Just a quick note, the first posts are condensed from multiple posts on another forum, if I miss editing smileys and such please bear with me.

So I've decided to make some armor. Halo Spartan Mk VI Mjolnir armor to be exact. I'm hoping to have it ready for next years cons. Starfest would be nice, but definitely by NanDesuKan in September.

I'm using the pepakura method, so this is technically papercraft, but it does have so much more that goes into it.

First thing I decided I needed to do was get used to the whole folding and assembling aspect of papercraft. I decided a simple, low-res, OG Halo spartan helmet would be a decent start to honing my skills. I didn't bother with scale or good cardstock because this was just going to be a throwaway project to get my feet wet with. I'm just using regular paper cut with scissors, folded by hand and glued with a gluestick. Later pieces will use heavyweight cardstock that I've used an Xacto knife to cut, straight edge scored fold lines and superglue.

On my first night I managed to get the back half of the helmet completed


I decided to list my resources for where I'm getting the instructions and source materials.
Instructables Halo armor tutorial (w/ video!)
Pepakura software <== What you need to view, print and create armor files. Designer is required to be able to scale the armor to your personal body size. You can find it for free elsewhere but if you don't pay for it you can't save your scaled pieces (save function is password protected)
405th Infantry forums, a bunch of geeks that like to build armor <== Tons of amazing info, how-to's and epic armor builds
Halo costuming wiki <== Reference pics, pep files and lots of info
Heavy Gunner's exhaustive armor dump <== All the Halo armor pep files in one handy download
Armor scaling tutorial <== Armor fits better when you adjust it for your body size. Making lots of tediously unnecessary paper molds that don't fit isn't fun

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Spent the next night catching up and finishing the practice helmet. This really has been a great learning process, it's got me jazzed to keep going.

The pic doesn't show it but I did put the center reinforcements in place just to hold everything steady and center it up. I'll probably cut them out and give the helmet to my daughter to play with.


Now to run to the store for some cardstock and superglue!

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Well here's what I managed to complete the next night. I picked up a ream of 110lb cardstock earlier and I got the high resolution Halo 3 helmet all scaled to my size and printed it out. All 44 pages of it, the practice helmet was 12 pages :eek
What have I gotten myself into? :twitch


Yes, that stack of paper is the same height as the pen in front of it. 44 pages of cardstock for one helmet. It all has to be precision cut and folded for the whole thing to turn out right. :eek

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Ugh, I've felt like crap the last few days, but the upside is that being bed/couch ridden is that there's tons of time to work on crafts between coughing fits.

So I started on the REAL helmet. HOLY CRAP this thing is detailed! :eek Between pre-scoring all the fold lines and cutting the pieces with an Xacto knife it takes a lot longer than the practice helmet.

First night's work. Saturday night.


On Sunday I was really starting to feel under the weather, but it was just coughing fits at that point. I actually got a little farther than this, but this was the best pic that I got. Makes me feel like a ninja. :evilgrin


Monday I stayed home from work. I slept until 1pm then sat my ass on the couch coughing up my lungs. Between coughing fits I managed to get a little more done.


Tuesday I did a lot more sleeping, coughing and working on the helmet when I could. It's even on both sides. I'm gonna have to be careful when I trim this thing after it's 'glassed. It barely fits over my head even though it looks really big.

Originally posted by RoninEclipse2G
I'm gonna have to be careful when I trim this thing after it's 'glassed. It barely fits over my head even though it looks really big.

I read this as: "I have a big ass head but I haven't yet made the connection."

Wow that is a lot of tedious work. Very interesting work. Are you going to fiberglass it as well or are you just doing the paper parts for practice?

cool

Originally posted by Star Turbo Talon
Wow that is a lot of tedious work. Very interesting work. Are you going to fiberglass it as well or are you just doing the paper parts for practice?

The first helmet I did was just practice. The cardstock is the base for fiberglass. I'll apply resin to the outside to give a surface for things to stick to, and glass the inside for strength. Some of the exterior features will get a little body filler to smooth the curves and give me something to etch fine details into.

Yeah, it is tedious. I actually chose to do the helmet first because it has the finest detail and therefore the most tedious. I figure if I can make it through that then the rest of the armor will be a cakewalk

this is the most badass thread ever on 2gnt. mad props man, please keep on! see if you can keep track of hours, money, materials, etc you spend on this project too. i recommend microsoft project. LOL yea tim, i just said that. post a gantt chart too, just to piss tim off ;)

Uh mikey, I don't think so. I already have too much time into this to bother doing some crazy tracking system.

I will keep track of my hours and cost, but not on that level.

To date I'd guess that I have between 12 and 15 hours into the project, but that also includes a few hours learning the software for sizing and printing the templates. Total cost so far ~$10 for a ream of cardstock, superglue and a red and blue pen.

I expect the final cost to be around $200 and total work time somewhere around 6-9 months of free time (my wife is gonna hate me)

The main goal of this all is well, really to see if I can, and make the crappy plastic $800 halloween costume look like a pile of junk

Originally posted by 420agreenvilleSC
i recommend microsoft project.

You would.

Originally posted by DarkOne

Originally posted by 420agreenvilleSC i recommend microsoft project.

You would.

LOLLlll!!

Got some more work done last night. Nothing worth posting pics though because it's a section that doesn't have anything to connect to yet.

Another 2 hours spent

Originally posted by RoninEclipse2G
Got some more work done last night. Nothing worth posting pics though because it's a section that doesn't have anything to connect to yet. Another 2 hours spent

Way too much time on your hands.... I wish I had that kind of time, and I don't even have kids!

Originally posted by Red90Sev

Originally posted by RoninEclipse2G Got some more work done last night. Nothing worth posting pics though because it's a section that doesn't have anything to connect to yet. Another 2 hours spent

Way too much time on your hands.... I wish I had that kind of time, and I don't even have kids!

No, I just stay up way too late and take naps during lunch breaks at work.

Yup, I stayed up way too late last night


The words are there to help me align the large pieces that are too big to fit on one sheet of cardstock. Bonus pieces to whomever can guess the song title and band without using Google :7

Originally posted by RoninEclipse2G
Yup, I stayed up way too late last night The words are there to help me align the large pieces that are too big to fit on one sheet of cardstock. Bonus pieces to whomever can guess the song title and band without using Google :7

Green Jello, Bear Song.

5 points to Dino. Out of the 4 forums I have this posted on you're the only one to get the full answer

I would have also accepted Green Jelly as the band name since they changed it when the jello corp threatened to sue

Originally posted by RoninEclipse2G
5 points to Dino. Out of the 4 forums I have this posted on you're the only one to get the full answer I would have also accepted Green Jelly as the band name since they changed it when the jello corp threatened to sue

I was a fan pre-Jelly. They will always be Green Jello.

Bonus points for the album name? '333'

I still have that album... Didn't see the thread updates quickly enough. :P

Sit right back, and I... I may tell you a tale...
A tale of three little pigs, and a BIG. BAD. WOLF.

Well I ran into my first big snag last night. I got enough done to do a quick test fit and my suspicions were confirmed. This thing is WAY too big. I spent 30 minutes rechecking my scaling and I was off by about 3cm in every direction. The next 2 hours were spent adjusting the scale and reprinting the templates.

On the bright side this should go a lot quicker the 2nd time around now that I have a good idea of what goes where, and how to cut it out quicker.

that would be my biggest fear. making it and it turning out bigger than expected.

Well I was figuring my scaling numbers on the large side to begin with because I'm built pretty stout. The major problem is that I measured the size of the helmet to the wrong shadow on my scaling picture. This made the helmet approximately 3cm too tall, and adjusted for every other direction too. The helmet would have been a pretty good fit for Shrek, but on me it was resting on my shoulders and still not touching the top of my head >_<

So I started on helmet #2. This time I started with the base of the helmet which is highly recommended by the masters of this craft. The idea is to make sure the opening of the helmet can fit over your mellon snugly without tearing. It took letting my hair down (literally, I have pretty long hair and it was pulled back in a ponytail that the base wouldn't fit over) but it did fit over my head. From there I started adding the reinforcement pieces to hold the shape in place. I think that leaving those out the first time had a lot to do with odd sections not lining up quite right.

wow, you've got patience. lol

Originally posted by RoninEclipse2G
Well I was figuring my scaling numbers on the large side to begin with because I'm incredibly fat. The major problem is that I measured the size of the helmet to the wrong shadow on my scaling picture. (Being the lard ass I am)...made the helmet approximately 3cm too tall, and adjusted for every other direction too. The helmet would have been pretty good, If it weren't for my bulbous fat head.

J/K, all lies. She looks good! I'm really interested in seeing the "glassed" product!

You can detail my car any time. :)

Meh, I'm not very good at car detailing. My best friend is though. His 240SX sat outside for almost 2 years while he was living in another state and dust and bugs wouldn't stick to the car for over a year and a half. It's kinda funny watching grasshoppers jump on the side of the car and slide down because they can't stick.

As far as the armor goes...

I have a couple hoodies that I've been comissioned to make, so I'm probably not going to be updating this for a few weeks.

So I thought as a little diversion I'd show you guys what's been eating up my time instead of working on the armor.

I've been doing a set of commissioned hoodies for a member of another forum as a christmas gift to her boyfriend.

Backside of hoodie 1



Backside of hoodie 2



Frontside of hoodie 2 (pre detail)



Frontside of hoodie 2 (detail added)



I still have to do the front of hoodie 1, but it'll be nearly identical to the other one.

haaaa nice. do a halo one!! lol

Are you buyin mikey?

if you make a halo one i'd be in too :)

later

I'll work something up and get back to you guys after Christmas. I'm way too busy to try to design something right now.

Got a little work done the other day.

Looking like a helmet now. I swear whoever designed this was a structural engineer.

WALA! The pep work on the helmet is finished!!!!!!!!! :7



If anyone else is planning on trying this, I would suggest making the neck hole first to see if it will fit over your melon, then start from the top down. Putting the last few pieces together on the very top was hell.

I have also decided on a color scheme. White with a black reflective visor. I shall be... The tamed Warthog driver...

Some say that he's driven over more covenant than he has shot, and that is grenades aren't where you'd expect them to be...

He's not the Stig... But he is, The Stig's Spartan cousin!

wo ist das helmut?

later

Looks good

Even with all the crap going on, I've managed to keep busy

I've been going nuts on this the past few days. Did the last test fit before I seal up the sides last night. After that I would have to be a contortionist to get my broad shoulders through the lower opening. Everything hugs my body perfectly. I couldn't have sized this better if I tried.

love it :thumbsup

This has got to be the sweetest thread ever! And you sir, you are my hero!

BIG UPDATE!!!!
I finished the main part of the chestplate!








And I decided to put the helmet with the chestplate



And that looked so cool that I just had to play with the lighting...








































Legendary baby

pure epicness. don't stop, keep it up man

Trust me, there are no plans for stopping any time soon. Only thing that would kill this would be if the pieces I have done were suddenly crushed or something.

Left bicep and shoulder done!

i dont care what anybody says, i would follow this thread more than any badass 2gnt build LOL, unless it'll break records of course :P

like I said on facebook, just amazing man. keep goin dude! how much of a total % would you say you've completed?

I'm probably in the 35-40% neighborhood as far as the paperwork goes. 20% overall. Luckily the later portions go faster.

and then?...

Oh yeah, not much work has been done lately. I did finish the other upper arm

Finally an update!



Left handplate


Right handplate


Left forearm

Finally hitting below the belt!

Originally posted by RoninEclipse2G
Finally hitting below the belt!

Heh. Codpiece.

BIG UPDATE!

Stuff that's been resined!







And now for the part that I've actually fiberglassed :eek:






And I did have a casualty. The right shoulder fell off the workbench and into the path of a Dodge Stratus