started to give out while I was wearing it at a con.
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This is what's left to finish and post about on the suit! Next update will be soon! promise!
 

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