1st Build Wraith's CE Mark V...ish Build

[Wraith0912]

So, this project has a bit of history surrounding it.

Initially, this was supposed to be an Infinite Mark VI build. I had gotten as far as getting the helmet and the arms done before printer issues, discovery of other files, and me being extremely wishy-washy eventually had me switch over to Mark V.

Fast forward like 2 years+ later, and this is where I'm currently at.

I went for the old "Bondo + filler primer + sanding" method at first, but I've recently been exploring resin as an option for post processing as well. While I'm still very new to both methods, the results do seem very promising. Below is my most recent bit of work; I did this coat of primer two days ago.

All of the pieces have been printed except for the torso and hips. I've split the workload into two groups to make things easier on myself: first is the thighs, shoulders, helmet, hand plates, belt, and front boots (AKA what's pictured above), second is the shins, knees, forearms, and the rest of the boots. Once the other parts have finished printing, I'll make them their own group. Goal is to get each group in a ready-to-paint stage so that I can do that step all at once.

Sources for files are as follows: the helmet, forearms, and boots are by the legendary MoeSizzlac (CEA boots, Glitch5970 helmet collab). The rest of the armor is from CoeIndustries over on Etsy.

I'm still keeping those Mark VI forearms, though. I don't care if it makes this a Frankensuit, they fit too well for me to lose 'em

 

[Wraith0912]

Haven't gotten much of a chance to work on the project due to work, but I found enough time to make a big next step: the chestplate!

Not gonna lie, there's a LOT of work to be done here. I experienced some layer shifting for the top halves of the chest, but I'm planning to Bondo that out as best as I can. The biggest concern is with these square block sections on the sides and how mangled they came out after taking off the supports. While I could Bondo those as well, I'm thinking of maybe keeping the holes in as battle damage somehow. I don't know how I would accomplish that (and suggestions are always appreciated), but I'd like to explore that option a bit before I fully commit to repairing it.

The assignment I currently work for runs for about another month, so I unfortunately don't anticipate getting much progress done besides the random print here and there. After that, though, I'm gonna commit to fleshing out the torso before school starts up in the fall.

 

[Wraith0912]

Been a bit, hasn't it?

So this project's been through some ups and downs over the past few months. I got to work doing some post-processing on the pieces that I have, especially the chestplate. Turns out that trying to fill in a warped print of this magnitude (and particularly in these small locations) is much harder than it seems.

I also found the time to try out wet sanding on some of my more completed parts. I've still got a ways to go before they're fully ready for painting, but they're getting there.

So now for the bad part: I have to completely redo my plans for the chest. I was printing the last few parts from Coe's files when two things happened: firstly, I got some pretty bad layer shifting towards the point of connection due to Z-wobble on my printer, which was a pretty bleak sight on an otherwise perfect print. It's hard to make out with the black filament, but everything slants to the left.

I decided to push on anyways with the thought that intensive dremel-ing and filling could salvage it, but when I went for a test fit, I encountered issue number two: not only did I scale the chest wrong, but Coe's files have a few oddities that make it so the raised thruster bits on the back are closer to the middle than they should be. Essentially, trying to wear my helmet with this chest would just make the helmet rest on the thrusters instead of my head.

I was looking around for alternatives when Wayward Flood was kind enough to link me a modification he made for Moe's CEA chestplate. I've been printing those files ever since, and lemme tell ya, the difference is like night and day. Still got lots of work to do for filling up the gaps in this new one, but I'm feeling much better about the outcome this time around.

Last week, I received news that my workplace is going to be hosting a virtual Halloween meeting on the 27th where everyone was invited to wear costumes and share images of them (my organization revolves around Zoom, so it'd be taking place over it). Colleagues who know me personally know that I've been working on this suit for a long time, so now I'm in crunch mode trying to get as much of it finished before then. I'm only focused on getting the top half done since that's all that's going to be seen, but that means that I have a little under a week and a half of printing time to get the back plate printed. I'll also be trying to give everything a convincing coat of paint; I'm not aiming to give it the full treatment of layering and weathering, just enough so that my colleagues aren't commenting that "Master Chief doesn't wear white armor". Whatever the condition of the suit at that point, I'll be sure to post back here too.

 

[Jev]

Your armour is looking great so far, best of luck with the crunch to get the top half done
I'm interested to see how you plan on making the chest so that you can get it on and off, I'm looking at how to do it at the moment myself!

 

[JammedMite942]

Looking great! That’s a pretty tight crunch, but I believe in you lol.

 

[N8TEBB]

It's gonna be sick when you join that zoom call dressed as a spartan XD

 

[HydrationPatrol]

dudes about to show up to the zoom call flexing on everybody.

 

[Wraith0912]

Master Chief has joined the Zoom call!

It took a lot of shortcuts and a strong will to overlook unfinished elements, but I'm happy to say I finished the Halloween crunch in time for my workplace's event. The reception was overwhelmingly positive; one coworker of mine who knew of me building the suit even shouted "Oh my god, it's happening!" right before I turned my camera on.

Of course, I did take some bathroom mirror pics afterwards in celebration. For someone who never takes selfies, I think they came out alright.

Some of you might be wondering what happened to the other pieces I showed off before in a "ready to paint" state, namely the shoulders. I was able to get the shoulders, forearms, and gloves in a "completed" state for this event, but I didn't put them on for the meeting itself because I didn't realize how limited my mobility would be. Also, because the shoulders have no strapping system or anything tying them to the chest, I could never get them to stay in one place for very long, which also made everything else even harder to get right. I was able to take a picture with me wearing the shoulders, though, which only highlights the total discomfort that trying to wear them brought me.

Needless to say, while this event was a big success in getting the costume to be visualized in a major way, I still have a lot of work to do before I can call this thing finished. I'm strongly recommending re-printing the chest piece entirely, partly because of the issues with the shoulders but also because I think it looks both too wide and too small on me. I might also switch to using Moe's shoulder files instead of Coe's, since Moe's files being thinner would let me rest my arms a bit more comfortably. I appreciate input in either of these two options as I move forward getting everything in a more finalized state.

 

[Wraith0912]

Smaller update this time around. Work continues on the already printed pieces; thanks to a new method of resin finishing, I was able to get the remaining parts for the shin and the boots to be in an acceptable position for painting, the first pass of which you can see here. Note that the inside of the shins is facing the camera, hence why they look so rough. The pieces still need touch-ups here and there, but seeing such a big component of the legs coming together is very satisfying.

I have good news and bad news in regards to the chest plate: the bad news is that, given the discomfort I had with my shoulders last time, it's become necessary for me to reprint the entire torso. Worse still, both of my sidewinder x1's bed thermistors gave out at the tail end of the Halloween crunch, and they're still in the shop getting repaired to this day because they were further broken during shipping. The good news, on the other hand, is that I got my Christmas present a little early: the Neptune 4 Max.

This thing has been a massive game changer in printing my armor. The build volume combined with a new slicing software (OrcaSlicer) means that I can print half of my new, enlarged chest plate in a day and a half where the sidewinders would take an additional day just to print a quarter of the plate. I have unfortunately had to deal with some lingering issues (plate adhesion and layer shifting being the big two), but for the most part I've been happy with the quality so far. As of now, the new chest plate and half of the backplate have been completed. I'm planning on starting the top half tomorrow.

Once this is done, I plan to move onto the final prints of the suit, that being the cod piece. I'm very excited to see all the pieces come together, and I'm having a great feeling about this project nearing its end. Depending on how the new chest plate interacts with the shoulders (and if I have the time), I may be able to print a new set of shoulders and forearms to round out the look. For now, though, the focus is on getting the existing pieces to a state of completion.

 

[Wraith0912]

I need to get better at updating this thing lol.

We're getting down to the wire for the C2E2 deadline, but I'm happy to report that all of the pieces have finished printing and now it's just a matter of post processing. Things have been extremely busy for me these past few months; I'm a full time student, I work for my university, and since I'm graduating this year I'm working on my final projects and stuff leading up to that big day. Because of that, I realized that I would not have enough time to fully work out all the details and paint everything myself. Luckily, I've enlisted the help of a local airbrushing place called Voodoo Airbrush to help get the pieces into that final, ready state. I've gotten a few pieces back from them so far and the results are so much better than anything I could do at my current skill level.

So far, what's ready is the helmet, thighs, and shoulders, with everything else hopefully slated to be done the first week of April. That'll give me enough time to do a small bit of drybrushing and blackwashing, install any extra padding, and most importantly, rig it to my body. Rigging is due to start next week with the thighs and shoulders, as that's when I'll be on spring break. I also anticipate having a lighter workload coming up as far as school goes, so hopefully I'll be able to devote enough time to get everything ready. Until then, I leave you with some more pics of the helmet, and I'll be sure to post a suit-up pic once everything is back in my possession.

 

[N8TEBB]

We're getting down to the wire for the C2E2 deadline

PFFF you got a whole MONTH!

Looks great! Best of luck with the C2 deadline! I'll see you there!

 

[Wraith0912]

PFFF you got a whole MONTH!

Looks great! Best of luck with the C2 deadline! I'll see you there!

The goal here is to get the suit done and wearable at least a few weeks in advance of C2 so that I can try it out, see how it fits, make sure I can walk OK in it, all that good stuff. I know people like to go really down to the wire and finish it like the day before the con, but I'm not all about that life lol. Thanks for the well wishes and I look forward to seeing you there as well!

 

[Wraith0912]

Past few weeks have been really busy, but luckily the armor's been the focal point of it this time. I spent all of my spring break week getting started on the weathering process, blackwashing followed by some drybrushing around the edges. The results are like night and day, and I couldn't be happier with the progress I was making. Here's some before and after shots, along with some quick overviews of the pieces I've worked on thus far.

That's not the best part, though...

The best part is that the whole suit has now been printed and painted!

Keen-eyed viewers will notice something interesting about the pics of the lower half. In between the past couple updates (AKA the last 3 months lol), I realized that the boots that I printed were a bit too big for the actual shoes I planned to wear in-armor. So, I switched back to CoeIndustries' files for them, mostly because they have slots modeled in for straps to connect to the shoe but also because they're HUGE.

I took the time to measure the additional height that Coe's boots give, and they come out to an increase of 2 1/2 inches. I'm 6'4" out-of-armor, which means that these boots will make me 6'6 1/2" in-armor at the very least.

I haven't measured how tall I'll be with the helmet yet. I'm looking forward to that one.

It's still a bit surreal to see how far I've been able to get in such a short time. Besides weathering, the only things left to do are rigging (which has already been started in the form of the base suspenders and belt) and extra things like the lights and helmet fans. There's only three weeks until the target deadline for C2E2, but with any luck, I can get the majority of the remaining work done within the next week or two, provided school doesn't frontload me with assignments. I know I said it before when the last pieces were printing, but now it really looks and feels like the end is truly in sight. I can't wait.

 

[SamuelHan]

WRAITH BUILD THREAD!!!!! I know I've told you before, but the weathering really brings the suit to life. The hard work you're putting into this project is really paying off, and I can't wait to see this in person at C2.

 

[N8TEBB]

There's only three weeks until the target deadline for C2E2, but with any luck, I can get the majority of the remaining work done within the next week or two, provided school doesn't frontload me with assignments.

Three weeks to go! I believe in you to get it done in time!

 

[he4thbar]

Past few weeks have been really busy, but luckily the armor's been the focal point of it this time. I spent all of my spring break week getting started on the weathering process, blackwashing followed by some drybrushing around the edges. The results are like night and day, and I couldn't be happier with the progress I was making. Here's some before and after shots, along with some quick overviews of the pieces I've worked on thus far.

View attachment 345889View attachment 345890
View attachment 345891View attachment 345892

That's not the best part, though...

The best part is that the whole suit has now been printed and painted!

View attachment 345893
View attachment 345894View attachment 345895
View attachment 345896

Keen-eyed viewers will notice something interesting about the pics of the lower half. In between the past couple updates (AKA the last 3 months lol), I realized that the boots that I printed were a bit too big for the actual shoes I planned to wear in-armor. So, I switched back to CoeIndustries' files for them, mostly because they have slots modeled in for straps to connect to the shoe but also because they're HUGE.

I took the time to measure the additional height that Coe's boots give, and they come out to an increase of 2 1/2 inches. I'm 6'4" out-of-armor, which means that these boots will make me 6'6 1/2" in-armor at the very least.

I haven't measured how tall I'll be with the helmet yet. I'm looking forward to that one.

It's still a bit surreal to see how far I've been able to get in such a short time. Besides weathering, the only things left to do are rigging (which has already been started in the form of the base suspenders and belt) and extra things like the lights and helmet fans. There's only three weeks until the target deadline for C2E2, but with any luck, I can get the majority of the remaining work done within the next week or two, provided school doesn't frontload me with assignments. I know I said it before when the last pieces were printing, but now it really looks and feels like the end is truly in sight. I can't wait.

So what youre saying is we will be seeing this at c2 , looking great you got this!

 

[Wraith0912]

Not gonna call it done just yet (still a few things to adjust on the chest, hips, and shins), but we're like 95% of the way there. The goal now is to get those adjustment pieces sorted, and then it's on to C2. I leave you with these sneak peeks of the upper half, as well as a look at the repainted Nerf MA40.

 

[SPARTIANRATH]

This looks really nice, wut did u use for ur under suit?

 

[Wraith0912]

This looks really nice, wut did u use for ur under suit?

I went cheap with mine, so it's just a long-sleeved shirt and pants. Don't know off the top of my head what the main material is, but it's very light, very thin, and very breathable. I'm considering swapping out the pants for a pair of leggings (can't see it but they're kind of baggy at the ankles), but they work for me either way.

 

[SPARTIANRATH]

I went cheap with mine, so it's just a long-sleeved shirt and pants. Don't know off the top of my head what the main material is, but it's very light, very thin, and very breathable. I'm considering swapping out the pants for a pair of leggings (can't see it but they're kind of baggy at the ankles), but they work for me either way.

Ok thanks