Hey all!
Been a hot minute on this thread and build, some things have changed, got rid of my creality k2 plus in favor of a bambu h2s and elegoo centauri carbon, froze into an ODST sickle so paint isn't going down on things, started work on some new accessories and whatnot, but otherwise same old base armor, same old poster, same bat-time, same bat-channel.
On my own costume, I've been adding some to my loadout now that my main "SMG and SOCOM" special is out of the way- my first point of order was (perhaps foolishly) an m60 shotgun prop. I grabbed the base model from Aguilar workshop and started printing about... 2 weeks after my last post? gorgeous model but HOO BOY! It's VERY easy to forget how big a lot of these pieces scale to a human. I'm not the tallest or broadest person by any means but I'm not exactly the slightest person either and it was UNRULY at 100%. stashing that one away for a friend who potentially will scale better to it while i started reprinting at about 70%, pic of two like parts compared below:
As you can see, BIG difference. At 6 ft and vaugely 165 pounds usually, the smaller one is much more manageable while still looking formidable and will be easier to carry and doff while trooping. No, I'm not going to address the fuzzy sweatshirt, its comfortable.
About at this time, I started have MAJOR issues with my K2, I'm not gonna get too into it right here because its not the point of the build post- it got to a point where noting would print and customer support's excuses became ridiculous enough that i was able to return it through the marketplace I had purchased it from and got a centauri carbon and put myself on the waitlist for an H2S for the same price as my K2- and BOY! what great printers they are! I've been printing for over a decade now, both hobby wise and professionally and I've been very pleased so far with both machines.
I wrapped printing on the m60 just as the cold started coming in, we've been in for a cold winter this year so getting this done looks like a job for the spring right now, some paints I'm comfortable using in the colder temps with proper prep but this i really think is gonna be one better off left until the warmer season, so keep an eye out!
If you thought that was all, you'd be wrong! Sure i have more things in the idea bag, but after the debut at NYCC with everyone's favorite UNSC member, John Halo (as faithfully portrayed by our own
Gearsofhalo ), my
other handler, my girlfriend, expressed some interest in her own "Mary Halo" UNSC build to wear as a handler. Being me, I cannot resist the oppertunity for a build, so i've been planning and working on some armor for her as well. Thoughts and some progress below:
First off, almost EVERY file I need I already own. I bought an UNHOLY amount of files ODST and otherwise marine related for R&D on my ODST, customized some myself, have a collection of helmets from Titlewave's patreon, among other things. primary thoughts being, between my printers and the file stockpile already in my posession this should be a very straightfoward process at least for the armor, soft goods we'll have to worry about later!
Immediately, I decided pulling some reference of different REACH models, concepts, both bungie and fan-made for female marines would be an intelligent call, everyones familiar at this point with the meme of the female UNSC marine from reach so this isn't a super challenging undertaking. Here's a selection of things i've been drawing from:
Main priorities for design here:
- Keep it vaguely feeling in the same era as the armor fireteam gravedigger is working with (hence the primary focus on reach-y builds)
- Don't overload her with armor- I'm much more willing to be over encumbered than most, so i don't want to overdo it, keep it to necessary, silhouette-building parts that make logical sense, keep the extremities light and easy to maneuver in.
- Scaling- files must scale well to the body but also work well with existing strap widths, we're using a lot of similar widths of similar or identical strapping on these builds.
- Make it visually distinct from an odst- this is a true blue normal marine and we want to make sure it lives on those merits and doesn't end up looking like its a halfway stage.
Those thoughts out of the way, first descision I made was to use the same Gen 1 marine base chest and back from titlewave. the full scale (besides the modified shoulders and flanks) fit me at my size pretty well at approximately 6 feet, understanding my girlfriends height and my strapping options (the main strap width it was designed around is 1.5 in) i did some math and came up with a general scaling "rosetta stone" of 83.33 percent. This scaling:
- Throws it generally from an average active male build more into the scaling of an average active female build, necessary of course so she's not swimming in the armor.
- Strapping widths generally line up really well: 1.5 in strapping slots easily turn into 1.25 inch slots, 2 inch slots become 1.66, very close and suitable for 1.5 inch, 1.25 inch slots become 1.04 inch, perfect for 1 inch strapping, and 1 inch becomes.... well, you get the idea.
- Large enough that we're not losing detail, small enough that most of this is easy printing and orientation.
Started off printing the front and its "clips" (parts i did not use on my ODST because i used the odst metal clips on mine), followed by the back, here's a pic of the front so far:
As you could probably assume, it looks roughly the same, but just smaller
allow my hand to provide some sense of scale vs the photos ive posted in my armor.
I haven't loaded TPU in for the flanks and chest yet, I decided we're going all in on the hard parts first. In keeping with the parameters I set, I decided we needed some shoulders and thigh armor from here. Naturally, I used my modified thigh armor from moesizzlac's gorgeous files, rescaled and reinstalled the mounting holes for the picatinny rails and popped out a set of those in about half a day. On the shoulders i was very excited to get some use out of some really nice files I had bought in an odst/marine bundle from mantis prop shop, really nicely done pieces, used my universal scaling and they look like they're gonna work pretty well- I'll have photos of that all soon! I've decided that shin and forearm armor isn't
super needed, leaning kinda into that first reference image. We'll be getting tac pants with slot-in knee armor to give a bit of extra protection, but that should keep this nice and manageable.
Seeing as I've already written the great American novel here, I'll wrap up with whats currently on the print bed: the crown of the build, I finally had an excuse to pull out the beautiful files for titlewave's Infinite Marine/MP Pro series helmet. I really want to make myself one at some point but for now, this will definitely scratch my itch.Gonna probably use the cheek guard mandibles, maybe make the glasses and readout accessories to slot in for her. She's not a fan of a lot of cover in front of the face so it's a great option I think. I take a size L in the Pro line, but I didn't need to scale anything because her head size lines up really well with his size S files. I'll be popping the main piece off the Bambu in about half a day, and we'll be that much closer to wrapping up on this.
As for compatibility with the Fireteam Gravedigger narrative? I'll leave that to
Gearsofhalo !
Anyways, I'm tired of typing, I'll be back soon enough to give more updates, I swear!
Until next time!
-Scrapper
