Spartan Ii's Armour Progress...

[SPARTAN II]

You know you can come here



I have all huge garage

My gf has a garage I could use, I just have to convince her to let me bring some of my prop stuff over lol

 

[LastSpartan]

Buy chocolate and tell her cute french words



(She's french canadian right? I can't remember if it was you or another member)

 

[SPARTAN II]

Buy chocolate and tell her cute french words



(She's french canadian right? I can't remember if it was you or another member)

Yep, you've got it buddy. I don't really think it would be an issue, as she actually takes an interest in my hobby (a first for me), so it shouldn't take too much convincing for that, as she's aware of the space constraints I'm dealing with for doing any prop work here.

 

[SPARTAN II]

Good news. Now that I have the use of my gf's garage, I'll have a more proper work space to actually do some work on all this. So if all goes well, I'll have some real progress to report on this project... finally :rolleyes lol

 

[falcon NL]

Go Elvis, You can do it !!



Can cant wait to see a update!

 

[Loess]

WoooHoo! Proper work space FTW

 

[SPARTAN II]

Alright, so... no news pics to post yet, but over the last week I did manage to trace out (with a black Sharpie marker) all of the surface details to be applied to the chest armour.



Next step is to cut out the various styrene pieces and adhere them, using some of the thicker styrene available here (probably .040).



Though I'm nowhere near the stage of priming and painting my armour, I have been giving some thought to the colour scheme I want to apply to it.



When I first looked through my copy of the "Art of HALO 3" book, I immediately took note of the third Mk VI armour pictured on Page 16 (the red, grey and orange -- or "construction", as I like to call it -- SPARTAN).



Of course, I didn't plan on painting mine to match that one (kind of an extreme colour scheme, imho), but it did help to give me some ideas of just what I could do with mine.



Once I'm far enough along with this build to actually consider prepping it for painting, I was thinking maybe a dark grey (gunmetal grey?) base colour with dark red (maroon? bergundy?) accents would look pretty sick.



Anyway, I'm far off from that point, but it never hurts to plan it all out in advance. I will take some pics of the details I've traced out on the chest piece next time I'm over at the gf's place :cool

 

[scandomfo]

Lol lets see those pics

 

[SPARTAN II]

Lol lets see those pics

[...]



I will take some pics of the details I've traced out on the chest piece next time I'm over at the gf's place :cool

Patience, my friend... patience

 

[SPARTAN II]

Alrighty... as promised, here are a few pics of the traced-out details I plan on adding to the chest armour (templates have already been drawn up for some of the details, including the missing collar pieces around the neck):



Mk VI Armour -- Pic 06



Mk VI Armour -- Pic 07



Mk VI Armour -- Pic 08



Mk VI Armour -- Pic 09



And yes, for those who may have noticed I traced out the recessed damage on the right side (if wearing it) of the chest.



Unlike most others' builds, where painted "weathering" is applied to give the armour an overall battle-damaged look, I intend on putting real physical damage in mine (along with the afore-mentioned weathering painted on) to better match the MC's in-game armour, but not in a way that will compromise structural stability. Should add a nice bit of realism to it, imho.



I realize some of the details I added may look a little different, due to the fact that my aim with this is to incorporate as much detail as possible from all available reference sources ("Starry Night" commercial, in-game model, etc.), ideally making this the most detailed Mk VI armour.



Now, although these pics don't actually show any further progress with the armour, they at least give everyone a better idea of what I plan on doing with it.



Given my current job situation, I have to wait until things improve before I can purchase the materials I need (ie. resin/fiberglass to finish reinforcing the inside-front of the chest piece, varying thicknesses of styrene for applying the outer surface details) to employ my preferred layered styrene technique instead of the typical bondo approach.



As much as I would love to get started on this, I need to be careful with my spending until I've got regular income coming in again. Hopefully I'll have some progress to show soon enough (fingers crossed).

 

[mkshane81]

I have thought about the severe damage on the chest piece myself. I would have to say that, in my opinion, is probably the most exciting part about your build there. Can't wait to see that bad boy done!!

 

[SPARTAN II]

I have thought about the severe damage on the chest piece myself. I would have to say that, in my opinion, is probably the most exciting part about your build there. Can't wait to see that bad boy done!!

Thanks! I thought it would be different for a change to see the actual damage worked into the model, as most people don't do that. I want to finish fiberglassing the inside of the front first though, so that when I put the gouges and knicks in it won't do anything to weaken the stability of the armour. I hope it looks pretty much as it does on the in-game model

 

[Macattack64]

Didn't BlueRealm add real damage? or could I be mistaken?



Either way I think that's an excelent idea. I'd do it but I like how a clean Spartan looks, and that's what I'm going with for mine. Some black wash with slight sanded edges to bring out the black and silve underlayers, but they don't show up that much.

Very Nice.

 

[scandomfo]

Wow I'm hoping to see how it looks

It's like the everyday battle damaged spartan type of look

I'd say that it is very unique

Good luck on that income problem!

 

[SPARTAN II]

Didn't BlueRealm add real damage? or could I be mistaken?



Either way I think that's an excelent idea. I'd do it but I like how a clean Spartan looks, and that's what I'm going with for mine. Some black wash with slight sanded edges to bring out the black and silve underlayers, but they don't show up that much.

Very Nice.

I believe he did, but as I said in my last post here, most people don't do that. Hence why I thought it would help set mine apart from most, but that's not to say a few others haven't already done the same. It's just not commonly done, is all.

Wow I'm hoping to see how it looks

It's like the everyday battle damaged spartan type of look

I'd say that it is very unique

Good luck on that income problem!

Yeah, I'm hoping to see how that'll look too, lol. And thanks. Once I've got the income issue figured out, then I can really get to work on this

 

[Akademee]

that is a sweet helmet build, can't wait to see the rest of the armor!

 

[SPARTAN II]

that is a sweet helmet build, can't wait to see the rest of the armor!

Thanks, dude! I have to admit, at first I wasn't so keen on it due to a few imperfections I saw in it, but at this point I am rather pleased with how the helmet turned out, given the different-from-the-norm materials and technique I used.



Now that I have a proper work space to do my projects, I'm hoping to get the rest of the details on the helmet done soon, and when I can afford to, get the materials I need to put some real work in on the chest armour.



Though quite a way's off from that, once I'm done the chest I think I'll then put together the biceps and forearms... work my way down the body with the build, going from top to bottom.

 

[SPARTAN II]

With the use of pooper's WiP pics as a reference (mucho gracias, amigo!), I was finally able to draft the templates I needed to do the collar piece for the chest armour (didn't have much success on my own trying to design those details).



Though I haven't applied the actual details yet, I have managed to insert copies of the templates to show what they will look like:



Mk VI Armour -- Pic 10



Mk VI Armour -- Pic 11



Mk VI Armour -- Pic 12



Pooper's detailing proved extremely useful; I'd even say the front collar portion I drew up is almost a carbon copy of what he did, lol. I even revised some of the traced details on the back to reflect some of what he incorporated.



Now, for anyone wondering "Why hasn't he added the details yet?", the reason for that is I have yet to finish resining/fiberglassing the inside of the chest, and figured it would be best to hold off on adding any of the surface details until it's all been reinforced.



However, looking at those templates in place, I find myself feeling kinda eager to get started on that heh



Since the chest armour didn't come with the Pep collar pieces when I received it, the plan is I'll be adding those pieces using layered sheet styrene (my preferred medium for scratch-building), which will be secured underneath the edge of the existing collar. I will be using styrene for all the surface details I intend to put into it.



Oh, and as for the helmet, though it isn't much I did add a couple small details to the brim:



Mk VI Armour -- Pic 13



Mk VI Armour -- Pic 14



Anyway, that's it for now. I know it's not a real update by any means, but I was so excited to see how it looked I wanted to share that with everyone.

 

[scandomfo]

Lol any progress is an update

Here I got something for you

Hopefully Pooper won't get mad

 

[SPARTAN II]

Lol any progress is an update

Here I got something for you

Hopefully Pooper won't get mad

LMAO! :lol



Thanks, dude. Since it'll be his details I'm adding to mine, that would be rather appropriate, lol. It would be better if the man himself chimed in and gave his "seal of approval", too heh