Thorssoli's MkVI Costume Buildup

[gc 3000]

This was one of the major projects that made me drop to my knees and weep at the amount of work and fantastic quality put into it. It's also an inspiration for me and to get my butt moving on my own armor.

 

[Saber]

So I take a quick look through this thread and this is my general reaction:

So in other words, I admire your work. A LOT.

-Alexis

 

[SquishyShoes]

Beautiful reaction, brought a smile to my face.

 

[kolinrulz]

I love that, Seen every episode of american dad.

 

[thorssoli]

I finally got a chance to put some hours into my MkVI helmet redux today. Here's about how it looks right now:


With a bit of luck I'll have this thing all smoothed out and ready to go under the rubber in a couple more days. I've been getting sidetracked by my other projects. Right now I'm in the middle of building Space Marines, weapon props, and Star Wars Republic Commandos.

In the middle of casting parts for those, I'm pulling additional castings of my MkVI parts so I can make my next three suits of HALO armor.

As always, stay tuned...

 

[tubachris85x]

Awesome!! There are some details I'd like to see you rework!! Love the helmet I have already!!

 

[thorssoli]

It might not look like much, but I made progress yesterday:

 

[Brandon McClain]

Bucket is looking good Shawn. How is the scale relative to your last one?

 

[thorssoli]

How is the scale relative to your last one?

It's HUGE:


Nah, that's just a trick of forced perspective. It's actually the exact same scale as the last one. I just took a bad cast (too many sharp bits on the inside) and started cutting the new details into it.

Here's a shot of the side:


Here's the top:


I've still got a lot of work to do on the back:

 

[thorssoli]

Progress continues:


I should be able to start pouring rubber for the new mold before the week is over. Then I'll start re-working the medium-sized torso.

Stay tuned...

 

[vshore100]

The new helmet is coming along nicely. I really like all the detail lines.

 

[Brandon McClain]

I all great news Shawn! I look forward to seeing rubber on both of those parts cuz I want! Are you going to be doing a similar mold to what you did with your large torso on your medium one?

 

[thorssoli]

Are you going to be doing a similar mold to what you did with your large torso on your medium one?

I will, yes. The only real change will be a bit more detailing at the throat and a bit of a spacer under the arms. I still have the original prototype, so it won't be all that much of a challenge to make the new molds. I just have to get around to it.

For now, I'm still focused on the helmet redux. Unfortunately, my workshop camera has died. I've got a new one on the way, but for now here's a crappy cellphone snapshot of the helmet as it looks right now:


Here's another shot showing the new and improved details under the brim:


Progress will continue Monday. I still have to make the inserts for the cheeks, cut guide holes where the headlights go, smooth out the back end of the whole thing, and come up with a separate piece for the black part on the nose.

Stay tuned...

 

[tubachris85x]

Looks awesome! What other source of reference are you using for these? I always believed that the details underneath the visor (last pic) were "embedded" into the helmet. Look really sharp!!

 

[Starvinartist80]

As always Thor, this work is just superb. The new details are fantastic. How did the back turn out?

 

[thorssoli]

What other source of reference are you using for these? I always believed that the details underneath the visor (last pic) were "embedded" into the helmet.

I spent a lot of time hemming and hawing over just that. Most of my references look like this:


Looking back at my original MkVI helmet, the brim details were wrong. I must've had a reference pic from HALO2 in my old binder or something. Either way, it had to be changed. Looking at this pic I decided to make them stand proud of the rest of that surface:


I figure that the lack of a raised surface was just a limitation of the model rendering used in game. This one seems to back up my decision:


Finally, I know it's the worst reference I could go with, but there's always this thing:

I'm happy with my decision.

 

[Road Kill]

your work is freakin awesome =D so much work and detail into everything you have made, great job =D

 

[thorssoli]

Thanks for the kind words. As I've mentioned before, praise is like project fuel. It helps a lot to keep me motivated.

As long as I'm on track to make a new helmet mold, I've decided to start work on the Meta suit as well:


The helmet is shaping up to be pretty big. I'm building it to match the scale of my MkVI helmets, so it's 14" long. That means it's also almost 14" wide and tall too.

Stay tuned...

 

[thorssoli]

MkVI Redux is mostly done:


Aside from improving the details under the brim and putting the missing notches in the sides, I've also cut guide holes for the headlights:


Here's a closeup:


Details on the back came out okay too:


Now that I'm done shaping, all that remains is texturing. I'll be adding a glosscoat to the whole thing and then picking out the black parts with a textured paint in the next day or so. Then it'll be time to start making a mold. Somewhere along the way I'll make new cheek inserts and the nose piece.

Stay tuned...

 

[thorn696]

Love the detail work, But then it's you were talking about so there's always awesome detail work.