COMPLETE! "It's About Time!" Starcraft II Jim Raynor Armor *PIC HEAVY*

[MWiggs]

Re: "It's About Time!" Starcraft II Terran Marine CMC Armor WIP *PIC HEAVY*

In the words of Randy Quaid, "Hello boys, I'm BAAAAAAACK!"

Ok so I never really left, but real life had to take place at some point so between the bitter cold of winter and moving, I've finally got my work space up and running again! And, as a bonus, I managed to score a great deal on a 3D printer! Yay! So of course, for the last couple weeks I've been cranking out parts for the gun associated with my build. Would it be appropriate to post that here or should I just start a whole new thread? Eh teasers are always good...

(Idea for scale! )

And yes, Makerbot Replicator 2 using PLA filament. I'm really happy with the results I've been turning out so far. I'm still learning correct tolerancing to minimize cleanup, but so far everything is fitting together pretty well!

Next up is the spine and upper arm details, as well as ironing out the kinks from mounting the switches for the lights and helmet. Go go GO!

Oh, and it's been announced September 1-3 is the official deadline this time around. SLCC here we come! Blizzcon may have to wait, as those ticket prices (just announced) have climbed to $199 each! Ouch... SDCC? July? maybe if I pull out all the stops and really get moving on this... Fingers crossed!

And thanks again for the kind words all! Wish me luck!

 

[whitedragond]

Re: "It's About Time!" Starcraft II Terran Marine CMC Armor WIP *PIC HEAVY*

XTC-3D and Frog Juice will be your friend

 

[dedguy]

Re: "It's About Time!" Starcraft II Terran Marine CMC Armor WIP *PIC HEAVY*

So happy to see this thread back in action. One of my favorite builds.

 

[MWiggs]

Re: "It's About Time!" Starcraft II Terran Marine CMC Armor WIP *PIC HEAVY*

XTC-3D and Frog Juice will be your friend

Already got XTC on the way but never heard of Frog juice. I'll look into it thanks!

 

[Div87]

Re: "It's About Time!" Starcraft II Terran Marine CMC Armor WIP *PIC HEAVY*

INSANE! Played SC for many many years but this is better :O

Raynor: "Guys like me don't get second chances darlin'. We just gotta finish what we begun."

 

[MWiggs]

Re: "It's About Time!" Starcraft II Terran Marine CMC Armor WIP *PIC HEAVY*

3D printer still going like mad, burned thru almost two large rolls so far (2.2 lbs (1kg) each BTW) and clogged a nozzle which required I buy some replacements, but I'm three(ish) parts away from finishing the pistol. A couple of the corners on the larger prints have a slight warp to them, so when I fit them together there's a gap between the parts. Anyone know the best way to not only glue the parts together so they never come apart, but also fill in the gaps around the corners? I've heard bondo, but I have no idea how well that'll stick to PLA. Same goes for glue... I've heard gel-type super glue will work but i've yet to try it. I suppose I could try a two part epoxy too, but its more complicated to mix and slather than I want to deal with right now. I'm lazy, yes. But if that's the only way, so be it. Input here would be awesome

I printed off the end of the barrel first, then followed up with several smaller sections to minimize overhanging sections. Then, because of the size limitation of my printer I split the lower half of the barrel into two sections.



I split the main body of the gun up into six different pieces and added dowel pin holes for fastening and aligning the pieces. that barrel is HUGE! it's a little over a foot tall! I did everything hollow so it's still not extremely heavy. I also got the cylinder printed off in two sections, mainly because the whole thing would have taken 18 hrs to print! I've already tried sleeping with the thing going and it didn't end well... so two 8 hour prints later I could fit those together too. Like I mentioned before, tolerancing the parts is a trial and error thing so the bullets ALMOST fit into the cylinder. They'll require a bit of sanding before they fit nicely tho.



I've started up on the main suit again, and first step was connecting the electronics and switches to the hands so I can activate certain features whilst wearing the thing. Thumb switches for the visor are up the left sleeve, and the main power switch for lights are up the right. Then I finally got the forearms mounted to the hands. They're really long! I'm getting anxious to finally suit up with the whole thing just to try it out, but there's still a bit of work to be done on the upper arms before that can happen.




He he he... I look at this and all I can think about is:



More to come, thanks for watching!

 

[MWiggs]

Re: "It's About Time!" Starcraft II Terran Marine CMC Armor WIP *PIC HEAVY*

FINALLY! The last print for the gun is complete!
4 lbs of PLA, several messed up prints that had to be scrapped, reprinting parts that I designed slightly off, and I can finally start gluing pieces together! It's starting to look like an actual THING!



Anyway, I printed off the individual pieces, assembled each half then stuck that all together and attached the barrel at the front (good place for it, don't you think?) I've been sanding parts like crazy to smooth out the surfaces and get the bullets to fit right in the chambers, but it seems as if everything is in working order for now! I even built in a spring loaded bullet ejector mechanism just for the heck of it. I hope they'll let this thing passed the weapons check at the con... it's big enough tho I don't think it'll be an issue.




Now, if anyone know the best way to smooth out a print and fill those pesky gaps without adding too much weight (i'm looking at you, Bondo) I'm all ears!

Also, I did a little more work on the shoulder bells, added some greeblies and detailing. Nothing earth shattering. There's also a handle that gets attached to the back side of these as well, that's also in progress.



Picking up speed now. :cool All I've got left on the suit itself is the upper arms, spinal attachment and the hoses. Then, on to battle damage, coating, and painting! Woot!

 

[Scifideity]

Re: "It's About Time!" Starcraft II Terran Marine CMC Armor WIP *PIC HEAVY*

Damn impressive! Great work man!

 

[dedguy]

Re: "It's About Time!" Starcraft II Terran Marine CMC Armor WIP *PIC HEAVY*

MWiggs from what I have seen there's no easy way of doing it but it seems like a lot of people use XTC-3D which is specifically made to fill in print lines. You'll still need to do sanding and priming but it seems to take a lot of the hard work out of it. Punished Props just put a great video up on YouTube of the making of a Heathstone box and they use 3D prints. They show the whole process of getting the prints smooth and prepped for casting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWOJuUVc_0Y

 

[MWiggs]

Re: "It's About Time!" Starcraft II Terran Marine CMC Armor WIP *PIC HEAVY*

dedguy - thanks for that! I missed Bill's build on that box entirely! Dunno how exactly.. but that helps ease my worries a lot! I found another tutorial done by an Aussie where he shares some tips and tricks for using the stuff, IE to keep it from pooling in low areas or dripping from overhangs. Looking forward to using it! In the meantime, I've found my solution to those pesky gaps caused by warping during printing. Behold: the power of Apoxie Sculpt!! Surprise! For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a two part epoxy based putty used for sculpting (gasp) that air dries in 24 hours and becomes sandable/paintable/machineable and you can even tap holes into it! strong stuff. Anyway, long story short I was thinking of just going the old Bondo route for filling the gaps but it can be such a hassle to mix correctly etc, so I went on the hunt for an alternative. A.S. rocks first off, but it worked so much better than I had hoped! Now only time will tell if it bonds to the plastic as well as it says it will. I let it dry for two days just to make sure it was cured and started sanding it down. And as always, follow the directions on the jar: use a mask when sanding. Safety first. :ninja More sanding inside the fine details and I can start slathering on the XTC-3D.



I also built the handles that mount on the back side of the shoulder bells. I cut out the profile of the handle in halves out of EVA, then carved a groove out of the middle of each side to have a place to glue in wooden dowels. I wanted the handles to be functional to carry around the shoulders so now they're nice and strong. I sanded down the entire thing to be round and wrapped the center with 2mm foamies to finish off the look. Dremeled out the spaces in the shoulders and glued them in place.



I even got started on the upper arms (finally!) doing the armor flaps or whatever they're called on the back side. I built a template out of duct tape, cut out all the individual pieces to get the angles I wanted, trimmed and dremeled a bit more for fit, and glued them all together. Added chamfers on all the edges, and used spray glue to attach 3mm foamies to the outside surfaces to add some dimension. I even got them attached to the arms! Lookin pretty snazzy! I've got the front plates done a while back so now I just need to attach those and the hose attachments on the sides an I can get everything mounted up. Hopefully this weekend I can get some of that done and maybe I can start weathering everything!



Thanks for watching and all the help!

 

[dedguy]

Re: "It's About Time!" Starcraft II Terran Marine CMC Armor WIP *PIC HEAVY*

That's looking great. Dare we hope to see fully assembled arms or even a full assembled suit soon? Seems like you're pretty close to being done, at least with all the broad details.

Love Apoxie sculpt myself. I use it for one off sculpted items quite a bit. It sands really well and I'm more comfortable with subtractive than addative sculpting.

 

[MWiggs]

Re: "It's About Time!" Starcraft II Terran Marine CMC Armor WIP *PIC HEAVY*

Yes indeed! I'm planning on suiting up for the first time as soon as I can get the upper arms attached to the shoulders, and I still need to get my PVC frame built so it'll stand on its own. Right now I've got the legs standing against the wall, the hands lying on the floor and the chest propped up on a bar stool.... Hopefully I can make some progress this weekend!

Anyone have any pointers on attaching PVC to the inside of the feet?? I'm thinking building up the ends like feet so they'll just strap in... thoughts?

 

[Nazza84]

Re: "It's About Time!" Starcraft II Terran Marine CMC Armor WIP *PIC HEAVY*

This build is totally awesome! Can't wait to see the next photos!

 

[CLOTHAR]

Re: "It's About Time!" Starcraft II Terran Marine CMC Armor WIP *PIC HEAVY*

I am loving all the recent updates. My favorites are the hands! They look so impressive, and I love the internal electronics for control! Great work.

 

[TadCooper]

Re: "It's About Time!" Starcraft II Terran Marine CMC Armor WIP *PIC HEAVY*

Looking great! I've been developing a Marine build for a bit now, working out the kinks, ect. and I had the same planning you did on the armor construction with layering foam. You are waaaaaay ahead of me, as most my stuff is still just blueprints and napkin scribbles, haha. But It's nice to see what the construction would look like and work properly, so thanks for the picture updates. Have you worked out the binding and connection issue you have with the ankles yet? I'm a bit shorter than you, 5'9, so my stilts are higher and more complex. I basically have to recreate an ankle pivot to get the foot to work properly.

 

[MWiggs]

Re: "It's About Time!" Starcraft II Terran Marine CMC Armor WIP *PIC HEAVY*

Hi TC! Yay! Another marine in the works! We talkin' SC or 40k? Looking forward to seeing your work on that! I'll snap some pictures of how I worked out the ankle attachments but basically I glued some elastic straps onto the shin piece and attached velcro to the straps and bottom of the arch of the foot. After I have the foot and legs on my assembly helper can attach the velcro straps with some tension and they keep the legs from rotating as well as keep the gaps as I walk to a minimum. One of these days I'll shoot a video of the full suit up and a bit of walking around! I've finally got the visors working too so I'll show that off a bit too. Anyway, best of luck! Can't wait to see your progress and if there's anything I can do to help let me know!

A little more progress but I've basically got the upper arms sorted out. I've added the plating on the front and the hydraulic hose manifolds on the outside. I've added a bit more armor plating and greeblies and whatnot under where the hoses will run and fitted them in place. I'm finding that movement will not be overly great between the shoulders and arms, but I won't know for sure until I suit up. Coming soon!!

 

[TadCooper]

Re: "It's About Time!" Starcraft II Terran Marine CMC Armor WIP *PIC HEAVY*

Whoops, forgot to specify, lol. Its a SC marine. The velcro straps will def help keep things in place. I just hope it doesn't quit on ya. Those things tend to come apart after a time, especially on stress points. Maybe the same setup, but full on buckles and reinforced strapping? Though then you might not get the play you would need like the elastic gives you. Probably up to trial and error with that. My shorter height might actually a benefit in this, haha. My plan is to have a rod connecting the ankle screws on the shin, and have the foot pivot off of that. So it stays nice and connected, in theory. I can stand on top of the rig and gives me the added height I need. A win/win. I can't find any official height stats for the suit, but I'm planning at around 2 meters/ 6 ft 6". I figure that would be a manageable size considering how wide it'll be. How tall is yours going to end up?

Anyway, update looking good. Keep em comin! Very busy with work right now, but I'll try to get my own progression going soon.

 

[MWiggs]

Re: "It's About Time!" Starcraft II Terran Marine CMC Armor WIP *PIC HEAVY*

TadCooper - I know how that goes! I only get a handful of hours a week to work on this, which is why it's taken more than a year so far. Best of luck! I thought of the strapping but like you said, that would have limited my ankle movement. I also had the same thought on the rod with a central pivot point, but I couldn't make it work with the parts I'd already built. I still think it'd work really well tho. Ball joint, mounting plates, dowel rod. Sounds good to me!

Overall I think I'll stand close to 6'10". My boot platforms only add about 7" plus a few above my head for the helmet so that's a pretty close guess. But you're totally right about the width, it's almost 5' across! Doorways... will be a problem. I'm building my frame so I can make the thing stand on it's own, but now that I've got the upper arms finished I think I can safely suit up! I'll know how tall it will be shortly! All I've got left is the spine piece, and I just need to figure out how much room I need to fill so I can get the sizing right.

 

[Nazza84]

Re: "It's About Time!" Starcraft II Terran Marine CMC Armor WIP *PIC HEAVY*

OH MY!
Can't wait to see a suit-up photo!

 

[collinE83]

Re: "It's About Time!" Starcraft II Terran Marine CMC Armor WIP *PIC HEAVY*

I can't believe it. It looks great. I love the detail and how good it looks without even the finishing work being done.