i gotta say, i've been looking at this thread religiously for the past few days and finally decided to join. I'm gonna my own NCR vet ranger armour, though i'll probably skip on the helmet and mask since my knowlege in the field is very limited. But i figure it can still look badass without the helmet. But more to the point, your armor puts the game to shame man, keep up the sick work!
Fallout New Vegas: NCR Veteran Ranger Finished! pg 8
So I'm definitely new here. I have no idea what I'm doing. I printed a pep file of the helmet and facemask on cardstock and have been cutting it out, only to find that I might just be wasting my time when it should be done on styrene. Is there a way to use keep the cardstock version and find a way to harden it up and make it wearable?
Kommissar
Well-Known Member
Terryr has it on the mark.
normal pepakura projects are cardstock and then coated in resin to strengthen it, and then bondo or fiberglass to take things further, there are tons of tutorials on how to build pepakura armor, so i won't waste my breath, but as far as i know, i'm one of the few who took a pepakura project and made it from styrene instead, so you aren't doing it 'wrong'
i just chose to work with a medium i feel more comfortable with.
AgentAvarice
New Member
Still taking commissions?
InfiniteHunter
New Member
Great costume Kommissar! I'm trying my hand at this one for Halloween. Two questions though.
1: What did you attach the armor plates to? Is it held together by strips, or did you glue everything to a flat sheet of elastic?
2: I don't seem to recall you mentioning anything about the air tank construction. Is it/can it be made using PVC pipe?
1: What did you attach the armor plates to? Is it held together by strips, or did you glue everything to a flat sheet of elastic?
2: I don't seem to recall you mentioning anything about the air tank construction. Is it/can it be made using PVC pipe?
So here's another probably stupid or already answered somewhere else question. I used hugo's 3ds pep file; did that need to be scaled to my head before I printed it? I finished gluing the helmet together and it's a little big on me. I was wondering if that was normal or if I needed to size everything down first. I thought maybe foam padding on the inside would push it up a bit to the right height or something. Where should the helmet fit, in regards to my ears, brow, neck, etc?
Kommissar
Well-Known Member
yes.. sort of.
i will be making a mold of the mask, and i have a tailor friend i plan to get involved in making me the coats, since i can sew, but i'm not as proud or capable of my work as they are.
i'll be planning casts of the mask with a helmet,
and painted and unpainted armor vests, as well as a full 'set' involving the duster (not including the utility pouches since those were army surplus canvas pouches and not really reproducible), helmet, mask and armored vest, as well as the armor plates on the arms, belts and hopefully, gloves.
bear in mind my whole rig is a 'mask' and a 'helmet', so my words may be different to yours.
i made my 'mask' from the pepakura file, and did not need to resize it at all.
my helmet is a modified real ww2 helmet liner, i have not made a pepakura 'helmet', so i don't know about the actual part that sits on top of your head.
1, armor plates? please me more specific, since there are actual armor 'plates' on the forearms and backs of the hands made from sintra, but also, and what i think you mean, are the various sections of the armor vest which i don't instantly consider plates.
if you mean the vest construction of the sections, they are backed with a standard craftfoam.
2: i've said the airtank is made from PVC pipes somewhere, either here or another forum, but yeah i never went into the design, i don't think it's complex enough to say anything more than a casual "three pvc pipes to make an airtank'
InfiniteHunter
New Member
armor plates? please me more specific, since there are actual armor 'plates' on the forearms and backs of the hands made from sintra, but also, and what i think you mean, are the various sections of the armor vest which i don't instantly consider plates.
if you mean the vest construction of the sections, they are backed with a standard craftfoam.
I was referring to the riot armor, but it seems you answered my question. Thanks!
Hi,
First of all let me just say, this is the most awesome build I ever had the good fortune to withness! Amazing work! Inspired me to try to make one of my own
Now, I mostly worked with wood, cardboard and paper, so there's a few questions I have regarding plastic ... I'm hoping you could take a few minutes to answer them ...
How do you glue together sheets of plastic? I noticed you mentioning superglue, but in my experiance, superglue melts plastic like crazy. I do have plenty of Revell glue lying around, think that might do the trick? Also, do you leave flaps on the plastic sheets to glue them together?
I've build a basic model of the mask out of paper, using Hugo's PEP file.
I noticed there is no shortage of bent faces and cuves in there, so I'm wondering, can the plasitc be bent and folded to fit such forms?
Also, there's the question of how to go form a paper model to a plastic one? Did you use the same parts/blueprints as with the paper model?
Last but not least I have a question regarding the lens frames ... I can't make mine fit, at all ... Tried sticking them one there with some duct tape, but it just made a big mess of the whole thing ...
Take care and thanks!
First of all let me just say, this is the most awesome build I ever had the good fortune to withness! Amazing work! Inspired me to try to make one of my own
Now, I mostly worked with wood, cardboard and paper, so there's a few questions I have regarding plastic ... I'm hoping you could take a few minutes to answer them ...
How do you glue together sheets of plastic? I noticed you mentioning superglue, but in my experiance, superglue melts plastic like crazy. I do have plenty of Revell glue lying around, think that might do the trick? Also, do you leave flaps on the plastic sheets to glue them together?
I've build a basic model of the mask out of paper, using Hugo's PEP file.
I noticed there is no shortage of bent faces and cuves in there, so I'm wondering, can the plasitc be bent and folded to fit such forms?
Also, there's the question of how to go form a paper model to a plastic one? Did you use the same parts/blueprints as with the paper model?
Last but not least I have a question regarding the lens frames ... I can't make mine fit, at all ... Tried sticking them one there with some duct tape, but it just made a big mess of the whole thing ...
Take care and thanks!
InfiniteHunter
New Member
Hi,
Also, there's the question of how to go form a paper model to a plastic one? Did you use the same parts/blueprints as with the paper model?
Take care and thanks!
Most people just take the assembled paper version and dip it in resin, then strengthen it with fiberglass, IIRC.
Kommissar
Well-Known Member
Hi,
First of all let me just say, this is the most awesome build I ever had the good fortune to withness! Amazing work! Inspired me to try to make one of my own
Now, I mostly worked with wood, cardboard and paper, so there's a few questions I have regarding plastic ... I'm hoping you could take a few minutes to answer them ...
How do you glue together sheets of plastic? I noticed you mentioning superglue, but in my experiance, superglue melts plastic like crazy. I do have plenty of Revell glue lying around, think that might do the trick? Also, do you leave flaps on the plastic sheets to glue them together?
I've build a basic model of the mask out of paper, using Hugo's PEP file.
I noticed there is no shortage of bent faces and cuves in there, so I'm wondering, can the plasitc be bent and folded to fit such forms?
Also, there's the question of how to go form a paper model to a plastic one? Did you use the same parts/blueprints as with the paper model?
Last but not least I have a question regarding the lens frames ... I can't make mine fit, at all ... Tried sticking them one there with some duct tape, but it just made a big mess of the whole thing ...
Take care and thanks!
1, thanks! glad to see more people tackling it!
2, i use superglue and zip kicker, the spray causes the glue to instantly set solid.
you are also getting superglue and acrylic cement confused.
superglue will instantly glue your fingers together, and does not melt plastic.
acrylic cement melts the plastic to fuse two surfaces together.
superglue and most plastics have very little reaction other than what superglue normally does.
if you have to bend styrene too much, it will break, so where there is a bend, i just have a new piece of plastic and join it with glue.
i had to modify the pattern a little, add some extra folds in places to give it a better feel and shape for what i wanted.
i built it from card first to work all that out, and i don't have any information on what i changed, sorry.
i do mention in previous posts that i took the paper pattern and made the plastic one from it, omitting a few pieces, like ALL of the flaps, since they are redunant when using plastic.
don't feel obligated to go the plastic route, resin'ed card with fiberglass inside it is plenty tough, i just wanted to A, try it, B, i am much more familiar with building scratch kits from styrene, and C, i don't like resin'ed card, it's not a medium i like to work with.
your issue with the lenses is that your shape is off, there is a bend you've missed in the shape, i would redo those lenses and see if you can take it slower to make sure you don't miss that 'bend'
InfiniteHunter
New Member
There wouldn't happen to be a drawing of the riot armor shapes floating around out there, would there? I'm having a hell of a time trying to eyeball everything (never exactly been too good with that sort of stuff), and I'm worried I'll get the proportions of the sections wrong.
Kommissar
Well-Known Member
first page, bottom of the first post.
i layed down and had someone draw around my upper torso and arms so i could section off the armor onto my rough body size, i then extended the pieces that wrap around and took it from there.
InfiniteHunter
New Member
What did you use to heat the riot armor plates with? I don't want to use too much heat and end up setting fire to/melting the pieces I spent about 2 hours cutting and sanding.
Cal
Well-Known Member
I dunno what He used but I used this. http://www.fineartstore.com/Catalog...el/a/Default.aspx?SortField=unitcost,unitcost
Kommissar
Well-Known Member
i used a heatgun, though you could try a hairdryer if that isn't something you want to use.
im pretty sure ive said that before though.
as for being worried about setting fire to something you've spent two hours to do?
two points,
one, if you somehow manage to set fire to foam with a heatgun, then you have some kind of special talent, because it will start to go brown and let off some major toxic smoke long before it may set fire.. i honestly don't know if you can set fire to things with a heatgun, it doesnt work on paper, it just goes from unburnt to burnt, skipping the whole fire thing.
so long as your smart your really pretty safe in regards to your concern, but you should use it in a well ventilated area, perhaps with a good gasmask.
secondly, if your worried about damaging something that you've spent two hours on.. you may want to have a little more confidence with yourself, because you WILL find yourself working on things that have clocked up more than just two hours on, and chances are, you will destroy a few of those things from time to time, the important thing is learning why and avoiding it in the future.
everything in this stuff is a learning experience, being willing to keep at it till something is perfect (even if it means starting again) is something to be proud of, and over all, means you will have a fantastic costume.
and you'd much rather have a costume that looks fantastic, right?
Justicar John
New Member
I agree with Kommissar, the filtered respirator would work
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