Thorssoli's MkVI Costume Buildup

[Sean Bradley]

That shot of your back piece reminded me so much of my own, it had me digging up my old progress pics from November 2006.

Your suit will be very good when it is finished.. congrats on coming this far, and on work well done!

 

[SGT V]

Had an idea for your boots You might be interested in. I have thought using rigid materials on the one area that will be flexing and taking the most beating seemed counterproductive. Have you though about a chemical foam piece to attach to the boots? I have seen them painted with a flexible paint that looks pretty good. Then you would not have to worry about stuff cracking and paint chips. Just a thought.

 

[thorssoli]

After a week of being away from the workshop, I managed to make a big dent in this project today. To start with, I managed to finish fairing out the back plate. Here's a shot before I sprayed it with primer. The colors show fiberglass resin, bondo, primer, and glazing putty. I didn't take a pic of the back plate after I painted it, but you get the idea.

There was a brief moment of horror when I dropped the chest plate this morning. It broke into three pieces and I was completely heartbroken. Then I realized that I was standing in my workshop and surrounded by every type of adhesive known to modern man. It set me back an hour, but I managed to get it put back together and get most of the detail work done:

Tomorrow I'll be doing a bit of cleaning up on the details. Specifically, I need to sharpen the edges on the sternum detailing:

Once I've got that little bit sorted out, it'll all get a few coats of paint and then I can start the moldmaking.

 

[thorssoli]

I also managed to get the ab plate about 90% finished.

It started with some MDF and a pile of urethane foam:

Then shaped and sanded and bondoed it before I glued and clamped some pieces of Sintra PVC onto it to add the ridges in the proper places.

And here's what it looked like when the clamps came off.

Tomorrow should see the last of the shaping and sanding and the beginning of the moldmaking.

Stay tuned.

 

[Reclaimer]

Nice! You've added a couple of details to the backpiece that's been missing from other suits I've seen. I'd also like to compliment Sean's backpiece. I'd never seen the back of your suit Sean. I never knew it was so sharply detailed . It has a really cool mechanical vibe to it. Awesome work you guys.

 

[JediStumpy]

you dropped the chest ...but at least you got it back together ...you were right when you said the plastic's you used are hard but bittle! i wouldn't think it would break with the amount you said you added.
keep of the good work in the workshop (wish I had one, it just snowed here like 6 inches)

 

[thorssoli]

you dropped the chest ...but at least you got it back together ...you were right when you said the plastic's you used are hard but bittle! i wouldn't think it would break with the amount you said you added.
keep of the good work in the workshop (wish I had one, it just snowed here like 6 inches)

The problem with the prototype is that it was only built to hold up to sanding and moldmaking. The castings that come out of the mold will be able to hold up to all sorts of abuse. The mostly bondo prototype is practically made to shatter. I suppose I'm lucky I had anything left.

 

[SNIPER 118]

I cant wait this is so awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[trintlord]

I am in the middle of folding my chest armor, i hope it comes out this well!

need to get some bondo though... >_>

 

[HAL9triple0]

Crazy awesome, man!

 

[thorssoli]

I am in the middle of folding my chest armor, i hope it comes out this well!

need to get some bondo though... >_>

I can save you the folding and the bondo if you'd rather just buy one of my castings...

Purple sticky goo arrived today too late to get started on moldmaking. Fairing and filling are done and I will be starting the mold in the morning.

Stay tuned.

 

[mgrmax]

As expected it is looking great man!

 

[Keegan]

I just noticed you didnt have an ab plate.... I was to astonished by everything else I didnt notice!

 

[Reclaimer]

I just noticed you didnt have an ab plate.... I was to astonished by everything else I didnt notice!

I like that he's doing it separately. I would be cool to velcro the ab plate to the undersuit. I've always thought that it should be this way. If you bend, then the plate won't dig into you. It's just a question of how much spacing to put between the chest and ab plate to reduce chafing between the two.

 

[damasterchief]

wow thats buitiful too bad it fell and broke... luckly you were surrounded with every known adhesive to man

 

[Defektedtoy]

Wow i have been gone a long time.

That looks absolutly stunning man! Mind telling me what pepakura files you used? The last time i was here the H3 armors were just beginning to surface, and they didn't look anywhere near that detailed.

Things are so different around here! Well it's good to be back and i'm sure ill be seeing more of you guys. Again, kudos on the beautiful armor.

edit:
I just found em!

 

[thorssoli]

So I was in such a rush to clean up the shop and start the whole moldmaking process and forgot to take pics of everything before I started with the silicone. Today I got the detail coat brushed on using the blue sticky goo:

Here's shot from the other side with the ab plate in the foreground:

Stay tuned.

 

[SNIPER 118]

*has stroke* Thanks a lot Thorssoli look what you did ... lol

 

[thorssoli]

Last night I actually had some help in the shop for a few hours, so I made quite a bit of progress. I now have mother molds for all three pieces of the torso armor.

Step one was to layer over the silicone glove molds with a bit of clay. This way there would be a void between the mother mold and the silicone. This void will later be filled with more silicone. Once the clay was built up, it was time to cut out all of the plywood flanges. These parts become a framework to build the fiberglass onto and make the various parts easier to separate later:

I made a similar framework for the chest piece as well. Then it was time to don protective equipment and start fiberglassing:

After some five hours worth of sticking to nearly everything I touched, I finally had the mothermolds completed:

The next step is to pull apart the mother molds, peel out the clay, re-assemble the mother molds with the silicone glove mold inside, turn the whole thing over, and pour more silicone in to fill the area where the clay was. Once that's done I will be able to pull apart the mother mold, peel the silicone off of the original parts, re-assemble the mother mold, lay the silicone glove mold inside, and start casting.

The problem is that I now have to take off and fly to Seattle for most of this week and I only have one day this month that will be available to work in the shop. So it looks like I won't be able to get to casting until the first week of April.

Stay tuned.

 

[CMANavy]

Awsome.

Way off topic, what is the patch on your jump suit?