Warhammer 40K Space Marine (FINISHED, page 4)

EDIT - Added pic of finished suit.



I have been working on this for a couple of weeks, taking pics here and there, and am finally getting around to making a progress thread. For the chapter I'm going with Genesis for the simple fact that I like their colors the best. I had originally planned to make an Ultramarine but from what I've seen everyone basically groans when they see another Ultramarine build.

I have this build scaled to be about 7 feet in height. I am using 1/2" cross linked polyethylene foam, which is basically the same as eva foam but it's smooth on both sides, no diamond texture to worry about. When I first started I ordered 72 square feet of foam, that got me through everything you see in these first set of pictures (just barely).

Ok, so on with the pics. (The first few pics were taken with a phone, then I switched to my camera for better quality.)

The first thing I wanted to knock out was the stilts. For these I used 2 inch thick insulation foam. The bottom layer is the full foot, then there are 5 circular layers on top of that. Then on top is a 3/4" piece of wood that my shoes are screwed to. All in all it's about a 13 inch lift.



Me wearing the stilts.



The boots are built. They fit nicely around the stilts.



Here, the legs, knees, and thighs have been made.





Cod piece and abs added.





Details on the belt and cod piece added.



Chest added.





Then while waiting on another shipment of foam I started working on the detail pieces. First is the chest piece. The skull is a plastic halloween skull with the back of the head chopped off.



Finished



Here is the 2nd Company symbol which will be added to the right knee. Below that is a banner that will go on the right shin. "Vita Exuro" is latin for "life burner".



This is a laurel that will be on the left knee.



That's it for now. More foam should arrive shortly so I can pick back up where I left off.

Let me know what you guys think.

Re: Warhammer 40K Space Marine Build: Genesis Chapter

already looking sweet very clean foam work

Re: Warhammer 40K Space Marine Build: Genesis Chapter

evilchiken469 said:

already looking sweet very clean foam work

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What that guy said.

Re: Warhammer 40K Space Marine Build: Genesis Chapter

Thanks guys!

Got my 2nd shipment of foam in so I will be cranking out the arms, shoulders, and possibly the helmet this weekend.

Re: Warhammer 40K Space Marine Build: Genesis Chapter

Amazing work !

Re: Warhammer 40K Space Marine Build: Genesis Chapter

I am a bit worried about your boot solution. The biggest slice of foam is bound to snap at one point, possibly causing you to fall face first onto the floor... And it's a loooong way down!
I'd also make sure that the boot was in two pieces and could move. If it's one big static piece, your mobility will be really limited and you'll look a bit strange when walking.

Re: Warhammer 40K Space Marine Build: Genesis Chapter

I am concerned about that also. When I build stilts similar to this, I screw down the shoe as far forward inside the shoe or boot as well as the back portion down through the heel. It has to have something to bite down into. Duct tape holding onto the rigid insulation foam might hold for now but as the foot pounds and movement stress it, it will loosen. The solution you have with the fixtures holding down the shoe might rip parts of the shoe sole off also. screwing down the shoe might help that. Reinforcing sides with some lightweight wood and screws might help too.

Re: Warhammer 40K Space Marine Build: Genesis Chapter

Deetoz said:

I am a bit worried about your boot solution. The biggest slice of foam is bound to snap at one point, possibly causing you to fall face first onto the floor... And it's a loooong way down!
I'd also make sure that the boot was in two pieces and could move. If it's one big static piece, your mobility will be really limited and you'll look a bit strange when walking.

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LOGANCLAW22 said:

I am concerned about that also. When I build stilts similar to this, I screw down the shoe as far forward inside the shoe or boot as well as the back portion down through the heel. It has to have something to bite down into. Duct tape holding onto the rigid insulation foam might hold for now but as the foot pounds and movement stress it, it will loosen. The solution you have with the fixtures holding down the shoe might rip parts of the shoe sole off also. screwing down the shoe might help that. Reinforcing sides with some lightweight wood and screws might help too.

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Thanks for the input!

I still need to add a layer of eva foam to the bottom of the stilts so I can easily divide the biggest foam piece before doing that. I have done some walking tests and because of the size of the stilts I'm not able to roll onto the ball of my foot like you would normally so walking already looks a bit funny. It looks like I'm basically just stomping around.

And yeah I have 2 long screwed going straight down into each shoe to help hold them in place in case the outer brackets fail. And the foam pieces were glued together using plastic nails before duct tape was added. The duct tape was mainly to keep the foam from getting messy if it gets banged up.

If these don't work in the long run I will try the pvc stilts that I have seen other people make.

Re: Warhammer 40K Space Marine Build: Genesis Chapter

Looks great, now you got me rethinking my banner..

Re: Warhammer 40K Space Marine Build: Genesis Chapter

This is stellar!

Re: Warhammer 40K Space Marine Build: Genesis Chapter

My solution was to have the column of foam that you have as well, but not have the bottom layer sticking out. It's not at all perfect, but I think it's more stable than the PVC pipes others use. I just wouldn't trust such a flimsy (yeah, PVC's not that flimsy but we're putting a lot of stress on it in a few places when walking) material. A solid pillar feels more right.

Oh, and about the walking.. Having a movable toe will also lessen the stompy effect.. But it'll always be there. We are NOT marines and as such will never walk like them

Re: Warhammer 40K Space Marine Build: Genesis Chapter

Got the arms made and am working on finishing the shoulders. The shoulders need pieces around the edges to help them keep their shape and not warp like they are in the pic. After that I will start making the shoulder details.





UPDATE:

I also didn't like they way the letters looked on my banner so I changed them to something a little more bulky looking. I also added a little wear to the banner itself using a hotknife.

Re: Warhammer 40K Space Marine Build: Genesis Chapter

So I've been working on the shoulder details and everything is almost done. Right now the details are just pinned to the shoulders because I need to sand the seams before I glue anything down.

The right shoulder has the tactical squad arrow, and the left has a winged skull with the chapter insignia above that. It is the Genesis chapter.









The right shoulder in this pic is a little warped around the edge, but once I add a rigid structure to the edges that should be fixed. The rigid structure will also pull the bottoms of the shoulders in so they aren't so flared out.



And while I had some extra time I did a makeup test to see if I could get some good looking scars for when I remove my helmet.

Re: Warhammer 40K Space Marine Build: Genesis Chapter

Very cool man. Loving the detail pieces.

Re: Warhammer 40K Space Marine Build: Genesis Chapter

Thanks Fawbish!

So I stacked everything up to see how it looked. Had to take a picture fast because there is nothing supporting it, which is why it's leaning and the left thigh looks weird.

I have been slowly working on the internal structure and harnesses so I can actually wear the damn thing.

Re: Warhammer 40K Space Marine Build: Genesis Chapter

Building that thing fast coming along nice.:thumbsup

Re: Warhammer 40K Space Marine Build: Genesis Chapter

Holy cow, the progress! Gotta admit, I've always had a great appreciation of the folks that manage to fabricate those immense armor suits from Warhammer 40k. It looks absolutely phenomenal. I guess there's only one last thing to be said... FOR THE EMPEROR!

Re: Warhammer 40K Space Marine Build: Genesis Chapter

Mockle said:

Building that thing fast coming along nice.:thumbsup

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Thanks! I generally work pretty fast.

Metrocop said:

Holy cow, the progress! Gotta admit, I've always had a great appreciation of the folks that manage to fabricate those immense armor suits from Warhammer 40k. It looks absolutely phenomenal. I guess there's only one last thing to be said... FOR THE EMPEROR!

Click to expand...

Thanks!
More updates:

Got the internal structure built for the chest, now it is much more solid. For the life of me I couldn't get neck part to work without crimping the pvc. I also bought some hockey gloves to use as the hands.





Then I suited up the top half to see how everything fits. I really don't want to do it but I may have to shorten the shoulders so it doesn't look like I have t-rex arms.

Re: Warhammer 40K Space Marine Build: Genesis Chapter

I have a suggestion, and I am 100% in understanding and in agreement with your sentiments leaving the armor 'bulky' as that is part of the appearance of a Sphess Mahreen

However... as corny as my suggestion may be, even in World of Warcraft regarding character models, they never change the model size, however their shoulder armor makes them much larger in stature. How is this accomplished? Very simple, they elevate or move the shoulders out. Not sure if this helps you much, but this is the best suggestion I can offer you without making any size changes to your already existing armor.

If elevating or moving your shoulders out slightly is inadequate, perhaps you'd want to remove some material from your chestpiece directly under your arms or sides without changing the front chest itself? This would force you to allow your arms room to come to your sides more, giving you back your length without 'bull dogging' your arms out, this obviously takes up all of your arm length.

All in all, I can't complain too much about the shoulderpieces as they're ment to be oversized like that. But I think if you trim the areas directly underneath your chest armor, without changing the front, you can effectively 'hide' the alterations you've made while also being anatomically accomodating. Catch my drift?

All I can say is that if you can't afford to make major alterations, do what you can to modify the armor to an extent to allow you to stand or rest your arms as naturally as possible, this will give you back your armlength. The rest of the little details and alterations you can make will help bring the appearance back into reasonable spec (as reasonable as huge armor can be. =P)

Regardless, this is badassed all the same.

TL;DR
Shoulders - Bring them up 2", bring them in 2" and tilt them (bottom) out 1-2". Then trim the chestpiece underneath your arms to allow as much anatomical arm extension as possible. Also, if you can, when you make your helmet, try to build it higher to maintain the head-to-shoulder scaling. If that doesn't work, ya might have to trim the shoulders down, unless you can grow out your arms longer.



Also... Why do you look always angry, all the time? (Warning: Hyperlink not for the faint of heart.)

Re: Warhammer 40K Space Marine Build: Genesis Chapter

If you review Sylgians build, he had the same issue. He ended up cutting his shoulders down. Another option is arm extensions. Either way, you've done some amazing work here.

my shoulders are also huge, but I raised them up, or I have unnaturally long arms.