ventrue's Mark VI (WIP)

[ventrue]

Here's the second left forearm I mentioned. It's the female model by Halogodess, who has done a great job unfolding the thing!
It certainly looks a lot better than the first one, but unfortunately it doesn't fit around my wrist (and I mean it doesn't fit around, not that I can't get in, which I can't either). Maybe I'll come back to the clamshell-idea I once had. Picture below.

I also quickly tested the helmet's fit after removing the last struts that were still in the way and it seems a little large. I'll wait until I have my chest ready to have a look at how the complete picture looks before I go on with it, just to be safe. The good news is that I can put it on while wearing my (filterless) respirator, so this ridiculous respirator-anti-fogging-idea might come to life after all :-D

After all the frustration with the pieces' sizes I felt like starting a rifle (ambiguity intended ;-)). It'll probably get a thread of its own soon.

Other news: I accidentally (!) made my first cast when I epoxied my helmet.

Pictures: Two left arms, my first cast (the cup standing upright is the real one) and my current thoughts on size.

 

[GunGryphon]

Neat idea with the epoxy, but i got to ask, how strong is it? Also, is it sandable?
Great job so far!
-Gryphon

 

[ventrue]

Neat idea with the epoxy, but i got to ask, how strong is it? Also, is it sandable?
Great job so far!

Thanks.

According to the data sheets, the raw epoxy without reinforcement should be slightly weaker than the polyester resin, which is surprising to begin with, because to my knowledge, it's usually the other way around.
However, with fillers and reinforcement, it certainly "feels" a lot stronger than the polyester resin mix (which actually had more fibres in it, so this is another surprise). There's almost zero bending when you push it, which is a good thing in my opinion - but at the same time it can also be a bad thing, because it means that the material will break more easily.

What's also strong is its adhesive strength. In my initial post, I said that polyester resin doesn't stick to aluminum wrap - and you can trash that idea with epoxy. This stuff sticks to absolutely everything.

I have only given the sanding a very short try by hand and it seems to sand rather easily, but for more definitive info on that you would have to wait until I really get into sanding.

 

[Waynehead]

looks great man i am looking forward to seeing this helmet finished man keep up the hard work

 

[xlasernoobsx]

This is looking nice, and that little thing you posted about the bicep helped me scale mine.

 

[Liq]

Good call on cutting the bottom of the bicep...I can't believe I never thought to do it myself, and I'm getting right on mine after my break. It's just more I need to do to make my suit more comfortable.

 

[xBeaver Feaver]

This is looking great. Im looking forward to seeing this completed.

 

[setabkcin]

Looking really good so far.

 

[GunGryphon]

Im planning to use silicon caulking to mold my helmet and Im looking best casting material for its cost.
So, I need to ask, what epoxy are you using and is it runny enough to use in a mold? The amount of epoxy that your using says that its not the standard epoxy adhesive that comes in a dual syringe. Am I wrong?
Great job, keep it up.
-Gryphon

 

[ventrue]

Good call on cutting the bottom of the bicep...I can't believe I never thought to do it myself, and I'm getting right on mine after my break. It's just more I need to do to make my suit more comfortable.

Well, cutting that away isn't really my idea and I don't plan on doing it unless it's absolutely neccessary

Im planning to use silicon caulking to mold my helmet and Im looking best casting material for its cost.
So, I need to ask, what epoxy are you using and is it runny enough to use in a mold? The amount of epoxy that your using says that its not the standard epoxy adhesive that comes in a dual syringe. Am I wrong?

I don't know anything about moulding, so I can't say whether it's runny enough. My perception if its viscosity probably is a bit distorted as well because I mix all those fibers and fillers in there, that changes it completely. I'd say the epoxy itself is a bit like syrup, similar to polyester resin. Definitely a LOT more viscous though than the SmoothCast 320 Adam uses in his casting videos, which looks more like coloured water.
I do know that Smooth-On has different epoxies for laminating (i.e. laying on glass, which is what mine is supposed to be used for) and casting, so I guess there's a difference.

Also, you're right, this is not two component glue (although you could use it as glue). Below is a picture of what it looks like.

 

[Spartan247]

Well, cutting that away isn't really my idea and I don't plan on doing it unless it's absolutely neccessary



I don't know anything about moulding, so I can't say whether it's runny enough. My perception if its viscosity probably is a bit distorted as well because I mix all those fibers and fillers in there, that changes it completely. I'd say the epoxy itself is a bit like syrup, similar to polyester resin. Definitely a LOT more viscous though than the SmoothCast 320 Adam uses in his casting videos, which looks more like coloured water.
I do know that Smooth-On has different epoxies for laminating (i.e. laying on glass, which is what mine is supposed to be used for) and casting, so I guess there's a difference.

Also, you're right, this is not two component glue (although you could use it as glue). Below is a picture of what it looks like.

look to the left side of the left bottle... it looks like hes pointing to the bottle and hes thinking GREAT CHOICE DUDE!!!! lol

 

[Crazymanongames]

1) Absolutely beautiful piece(s) of armor here! Great Job!
2) Are there different pep files with different levels of detail to them?

 

[ventrue]

look to the left side of the left bottle... it looks like hes pointing to the bottle and hes thinking GREAT CHOICE DUDE!!!! lol

I actually took that picture intentionally.
What you may not know is that this guy is a very popular German comedian, which gives the picture some added entertainment potential. The number of jokes he could be iterating right there is practically limitless

1) Absolutely beautiful piece(s) of armor here! Great Job!
2) Are there different pep files with different levels of detail to them?

Thanks.
Yes, there are. High def and low def, basically, but the pieces in this thread are all high def. I think I've given credit to all the creators, so you should be able to find the files.

 

[Crazymanongames]

Thanks.
Yes, there are. High def and low def, basically, but the pieces in this thread are all high def. I think I've given credit to all the creators, so you should be able to find the files.

Thanks man, As soon as I figure out hot to get pep on a mac I'm hopefully going to start on something as good as this!

 

[Hecito08]

Hay where is flyingsquirl? He made some awesome models and i was going to look at some of his threads but i cant find him :/ The reason i ask on this thread is because your using one of his models.

 

[ventrue]

Hay where is flyingsquirl? He made some awesome models and i was going to look at some of his threads but i cant find him :/ The reason i ask on this thread is because your using one of his models.

I have no idea where he is.
Here is the file thread with his Mark VI models. I got them from the all in one pepakura pack though, I found this thread only a minute ago using the search function. You didn't try that, huh?

 

[Annanymous]

WOW! Amazing stuff! I Just started my Mark VI WIP build 2 days ago and have only gotten the right forearm pepped and 1/4 of the chest piece. I scaled mine using the 1st method of Xtreme Tactic's guide; as seen here:
http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/25588-How-to-Scale-Your-Armour-Tutorial-V.2

At the last minute I decided to make The forearm a little bit bigger, which turned out to still be a little bit small (and I have really small arms anyway.) However, it appears to just fit, So ill probably end up using it (pictures on my blog.)

Im goingto try your method for scaling the helm, and just wanted to say thanks for putting that out there!

p.s. I'm currently working on the chest piece, and the way it scaled it said it would be about 500 mm tall! So I measured out 50cm on me and thats QUITE tall. I'm hoping that it just seems taller than it really will be..

 

[BoySamusMetroid]

God, I would love to do one of these. How do you get to the start? How do you get the paper 3D models?

 

[ventrue]

God, I would love to do one of these. How do you get to the start? How do you get the paper 3D models?

Read this and everything linked in it.

 

[Noble XI]

Your pep work is amazing, good work.
What kind of glue do U use?