Rookie planning an ODST Build

[ShadowTrooper]

Hello everyone,
my name is Seth, and after getting Halo 3 ODST over the summer, I have come to the conclusion that I wanted to build and own my own ODST Set. After researching for a few hours of research on Bing- which got me little to no where because a lot of the information I found were the same- I finally stumbled upon the 405th and after more research, realized the people here know what they're doing with armor builds, so I figured the best place to start on this project is here. With that being said- I do have a few questions- I've heard of Sean Bradely's ODST kits and quite frankly that all I know so if anyone know's or has his kit or any information on it or knows about other kits ? Second- What is the normal build time and price range for a build?- Third- are there other methods of making a 'from scratch' kit instead of pepakura file? For now that's all the questions I can atleast think of before considering to start on this endeavor- but in the meantime, I am currently working on sketch's and designs for my ODST armor.

 

[nintendstroid]

Lol who uses bing?

sean bradleys kit is pretty awesome.
the price range depends on how detailed you wanna go. or material.
if you want a foam build go check out da frontline trooper on youtube. fast and easy to build and looks super good.

 

[Masterchief0624]

Lol who uses bing?

LOL, so true.

You can contact sean bradley through here or on FB and he'll quote you based on what you need/want. Concerning build time and prince range, it all depends on how detailed you want your suit to be and out of what material. I'm currently building my H4 MC suit out of foam but Im taking my time and so far its been 3 months and i've spent about $80-100 in materials not including my helmet.

 

[NightHawk]

I started not to long ago myself, a couple weeks ago give or take a week. The pepakura I felt was the easiest and cheapest but having the right printer means everything. Because you need at least 110lb paper to use with pepakura to make sure the piece you are making will hold its shape and will not warp when resin is applied. My helmet which I have been working on only took me a couple days to make with the paper because I had a lot of time on my hands. However when it came to resin and apply bondo body filler it is going to take awhile because I do not have the proper place to apply resin and bondo I have to drive out to a friends house to do this. But it can get expensive.
The paper itslef110lbs like 5$ which is easy and will take up the most time putting together if you do pepakura. Then you will need Fiberglass resin 11-15$, fiberglass pad/mat 5$, body filler 10$, a respirator (25-30$) or if you get some good face masks (10$ for 2) which you will need to replace more often. Brushes (5$ would recommend getting bulk otherwise $$$) Spreader for the body filler (5$), gloves (5$) which I highly recommend you do not want resin to get on your fingers and hardened and burn you. Make sure you get a good amount of measuring cups (Plastic) or just simple plastic cups to use for mixing stuff. This is just a rough estimate and this is mainly for Pepakura vs. foam only. so just getting this stuff is about 70$-60$ not including tax which we all love.

You will also need a glue I highly recommend a GLUE GUN people say the burns suck which they do but if you look for a ""precession low temperature glue gun"" your well off. Also glue guns if you mess up you can just apply heat to the tab with the glue gun and it will release. You will need xacto knives with extra blades. (FYI the tips of the blade can break off and fling randomly or get stuff in the paper) a good ruler is nice. A fabric measuring tape so you can measure you body or have someone do it for you. Also have you laptop nearby so you can look at for reference when doing pep files or just look at it make sure what you are doing is along the right path.

I would recommend doing a pep file or two just to see how you like it.

 

[Kusak3]

Again I will agree with the others that have posted. I will approach from the foam side being NightHawk came at it from the pep bondo side.. I am running a mixed component suit. My helmet and shoulder guards are Pepakura and then fiberglass and bondo work. My chest and legs are all made in EVA foam. I took Pepakura files and after watching a couple of excellent video's on this site converted them to use them on foam. I am a fairly tall guy so each one of my Shin's took a full piece of eva foam. The knee plates have been a pain in the arse I have had to resize and redo them 3 times now. Pretty basically each one of my thigh pieces also took a piece of eva foam each. Used the left over pieces to make the knee plates again and again. Anyhow that took out a pack of foam mats which run about 10 dollars at Harbor Freight. The other things you will need are lots of knife blades. A good sharpie marker or two. I am also using 110lb card stock to make my foam templates that way they hold up better If I have to redo a piece or so. The chest section of my armor is currently based on da front line soldiers designs.

As to time. I probably have about 6 hours in each shin piece by the time I cut and built the pieces. The thigh plates were probably about 3 hours a piece as well. The chest section I have about 8 hours in it as well.

Lets see some concept of prices. All of this info can be found about the website as well.
eva foam Harbor freight 10 dollars a pack 4 pieces in a pack
Snap blade knife. about 4 dollars
Blades for snap blade knife a few dollars again will need lots of them
Heat gun 15 dollars.
Hot glue gun (must be high temp gun and glue) 7 dollars for the gun and about 6 dollars per pack of sticks
110 lb card stock 6 dollars at wal mart
sharpies 2 dollars or so
Plasti dip will most likely need a half a dozen or so cans. I am using the spray type about 8 dollars a can at Lowe's
Various pieces of webbing and buckles. Velcro various sources. probably about 20 dollars or so in that material so far.

lets see. Videos by Dafront line solder and also by Spacemeats are all useful guides and tutorials to help you along on the foam road.

Also dont know what tools you have access to but if you have access to a bandsaw it is rather useful for cutting out foam pieces. With the correct band you get a lot cleaner cuts and you can set deck tilt to handle you angled cuts.


As to my helmet as I said it is pepped and fiberglass. I probably have about 30 hours of work in my helmet now and it was my first attempt. I probably will have another 20 hours in it till I get my vacuum forming table built and form a visor for it.

It can be an expensive and time consuming hobby overall. But mostly the expense can be handled in small bite size pieces once you get past the initial money drop to get your tools and basic material.

 

[Exactice]

Hey Shadow,
Just posted this in another thread, Hope this helps, this is my thread also of my build without pepakura. My rush job took 3 weeks to complete. So not to bad, but this was almost every single night from 8pm till about 1am So 5 hours for about 18 days. As for the Sean Brady ODST helmet, I incorporated his inner transparent lights. It was tough and doesnt at all look as good as his, The 2 biggest things you need are lots of lights in the visor, aiming them at the fact and not forward.

Other than that there is so much info here you just gotta sift through it.

http://www.405th.com/f21/happy-halloween-hawaii-spartan-armor-build-43397/

1) I didnt use Pepakura files, I did it free hand
2) Cost added up to about $175 total. Not including the VHT Night shade that was a waste.

Basic Suit
*3 -6packs of EVA Foam $17.99 each.
Hot Glue Gun & Extra Glue $12,
Odds and End parts $15.

Electrical
2 Motors $6.99 each
Christmas LED Lights Pack of 50 - $7.99
3 Switches $4.99 each
Odds and ends $10

Paint
2 Cans Plasti Dip $6.99 Each
2 Cans Primer $4.99 Each
2 Cans Color $4.99 Each
Hand Paints $2.99 Each

Visor Stuff
Plastic Visor - $2.99
VHT Night Shade - $15.99 (Wasted this, dont use in my opinion
Walmart Car Tint - $12.99 Roll of 20ft

$175 Total

3) I used a lot of scratch paper to draw out small pieces and connect. I would say draw out ideas first section by section then move forward. Trying to do the whole suit at one time is just madness

4) For the bigger person larger pieces of paper, so I would look into construction paper or so

5) TAKE YOUR TIME DONT RUSH IF YOU DONT HAVE TO!!!!!

6) DONT RUSH ON THE PAINT EITHER, my mistake light coats at a time.


Other than that have fun! It is a great process!

 

[ShadowTrooper]

Thanks for the advice everyone- for an update, I've completed my sketches of my helmet (side view only seeing as it got a bit difficult for a front view). I've decide thus far that the visor will be a metallic gold- which will also be the color of the stripes. Decals wise on the helmet, towards the right of the stripe will be an all white UNSC logo ( might cast it in gold as well unsure yet) and on the right side of the helmet, from all the research I've done for the helmet sketch, there is a small MED ID tag similar to that of the one on the left shoulder guard, with the exception it's in a more silverish-gray color tag and is from how I take it an up close detail. On the right side of the helmet I plan on adding one of the attachments seen in Halo: Reach or adding Tactical light of some kind mounted to the side. As for the chestplate logo- I am still trying to get an idea on what it would be seeing as each logo and color was unique to each ODST. On the right shoulder guard and below the med tag on the left- straight down the middle will be a gold stripe.

As for the armor itself I' have decided to aim it towards a more CQC or Urban Assault configuration. Above the right outside ankle will be two ammo pouches. The belt might include extra ammo pouches for various weapons and calibers. The back plate armor which I'm not sure is possible or not- but if so I will do- is make part of it magnetic to be able to 'hold' onto the not in use weapons( though if I do use a jet pack it will be thus on the jetpack as seen in Reach). Another thing I will add- whether connected and hanging from the belt, or attached to the thigh plates, would be 2 holsters, one on each thigh plate. For now that's all I have planned out for armor config.

As far as any other special attachments; I've decided to go and see about building one of the Halo: Reach jump packs the ODST's use.

Accessories: As for weapons and such I plan on having two knives similar to those Spartans used in Reach: one on the outside left boot, and on the left side either above, or on the chest plate. Weapon wise, I've thought of scratch building a Battle Rifle from Halo:3 or the DMR from Reach; Reach Shotgun or the Silenced SMG. While those are still thoughts, I know for a fact I'm going to create two of the silenced pistols from Halo 3: ODST.

As for constructing the armor I have all the tools available- just not the resign, glue etc etc. So with that said I should be able to cut down on expenses a little bit- As for the armor material- I am more so leaning towards one of the kits from Sean Bradely due to it's high quality ( that and this seems the best choice possible for me- I looked at pep. and well it was immediately decided that that option wasn't for me yet till I knew what I was doing. Same for foam.)

Later on today and throughout the week I'll post up my sketches for my ODST.