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
What have I gotten myself into?


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.

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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! 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.


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.

Erik P.
Official 2GNT thread Hijacker
Some say that he's driven over more Covenant than he's shot, and that his grenades aren't where you'd expect them to be...
All we know is, He's not The Stig... But he is The Stig's Spartan cousin!