U513's Halo Reach Carter Build - Finished!

[U513]

Thanks Leonidas

im glad you like it. As always, let me know if I can help in anyway shape or form

 

[elusch99]

The DMR..... I am so envious...

 

[U513]

Thanks Elusch99

It was probably one of the easiest pieces to build if I am totally honest. I have had a lot of positive response about the DMR. I might just do a brief tutorial video explaining the steps I took to make it. I used a lot of left over stuff so it was nice in that sense as well. Glad you like it!

As always, if you need any help. let me know and ill do my best. No updates on the suit at the moment still as my new hot melt glue gun still hasn't arrived!!! Should have been here yesterday and today at the latest but nothing. If it doesn't come till Monday I might just get very angry and go pick one up from the store.

 

[U513]

big update

Started to finish things off now!

First of all, helmet. I have installed all the lights etc. its now ready for paint.







The communication thing





Me wearing it! So happy with the results!!!!




Boots, Shins and Knees. I have added battle damage. I have linked the from the boots to the shins so the damage looks like its continuous







Some damage to the right shoulder



Damage added to the lower part of the thighs too.






As always feedback is welcomed!

 

[Spartan 420]

I love the battle-damage, looks very realistic. I love this build so far.
Any news on when you'll get started on a paintjob? Can't wait to see it.

Just realised you're from UK too, so glad to see someone from the UK performing a foam-build, I may have to message you in regards to what you use and where you get it.

-S420

 

[U513]

I love the battle-damage, looks very realistic. I love this build so far.
Any news on when you'll get started on a paintjob? Can't wait to see it.

Just realised you're from UK too, so glad to see someone from the UK performing a foam-build, I may have to message you in regards to what you use and where you get it.

-S420

Thanks dude, my heart was in my mouth when I made the first "cut". all that time making sure everything lines up and is neat etc only for me to then butcher it lol. Thankfully it has turned out fine!

I am currently planning the paint job as well as mounting. I will be using plasti dip to seal the pieces (I think 7x 400ml cans should be enough for the whole suit) which will cost around £75 and then use liquitex silver for the primary base followed by liquitex cobalt blue mixed in with some iridescent silver medium to get the blues. that will be followed by highlighting the battle damage in silver and the little bits of red white and yellow paint and then a black wash on the whole suit to give it that aged look. Ill be airbrushing all of the paint on but first I need to get all of the lighting done and then the mounting before I paint. I need my sister to comeback from holiday as mounting is a 2 person operation with this suit.

Sure no worries, let me know what you need help with. Most of the stuff I use is bought from ebay or amazon. you just really have to search lot of variables to get the best deal Im hoping this will be ready for Halloween. Ill be gutted if I miss the deadline!

for now here is a progress report.

 

[KaylaKerigan]

this is great! I verry much apprechiate the progress shots on your DMR ive been looking at all thses beautiful wepons and thinking "how did they do that?" as i dont think in exploded views well. The progress shots of how you did it are great help to my own ideas. Keep up the good work man, i can't wait to see this painted!

 

[Spartan 420]

Thanks dude, my heart was in my mouth when I made the first "cut". all that time making sure everything lines up and is neat etc only for me to then butcher it lol. Thankfully it has turned out fine!

I am currently planning the paint job as well as mounting. I will be using plasti dip to seal the pieces (I think 7x 400ml cans should be enough for the whole suit) which will cost around £75 and then use liquitex silver for the primary base followed by liquitex cobalt blue mixed in with some iridescent silver medium to get the blues. that will be followed by highlighting the battle damage in silver and the little bits of red white and yellow paint and then a black wash on the whole suit to give it that aged look. Ill be airbrushing all of the paint on but first I need to get all of the lighting done and then the mounting before I paint. I need my sister to comeback from holiday as mounting is a 2 person operation with this suit.

Sure no worries, let me know what you need help with. Most of the stuff I use is bought from ebay or amazon. you just really have to search lot of variables to get the best deal Im hoping this will be ready for Halloween. Ill be gutted if I miss the deadline!

for now here is a progress report.

Nice progress report, it's coming along nicely. I was wondering what foam you used?
When I build I plan to have 1 type of thicker foam for internal structural support then a very thin type of foam for adding details.
So I was wondering what foams you used?

 

[cha0skn1ght]

Man those legs looks like they have been through some hell! They're going to look awesome painted. I actually need to put more wear on my legs because right now my torso is more damaged than my legs Keep the updates coming!

 

[U513]

this is great! I verry much apprechiate the progress shots on your DMR ive been looking at all thses beautiful wepons and thinking "how did they do that?" as i dont think in exploded views well. The progress shots of how you did it are great help to my own ideas. Keep up the good work man, i can't wait to see this painted!

Im glad you found those images useful. What I have realized as I have done this build is, with foam at least, its best to just use the pepkura files to get a base done and then just use you own eye to fill in the details. The DMR was pure experiment, I wanted to build it cheap and the only way to do so was use as much waste as possible. Glad some of my work has been useful to someone else!

Nice progress report, it's coming along nicely. I was wondering what foam you used?
When I build I plan to have 1 type of thicker foam for internal structural support then a very thin type of foam for adding details.
So I was wondering what foams you used?

I have used three different types of foam for this build. The dark blue foam is 1/2" thick eva foam mats which I think give greater bulk/ presence. They are much harder to work with though as you have to cut each joint twice as the blades aren't long enough. The red, yellow, light blue & green foams are the typical 11mm anti fatigue mats that are used by most people. I Also used a smaller 7mm thick foam mat to help me build my helmet (orange) and lastely the white /detail pieces are using a 2mm craft foam

Man those legs looks like they have been through some hell! They're going to look awesome painted. I actually need to put more wear on my legs because right now my torso is more damaged than my legs Keep the updates coming!

Thanks dude. I am glad they give off that impression. I got a bit carried away and thought I had over done the damage but you guys have restored my faith. For me, as the armour goes up from the ground, I will reduce the damage and just use paint to add the scratched effects etc as I feel legs boots can get grazed on sharp objects when kneeling on the ground etc plus im too chicken to damage the chest lol

I was thinking of adding some plasma burns to the suit by applying some spray adhesive and then heating it up using a hair dry. it bubbles up just like hot paint would under intense heat. I need to do a trial run before I commit to it on the suit but I think it might just work.

Been struck down with a cold virus so feeling pretty unwell which is affecting the progress on the suit.

 

[U513]

Just finished installing the lights on the Thighs. 8 leds in each lit area. Very bright in the dark which should add to the presence in the night. Plus they should be visible in the daylight hours

Also, plasti dip has been ordered!!!!! 7x 400ml cans at just a little over £90! Expensive! hopefully 7 cans will be enough for the suit!

 

[kitnip]

This looks awesome, I wanna see it finished!! 7 cans should be good. I was able to do my whole suit and my gun with 6 cans. I even have about half left in the last can so it's more like 5 and a half.

Can't wait to see it all painted up!!

 

[Spartan 420]

Nice progress dude, you Plasti-dipping?

Also, this may be a silly question but everyone seems to do it... Why do you install lights before painting? Doesn't it just mean you have to cover up the lights when you paint? I just thought putting the lights in after painting would make more sense. Maybe I'm missing something obvious....

 

[U513]

This looks awesome, I wanna see it finished!! 7 cans should be good. I was able to do my whole suit and my gun with 6 cans. I even have about half left in the last can so it's more like 5 and a half.

Can't wait to see it all painted up!!

Thanks Kitnip! Coming from you (having seen the work you did on your suit) means a lot! Thats excellent! im hoping the extra 1 and a half can should take care of the extra surface area due to the bulk of the suit. Im going to tryand have it finished in the next 3 to 4 weeks. if not sooner so not long now! Cant believe i started on this in August last year! crazy!

Nice progress dude, you Plasti-dipping?

Also, this may be a silly question but everyone seems to do it... Why do you install lights before painting? Doesn't it just mean you have to cover up the lights when you paint? I just thought putting the lights in after painting would make more sense. Maybe I'm missing something obvious....

Sure am, it seems to be the most reliable method as far as getting a solid pase to psint on is concerned. Im a civil Engineer so the importance of a good foundation has been drilled into me pretty hard lol

I thought about the same thing but the reason i decided to put the lights in before painting is that i will fill any little gaps in with silicon filler before painting and then mask things off neatly so it looks embedded in the suit. Plus if a cut goes slightly wrong then you have to dipp that area again etc. Pluss i dont think the dip will like the heat from the hot glue and adhesion to it might be an issue so i just dont want to risk it.

i aim to get all of the lighting done by the end of the week so i can start masking things off. I need to buy some more silicon sealer as after 2 coats ill fill in any imperfections.

 

[Spartan 420]

Nice, no that's fair enough man that makes sense. I didn't think of it like that.

Little tip, just incase you didn't know, Plasti-Dip is about £15-£20 for a spray can on amazon, but Plasti-Dip have their own official UK website, where it sells for about £5 a can, this was a bit of a surprise to me cause I see people commenting here saying in the US it costs them about $20 too, and I assumed Plasti-Dip was a US product. Where do you get yours from? (And how much do you pay?)

EDIT: Had another look, cheapest Plasti-Dip I could find was for £7 a can from the UK retailer (plastidip.co.uk). Which is rare. Gonna keep looking though.

P.S. I forgot to even ask if you use brush/spray plastidip.

 

[U513]

Nice, no that's fair enough man that makes sense. I didn't think of it like that.

Little tip, just incase you didn't know, Plasti-Dip is about £15-£20 for a spray can on amazon, but Plasti-Dip have their own official UK website, where it sells for about £5 a can, this was a bit of a surprise to me cause I see people commenting here saying in the US it costs them about $20 too, and I assumed Plasti-Dip was a US product. Where do you get yours from? (And how much do you pay?)

EDIT: Had another look, cheapest Plasti-Dip I could find was for £7 a can from the UK retailer (plastidip.co.uk). Which is rare. Gonna keep looking though.

P.S. I forgot to even ask if you use brush/spray plastidip.

yeap i ordered from them. it the cheapest i could find but dont let the £7 price fool you. thats for a stupidly large quantity order! 7 cans was the most cost effective as its free shipping (£5) plus you get a slight discount on the increased quantity (70p per can i think). Then they also add VAT at 20% which applies to shipping as well (so £6 saving). Plus i bought a contraption which allows you to spray easily so all that cost around £92 all in. I had trouble with there online order system so had to ring them up and get a pro forma done and then transfer the money via BACS



O and yep all spray for all paints . in the batle damaged areas i will use a brush to get that streak non smooth finish

 

[drack]

Looking good so far

 

[Mstruvmgc]

man i have missed a lot, gun, armor and lights are looking great
cant wait to see it painted up

 

[harican89]

Also, plasti dip has been ordered!!!!! 7x 400ml cans at just a little over £90!

Actually, you could have buy PVA rotocast Resin too... or woodglue which includes PVA. This seals the surface and the armor is still flexibile without any paint cracks. i spend 18€ on 1can of plastidip just for a light coat on the pva (woodglue waterproof 500g for 8€) sealed armor befor painting.

 

[Spartan 420]

Holy crap U513, £70 on plastidip? Well atleast you shouldn't run out.

Harican your video was insanely helpful. Thank you! I know what I'll be doing