WIP: Halo 3 Marines (D-con or bust!)

[Vrogy]

Time to step out of the shadows.. Hi, folks!
First step for us was modeling. Make points. Connect points. Tweak. Iterate ad nauseum.
We've also got a helmet worked up, but we'll be building that last, as we can do in a pinch and stay canon with a modern 8-point cover and custom insignia.







Then we used a program called Pepakura to generate papercraft patterns.







Those files were printed onto cardstock and are mostly assembled at this point.





No extant pictures of the other stuff in meatspace yet, sorry.

Thanks go to Primal Weyland for accurate orthogonal references(good screenshots), and the folks who pioneered scratch-building via pepakura.

Up next is resin-coating, fiberglassing the interior of pieces, then lots of smoothing via bondo & mouse.

 

[RogueSolo]

Good luck!

 

[Chronos]

Wow, looks awesome Vrogy!

 

[oldman808]

Great job so far! Keep us updated!! :thumbsup

 

[Spase]

Hey man looks good so far... Didn't see you post this over at the 405th...

Welcome the ranks of the Marines.

 

[Vrogy]

Heya Spase- mind not posting pics of your own suit here? I don't want to muddy things for people just scanning around- this thread's for my build report, not yours

Oh, and an update- everything's built and has three coats of resin. Ended up adding lots of cardboard spacers to the chest to get it to keep its shape in the Floridian humidity, but everything is kosher now.

 

[the baileys bandit]

thats badass bro, I can't wait to see this at d-con

 

[Spase]

My Bad... thought having another Marine around would be cool.. Didn't mean to step on your toes... wont happen again.

Are you not going to post this over at the 405th.com Halo Costuming Forum? Lots of people there would love to see it too.

 

[Skupilkinson]

Hey, nice work buddy! Good to see more of it.

 

[Matt Walton]

Looks great, dude. 'Can't wait to see if finished.

 

[desolate]

it is looking good arent those files available on 405th.com??

 

[docbytes]

Nice work so far Vrogy. Are you going to define it anymore?

 

[Vrogy]

it is looking good arent those files available on 405th.com??

Not unless they've been leaked. Tweaks are still being made.

Finished fiberglassing on most of the stuff. Working on the second layer of bondo now. Also modeled the remaining pieces and tweaked the helmet quite a bit.
Might aim to get the helmet done for dragoncon, instead of an 8-point, we're making better time than I thought.



Looks rough, I know. Bondo's solving that.

 

[Skupilkinson]

Looking sweet to me buddy!

 

[CustomCreations]

Ive followed these paper formed suit build ups before, they are great!
Can I recommend something called 'ferrous spray' or lesanol- not sure what its called in the US etc.
In the UK its a 2 part filler you can spray like a putty- but it uses a catalyst to cure. You could prob brush paint it on too. Gray in colour, you can build up seriously thick coats- and would save an amazing amount of time compared to using filler mixed and spread on. Its an overnight cure but sands to a brillinat finish. Used over fibreglass it would be just as durable as filler would be, plus an added bonus of a great primer coat already on the model.
You can spray it as mixed if your gun can take a thjicker paint, or it can be thinned - the thinner coat can make a very good final finish.
Good luck!
d

 

[Skupilkinson]

I'm in the UK. So this is applied through an airbrush?

Sounds very good to me. Is it costly? Where can it be purchased?

Many thanks

 

[CustomCreations]

http://www.lesonal.co.uk/lesonal/CREW/United+Kingdom/

click under the MS Products link and then 2k540 filler. Its an automotive spray I have used a lot in the past, so it wouldnt go through an airbrush
Probably deemed more a 'professional use' than home use ;-(
http://www.morelli.co.uk

would be a good place to look for buying it.....
You can also mix car body filler with fibreglass resin, which creates a very good, brushable paste (use both products hardeners ).
Axminster on
http://www.axminster.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=576783&name=brushes&user_search=1&sfile=1&jump=12
do an excellent box of disposable brushes ideal for using with this method ;-)

 

[Vrogy]

Quick update:
I'm ending up chopping up and re-attaching several chest parts to get the right offset between sections- there was warpage when the parts sat inside the 95-degree shop curing. I've since added a lot of support struts to the pepakura files. Part of the problem is likely that I'm working at the outer limits of the rigidity- or lack thereof- of cardstock.

First semi-complete sculpt, though:
http://vrogy.net/vids/h3marine_shoulder1.mov

 

[Skupilkinson]

Looks very nice! The fit looks good too, top notch. Looking forward to seeing more!

 

[MisriahArmory]

Looking great Vrogy!

Hope you'll post these on the 405th sometime!