ODST foam armor build

[MadBlake]

So hey guys I started my first armor build, I think I've been wanting to build one for the past 10 years, but was always to scared haha. Anyways after working up the courage and many hours of youtube I think I'm going to be okay. so I've started last weekend on my ODST Armor scratch build using EVA foam, Harbor freight sells a 4 pack for 9.99 great price.

So I started with the abdominal pieces first, some of the slanted edges gave me trouble so I just hit with some modeling paste. Also was able to get that infamous chest plate finished, and completed most of the torso. Gave it a good 3 coats of plastidip and finished painting the chest plate, not sure if I want to go with those colors or design so any feedback would be awesome.

I apologize for the lack of shirt, it was laundry day...
So I gave the abdominal pieces the plastidip treatment and stacked everything on where it will be.


Hopefully I'll have more done by the end of the weekend, and more to post. Anyways any feed back is appreciated, being my first armor piece I'm still a little uncertain if I should still continue with this project. Also forgot to mention, tried making the helmet, on my third try I gave up and got in contact with Sean Bradley he is a great guy and has set up his new shop so he is back at it again, was able to get myself a Dutch Helmet kit. So hopefully that comes in soon, and if anyone has done this kind of build before wanted to ask what grey paint was used for the majority of the armor? Was hoping to get a answer on that by this weekend when I start painting it.
Thanks Everyone

 

[collinE83]

I apologize for the lack of shirt, it was laundry day...

No WIP thread would be complete without a few naked-dude-in-armor shots.

Great progress on your first set of armor. I think you'll be happier to take the time to finish the suit. Once you get the costuming bug, you want to start building everything and it's hard to focus on one thing, but there are different skills you learn at each stage of the process, and you'll be happy that you worked through all of it on your first build. I'm sure your subsequent builds will thank you.

 

[FirstPick]

Love the scar on the chest piece.

 

[MadBlake]

Okay so as promised, I was hoping that I would get this done by the end of the weekend. But I don't know how to slow down, once I get started I don't know when to stop.
So I figured out the exact shade of grey, Asked Sean Bradley and he informed me it is Dupli-color Gunmetal Grey. You can find these at AutoZone for 7.99 a can. So I wanted to give it a battle damaged look and I used a couple of methods, first test was with toothpaste and the method I guess work for some people but didn't work well for me. I'm not sure what went wrong but I will try to address that later, so I ended up using a nail filer and a dry crumbled up rag. While the paint was still wet and fresh I carefully scratched away at the edges and surfaces that I wanted to look beaten up.

After that I added some black, and made some addition corrections to the war-torn scratches and dents.

I know I got rid of the Original design I had intended on using with the Chest plate, but I kept watching the ODST live action trailer and just kept falling in-love with Tarkov's armor. I'm still using the red though!
Next I Added my UNSC Decals hand painted them, I feel more accomplished when its hand painted, also very therapeutic haha.


Later on I plan on adding additional decals to the chest plate, serial number on the side as well as the hell jumper skull.

 

[MadBlake]

Okay One more update today guys. I actually was able to complete the paintjob last night added the red, and put all the pieces together. Later on I will add straps and the strap buckles on the shoulders and sides. But for now here is a little teaser.

had to repaint the decal a little better....

Know I can finally wear this thing with all the pieces attached!!!

Now I finally feel a little bit more Comfortable with this project, and just to clarify this is my first Armor piece so I'm about 89% satisfied with the outcome which is good for me haha. Eventually with more practice and patience I will get better.
Hopefully by the end of the weekend I will have started the shoulder pads and have some pics posted for you here on the progress of that.
Until Next time Gentleman!

 

[MadBlake]

No WIP thread would be complete without a few naked-dude-in-armor shots.

Great progress on your first set of armor. I think you'll be happier to take the time to finish the suit. Once you get the costuming bug, you want to start building everything and it's hard to focus on one thing, but there are different skills you learn at each stage of the process, and you'll be happy that you worked through all of it on your first build. I'm sure your subsequent builds will thank you.

Well I found a White tank top this time for those last pics, don't want to project the Naked-dude-in-armor stereotype haha!
And thanks for the kind words Collin the encouragement was much needed after my scare with the toothpaste debacle... But like you said "different skills at each stage of the process".

 

[MadBlake]

Okay so I only had about 3 hours last night to work on this project, Saturday was international Cosplay day. So yeah happy International Cosplay Day, was stuck in the city for some event. Anyways I started on the Shoulder piece I'm hoping to have both done before I leave on Wednesday for Europe. So here is a little teaser.


As I said before I'm trying to re-make the Tarkov version of armor so here is the best reference pic I could find of his shoulder, the only difference is the color... Not a fan of the yellow.

Also started to use this Golden Modeling Paste, Honestly it is way better than Gesso Its more thick and not as runny, and with a little spackling tool I was really able to get those fine edges. I'm hoping to start and finish the paint job tonight on both so I'll update you guys tomorrow.

 

[MadBlake]

Alright so here is a little update on the shoulder pieces, they are coming along quite nicely. So after the paste dried I sanded it down fixed some of the details with a dremel, and hit with the usual 3 coats of palstidip.

Gave it a coat of Satin Nickel for that under shine, and proceeded to give it the gunmetal grey treatment. I actually have to restock on that color I've already gone thru 2 cans and I've only done the torso and shoulders ughhhh... Armor budgeting, seems like the expenses just keep piling up. wish I could claim this on my taxes haha.


So in my last post I put a reference pic, and I'm debating with myself on this matter but I could use someone else's opinion. It looks like Tarkov has some little bolts or a type of screw, very small in different areas of the shoulder. Now I did carve them in to the foam and hit it with a heat gun to make it noticeable but was wondering if it looked good enough. I'm just trying to see if I should just buy actual bolts or screws to stick in there instead to give a more realistic look. Any advice would be great guys!

- - - Updated - - -

Couldn't Resist :rolleyes

 

[collinE83]

I think they look good. If you think they should stand out more, you could always dry brush some silver around the edges without having to add anything. I've also seen success with getting a pack of tiny googly eyes from the craft store and painting those, or of course what you suggested, which is to get actual bolts.

 

[MadBlake]

I think they look good. If you think they should stand out more, you could always dry brush some silver around the edges without having to add anything. I've also seen success with getting a pack of tiny googly eyes from the craft store and painting those, or of course what you suggested, which is to get actual bolts.

I didn't think to use googly eyes haha that's actually a really good idea just glue and paint. In the picture they just look like they are bolted in no Phillips or flat head slots so the eyes will work perfectly, and looking at now in front of me I really do think I wanna go with it more popped out.
Thanks Collin!

 

[MadBlake]

So Finally back from my vacation, it was great but I was really looking forward to get back to work on my armor. First day back I was already able to complete a gauntlet. I had drawn some specs while I was in Europe so it was really easy to produce when I had got back to my work station. by the way the googly eyes that I painted and used for bolts look great!!! thanks again collinE83

I couldn't resist, every time I finish a new part I have to try on the whole thing... I'm such an impatient child, as my fiancé puts it.

This time I Put the Googly eyes on prior to the paintjob, saves paint and time. Hit it with some molding paste sanded, and time for the plastidip.

Before I left for work today I gave it the gun metal grey and it came out prefect, have to work on the war-torn look and some minor details over all, and the straps, and color format. But over all I'm pretty satisfied.


Any feed back would be appreciated, also as I stated before this is mostly a custom armor and I'm working off several references, but mainly trying for the Tarkov version from the ODST live action trailer. If anyone has any good screen shots of him or his armor I would really be grateful to you for posting here. I was trying to do a lot of searches and was initially trying to find possible behind the scenes footage or screenshots of the making of the trailer, maybe with some good shots of his armor but my search kinda came up short. So if anyone has anything especially the lower half of his body, I will be indebted to you for life!

Thanks Guys! and hope you enjoy.

 

[MadBlake]

Back with another update guys, so I've decided that until I can afford a really nice respirator im going to just be carving out and making the foam pieces instead of completing each piece individually. I started to get some bad head aches yesterday, and I have a sneaking suspicion the mask I'm using now is not the bet for plastidip.... ood thing I was in well ventilated area or I might've had some serious problems....

As for progress its coming along nicely, now that I'm not rushed to get to a paintjob I feel like I can focus little more on the minor details and curvature of each individual foam panel.
I started on the legs finally something I was very hesitant at first of doing. The shins and knees seemed like something that had a lot of detail included into them, and I didn't want to go and butcher them up. So far I've only glued together the knee pads and I am very satisfied with the outcome.


Used some snap rivets and googly eyes as bolts, I feel like they are staring into my soul when I look at them for to long....
Perfect fit!

That was the last bit of plastidip I'm using for awhile I have promised myself haha. Just couldn't resist on that last piece facepalm.
Hopefully ill have an update later this afternoon on the shin pieces.

 

[MadBlake]

Alright so finished cutting and shaping the shin armor panels.

Im hoping everything will fall in to place if my measurements are correct I just have to hit it with the heat gun a bit and form it before I glue.
Can't wait to put these together tonight !

 

[MadBlake]

So last night I glued together the legs, and even though i had my fingers crossed the whole time. No confidence in my geometry skills what so ever haha. To my surprise they actually came out better than i hoped, and im really pleased with them

 

[MadBlake]

When i got halfway through I knew this would work out, sanded it down a little still have to give it some modeling paste to fill in the gaps. But I'm actually very excited and can't wait to add the side pouches and back straps, and just walk around my house for an hour in them.... I think when i finished the chest plate, my fiance asked me if i was going to wear that to sleep hahah.

 

[MadBlake]

So was able to finish some more details on the shins, I've made pouch or pouch like attachments to the side of each leg. Here are some good reference pics I was able to find online.

Those are probably the best shots you will find online of the ODST live action trailer armor. As for the customization, you can see clearly each Trooper had there own modification to each individual armor, they are all the same basis but just have custom pouches, shoulder pads, belt etc. Anyways my hope is to keep mine as close to this version while adding some custom areas of my own. So here are the legs that I've produced from the comparison I was making.


So Hope you guys enjoy, also if anyone has any personal experience with foam armor building, wanted to get your opinion on using bondo to fill in the gaps. Mainly is bondo good for forming and sanding and will it hold up later on, or hold well to the foam etc.? Anyways any knowledge or insight to the matter would be very helpful thanks guys!

 

[MadBlake]

Alright so in the past 2 days I accomplished a little bit more than I thought I would, somehow in between a moving to a new house and working over time I managed to finish painting the shin and knee sections I also put a new design on the arms, and managed to find time to cut out the waist butt plates.

So I'm not completely finished with the paint job on the shins just yet, I still have to hand paint some minor details but over-all I have the prime color on there. I was also debating painting mud splats on that section since I am heading in the war-torn direction of my armor.
This is just an example of the mud splats, I'm kind of debating it though. So any feed back would be great?
Anyways here are the shins and knee pads so far.

Also need some advice when it comes to strapping I haven't finished them yet but I have all the section for hip and waist complete, I'm definitely going to need a cost effective way to strap these on. So another question if anyone has any info?


New arm design.



Wanted to set up so you guys can see the full progress, any comments and feedback would be great guys thanks!

 

[mirandasdad]

Looks incredible. I haven't done mud splats on my costume, but I wanted to make it look like it had gotten dirty. So I used some watered down acrylic paint and wiped it off with a rag. Some of the paint gets left in the corners and indents. I am happy with the dirty look I got from that.

For fastening I bought some velcro stuff from amazon that was pretty cheap. "COSMOS ® 1 inch 10 Yards Black Sew on Hook and Loop Velcro Band Strap."

 

[MadBlake]

Looks incredible. I haven't done mud splats on my costume, but I wanted to make it look like it had gotten dirty. So I used some watered down acrylic paint and wiped it off with a rag. Some of the paint gets left in the corners and indents. I am happy with the dirty look I got from that.

For fastening I bought some velcro stuff from amazon that was pretty cheap. "COSMOS ® 1 inch 10 Yards Black Sew on Hook and Loop Velcro Band Strap."

Thanks mirandasdad I was actually thinking about giving it the whole water acrylic mix, I might go for a splatter look so I might just whip a paint brush at it a few times Bob Ross style haha. and thanks just bought the Velcro. it should work perfectly for what I'm thinking. Also scored some nice clips and straps off a old water sports life jacket which I used for the shins, I'll post some pics later this afternoon with a complete update.

 

[MadBlake]

Okay so had a chance to attach some straps and clips this weekend for the Shin and knee pads, I was able to find a life jacket for water sports in sports authority for a discount price and it had plenty of material on it that I could use for the lower half of the armor. I kept the actual padding maybe I could use it later on, you never know .

They actually met all my expectations and I was really satisfied. And they don't cut off circulation, another lesson I've learned from past mistakes...
Also had the chance to finish cutting out the hip plates and cutting some minor details into them I'm probably getting ahead of myself here, but I would like to have this done by late October early November. I've seem to hit a bump in the road, does anyone know of any drop leg platforms that cover the entire circumference of the hip, also length should be from hip to knee bone? I'm pretty sure there isn't but it doesn't hurt to ask. I'm more than likely going to have to make a custom panel out of some padded quilt. But anyways here's the progress so far on the hips.



Hit some of it with plastidip, can't wait to have everything painted, I think I've gone through 30 cans of paint ughh 30x6= a big dent in my wallet lol.
Anyways tried on everything that I could to give it a fit test, and its pretty comfortable I would definitely only save this for cold weather cons.... Not a summer costume!!!


So there is my Weekend update any questions or comments please feel free to jump in .