[WIP] Samus Aran Phazon Suit MP1

[ShadoKat]

Bienvenue a 405th, monsieur!! Very awesome start you have going on! Always nice to see another Samus build! Yes, those shoulder bells are HUGE!! How big did you make those things? The bells that I'm making are about 10 inches (25cm) tall without the ridge/flange things, which add another 1.5 inches (3.75cm). Of course, I'm scaling by eye rather than by pepakura scaling values, but there is definitely going to be something of a trade-off between wearability and accuracy because, as has already been said, Samus is not proportioned anything like a real human (at least not in her full armor... zero suit is another story). Her waist is impossibly narrow, her shoulders are impossibly wide, and her head is impossibly small. Making a wearable suit to fit on a real person is not likely to be easy for either of us

One quick commiserating note on the helmet... yours looks really good in profile, but a bit large from the front, but I TOTALLY understand why, and I feel your pain with the scaling!! Her helmet is proportionally wider than it is tall, so in order to make it big enough to fit on the head without exposing the jaw or pinching the chin, but small enough not to look bobble-headed, I had to tweak the scale and squash it sideways quite a bit, and I'm not entirely sure I was successful. And, like you, I'm worrying about the hips/waist/ribcage proportions, as well.

Good luck on your build!! Can't wait to see how it progresses, especially your plans for the lighting!!

 

[inclol]

Being female obviously I have bigger hips than you but I would still have to use a corset to really pull off the look. You can always adapt padding to fit your hips better and use corset to bring in your waist slightly.

Well I'm relatively slim for a guy so I think I have an advantage here ^^ I'm approx. 1.80 m tall for 68 kg now. Not much, eh ? Well two years ago I was the same size but 55 kg so there's some progress !

wow! someone else doing the exact same project as me!. sweet! nice pepping there man. if you need any tips let me know. I'm building these

Sick ! So you're the one that is building those troopers suits ? They're full of awesomeness. Good luck on those. You also plan a Phazon Suit ? Are you aiming for a replica of MP1's Phazon Suit or going from the MP3 Varia Suit with a Phazon Suit color scheme ? There are some differences.

BTW could you send me the pep file you are using, the ones i have are not game accurate and those ones look like they will work better for my foam parts.

No prob, though I'm not sure they're 100 % accurate everywhere. The model ingame is low-poly but I think it has been low-poly'd even more on some problematic spots (the waist area, the hand...) that didn't need detailing or were too small (its supposed to bea just a paper model of 30 cm...).
You can find it here : http://www.nintendopapercraft.com/labels/Other.html Scroll down till you find Samus Aran. It comes with full photo instructions. He claims there have been some changes made to the model and don't recommend using the pep, but I can't spot what he's talking about for the moment, the pep looks perfect. It's just a bit painful to scale it up, there are quite a lot of parts (I think I printed 20 sheets of A4 for the helmet, 30 for a shoulder bell and 30 for a first boot...)

Scale-wise, the height of the model you see in the pep file can't be trusted, cause he separated the shoulder bells and lifted them. So for exemple when scaled up, mine says roughly 2300 cm height. You'll see what I'm talkin' about when opening the pep file. So I made a blind test with the helmet, ended with one too small, mesured the contour of the inside of it with a balloon and estimated how much more it would need to fit my head...

Do you have a thread for your projects ? Would be interested to see how you deal with it

Bienvenue a 405th, monsieur!!

Merci, merci

Yes, those shoulder bells are HUGE!! How big did you make those things?

For the moment, i scaled everything up accordingly to the helmet, which I scaled to just fit in. The bells are approx. 36 cm high, without those ridge/flange things, they add 5 cm. Quite bigger than yours ^^

Her waist is impossibly narrow, her shoulders are impossibly wide, and her head is impossibly small. Making a wearable suit to fit on a real person is not likely to be easy for either of us

Yeah, well i like challenges Maybe with the Other M model they have better proportions (don't know) but I just don't like it. It will be interesting to sse what each other came up with.

One quick commiserating note on the helmet... yours looks really good in profile, but a bit large from the front, but I TOTALLY understand why, and I feel your pain with the scaling!! Her helmet is proportionally wider than it is tall, so in order to make it big enough to fit on the head without exposing the jaw or pinching the chin, but small enough not to look bobble-headed, I had to tweak the scale and squash it sideways quite a bit, and I'm not entirely sure I was successful.

Yeah this thing can be tricky. BUT... There's a small difference between our helmets (ohter than the building process, yours is awesome btw) ; yours ios based of MP3, mine from MP1. Might not seem like much but there's quite a bit of difference between the two, especially the visor area. Yours is supposed to have a larger visor, that goes down a bit more, making the shape appear less wide I think. Here's what I'm talking about :



See ? The visor is way different, the lines pattern too, and overall it looks less wide to me. MP1's helmet looks a little bulky in comparison...

Good luck on your build!! Can't wait to see how it progresses, especially your plans for the lighting!!

Well same to you, Seeing how far you've gone with sculpting, I'm really interested to see the end result !

 

[Swift]

Looking awesome so far man
On the note about using a heat gun to dry the resin... that's fine, but resin IS dlammable, so just make sure you don't get it TOO hot or there could be some... difficulties.

Flames look cool when painted on, but terrible when burning your work to pieces

 

[ventrue]

Flames look cool when painted on, but terrible when burning your work to pieces

I didn't mention this in my thread... but the brown marks on my hand plate actually were burn marks, because I had a similar idea

It didn't really catch fire, of course, but temperatures were obviously too high anyways.

 

[inclol]

On the note about using a heat gun to dry the resin... that's fine, but resin IS dlammable, so just make sure you don't get it TOO hot or there could be some... difficulties.

Flames look cool when painted on, but terrible when burning your work to pieces

Thanks for the advice, I'll stay careful... Should be able to cut the visor and start fiberglassing tomorrow.

Waiting for my helmet (I could go on but I'm being careful), I decided to pep the lower part of one leg to test the scale, again.

A quick reminder about how I scaled everything so far : I scaled up based on my head, to fit in that helmet. Which may not be a good idea cause the helm isn't supposed to fit anything, plus my head is a bit large compared to my body. But so far it doesn't seem too off. This way the gigantic proportions of the other pieces remain. That will probably become troublesome later on, but I'll keep going like this for the moment.

Anyway, here are some progress pics. This piece is supposed to be in 2 parts :

Here is the shoe only.​

Test fit...

A bit big maybe, but I won't wear any other shoes when it's finished. ​

Now with the other part on :

ROFL OMG it's HUGE AGAIN !


...But in fact there's not much room at the ankle articulation.


To better see the proportions, and a test fit which seems like a win...


...Excepted when you try to bend your knee. I'm at the max. But I didn't try to cut the borders like I did on the helmet. I'll try later.


This is just to show the back part, the stylo'ed part is supposed to be the undersuit.


I'm like Samus, I must spend hours to retrieve parts of armor... And she'll lose them in the next game. She can be stupid sometimes.​

EDIT: looking again at refs closely, it's too big. I thought the round thingy on the sides should be located at the knee level, but it's not. The knee is supposed to be behind that pointy tip. I'll have to scale that down, and I think I'll scale the shoulder bells down the same amount to match. But no more pepping for the moment, I'll try to finish the helmet first.

 

[chris uk 83]

Keep these coming, I'm watching this project with interest!

 

[rvb18]

it's kinda a cross bred from mp3 and mp1. plan to get one of shado's helmets and make the rest from foam. for lighting I'm using EL wire and tape. i will also add a timer on the lights so the flash slowly like in the game. if you would like to find EL wire or LEDs go here http://thatscoolwire.com

 

[JUSTINIAN 117]

Nice work so far. I have always been a fan of Samus.

 

[inclol]

Quick update, started working on the fiberglass process. I first cut the visor, then fiberglassed 2/3 of the helmet, the rest is some harder/tighter spots I'll probably fill with Rondo for the moment (I'll try other methods like epoxy and chopped fibres as suggested by ventrue for the other parts. ATM I'll use the materials I have at my disposal, I'm a bit low on cash ). It's pretty quick to do, and with awesome results. I have a few air bubbles here and there but I'll fill them up with Rondo right before bondo'ing the whole helmet.

Also seems like I underestimated the necessary hardener quantity, today I've put double the amount and it went better, it was hard right when I finished. Got a bit hot sometimes but no big problem. I won't have enough of it for the whole resin, though. They could supply the right amount from the start...

I'll post update pics when finished hardening, ie after rondoing the last parts. I hope I'll have enough time to finish it tomorrow but it might be a tight schedule.

 

[Tyvern]

wow! someone else doing the exact same project as me!. sweet! nice pepping there man. if you need any tips let me know. I'm building these

BTW could you send me the pep file you are using, the ones i have are not game accurate and those ones look like they will work better for my foam parts.

Somebody's doing a federation trooper? Anytips on how to? I want to do the Echoes trooper version

 

[ventrue]

Also seems like I underestimated the necessary hardener quantity, today I've put double the amount and it went better, it was hard right when I finished. Got a bit hot sometimes but no big problem. I won't have enough of it for the whole resin, though. They could supply the right amount from the start...

Actually they do - if you mixed the whole can with all the hardener that comes with it, you'd get the "perfect" mix ratio. The problem is that most of use smaller batches and will rather want to add a little too much hardener than end up with sticky models ;-)

 

[rvb18]

Somebody's doing a federation trooper? Anytips on how to? I want to do the Echoes trooper version

i am. I'm using foam. cutting it out by eye. it's the mp3 version, not echoes. i have a helmet file, pm me if you'd like it. credit goes to nintendude for ripping for me

 

[inclol]

Actually they do - if you mixed the whole can with all the hardener that comes with it, you'd get the "perfect" mix ratio. The problem is that most of use smaller batches and will rather want to add a little too much hardener than end up with sticky models ;-)

Yeah ^^ then good thing my resin and my body filler use the exact same hardener...

i am. I'm using foam. cutting it out by eye. it's the mp3 version, not echoes. i have a helmet file, pm me if you'd like it. credit goes to nintendude for ripping for me

Have you started yet or is it in planning ? I'd be really interested to see the results, I'm curious about using foam... Could be a good idea for the waist area...

Anyway another update. I rondo'ed today, after having watched Ben Streeper's videos (they're really good, answer all questions and make a clean demo of the process... Kudos !).

So remember I first fiberglassed all the top part of the helmet, a bit of the front and the sides. (No pics of only the fiberglass, sorry).

I had 2-3 air bubbles, so I first drilled holes in them with my Dremel-clone, then started to mix resin and bondo. Once I put the hardener, I took a small amount on my mixing stick, pouring it into the holes to fill them. Went perfectly smooth. Then I poured the rest in the helmet and well started filling it as best as possible.

I worked in small quantities to get familiar with it first, ended up doing it 3 times. First time I've put everything on the fiberglass+ the whole front area around the visor, but the layer was too thin. I then added another layer, more generous on the front and the sides. Then a final layer to fix a few small spots and reinforce the edges. It's still relatively thin but I didn't want to waste too much material, and it's rock solid so I guess it's enough.

Man it sure is heavier now compared to fiberglass... I should have weighed the piece before, just to see. I'll weigh it (hum, is the verb correct ? I'm non-native english speaker) when it's cured. Still, this thing is just amazing to work with. So easy and quick.

Pics :

The whole thing.


Visor, rear, and side details.


Notice the lower area that has slightly warped. Seems like it's the only part though, so no big deal.​

I won't be able to work on it today and tomorrow, It'll wait for tuesday I think. But I'm not sure I have enough body filler to bondo the helm, and I'll need to work a bit to gather some money first... lol

In the meantime I'll try to buy some paper and rescale the other parts.

 

[rvb18]

no progress, just allot of preparing, planing, and saving up. if you search images on google you will find someone who made a suit from foam and it looks pretty good

 

[ShadoKat]

Wow, that calf piece looks really nice, and I really love how shapely it is. One of the benefits of using a decent pep file, yeah? Some other Samus cosplays I've seen have the calf piece as pretty much just a simple cylinder with a few detail lines, but yours has great definition, and looks really really nice. However, it also looks really huge on those shots with you wearing it! More for the height than the girth, but now I'm very curious as to how you're going to make the thigh pieces fit. I don't suppose you're considering stilts? LOL!! Again, I guess it's back to that trade-off thing I mentioned. Oh, wait!! Now that I've read the thread a little more closely, it looks like you're going to be re-scaling of some of the pieces? Yeah, it's almost guaranteed that the helmet is going to have to be a bit larger in scale than the rest of the suit... unless you can somehow make yourself 7 feet tall and keep your head the same size LOL!!

yours ios based of MP3, mine from MP1. Might not seem like much but there's quite a bit of difference between the two, especially the visor area. Yours is supposed to have a larger visor, that goes down a bit more, making the shape appear less wide I think...
See ? The visor is way different, the lines pattern too, and overall it looks less wide to me. MP1's helmet looks a little bulky in comparison...

Oh yes, no need to point it out, I am WELL versed in the different Samus variations Funny, though, one of the reasons I chose the Prime 3 version was because I thought it seemed proportionally less wide than the Prime 1 helmet, especially in the shot you have up there (one of my favorites, btw). Plus it's nearly identical to the Prime 2 helmet. Also, to be honest, I kind of like the Prime 3 design better (but there are no pep files for mine yet, though, which is why I'm sculpting rather than using pepakura).

Keep up the good work! You're doing great so far!

 

[inclol]

Wow, that calf piece looks really nice, and I really love how shapely it is. One of the benefits of using a decent pep file, yeah?

Indeed, it's helping me a lot ! There's not much I'll have to create from scratch, it looks. Which is better cause I'm not as good as you at sculpting ^^

...it looks like you're going to be re-scaling of some of the pieces? Yeah, it's almost guaranteed that the helmet is going to have to be a bit larger in scale than the rest of the suit... unless you can somehow make yourself 7 feet tall and keep your head the same size LOL!!

Yeah, rescaling is necessary. Although it may look badass like this, it's way too big. I mesured roughly the calf piece and it's approx. 60 cm high, without the pointy tip... And to fit correctly it should be only 40 cm ^^ I'm re-peping it right now, I had just enough paper to redo it.

Oh yes, no need to point it out, I am WELL versed in the different Samus variations Funny, though, one of the reasons I chose the Prime 3 version was because I thought it seemed proportionally less wide than the Prime 1 helmet, especially in the shot you have up there (one of my favorites, btw). Plus it's nearly identical to the Prime 2 helmet. Also, to be honest, I kind of like the Prime 3 design better (but there are no pep files for mine yet, though, which is why I'm sculpting rather than using pepakura).

Yeah, I thought you would know even better than me, I was pointing that out more for other people to see the differences the MP3 helmet definitely seems less wide. He looks a bit more refined and maybe a bit more futuristic to me, that's why I prefer the MP1 ; a little more "retro-looking". But that's personal preference. Generally people prefer the MP3 helmet, and anyway both look awesome !

 

[SPRTNBD50]

LAWL!!! Epic face!!

 

[chris uk 83]

Can we have a pic of the whole helmet as it stands at the moment, I mean rather than zoomed in detail shots. I want to see it in all its glory!

 

[loxton117]

I've never been much of a fan of samus and not noticed the designs. . . but so far this looks great, its clean, has shape and detail.. and I'm eagerly awaiting more

 

[inclol]

LAWL!!! Epic face!!

Ah ah. You know it's reaaaaally hard for me to be serious on any picture. I kinda specialized in photo-bombing since I was young, I guess.

...But, that's really the face you can do when melting your fingers for 3 hours.

Can we have a pic of the whole helmet as it stands at the moment, I mean rather than zoomed in detail shots. I want to see it in all its glory!

Well "glory" may be a big word for the moment, the outside isn't very clean. i had to add some baby powder to it cause I did'nt put enough hardener at the beginning, and there are a few strands of fibers here and there. If I'm lucky I'll be able to sand it roughly tomorrow to clean the edges a bit.

Anyway, here's your answer :

Heck, I'm generous tonight, here's three shots. You're lucky. Also, I just weighed it : 614 gr. Not that heavy.​

Also, a bit of progress ; I re-pep'd the calf and shoe piece, I scaled them down according to what length the calf piece should be. Result = FAIL. As you can see it's too little.

This way, it looks kinda cute.


Whoooops. Sorry sir, wrong size.


Notice the old bigger calf piece, that has been cut down to the correct length.


No Sir, still the wrong size.


Well it isn't as obvious as IRL, but this picture is supposed to show you it's the correct length. It really is.​

Was my math wrong... ? Well in fact not, when I put the piece beside my leg, it's exactly the correct length. Which means Samus has yet another inhuman proportion here. Damn you Samus. (Kidding, I love you. But still.) From there I have 2 solutions.

1/Keep the piece at that scale, but tweak it to fit my leg. That would alter the design a bit.

2/Scale it up a bit so I fit, and cut the excess length at the bottom part. Would be less altering of the design, I think.

What do you think is the best option here ? Still unsure.

In the meantime, it COULD make a pretty stylish forearm armor piece :

Looks deadly, in my opinion.​

Well nreally no more peping this time, I have only 2 sheets of paper ^^ I'll focus on my helm anyway, or I won't ever make any progress. A bit of sanding tomorrow. Is it better to re-resin after the first sanding and before bondoing or is it not necessary ?