Yodajammies
Sr Member
Well, we're closing in on March 6th, 2012 (Mass Effect 3 release date), and I'm sure we'll see an explosion in the population of Commander Sheppards around here. Now as any good conversationalist would do, we must cull this herd before they all start saving the world, defeating the Reapers, finishing the fight, etc etc.
Therefore, it's time for the "Earf-first", xenophobic anti-heroes of Mass Effect 2 to rise again as The Cerberus Assault Trooper.
Thus begins the chronicling and overly dramatized build thread for my 2012 showpiece.
First, major props go out to CGJeff who helped out with a lot of the modeling on the helmet. I'm not wet behind the ears when it comes to 3d work, but this cat is a pro.
After the 3d model was properly sized and mocked up, it's off to the 5-axis mill for some quick foam cutting. I'm currently doing all my milling in 15lb density tooling foam (UR150 from theengineerguy.com). It doesn't tap worth a crap, but it holds a very decent edge, doesn't kickup a lot of dust, doesn't generate too much static, and is relatively cheap.
Even though I have full 5-axis capability, I've found that it's much faster to mill the main using 3-axis operations, then seam up the edges of the cuts. If an individual part requires multi-axis machining, it's not as difficult to CAM if you don't have to work around your entire model.
Here is the front and back of the helmet cut separately to make sure I got all of the tiny details that took so long to model out. The bondo spot you see on the right is where the mill thought it might be a good idea to see what China is like this time of year, and decided to go right through my part.
Now that all the parts are cut, it's just a simple matter of expoy-ing them together and feathering out the seams. Since this board is so porous, and I'm fairly impatient when it comes to gluing things, I'm using Smooth-on 5 minute "instant" epoxy.
He's got his ears on so now to mold and cast his little cheek breathers. Once that's done and he gets a little more sanding polish, I think we'll almost be in the ballpark to mold this fella.
Now I don't want to lay all my cards out on the table at once, then not be heard from for a month while I work on other things, so here's just a quick teaser of what else I've got done on this project, that I'll share in the next couple weeks.
Therefore, it's time for the "Earf-first", xenophobic anti-heroes of Mass Effect 2 to rise again as The Cerberus Assault Trooper.
Thus begins the chronicling and overly dramatized build thread for my 2012 showpiece.
First, major props go out to CGJeff who helped out with a lot of the modeling on the helmet. I'm not wet behind the ears when it comes to 3d work, but this cat is a pro.
After the 3d model was properly sized and mocked up, it's off to the 5-axis mill for some quick foam cutting. I'm currently doing all my milling in 15lb density tooling foam (UR150 from theengineerguy.com). It doesn't tap worth a crap, but it holds a very decent edge, doesn't kickup a lot of dust, doesn't generate too much static, and is relatively cheap.
Even though I have full 5-axis capability, I've found that it's much faster to mill the main using 3-axis operations, then seam up the edges of the cuts. If an individual part requires multi-axis machining, it's not as difficult to CAM if you don't have to work around your entire model.
Here is the front and back of the helmet cut separately to make sure I got all of the tiny details that took so long to model out. The bondo spot you see on the right is where the mill thought it might be a good idea to see what China is like this time of year, and decided to go right through my part.
Now that all the parts are cut, it's just a simple matter of expoy-ing them together and feathering out the seams. Since this board is so porous, and I'm fairly impatient when it comes to gluing things, I'm using Smooth-on 5 minute "instant" epoxy.
He's got his ears on so now to mold and cast his little cheek breathers. Once that's done and he gets a little more sanding polish, I think we'll almost be in the ballpark to mold this fella.
Now I don't want to lay all my cards out on the table at once, then not be heard from for a month while I work on other things, so here's just a quick teaser of what else I've got done on this project, that I'll share in the next couple weeks.
