Velluminous' Mark VII Build

[Velluminous]

Hello RPF-

Been looking at doing this for a while now, finally got the free time and funds to get working of it. Initially, I wanted to build the Mark III. I love the Mark III's large chest plate and that it has less color to it and the armor pieces are more simplistic/solid. Then I saw the Heartbreaker armor and just fell in love with it. It'll be the next suit I build.
Unfortunately, Heartbreaker hasn't really been modeled & unfolded and I don't want to build the Mark III until I've some experience, so I figured I should make all my mistakes and learning on an easier suit. Not that it's particularly easy to build, but Darkside501st has made the pep and foam files pretty easy to build... The pieces are all scaled the same (except hands/helmet) so in theory it should turn out all the right size/scaled. But we all know things don't always go as planned, so I decided to print the foam template out and assemble it to get a good idea of how it goes together before cutting my first piece of foam. I'm already glad that I decided to do this.


Materials:
Darkside501st's Foam/Pep files
Robo3687's Brace/Neck/Collar files
2x Best Step EVA Foam (Sears) (See Below, #1)
Fiskars Razor Knife w/5x Extra Blades (Joann Fabrics) (See Below, #2)
Surebonder 60W Hot Glue Gun (Joann Fabrics) (See Below, #3)
110 Cardstock (Leftover from one of my wife's projects)
6x Scotch Magic Tape rolls
Random plastic cutting board my wife got & was going to toss out
Still need to get a Heat Gun... Any recommendations?



I've scaled all Darkside501st's Foam files to 26, which should be around 6'1".

So, without further ado, my first attempt into costume building:::::
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Started with the Shin piece:

"Tip #1: Make your learning mistakes somewhere people won't notice, like the legs. The first place people see is the helmet, so you'll probably want to save it for last, when you've already made and learned from your mistakes."
You'll be seeing a lot of that yellow chair in these pics; my wife refuses to put it out of the living room and it contrasts with the card stock well. It fits my leg pretty well at base 26.0... Just been putting it together with minimal cuts and Scotch tape. The card stock is really flimsy for trying to do this so I'm making as few cuts as I can where the piece just attaches to itself. Instead, I'll make a "soft" bend on the line using my razor knife on the other size. Also, the paper bends for curves really well just because it's not as thick as the card stock you'd be using to resin/fiberglass.
Only thing I think I'll change about this is to add the "kneecap" on the hip to the top of this piece. I've noticed a lot of pictures where it's not connected to the lower thigh, and I think I like it better than having this split kneecap look.

Next came the boot:

Set the shin on the boot for the pictures
Was a little discouraged when I realized the boot foam files didn't have the BOTTOM of the boot. Not quite sure what to do about that. Maybe I'll see if there's another foam unfold out there for Zabana's boot file. Also, the front flaps didn't match up very well with the shin's flaps (probably because the shin is Darkside's, the boot is Zabana's), so I'll probably double-up the shin's flaps when I make it from foam so they'll look more symmetrical.
I might have to increase the size of the boot to fit my feet. I wear a men's size 12 but am thinking I might need more room, especially if I make the entire boot out of foam. I think most people probably wear their shoes under the foam boot, which is why it probably doesn't have a bottom? But I'd rather have a complete boot than an over-the-shoe cover.
As soon as I finished building the boot, I sat it on the floor. Bad idea with an 8 month old. My daughter crawled right up and crushed the boot like she was the hulk. Maybe I should have built hulkbuster armor instead?

Then I built the Chest:

Ugh... Talk about a pain. Obviously, the foam templates aren't meant to be build in card stock, as you can see I lose a lot of the 3D definition on the grooves/etc. That said, this piece felt like it took forever to cut out and put together. Printed it out, got started, got sick with a cold, lost my voice, slept a full 24 hours straight, worked on it a little more, went into a nyquil coma, and finally got everything cut out and put together. I'm betting this piece in foam is going to be hell, if only because of the overlapping "rib" pieces. Thankfully, I'm just doing this to make sure it's going to fit and it looks like it'll be just the right size.

Then came the Forearm:

This piece curved so nicely. I know it's almost impossible to see in the pictures (and it doesn't help that I'm leaning the piece against the back of a chair for a picture), but it's actually pretty smooth. Wasn't quite sure how far the upper forearm piece was supposed to go into the lower forearm, so I just eyeballed it based off a reference pic. if it's too far out/in, I'll cut the tape and adjust it.
I also built the hand guard, but I feel like it's too big because it extends too far back on the forearm. If I lifted my hand up, it'd probably hit the raised/vented area on the forearm. I'll probably try a smaller scale, maybe a 25 or so. <---This is why I'm building a scale version with card stock/foam templates first.


Built the elbow guard:

Nothing particularly exciting about this piece, except I'm worried it's not wide enough. Are the side supports supposed to bow out?


Coming Soon: The Bicep

 

[Velluminous]

The Bicep:

Not quite sure how the front and back plate fit on this one, even with reference pictures... Will have to see how this plays out in foam, since I know the foam files don't fit exactly like a pep file would. Also, I feel like it's a little long top-to-bottom so I'll have to adjust the scale on that.

The Arm:

Whole arm put together; all scaled at 26. I think it all looks good together except I feel the handplate is too big. I put my arm in it and (other than the bicep not quite fitting) it seemed like the handplate fit the scale pretty well. That said, I can't really "move" in the arm, as it's held together by tape at the joints at the moment.

Edit: The handplate is too big. Found in Darkside's thread where he said that it's not to scale and has to be adjusted. Also, I need to add more length to the forearm. If I position it where it should be, it leaves about an inch until the wrist. Also finding references that the missile pod should extend back to around the elbow and found comments on the forum about how people scaled it up (for length) and then cut a strip from the center (to eliminate width).

 

[streetsoul]

it looks good but why have you used foam templates if its a pepakura build ? you are missing out on some major details buddy

 

[Velluminous]

it looks good but why have you used foam templates if its a pepakura build ? you are missing out on some major details buddy

I'm not doing a pep build, it's a foam build. Currently I'm trying to size the parts for a good fit, I'm just using the foam templates because they're faster to build and if they fit well I won't need to cut them out again.
Also, assembling the foam template is giving me a better idea how pieces will go together before ever cutting into the foam. Already I have pieces that I've decided don't need to be separate, but could be cut side by side without losing form/definition.

 

[streetsoul]

right i get ya now

 

[Biskt]

I scaled my darkside's files to 26, I'm 6"2, and have very long legs. you might want to shorten the legs a tiny bit, But you'll see what I mean when when you build the thighs. Also In hindsight I'd reduce the chest by about 5% I'm relatively broad yet I feel it would have looked better slightly smaller. I'll post a link to some pictures bellow. I've missed out two panels on top of the thigh, yet it almost touches the cod.

Hope this helps

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.635888033106386.1073741830.333968776631648&type=1

EDIT:
I would also highly recommend hinging the book/shin cover parts to the shin itself. These took the most wear and tear when walking, which could have been avoided if they were hinged. I've had to reseal them twice. It will also look much better having them slide over the boot while you walk/bend your leg.

 

[Velluminous]

I scaled my darkside's files to 26, I'm 6"2, and have very long legs. you might want to shorten the legs a tiny bit, But you'll see what I mean when when you build the thighs. Also In hindsight I'd reduce the chest by about 5% I'm relatively broad yet I feel it would have looked better slightly smaller. I'll post a link to some pictures bellow. I've missed out two panels on top of the thigh, yet it almost touches the cod.

Hope this helps

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...6631648&type=1

EDIT:
I would also highly recommend hinging the book/shin cover parts to the shin itself. These took the most wear and tear when walking, which could have been avoided if they were hinged. I've had to reseal them twice. It will also look much better having them slide over the boot while you walk/bend your leg.

Thanks for the scaling suggestions. I'm actually taller than 6', I just started there as a baseline for scaling. I've got really long legs, but 26 has been pretty good for me so far. I've not built the thigh yet (That was probably coming next), but the bicep scaled at 26 was a little long top-to-bottom, so I'll try a 25-26 for the thigh to see if that's good.
I (without even thinking about it) attached the boot's cover to the shin when I built the boot anyways. Seemed like a more natural spot to attach it than to the boot. Looking at the boot and how it moves, I would think these pieces need room to move/swing so I'll probably connect the middle portion securely then connect the sides via loose straps so they have room to move. Basically a strap for a hinge, but straps to prevent the sides from coming too far forward/out of place as well.

 

[Velluminous]

So here's a quick update... Been really busy the past week so I've not gotten to work on it much. Trying to put off working on the thigh for as long as possible because it has sooooo many pieces. Anyways, here's what I've managed to get done recently:

The Cod:

You'll have to excuse the warped look in the pictures; I'm using 110 card stock and it doesn't hold it's form when something is sitting in the chair.
This was the first piece I really had to rescale. This piece doesn't have a lot of pieces to it, but rebuilding it a second time was still time consuming. Eventually I ended up getting my hip=to=hip measurement and figuring out the proper scale. 26 was waaayyyy too small. Couldn't get it up my legs further than an inch or so past the knees.

The Back:

Took a couple days, but I got it all cut out (minus a few detail pieces) and put together. I've not done the flaps yet, but I have them printed out to the same scale so hopefully they'll match up well. Fits well on my torso, but I think I might bump it up .25-.5 to give myself some added room once the chest is connected. Clearly the back has a lot of gaps, but I'm pretty sure this is due to me using the foam files instead of pep files. Gotta expect there to be size issues; I'm using a paper-thin medium for a project that is asking for a pencil-thick material.
Really glad that I'm building the foam files as pep because it's showing me a lot of pieces that don't need to be separate. I'm going to start marking these with a marker or highlighter so I when it comes to the foam version I'll be ready.

Chest update: The chest and back piece (both scaled to 26) weren't big enough to go around my torso and connect. Connected one side and needed about 3 inches to connect it to the other side... So gonna have to scale it up some.

 

[Velluminous]

Chronicles of Mystara hit XBox Live Arcade last week, so my progress went from 2-3 hrs/day to zero. Finally got around to working again today and yesterday.

Boots!


Went ahead and started in on the foam. Tried a few different ways to make the cuts and learned that it's probably best to not combine pieces unless you're looking for a smoother, rounder piece. Seems like everyone makes the boots differently, so it took a bit before I finally settled on just how everything goes together. Ended up connecting pieces that shouldn't have been connected and having to razor-blade them apart.
Still deciding whether I want to wear shoes under these or if I'd rather build a complete shoe from foam. If I do, I'll probably make the inner sole from foam, then fill in the bottom with something strong enough to stand on, like expanding spray foam, since that's pretty easy to shape/whittle down.

Hope to start on the shins tomorrow, but I need to finish The Last of Us and the new Borderlands 2 DLC drops tomorrow... lol

 

[Velluminous]

Quick Update...

Left Shin!


You'll have to excuse the pictures... I've not connected the top of the boot or either of the two bottom pieces of the shin, so trying to get it to stand upright while taking a picture was like trying to balance a vase on jello. I eventually tried taping the pieces inside with scotch tape (That's what I have available/handy), but it just didn't hold. Eventually I just gave up and accepted what pictures I could get (so that's why it looks a little funny in the ankle area).

Okay! Finally actually getting something built! Lesson learned: If you want something to curve, don't try to angle the pieces where they connect. A flat side against a flat side produces a much better curve.
I've not connected the "kneecap" on this one yet; The pieces didn't fit together at all once they were cut out (which is mildly annoying because I'm very precise with my template & cutting). So I'm going to have to freehand a piece to fit. I attached the knee connectors after the pictures were taken.
I kind of built this in two separate pieces; The calf and the shin. Trying it this way was probably a bad idea but I think it made the calf turn out more round. That said, I tried curving the pieces on the very back of the calf by angling the edges, and it turned them into more of a ridge than a smooth curve. Lesson learned, I won't do that again. Will just have to correct it when I finally get around to heat gunning/final forming.