[WIP] Samus Aran Phazon Suit MP1

[inclol]

As planned, did a bit of sanding today. I cleaned those sharp angles and edges a bit. Overall no problem, the rondo did fill the air bubbles perfectly. I only sanded through the rondo on one side, that's when I noticed the layer was a bit too thin. So once I finished sanding, I added a bit more rondo to reinforce it. New weight : 725 gr.

Pics :

Still looks a bit rough, but we're getting close to something. I'll have to put quite a bit of bondo to get rid of that polygonal look.​

Not sure when I'll be able to move on to the next step, I don't have enough bondo yet. I'll update as soon as I have something to show... In the meantime, I'll do some scaling calculations, and maybe try to model myself in 3DSMax to have a good reference for scaling.

Stay tuned !

 

[ventrue]

Looks good.

This is probably the first time anybody has weighed their helmet :-D

 

[inclol]

This is probably the first time anybody has weighed their helmet :-D

True ! Well as a noob, when collecting informations, I always saw things like "it's heavy", "it's pretty light", "it's heavier than..."... OK, but what is heavy, what is light ? Data please !

So I figured it could be useful to have a better idea. Everyone says Rondo is heavier than fiberglass, but it's hard to figure if it's too heavy without trying it.

 

[Z0M8I3]

Great progress! Everything is looking good. I have to say, every time I see your avatar I can't help but laugh. I think we've all had that look and experience atleast once..lol.

Keep up the great work:cool

 

[inclol]

Been able to resupply a bit today, so I thought I would start again working on my helm. I wanted to find ref pics from the back but it's proving to be nearly impossible. I was ready to give up when one detail struck my mind ; whooooooops. My helm isn't really accurate. The visor area is wrong. Well, if you refer to MP1.

I was focusing so much on all the other details I didn't even see this... I feel a bit stupid. That's strange, cause the model I work from is supposed to be a rip, and all the others aspects, after a double-check, are really from MP1. The helm texture used is also from MP1, so... don't know why. Also, MP2's helmet is different, and Mp3 too. So don't know where it comes from. Meh.

It's not too bad though, I admit I like the helm like it is right now and seeing how the helm changes every game, having a kinda combination of differents models is logical. Heck, even me, I didn't see it until then...

So I'll keep on going on the MP1 route. I still haven't got back my Prime Trilogy package, so I'll base myself on my pep files, that contain textures, to draw the lines. I hope to start bondoing in a matter of minutes, pics will come...

 

[Propcustomz]

Its looking good so far. Are you making the whole suit?

 

[SPRTNBD50]

LOL!!! PHOTOBOMBING FOR THE WIN!!!(Me good too)
My face for me after melting my hands for three hours......you don't wanna know......

 

[inclol]

Its looking good so far. Are you making the whole suit?

Thanks Yeah, that's the plan. I'm kinda focusing on the helm for the moment, cause I want to make some progress and not lose my time going back and forth everywhere. I work on my helm and, when I must wait (curing time, lack of supplies) I pep other parts.

Speaking of which, as promised, did a bit of bondo today ! The result looks of course horrible so I guess I did a good job. jokes aside, here are the pics :

The helm, before bondoing. Note the poorly drawn lines, which will need to be carved in Bondo afterwards. They're here for reference only and will be covered anyway.


The result so far. I tried to put a generous amount everywhere. There's a bit of asymmetry here and there, but for a first pass it's not too bad.​

Note I didn't worked on the visor area for the moment.
I'll wait for it to cure completely before a first rough sanding. It will probably wait for sunday or even monday though, I won't have enough time before that.

In the meantime, i'll pep some parts. Right now I'm trying the torso armor, the upper part (with the two reactor things at the back). I may have a result in a few hours, it's a scale-test so fingers crossed !

My face for me after melting my hands for three hours......you don't wanna know......

...Well now you're making me curious !

 

[mtotter]

i go of the 405th for 5 days and i almost missed a great build like this. great job dude!

 

[inclol]

Sooo i'm focusing on harder parts of the armor, scaling-wise. As promised, I pepped the "torso". You know, the space bra. It's not a fail cause I can fit in there, but it's really tight. Not sure if it's a win either.

Oh, also, the lower part that closes the armpit is part of the other half of the upper armor, but I added it here just to reinforce the piece, and to see how big those armpits were supposed to be. It won't be on this part.

Pics :

That's what I call a tight fit ; I can't really lower my arms, nor brings them in front of me.


The part all alone.​

For the moment I can't really decide if it's correct or not. Seems not too bad for me, even though I can barely move in it. But if you look at the back, those "jet engines" things seem already big enough.

What do you guys think about it ?

 

[Inferno]

Looking good! Being the Metroid buff that I am, I'm really interested in seeing where this project goes. And from the reference pics I can see, I think the jets look pretty good. Mostly likely won't be able to tell anymore without the rest of the torso armor, but it looks great so far. And I don't know if you got your question fully answered, but the shoulders are the right size for MP1. If you went to MP2 or 3, they would get smaller progressively. By the way, where did you get the templates?

 

[inclol]

Looking good! Being the Metroid buff that I am, I'm really interested in seeing where this project goes.

Thanks ! At least i'm not the only Metroid fan here ^^

And from the reference pics I can see, I think the jets look pretty good. Mostly likely won't be able to tell anymore without the rest of the torso armor, but it looks great so far.

Well yeah, in fact it seems correct to me. What was confusing was the fact i can't move my arms at all in there. But why's that... ? Well it's thanks to Samus's "alien-wide shoulders" p). her arms don't collide with the torso armor because of this, but on a normal human... it's another story. i'll have to rework that part a bit.

And I don't know if you got your question fully answered, but the shoulders are the right size for MP1. If you went to MP2 or 3, they would get smaller progressively.

Well now that I have the torso armor, I think you're right, they're at the correct size. but what will be problematic is how it fits/intersects with other pieces, and how to make it stay in place... This will become tricky because of the torso armor+biceps.
On refs pictures, we see the shoulder bell must be pretty close to the torso but not hitting it, and it's also more or less aligned with the biceps armor. This thing will definitely be tricky... Oh well no fun in easy things I guess.:cool

By the way, where did you get the templates?

Here : http://www.nintendopapercraft.com/labels/Other.html. Scroll down till you find it.
It's not really made for full-size suit making but it's got good details and it's hard to find other things. I could try to rip the model from the game but now that I started on this one...
The only problem I see with this model is some parts are a bit low-def, and it's not in a very neutral pose, which will need some rework on specific parts.

Also, I had some spare time, I would have liked to work on my helm but I'm sick so breathing dust and such isn't a good idea. To make good use of this time, I pepped the leg part again, at the correct scale this time (not sure why I fixated so much on this...). Oh, also finished Other M.

Pics :

The two parts together on me, test fit = WIN. even with a jean. It's tight though, and I don't know if it will fit again once fibergalssed and all. We'll see later.​

As you can see it fits better, and I can bend my knee more than 90° so it's perfect.

Shoe alone :

​

 

[loxton117]

this is coming along pretty damn well! hope the rest looks just as smooth and clean

 

[chris uk 83]

I want to see that helmet painted! Get a move on

 

[inclol]

Weeeeeeeell sorry for the lack of updates... Been pretty busy with work, so I didn't get much progress. I just sanded the helm, but it was a rough bondo pass so there's still alot to do. i'm not yet used to using bondo like this, so there are spots where I didn't put enough. It's a rough pass but I can still see a bit of the polygonal aspect... I hope to get rid of it with the next batch.

Problem of sanding is, it produces so much dust I must do it outside... and it's getting quite cold I don't have problems handling low temperatures, but the hot/cold transition is one of my fatal weakness... And I didn't have much time those days. I should be able to get back at it next week though.
I also pepped the cannon, and the biceps armor, but the scale is off so i'll have to redo of course. I didn't take pics for the moment, I'll do when the helm becomes interesting to see...

 

[wiyumishere]

i've learned the hard way that applying less is best. If you need more bondo on a piece just mix up a little bit. Bondo tools help with spreading evenly on surfaces. The flat plastic spreading bondo tools for like 3$ help a lot. Pretty sweet build so far

 

[ShadoKat]

Awesome, it looks like you've got the boot and calf armor scaled to the correct size! I might recommend you trying it on without jeans, though, just to get a more accurate picture of what it may look like in practice. Even so, it's looking great, keep up the good work!!

Thanks ! At least i'm not the only Metroid fan here ^^

Nope, not the only one at all, LOL!!

Well yeah, in fact it seems correct to me. What was confusing was the fact i can't move my arms at all in there. But why's that... ? Well it's thanks to Samus's "alien-wide shoulders" p). her arms don't collide with the torso armor because of this, but on a normal human... it's another story...

Well now that I have the torso armor, I think you're right, they're at the correct size. but what will be problematic is how it fits/intersects with other pieces, and how to make it stay in place... This will become tricky because of the torso armor+biceps.
On refs pictures, we see the shoulder bell must be pretty close to the torso but not hitting it, and it's also more or less aligned with the biceps armor. This thing will definitely be tricky.

Yes, definitely tricky... That bit about the pieces not hitting each other is not entirely correct, unfortunately. If you look closely at any of the cutscenes or youtube videos taken from the games, you will notice that there is a LOT of collision (clipping) between the pieces, especially in the area of the shoulder bells/arms/torso. Because it's in-game, though, they can get away with it, as one piece just sort of "disappears" into the other. That's another thing that makes real-world Samus armor so challenging, I think, is that you have physical limitations that animators do not.

 

[inclol]

Yes, definitely tricky... That bit about the pieces not hitting each other is not entirely correct, unfortunately. If you look closely at any of the cutscenes or youtube videos taken from the games, you will notice that there is a LOT of collision (clipping) between the pieces, especially in the area of the shoulder bells/arms/torso. Because it's in-game, though, they can get away with it, as one piece just sort of "disappears" into the other. That's another thing that makes real-world Samus armor so challenging, I think, is that you have physical limitations that animators do not.

Yeah, as you say, there are those problems in-game. But IRL unfortunately I can't make pieces disappear in each other ^^ so I have to make it work.

There's one thing I was unsure of... that bugged me for quite some time
About the shoulder bells, I wasn't sure how exactly they're supposed to move or not. Seems different in each game.

Looking at ref vids on youtube, in MP1, they don't move with the arms, when you get an armor, Samus lifts her arms a bit, but she can't completely because the shoulder bells don't move and so block the arms.

...And I can't remember at all in MP2 or 3, but there's that ref picture I posted before, where she's pointing the cannon at you, we can see the shoulder bell didn't just stay in place but rather moved along with the arm.

Cutscene of MP1. It may be easier to see what I'm talkin' about :

At the 5:00 mark, she gets the armor. When she has it on, we see her arms are not straight and the bells don't move at all. I can't find a sure enough evidence on MP3 though.

I'll try to stay close to the MP1 route but I'll see what is possible... Just making sure this thing stay on my shoulders and doesn't move too much will be hard ^^