Spartan Armor Overhaul

[captaincaliflour]

So I've finally reached a sort of lull in my construction. Business is ok, I have enough money to pay my bills, and I don't really have any cons that I want to have something awesome done for coming up anytime soon

Except one thing:

On October 25th Halo 5 comes out (obviously) so I'd like to overhaul my armor in time for it. At this point it'll basically be a complete rebuild from the ground up, with almost everything being scrapped and rebuilt.

Here's my existing armor:

The plan is to replace the robot arm with a new custom one that draws inspiration from the reach bionic arm but has a more Halo 4 flair and complexity. The legs will be replaced with Bulk legs (which will hopefully have mag storage in the thighs), the undersuit will be completely remade, and the helmet will be replaced as well.

The starting point, then, is small, with the helmet. Got the superstructure for it cut today:

It's going to be GUNGNIR, but with a bit of a twist. Also the entire faceplate will hopefully be one way transparent.

 

[Chernobyl]

If you're interested, I'm working on a re-model of the GUNGNIR torso piece that might make your life a little easier. I'd be more than happy to send the file off to you for evaluation and critique, if you think it'd help you out.

EDIT: for your consideration, I've attached a WIP shot of the file in progress. Changes to the basic game-ripped file include:

- Added indented geometry in a number of places
- Added raised areas/features where necessary
- General file clean-up/removal of triangles
- Merged geometry previously existing as 'floating' detail (mainly booster pod details)
- Added features to enable file to be locked together better during construction

I also plan to:

- Add floating-face templates for some features
- Enhance gut/spine plate pieces to fit better with file overall

Again, do let me know if you want this file for your own purposes. I'm not trying to promote my files through your threads, I simply saw that you happened to be using a version of the torso file I happened to be working on at the time and wondered if my work could benefit you.

 

[captaincaliflour]

I may have to take you up on that. The torso is probably going to be the one piece that stays, but I realy need to rework the fusion cores on the back and your new file looks much cleaner and game accurate.

 

[Chernobyl]

I may have to take you up on that. The torso is probably going to be the one piece that stays, but I realy need to rework the fusion cores on the back and your new file looks much cleaner and game accurate.

I'll do my best to get it done for you, Spartan. The back plate is giving me some issue, but I'll keep hammering at it. Let me know if there's a deadline you'd like it by.

EDIT: I'd be interested to know at which scale you constructed the piece, in order to make unfolding it a little more simple.

 

[captaincaliflour]

Not really familiar with how the scale will affect your unfold, unless you're referring to the ultimate layout, which I don't really need. I have to re-lay it out entirely for use in the laser cutter, and it inevitably ends up hilariously oversized when I translate it from DXF into CDR for the laser to cut, so don't worry about me

Got the helmet foam structure basically done, it's a bit snug but that's ok.


The laser recently had a bit of a tune up so the engraving on foam is finally working properly again too, it's really made getting the fine details into the frame a lot easier. Now to get Vcarving on the faceplate so I can make the vacuum form pattern.

 

[Chernobyl]

Not really familiar with how the scale will affect your unfold, unless you're referring to the ultimate layout, which I don't really need.

But everybody else will. I'm releasing the file to the general public as a Pepakura file - for that, I'd like to know a general ballpark scale for unfolding it, so that I can set up the unfold properly without people having to figure it all out themselves.

 

[captaincaliflour]

Ah well I don't think my scale would be very accurate...I'm 6' 5 and 170lbs, so my scale was wonky as hell. I ended up scaling it to 27.803567 from the original GUNGNIR Pack rip but that was basically too big in every dimension except the neck.

 

[Chernobyl]

Ah well I don't think my scale would be very accurate...I'm 6' 5 and 170lbs, so my scale was wonky as hell. I ended up scaling it to 27.803567 from the original GUNGNIR Pack rip but that was basically too big in every dimension except the neck.

That's fine, it's a ballpark figure for me to work from. The file should be with you within the week.

EDIT: attached a file for showing progress. Mostly it's a little work here and there to get things cleaned up.

 

[captaincaliflour]

Why the increased poly count around the collar area from the last pic?

 

[Chernobyl]

Why the increased poly count around the collar area from the last pic?

I forgot to apply the 'show lines' modifier in Pepakura - there's no actual difference at all.

 

[Chernobyl]

Sorry for double-posting in your thread, but the modelling portion of the work is done and you're welcome to the assembled file if you wish. I'll be unfolding it at the scale you originally provided, and each component has been split to make things easier for you to identify and alter in Pepakura to your own liking via the 3D Menu > Show Object List feature. You'll be able to hide/show each component of the file and edit/select it at your own desire, and I've included as much in the way of floating face templates for intricate parts as I can bring myself to work on.

Let me know if you want the pre-unfold file for your own use, or if you'd like the refined product - I'll be posting it to the File Archive in either case.

 

[captaincaliflour]

Sorry for double-posting in your thread, but the modelling portion of the work is done and you're welcome to the assembled file if you wish. I'll be unfolding it at the scale you originally provided, and each component has been split to make things easier for you to identify and alter in Pepakura to your own liking via the 3D Menu > Show Object List feature. You'll be able to hide/show each component of the file and edit/select it at your own desire, and I've included as much in the way of floating face templates for intricate parts as I can bring myself to work on.

Let me know if you want the pre-unfold file for your own use, or if you'd like the refined product - I'll be posting it to the File Archive in either case.

Awesome, thanks! I'll be sure to take a look and see what I can integrate into my existing chestpiece.

I got my face molded relative to how it sits in the helmet today. On top of this I'm gonna use bondo probably (don't have a lot of experience with it and don't know how well it bonds to plaster) to build the skull features for vacuum forming. The real bitch will be getting the eye holes as smooth as possible to ensure when vacuum formed I can still see out of them. I'd rather not have to replace them entirely.


Tomorrow the real fun begins as I get to have my body molded with duct tape...hopefully I can rope my wife into doing that for me...Using that I'll build the templates to make the pattern for my undersuit as well as the mold bases for the vacuum formed ice packs.

 

[mannyq86]

what is the best way to glue the paper together what kind of glue is the best to use

 

[Chernobyl]

what is the best way to glue the paper together what kind of glue is the best to use

I appreciate that you're in need of answers to certain questions, but hijacking other people's threads is not the way to go.

We have a guide set up in the File Archive that might give you some insight - you can find it here. Otherwise, please don't hijack another person's thread.

 

[captaincaliflour]

what is the best way to glue the paper together what kind of glue is the best to use

Chernobyl's got the right idea. Also I don't use paper for any of my builds anymore. I have a laser cutter so I just lay out the pep files in corel and it cuts them for me. 0 paper involved.

So that was exciting. Got called to do some booth work at Sabo yesterday, but before that I managed to get my body cast. My wife and room mate were quite helpful, though the experience was remarkably uncomfortable. The dog did not help at all, and made wrapping my legs a pain by sticking his nose in the face of whoever was wrapping.



Now to follow Roxy's build thread on how she made her undersuit...

 

[Chernobyl]

Here's a basic unfold of the torso file. It's arranged for A4, at the scale you originally specified earlier on. You'll likely want/need to do some editing down the line of the unfold to get it set to your own scale and preferences, but for now, you should be able to use it to at least set yourself up.

The back hump hasn't been unfolded yet - that's an in-progress, DISREGARD THAT, IT'S DONE NOW.

 

[captaincaliflour]

Nice! That looks much cleaner than the file I used originally...

Got some bondo on the face mold and did some shaping to it

And I also got the feet and the visor pieces cut out.


I'm gonna fill the visor with bondo and plaster after it's assembled so I can vacuum form it properly (our vacuum former is way too powerful so you really gotta make the pattern tough)

 

[Chernobyl]

Nice! That looks much cleaner than the file I used originally...

Awesome. It's a shame in a way that you're ploughing on with the helmet - that was my next port of call for refinement. But, good luck with it regardless!

 

[captaincaliflour]

It's fine, I had to alter the pep files so much in order to get the look I wanted in corel that they barely resembled the original two files I used

Speaking of which, I got the visor done:


I'm gonna let it cure for a few days and then heat treat it a bit to make sure it holds its shape without having to be secured to the helmet. After that I'll fill it with plaster and should be ready for vacuum forming!

Now on to the feet...and finishing my etsy orders

 

[captaincaliflour]

Got the armor plates for the shoes done

Also got, somewhere in this pile, the parts for the shins and thighs done.

Sadly I have a buttload of orders to sort through at the moment which is slowing me down...but I'm workin' as fast as I can to catch up so I can get these done hopefully before the start of october.