Mass Effect 3 Costume/Armor WIP (N7 helmet sculpt)

Tarchinoko

Well-Known Member

• Aug 4, 2011

• #1

*copied this thread off of the one i posted on the 405th*
First of all great thanks to insanetrooper from the 405th for thinking up of this method for making the base for the clay sculpt, It works a charm! If you want to see a thread of his explaining his method click here

Pepakura stage

See my plush angry bird?

Now i needed to get a mannequin head to put my sculpt onto, but im cheap and didnt wanna fork out the money for a professional one so i made one myself, anyone looking for the tut i used for it look here

I look like an idiot dont i....
now this method requires a helper and so...
heres my lovely assistant!

I then filled the tape mould of my head with expanding foam

Now i ordered a 14lb shipment of nsp chavant clay, i then melted it down half a pound at a time by cubing half a pound and melting it in a bowl in the oven. I only used 9 pounds tho for fear of the weight crushing my cheapo head cast. I stuck the head cast to a base using more expanding foam and put the helmet onto it and peeled off all the paper to reveal:

Now youll notice that the sculpt is lobsided, this is because i didnt fill the head mould properly so on one side a small section of the neck has not expanding foam in it so it just caved in completely.

I think its curious

 

Last edited: Aug 22, 2011

Panzer

Well-Known Member

• Aug 4, 2011

• #2

Re: Mass Effect N-7 Helmet sculpt WIP

Nice work so far, gah that headcast thing freaks me out. No way I'd do that.

 

Tarchinoko

Well-Known Member

• Aug 4, 2011

• #3

Re: Mass Effect N-7 Helmet sculpt WIP

Panzer said:

Nice work so far, gah that headcast thing freaks me out. No way I'd do that.

Click to expand...

haha yeah well it was getting kinda uncomfortable , it gets SUPER hot in there :lol but its a much better option than paying for mannequin heads for using to sculpt onto or even to display helmets. plus its super sturdy its holding up 9-10 pounds of clay easily and it cost me 1/10th of the price of an actual mannequin head

 

Tarchinoko

Well-Known Member

• Aug 13, 2011

• #4

Mass Effect 3 Costume WIP (N7 helmet sculpt)

due to me not having sloshed the clay around very well in the pepakura, progress is slow. But hey! im learning
ive decided to make this into a full blown mass effect 3 costume thread starting with the helmet, i want to get the sculpt outta the way before i make my own templates for the foam armoring.

i plan on making this minus the omni blade and make a different pistol from mass effect

ill be using the templates for the mass effect 2 armor thats been circulating the forums and drawing ontop of them to modify them to make this new chest and ab armor, i will then be free handing the shoulders and the belt

also UPDATES!! the helmet progress as i said is slow
just been adding in detail lines and smoothing slowly, also fixed the caved in mannequin head

Feedback appreciated!

 

IronCostumer

Well-Known Member

• Aug 13, 2011

• #5

Re: Mass Effect 3 Costume WIP (N7 helmet sculpt)

Looking REALLY good! If I ever decided to start sculpting, I will totally use this method. Thanks for opening my eyes!

 

Tarchinoko

Well-Known Member

• Aug 13, 2011

• #6

Re: Mass Effect 3 Costume WIP (N7 helmet sculpt)

haha yeah it really helps to get a great base! saves loads of time and effort making it symmetrical

another photo taken! more flattering angle

 

Tarchinoko

Well-Known Member

• Aug 16, 2011

• #7

Re: Mass Effect 3 Costume WIP (N7 helmet sculpt)

So i tried making a pattern by free hand... and failed epically
so i instead made a simple model of it on pepakura for the templates and smoothed out the pepakura templates and cut them out on eva foam, now i completely failed with this as it was my first foam piece but i still went through with it to test plasti dip sealer on it and it turned out pretty well! so do you guys think its scaled right?

EDIT!!!
I painted up the test piece to see how well the paint goes on, with the plasti dip under layer its really amazing! barely cracks at all! only under extreme bending and will go back to normal when you stop bending the piece. What do you guys think of the paintjob? i wont have the final one in black but you guys think the damage is good?

 

Last edited: Aug 17, 2011

Darkstar

New Member

• Aug 17, 2011

• #8

Re: Mass Effect 3 Costume WIP (N7 helmet sculpt)

very cool!

 

Tarchinoko

Well-Known Member

• Aug 25, 2011

• #9

Thanks man!

sorry its been awhile guys but ive been away on holiday but ive been busy!

and heres some pics showing scale

more images coming soon so stay tuned!

 

Tarchinoko

Well-Known Member

• Aug 31, 2011

• #10

UPDATES!!!

I got the hand plates painted up and wanted to show the classic Shepard red and white stripes I finished the armor for one sides whole arm including the inner shoulder armor which i free handed, It doesnt look right in the photo but thats just because it isnt sitting right due to the curve i heat bent it into is wrong but nothing some velcro cant fix

 

Variant

Active Member

• Sep 6, 2011

• #11

Loving the build so far. The idea of the helmet pep/clay form is brilliant. I'm trying to do a mash up of ME 2 and 3 armor. We'll see how that goes.

 

AnotherChris

New Member

• Sep 8, 2011

• #12

This is looking brilliant. It's certainly inspiring for someone like me with zero experience. May I ask a stupid question? Where did you get the pepakura file for the helmet? I haven't had much luck tracking one down. I look forward to seeing your continued progress!

 

Tarchinoko

Well-Known Member

• Sep 10, 2011

• #13

I got it off a thread with the game ripped files I unfolded it myself and scaled it. If you want pm me your email address and ill send it on Yeah i have zero experience with clay, or foam, and my only resin and bondo armor i got around to doing failed epically then again that was a few years ago. Also there wont be any updates for awhile unfortunately cuz im back at boarding school now

 

BikerScout

Well-Known Member

• Sep 10, 2011

• #14

I'd like the file as well if you wouldnt mind?

 

Tarchinoko

Well-Known Member

• Sep 10, 2011

• #15

BikerScout said:

I'd like the file as well if you wouldnt mind?

Click to expand...

pm me!

 

AnotherChris

New Member

• Sep 12, 2011

• #16

That's awesome! Thanks so much for sharing!

 

Jaedena

Well-Known Member

RPF PREMIUM MEMBER

• Sep 28, 2011

• #17

How is this build coming along?

 

Panzer

Well-Known Member

• Sep 28, 2011

• #18

Made some progress since I last checked in, looking good. I hope to perhaps try and start my own ME3 build come December.

 

Tarchinoko

Well-Known Member

• Oct 1, 2011

• #19

sorry its been awhile but ive been at boarding school for the past 4 weeks, wont be returning either for another 3 :cry but then ill have a 2 week holiday to really crank out the pieces. I hope to be able to finish the torso by then and get the sculpt almost finished but we'll have to see but thanks for the interest in the build!

also panzer if youre after any of the templates i come up with if you do start feel free to pm me for them

 

Tarchinoko

Well-Known Member

• Nov 3, 2011

• #20

hey guys i know its been awhile and i havent made many updates but school work and a sports injury has kept me away from building
i have an update!
ive completed the other side's arm armor i.e. bicep forearm and shoulder and i have also completed the front of the torso
no progress on the sculpt yet tho
hope to finish this project in christmas... if i dont run out of foam that is....
pics of the chest and crotch plate:

and closer up of the chest: