ODST armour, with a twist

[Macewind]

Hi guys, this is my first post, first build, and i'm a bit out of my depth!
I'm the captain of the UK branch of an international paintball team called Ontario Defense Strike Teams (ODST - Ontario because the original team is in Canada) and I thought it would be cool as hell to build an ODST suit for playing in.
With that in mind I started searching the interwebs, watching youtube guides and learning as much as I could about building costumes.
All of that led me to pepakura and using foam instead of paper to build the suits.
This being a suit that will be used in battle, foam seems like the obvious way to go as it won't break as easily as a resin reinforced paper suit. The downside is the files arnt exactly designed for foam, and so not only am I learning how to use pepakura for the first time, i'm also having to learn how to alter everything for foam!
Finally, another problem i'm going to have is that I want to be able to carry stuff like paint pods, an air tank, smoke grenades etc onto the field with me. This means that the armor is going to have to be customised to incorporate all the standard paintball kit!
Fun! I hope you guys enjoy reading my progress and give me lots of help and support, cos i'm gonna need it!

 

[Macewind]

Ok, now the explanation is out of the way, here's my first progress post!
I decided to start my adventure with something that looked simple to do. First lesson, this is far from simple!
I'm pretty sure i'm using the wrong kind of foam, which is effecting how it turns out. I bought some 7mm camping rolls, the same type used for yoga. The reason for this is that it was only £2.50 a roll. If I had gone for the flooring mats that join together in a jigsaw, the same area of foam would of cost me 5 times as much! That said, this stuff is very squishy, and doesnt hold its shape as well as the mats appear to.
I'm going to continue using the mats for now, and maybe redo the armor again with stiffer foam once i've got some practice under my belt.
The next thing i've found is that I hate hot glue with a passion! I'm getting it all over the front of the armour, its squeezing through the joins, ruining my nice straight edges and i seem to get more glue on my fingers than the foam!
Does anyone have some advise for how to clean up the joins once the glue has dried? I've thought about using a dremel to sand the blobbly glue bits, but am worried i'll just make it worse. Worst case scenario, i'll just leave it and disguise it as built up dirt when I come to paint it.
Here's a photo of the finished shoulders. What do you think? I'm quite happy with them as the first thing i've ever built, but they are slightly mis-shapen. I'm hoping this will solve itself once on my body!

 

[Khinsharri]

can i get a scan of the individual pieces. i can print them and trace onto metal and just cut and weld

 

[Macewind]

I've hit the home straight now so thought i'd upload the last WIP shots before finishing it off.
The thighs need cutting down a bit, but apart from that everything seems to fit right.
I lost the chin guard off the helmet. I was worried that if a paintball or tree branch etc lifted the helmet, the mask may of gotten caught and lifted up with it. Now its completely free and won't effect the mask, safety first
I may add some parts to the back, but I don't want anything getting in the way of the tank pouch or pods, making them hard to get to.
Finally, i'm going to need to paint some scratches and stuff onto it to give it a more used appearance. I'll also be adding some blue patterns and my team logo to it.
Any comments are welcomed