Spartan Ii's Armour Progress...

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Thanks, T! Yeah, the styrene really does add a nice finish to the piece, once all the puttying/sanding/smoothing out is done. It's a very easy material to work, imho.

As for a tutorial on building with styrene, I'd be up for doing step-by-step instructions, but given my change in plans for construction of the rest of the suit (see my last couple posts) it wouldn't really be all that informative as I'll only be using thin styrene for some of the surface detailing.

The use of it wouldn't be anywhere near as involved as it was for my helmet.

I wish I'd had the opportunity to take more pics of it while in its very early stages of assembly, but unfortunately I didn't have a decent digital camera nor did I have the ability to transfer pics over (had a USB1 PC, whereas the new camera I got is USB2).

With that said, though, there's no reason I couldn't put together another Mk VI helmet using the same layered styrene technique. Might even switch up some of what I did on this one, heh. I'd just have to wait on doing that until I've gotten my full armour finished, as I'd really like to try and have that ready for DragonCon later this year.

But, if there's still some interest in seeing a tutorial of that sort, then I'd be all for doing one up then... :cool:
 
Well, I've been meaning to post on this for a little while, but what with the things that have been going on lately I just haven't really had the time, lol.

Since I just posted a reply in her progress thread, I figured I might as well do the same and follow suit with Aeonyx in posting a long-overdue update of sorts.

As I'd mentioned in one of my posts back on Page 03:

SPARTAN II said:
[...]

Maybe I should take some close-up shots of the details on the underside of the brim too, lol.

[...]

I'm doing just that. Haven't really been able to put anymore time in on it, but thought it would be kewl to reveal that final aspect of my helmet (since no one's seen that part of it yet), so here goes:

Mk VI Helmet -- Pic 24

Mk VI Helmet -- Pic 25

I know it's not much, but what with everything that's been on with me here I simply haven't been able to devote any amount of time to working on it further. So, at least this is better than nothing.

Oh, one thing I have managed to do since the last update is start to apply some of the raised surface details on the sides of the helmet. And, I've started dremelling the small recessed details at the back of the brim of the helmet.

I was originally just going to do some more raised styrene to get that effect, but think that the whole dremelling approach is actually working pretty well. I'll try to take some pics of that later.

EDIT: Before anyone comments on the height of the brim details, yes... I realize I made those raised panels too low, lol. I misgauged the depth of them when I was looking at the "Starry Night" commercial, and so used really thin styrene for that area. As I still have the template I used for that, I'll probably cut out another set and thicken that up.
 
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The detailing looks good on the underside of the brim. Can't wait for the next update.
 
Quadraxis said:
The detailing looks good on the underside of the brim. Can't wait for the next update.

Yeah, it looks good, but what's really bugging me about it is that the panel details aren't raised enough, compared to others I've seen.

I'll be the first one to admit I'm my own worst critic at times with things like this; I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my props, lol.

So, I'm going to use that template again and cut out a thicker set of panels and put them in place. Then I'll be happy with that aspect of the helmet, lol.

RedTogusa said:
looking mighty fine there Spart. ;)

Thanks, Red! :)

Hopefully, if all goes well my next update will have it nearly at completion. I intend to finish applying the rest of the raised surface details, insert the vents, fabricate the nosepiece and have the rest of it puttied/sanded/rounded out before the next set of pics.

Of course, that depends on just how much free time I find myself with to actually do all of that, lol. Fingers crossed :p
 
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I think I've found my match, bravo ship, bravo. Love where the helmet is going and the color test. Like Magnum said I'm not big on words, but your pictures write novels!
 
Thanks, buddy. Much appreciated ;)

As much as I pride myself on the work I do, I also take pride in well documenting any progress I make on my projects. Well, that is, if I don't get too carried away with it at the beginning and forget to take pics, lol.

Hence why I often have many pics to go with the many words I put into my posts. I try to cater to both the people who are interested in what techniques/methods I used, and those who prefer to just see some pics, heh.

I know "a picture's worth a thousand words", but for anyone who actually wants to read up on what I did, I figure I might as well throw in the words too, lol.

I'm glad to see everyone who's stopped by this thread at one time or another is pleased with my efforts. I do what I can to make my own pieces as "up to par" with the rest, your Mk VI helmet being just such an example, Doc.

Thanks again, guys and gals! :lol:
 
I believe that's mentioned somewhere near the beginning of this thread (I think, lol), but believe it or not my helmet is based on JediFraz's HALO 2 Pep model.

As such, a lot of the details you see there -- recessed nosepiece, recessed details on the "crown" (top) of the helmet, recessed brim details, recessed details on the rear "band" of the helmet, etc. -- had to be added in by me since the base Pep model was very low-detail, and so devoid of any of that.

That involved a lot of drafting detail templates by hand, based on the Pep print-outs, and then applying those templates to the basic styrene model and cutting out those areas. So, lots of time and effort invested in just this one piece so far, lol.
 
SPARTAN II said:
I believe that's mentioned somewhere near the beginning of this thread (I think, lol), but believe it or not my helmet is based on JediFraz's HALO 2 Pep model.

As such, a lot of the details you see there -- recessed nosepiece, recessed details on the "crown" (top) of the helmet, recessed brim details, recessed details on the rear "band" of the helmet, etc. -- had to be added in by me since the base Pep model was very low-detail, and so devoid of any of that.

That involved a lot of drafting detail templates by hand, based on the Pep print-outs, and then applying those templates to the basic styrene model and cutting out those areas. So, lots of time and effort invested in just this one piece so far, lol.

Wow!,
i tried the HD model and had trouble with it at first, if you got this succesful with it maybe i should go back to low detail

-Zen
 
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I haven't tried any of the HD helmets myself yet, but once I'm done with this one and the rest of the armour I plan on tackling one and seeing the difference in difficulty between the low-detail and high-detail models.

As for what I did, I went with the low-detail HALO 2 file as it was the only one available at the time, just shortly before the HD stuff started becoming available.

Taking the same approach I did isn't exactly for the faint of heart. If you're not really the patient type (and you have to be; I started my helmet late last year, and I'm still not done), then you could get easily frustrated with the added time it takes to put in all those surface details.

But, by all means give it a try if you think it would work better for you than the HD model. Given the time and effort I've put in on mine using this method, I'd be more than happy to lend a helping hand should you need it :cool:
 
SPARTAN II said:
I haven't tried any of the HD helmets myself yet, but once I'm done with this one and the rest of the armour I plan on tackling one and seeing the difference in difficulty between the low-detail and high-detail models.

As for what I did, I went with the low-detail HALO 2 file as it was the only one available at the time, just shortly before the HD stuff started becoming available.

Taking the same approach I did isn't exactly for the faint of heart. If you're not really the patient type (and you have to be; I started my helmet late last year, and I'm still not done), then you could get easily frustrated with the added time it takes to put in all those surface details.

But, by all means give it a try if you think it would work better for you than the HD model. Given the time and effort I've put in on mine using this method, I'd be more than happy to lend a helping hand should you need it :cool:

I tried the low detail and it messed up for some reason, ive never tried the high detail, the handplates look hard enough, im gonna get strait to the high detail helmet though because... well because i can, but ive just ordered some gluesticks off ebay (glue gun refills are expensive over here) and when i can be bothered ill go and buy some more cardstock, so im stuck at the moment, woeking on my paintball mask, keep us updated thogh man ;)

-Zen
 
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i guess everyone is saying great job.....repeating themselves.....blah blah blah :p


How much have you done on the whole suit? The helmet is just about done (i can see that) but do you have other pieces i forgot to see? i would like to see them if you have them.
 
Alas, my friend... I'm embarrassed to say that I have yet to do any work on the rest of the armour *sigh*. I wish I had something more to show everyone, but regrettably I don't at the moment.

Yes, I'm aware of how much time has passed since I started my helmet, and one would think I'd have found some time before now to start on some other part of it. Without going into major detail, needless to say things have just been so up in the air for me since the beginning of the new year that I haven't been afforded the time to.

Which is why I'm aiming at getting the helmet done by the end of this month, so I can quickly get to work on more of it, starting on the torso next.

With us now being in warmer weather, I figure I'll be able to get a lot more steady work done on everything (printing/folding/resining/fiberglassing) prior to DragonCon...
 
Awesome job so far Spartan. I'm really interested in the styrene now. Seems like a great way to construct a model.
If you find the time a tut would be great.
Other than that, keep up the great work. I can't wait to see what you do next.
 
Well thanks, girl. Coming from you, that's quite the compliment... :D heh

Flawed said:
Awesome job so far Spartan. I'm really interested in the styrene now. Seems like a great way to construct a model.
If you find the time a tut would be great.
Other than that, keep up the great work. I can't wait to see what you do next.

Time permitting, if I can I'll do a tutorial on working with styrene for this project. I know there are others here who would be interested in seeing that. But, it all depends on whether I end up in "crunch mode" in order to get my entire suit done for DC, which could very well be the case.
 
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