Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - NEW SUIT DONE Pics on p.17

[thorssoli]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - New Helmet Prototype on p. 14

The pink widget is actually one of the details that will go on the thigh. I'll probably come up with a couple more things like it just to make sure there are enough variations from one suit to the next.

EDIT: I clicked "post" before I actually finished the update. Oops.

I don't have a heck of a lot to update, but I started the sculpt for the rubber briefs that will fill the gaps at the hips:


In order to differentiate the helmets a bit, I've started tweaking a few of them. The most radical change will be this one with the big optical sighting attachment:


I never much liked them on the miniatures, but hopefully I can make it more interesting in real life.

Finally, I've given up on the idea of using the boots as a pair of giant platform shoes and decided to go with stilts similar in design to a pair of drywall stilts. Here's the prototype pair as of yesterday:


Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss any updates.

 

[Psicorp7]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - New Helmet Prototype on p. 14

The leg braces are a good idea. You don't want to twist and ankle and go down in one of those big boys! This is just a hoot to follow! Every new post is just awesome to behold!

These suits are going to be killer!

 

[The Ronin]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - New Helmet Prototype on p. 14

I figured you'd go with something akin to drywall stilts. Does that helmet mean there will be a rocket launcher build in the near future?!?! :eek

I gotta say, this build has inspired me to do something similar once I'm finished with this years costumes.

 

[oota goota]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - New Helmet Prototype on p. 14

I'm no expert on stilts at all but I wondered if the bottoms of the stilts were wide enough? A wider base would mean less risk of falling?

 

[jaybible]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - New Helmet Prototype on p. 14

I'm no expert on stilts at all but I wondered if the bottoms of the stilts were wide enough? A wider base would mean less risk of falling?

I think we were all thinking that I'm sure those are a basic template, with possibly a larger surface area and strap on design on the way.

 

[Canobi]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - New Helmet Prototype on p. 14

Believe it or not, a wider base is actually less stable to walk on, try walking in snow boots on any hard surface, then imagine the extra hight you would have with stilts on.

My sister in law has circus skills and uses stilts all the time (the tallest pair she has are four foot high), and all of them have no base at all. If you put a wide base on them and land the stilt at an angle to the horizontal plane, it will force your leg to move in an awkward way and can throw you off becouse any wobble at the base is amplified by the time it reaches your leg.

This can be compensated for by adding X Y pivots at the ankle and strong springs to do the job of muscle and tendon, but gets complicated to build.

The way thorssoli has made them is pretty good. By the looks of the construction it can pivot forward and back (like a knee brace, sort of).

 

[oota goota]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - New Helmet Prototype on p. 14

thanks canobi you learn something new everyday

 

[thorssoli]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - New Helmet Prototype on p. 14

So here I am wearing the stilts with high-speed, temporary strapping system (duct-tape) in place:


The "ankle" at the bottom has stops that keep the foot from bending too far in either direction. It's a good thing:


Over the weekend, I had a few more folks show up to help out:


Since I had a functional prototype of the stilts, I decided it was time to make boots. Lots of boots:


While they're easy enough to walk around in, Canobi is right about the need for extra pivoting movement. Attaching the much bigger footprint of the Space Marine boot to the bottom of the stilts would make it more likely to twist a knee or pop a hip out of joint if the wearer steps on an uneven surface. To alleviate this, I had to build in a bit of lateral wobble in addition to the fore and aft ankle flexibility. The simple solution, a section of rubber floor mat bolted in between the bottom of the stilt and the sole of the boot. Here it is taped in place on the bottom of the stilt:


Bolts run up through the sole, through the rubber, and into the steel base of the stilts. The end result is a very stiff joint that has a bit of give from side to side.

For the sole, I made this simple arrangement out of 3/8" plywood and a piece of piano hinge:


Then I flipped it over so the hinge would be on the bottom and stapled the toe piece in place:


Then the rest of the boot was stapled to the sole:


With the stilts bolted in and the shin in place, the wearer's knee is just above the character's knee:


I'll be using more of the rubber floor mat to make a rubber sole (and a raised edge around the bottom of the boot) but once I had a pair of boots put together, it became more important to try them out:


They're a bit heavy, but they worked pretty well. Here's a video of me stomping around in my excessively cluttered workshop:
Stiltwalking Test - YouTube

Stay tuned. I will have at least one fully-assembled suit within a few days...

 

[Teese]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - New Helmet Prototype on p. 14

That's awesome! Great work with the foot too. If I built something like this, I never would have thought about putting a pivoting toe to alleviate some issues with walking around.

 

[Gunhead]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - New Helmet Prototype on p. 14

Yeah, this is continually blowing me away. That hinged toe is genius. Going to look at different methods for designing stilts.

 

[oota goota]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - New Helmet Prototype on p. 14

great to see the youtube clip. The suits looking good.........it's so frickin' HUGE!!!

 

[jaybible]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - New Helmet Prototype on p. 14

very nice to see it in motion!.. now.. some really powerful stilt springs, a jump pack, and you got yourself an assault squad haha.

These look nice.. adjustable height... but $250

Really looking forward to seeing this all coming together, and seeing how impressively imposing it will be.

 

[Gunhead]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor

Another question. Which chest version did you use for the .pdo? I have looked at a few of them (including the work by Chewbacca which seems to be a good unwrap) and most seem to want a bit of resizing. I know you did not resize yours at all, and I wonder if that one is still up on 4shared. Maybe you could tell me how wide, etc... your chest peice is and I can resize based on that... From the pictures I would say that it looks to be about 45 cm wide, around 35 vertical and 30 cm deep?

 

[Alric]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - New Helmet Prototype on p. 14

The stilts look to work very well. Despite the bulk of the legs you still seem to have a large range of movement and look very stable, just watch your fluid intake as I doubt getting it off will be quick

 

[Tobot]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - New Helmet Prototype on p. 14

This is Hands down the best build on this site at the moment

 

[thorssoli]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - New Helmet Prototype on p. 14

Another question. Which chest version did you use for the .pdo?

This one came from Shiney over at Obscurus Crusade. Poke around a bit and you'll be sure to find the files I used.

The stilts look to work very well. Despite the bulk of the legs you still seem to have a large range of movement and look very stable, just watch your fluid intake as I doubt getting it off will be quick

We've been working out the details of bathroom breaks for this outfit. It may just come down to peeing in a bottle while wearing the whole rig. There will be more than enough room to maneuver a container into place, then pull it back out and toss it into a trash can. But the better option is just to sweat it out.

This is Hands down the best build on this site at the moment

Thank you all for the compliments. Here's an update:

After several rounds of counting and re-stacking all of the pieces, we're finally somewhat confident that we have everything formed. Here's one of the part stacks (thigh and arm parts):


Here's most of the thighs assembled:


Since I'm running out of space for this build in my workshop, I've started stacking pieces anywhere I can find room:


At the end of each day, it's become more and more important to pick up the scraps on the floor and clear space for the next day's work:


At this point had the other guys get all of the leg parts assembled. With those put together, I'm able to focus on some of the details. Here's the resin cast insert detail for the bottom end of the calf:


Here's a shot of some of the thigh details:


Here's a few of the "patch" sections on one of the shins:


Since the patches and other details are pulled separately, I'll be able to make these parts different on every pair of legs.

Here's the rubber knee insert taped in place:


Here's a shot showing the limit of the range of motion for the legs:


And another picture showing the scale of the build:


The guy in the picture is my friend Daniel, one of the guys who will be wearing one of the suits. Everyone's been stopping by the workshop in the evenings in order to try on the stilts and get the hang of walking around for a bit:


It's been said before: if you can walk in my workshop wearing these things, you can walk anywhere...

In other news, I started working out the design of the first backpack frame for inside the chest armor:


While most if it is coming together nicely, I'm still behind on the sculpt for the rubber shorts to go inside the hip joints:


Stay tuned. Much to come in the week ahead...

 

[duke nukem]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - New Helmet Prototype on p. 14

Next thing you know he's gonna build a full sized Rhino for them to drive to conventions in :lol

 

[The Ronin]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - New Helmet Prototype on p. 14

Damn. It just keeps getting better and better.

Have you worked out any of the strapping yet?

 

[Dart]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - New Helmet Prototype on p. 14

Next thing you know he's gonna build a full sized Rhino for them to drive to conventions in :lol

Warhammer Dawn of War 2 real rhino tank - YouTube

 

[mattrendar]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - New Helmet Prototype on p. 14

Wow , it's always wow win you can't wait to see the next step !,