Saber's Second Project- Agent Texas Style! (PIC HEAVY)

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the boots look great all painted and detailed with the plunger bit, I cant even tell that they are foam!

Thanks, Anna! I haven't gotten to permanently installing the plungers yet, but I will sometime this week.

I come bearing pics once again!

I'll just let the pics speak for themselves (with maybe a tad bit of commentary).

Chest Piece:
Back portion is roughly 45% fiberglassed and warp on the left side has been fixed.
I might not have enough fiberglass to finish the chest piece so I'll have to run to the store once I run out. :C
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Helmet:
Main body sanding is almost finished. Just need to run a finer grit sand paper over it before I'm going to call it good.
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I added bondo to the lips that are the openings to the visor portion and head opening. This helps ensure that they won't chip on me after repeatedly putting the helmet on and taking it off.
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I also accented the details with cardboard from a pizza box.
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Primer to end the day in preparation for a fresh start tomorrow.
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That's today's update! Stay tuned tomorrow for more progress!
Thanks for looking and don't forget to comment or critique!


Stay Frosty, 405thers!
-Alexis
 
nice details id never have thought about that. cardboard from a pizza box you say? *gives evil laugh while rubbing evil villain hand sanitizer on my hands* i look forward to seeing more saber keep up the good work
 
Today has been another Helmet day.

Silver Coat
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Mustard Treatment
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Black Coat
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Finished! :D I'll post more up close pictures of it tomorrow, since I didn't have the time to. Severe Thunder and Lightning Storm and all...
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I also glued the plungers to one of the boots this evening and I will glue the other one in tomorrow. So here's a pic of the boot with a shin.
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More to come tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by and comments and critique are gratefully accepted!

Stay Frosty, 405thers!
-Alexis
 
Thank you ZMX for your support!

Today I decided to take a break from costuming and enjoy the sun a little. (Because this is the only chance I get in the year in which I can get a sunburn. haha)

But I did get up close pictures of the helmet for you to enjoy.
All three of my helmets lined up
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My more recent helmet and the helmet that I just finished for size comparison.
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And new helmet close-ups.
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I'll be getting back to my suit tomorrow and I'm getting really excited because the chest is the only piece left that I have to fiberglass! The thighs have a spray-on coat of Plastidip but I have to fill some seams with the brush-on Plastidip. But other than that, I don't have much left to do! Woo!

Thanks for checking out my thread and remember that comments and critique are gratefully accepted and encouraged!

Stay Frosty, 405thers!
-Alexis
 
A small blip of progress today!

Back of the chest piece is 95% glassed. I ran out of resin before I could finish glassing it so I had to go to the store.
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I spent $30 on these items so I could start to finish the suit. I hope it's enough!
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And to end the day, I started to add plastidip to the cracks in the thigh pieces.
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Sorry for such a short update butI'll hopefully have more to show for tomorrow!

Thanks for checking out my thread and feel free to comment and/or critique!

Stay Frosty, 405thers!
-Alexis
 
Thanks SpartanT117!

Sorry for the lack of update yesterday, guys. I didn't really get much done so I figured I'd wait to post till today.

I'm fiberglassing more of the chest piece.
Two pieces together so make sure I'm not fiberglassing them in a wonky position.
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The two pieces with fiberglass.
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The front of the chest piece has fiberglass mat on one side and cloth on the other.
I definitely like the cloth better. It's neater and doesn't bite into my skin after I resin it. So I think I'll be sticking to cloth for now on.

I did the main painting on the foam pistol. I admit, it's not the BEST pistol ever, but if I can get magnets to hold it up, then I'll be happy with it for the time being.
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The helmet got it's tubing glued into the cheek portions today too.
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And a quick light check was in order.
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The third light on the right side is kind of dim so I may have to remove it and buy two more LED's from the Dollar Tree to finish up the right side. After that, all I have left to do with the helmet is add the visor (which I still need to buy).

I can't get much done till tonight because it's so dang hot outside!
I'll have to start getting up earlier in the morning if I want to get more work done before it gets too hot.

Thanks for checking out the thread guys!

Stay Frosty, 405thers!
-Alexis
 
wow the helmet looks great! I really like the model of the new one, the details are significantly better. The chest piece looks like its getting pretty strong, the one that I made was strengthened with only rondo and it is very very weak, so fiberglass is something I will have to keep in mind for future projects.
Also I dont know what you are talking about saying that you dont think that your pistol is "the best." It looks amazing to me, all of the details are super clean and the paint job is well done too.
Cant wait to see more
 
wow the helmet looks great! I really like the model of the new one, the details are significantly better. The chest piece looks like its getting pretty strong, the one that I made was strengthened with only rondo and it is very very weak, so fiberglass is something I will have to keep in mind for future projects.
Also I dont know what you are talking about saying that you dont think that your pistol is "the best." It looks amazing to me, all of the details are super clean and the paint job is well done too.
Cant wait to see more

Thanks Anna for the kind words! The pistol ISN'T that great. From a distance it looks good but there are so many things wrong with it, I just kick myself for not doing better. (Perfectionist mind likes to do that)
But I'll still keep it since it can probably be held up with magnets.


And for everyone else, I have just a short update.
I finished Fiberglassing the entire chest piece. The edges my be a bit weak so I'll have to rondo them.
Pics of the chest piece halves with Fiberglass cloth in areas where I need them to be.
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I did notice one thing that I know will bug me for forever if I don't fix it. And that is this warpage. Right here.
Problem is, I have no idea about how I'm going to fix it. It's already been glassed and fully cured and I didn't notice it till after it cured.
Is there anyone out there who can think of how I can fix it? I really don't want to scrap the piece because of this... :C
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Thanks for looking and please give me ideas as to how to fix this warp!

EDIT: Also as a side note, I will probably not be posting any progress tomorrow. I will be very busy with a babysitting gig and then a job interview soon after. It would be REALLY awesome if I actually had a job to pay for this stuff instead of waiting for Christmas and my Birthday to get the money when I need it.

Stay Frosty, 405thers!
-Alexis
 
What I would try to do to fix the warping would be to build up the damaged area with styrene. Get it roughly into the shape you want and sand it down. I have never tried styrene myself, but I have seen a few builders (like Volpin or Drgnfyre4) use styrene to build up raised areas. It seems to sand well and you can use bondo on it to make everything nice and flush afterwards.

You could also try something simillar with foam. If you go for foam, I would try that pink insulation foam that some people use to make prop masters for moldmaking. Spartan Z06 uses that stuff in this tutorial on weapon making http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/35884-No-pep-halo-reach-foam-weapon-builds.

Erayachi uses something called paperclay in her build, send her a PM to see if she thinks it would stick to resin. http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/34621-erayachi-s-Mark-VI-Build-(WIP)-Part-1!

I guess you could also try cutting out the warped area, repepping just that bit, and glassing the new bit back in. That would require some kind of re-enforcing to get it solid again though.

Those are the ideas I had. Hopefully one of them helps, or leads you to thinking of your own solution. Best of luck on your armour and your job interview!!!
 
What I would try to do to fix the warping would be to build up the damaged area with styrene. Get it roughly into the shape you want and sand it down. I have never tried styrene myself, but I have seen a few builders (like Volpin or Drgnfyre4) use styrene to build up raised areas. It seems to sand well and you can use bondo on it to make everything nice and flush afterwards.

You could also try something simillar with foam. If you go for foam, I would try that pink insulation foam that some people use to make prop masters for moldmaking. Spartan Z06 uses that stuff in this tutorial on weapon making http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/35884-No-pep-halo-reach-foam-weapon-builds.

Erayachi uses something called paperclay in her build, send her a PM to see if she thinks it would stick to resin. http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/34621-erayachi-s-Mark-VI-Build-(WIP)-Part-1!

I guess you could also try cutting out the warped area, repepping just that bit, and glassing the new bit back in. That would require some kind of re-enforcing to get it solid again though.

Those are the ideas I had. Hopefully one of them helps, or leads you to thinking of your own solution. Best of luck on your armour and your job interview!!!

I was actually brain-storming with my dad yesterday and this is what we decided to do.
In the picture below, I have marked the areas that I will be cutting or removing. The line towards the neck will be a relief cut so I can bring that portion back up. The colored in square I'm going to remove completely and then trace it onto a piece of cardstock and fiberglass it to make a flat replacement. After gluing it in, I will slush the inside of that section with rondo to keep it there and prevent it from ungluing.

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And here's another pic of the warp. It's that flat plane that's the problem. Nothing else, really.
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Things have been going really slowly due to a number of factors one of them being that my grandmother recently learned that she has a lesion on her brain stem and she will be having surgery to remove it soon. And for some of you who will probably send messages of your support, I give thanks ahead of time. I'm just posting this fact so you guys know that I'm slowing down a bit. I'm not looking for sympathy; but thanks nonetheless.

As for the job interview, Nessy (and for anyone else who was wondering), I did the interview, was told I did exceptionally well, and then the next day I get an automated email telling me that I didn't get the job. So now I'm on the hunt again.

Thanks for looking guys and I hope to get back on this soon. I need to buy new cutting wheel so I don't completely butcher the chest piece.

Comments and critique appreciated.

Stay Frosty, 405thers!
-Alexis
 
oh my gosh im so sorry to hear about your grandmother, my grandma is going through some serious medical issues right now as well so I know how you feel :( I hope that her surgery is very successful and that she has a good recovery.

On a happier note, good job on the job interview, but sorry that you didn't get it! Its tough for us highschool/college aged kids to find jobs out there. If you do find one though, Itll be good to rack up some extra cash to pay for all these expensive prop materials. And it seems like you have a good plan set to fix the warping! I think itll work out well as long as you can get the front part of the chest piece and the new added piece (to fix the warping) on the back part to match up when connecting them with a buckle (or whatever method you decide to use.)
 
oh my gosh im so sorry to hear about your grandmother, my grandma is going through some serious medical issues right now as well so I know how you feel :( I hope that her surgery is very successful and that she has a good recovery.

On a happier note, good job on the job interview, but sorry that you didn't get it! Its tough for us highschool/college aged kids to find jobs out there. If you do find one though, Itll be good to rack up some extra cash to pay for all these expensive prop materials. And it seems like you have a good plan set to fix the warping! I think itll work out well as long as you can get the front part of the chest piece and the new added piece (to fix the warping) on the back part to match up when connecting them with a buckle (or whatever method you decide to use.)

Thanks Anna.
The scariest part about this is we don't know if it's cancerous or not and we don't know how long she's had it for.

But anyways, yeah, I was really mad about the rejection email. But it just means that there is something better planned for me. So I'll try to keep my head up on the job hunt. The extra cash will definitely be a good thing since I'm a college student.

The chest piece has definitely needed some babying and I hope that it turns out good in the end. And I hope that I'll have enough energy to finish it before September since that is when Kumoricon is. I do plan on using buckles but only for the top connection. My idea for the bottom half is to use magnets. On my MC build, I had buckles and I had a hard time unbuckling it when I wanted to get the chest piece off and I ended up cutting my hand on stray fiberglass that I never sanded down.
I don't remember the chest piece being so difficult!

-Alexis
 
Please tell your Grandma that we are all hoping for the operation to be successful and for a speedy recovery afterwards. Be sure to go visit her when you get a chance.

It's too bad that you didn't get the job, but you did at least get told that you didn't get the job. Maybe it is a Canadian thing, but I never get told that I didn't get a job. Three years back I applied for a summer job, and just last summer they called me to ask if I was interested in working for them. But by then I already had a job working for an agricultural Coop so I couldn't accept. So at least you know you should keep looking, and that you give a good interview.

I like your plan for fixing the chest. Be sure to push some fibreglass into the wet rondo for added strength.
 
Please tell your Grandma that we are all hoping for the operation to be successful and for a speedy recovery afterwards. Be sure to go visit her when you get a chance.

It's too bad that you didn't get the job, but you did at least get told that you didn't get the job. Maybe it is a Canadian thing, but I never get told that I didn't get a job. Three years back I applied for a summer job, and just last summer they called me to ask if I was interested in working for them. But by then I already had a job working for an agricultural Coop so I couldn't accept. So at least you know you should keep looking, and that you give a good interview.

I like your plan for fixing the chest. Be sure to push some fibreglass into the wet rondo for added strength.

I thank you for your support. My family and I have been hanging out with my grandma a lot in the past few days. My dad went with her to her doctor's appointment this morning and they went over her CAT scan. It turns out she has a cystic tumor formed from rheumatoid arthritis in her neck. She had neck surgery ten years ago and the arthritis formed shortly thereafter, thus the tumor formed. It's non-cancerous, but it's pressing against her spinal cord and if left there, it will eventually kill her. No damage has been done to the brain because the tumor is outside of the brain but it's still scary. She's due for a pre-op this Friday and then she'll be having two surgeries in the next week or so. The first surgery will remove the tumor, the second will fuse her cervical (neck) vertebrae together to prevent this from ever happening again. What a way to spend her birthday.

And no, it's not just Canada that the lack of communications happens. It happens here too but Costco is one of the very few who actually contact the people who were rejected. It just disappoints me that they led me on into thinking that I had the job after the interview. But... *shrugs* Que sera, sera.

The fiberglass is a good idea. I'll do that when I slush the rondo, thanks!


Keep it clean. nice work.

Thanks.

-Alexis
 
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Hey guys, it's been a few days since I've worked on anything. I've been spending a lot of time with my grandmother these last few days and she will be having surgery in the next week.

I managed to get some sanding done on the front half of the chest piece so I decided to post a few pictures.

First Bondo coat
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First Sanding
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Second Bondo layer
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Second time sanded + third bondo layer on left side, first layer of bondo on right side
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I plan on getting more progress done tomorrow on this front half and I hope to get a real fire under my butt so I can finish this before the bad weather starts coming back. But that shouldn't be a problem 'till after my birthday this coming Saturday.
So let's see if I can make a mad dash!

Stay Frosty, 405thers!
-Alexis
 
The chest piece is coming along nicely. Bondo really changes the look of pepped armour, brings it from polygons to believable. It might be the most boring stage, but it is really important to getting the look right. Keep up the good work!

I was just watching Cereal Killers Video Tutorials yesterday and I got to the one about applying bondo. I don't know if you have seen them or not (thread here, episode 4 is bondo) but he uses a razor blade to trim his bondo before it hardens. Basically he trims little bumps off to reduce his sanding time. I noticed a few small bumps in the first layer of bondo, maybe that could be a small timesaver for you. Hope that helps!

Also, Happy Birthday in advance! Turns out our birthdays are fairly close together, mine is on Thursday. Gotta love July birthday parties, stays light out late, warm weather, summer vacation, great time of year.
 
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