boomshakra

Like Craig said, home depot carries eva foam, and the "anti-fatigue" mats from harbor freight seem to be popular over on the 405th site. I plan to get a sheet of ABS or sintra to put in the center to give the rifle some rigidity. there are a few foam armor builds over on 405th - mostly Spartan armor, but there might be ODST as well. The files I found weren't for Mk VI, so I probably won't use them. The suggestions I have read are to build your helmet from pepakura and do foam for the rest of the armor. Foam helmets are a bit labor-intensive to get right, apparently. Getting details into the armor using foam looks a bit challenging as well. I'll stick with pep for now...will give foam armor a try when I start on an Iron Man suit

The weather forecast is giving me a very limited window of opportunity to get any resin done this weekend...here's hoping I can make good use of the time! apologies in advance for the quality of the pictures Here's helmet V2.0: To be or not to be...and this helmet is borderline "not to be"... But, I have something to use if I go for a Bane costume: I will definitely have to trim the opening to the bucket once it is resin & glassed to get it this far - or cut my ears and the tip of my nose off... There is a slight warp in the visor, much more pronounced when it's not sitting on my head straight Here's the hand plate - I made another one this evening...but it is kind of wonky and might have to be rebuilt unless I can correct it with resin (no picture of 2nd plate...) So, if the weather is bad & I can't bust out with the chemicals I'll continue on with cutting/gluing the boots. After that will be the chest piece, which I am DREADING...it will be a bear, but i'm up for the challenge. Hopefully I'll get it sized right on the first attempt. Of course, I might procrastinate on it and just build helmet v3.0...upsize it about 20mm or so to see if I get any breathing room. One other side project is to get some foam & start on a MA5C assault rifle - I have the 'sliced' files and got some feedback from another builder on sizing it correctly. At least with that project scaling isn't an all-or-nothing build like the pepakura armor parts - I can print out just enough pages to make sure the overall length is correct before any cutting commences More to come - stay tuned!

You might want to cut out some supports from your card stock and glue them inside your helmet to push out some of the areas you think you might be having trouble with. My 2nd helmet has a bit of a warp in the visor I'm going to have to correct somehow, even with the supports in place (lined up the edges of pieces on one side different than the other side...oops). But, it's still a learning process and I'm not on a strict timeline with my armor. My 2nd helmet is a bit small, but definitely closer to scale than the Death Star sized one I made the first time around Sizing is the scourge of my build - even following the tutorals I don't think I am scaling properly. My 2nd helmet is all glued together (can't access photobucket from work...so no pix) but has very little room for padding & electronics and tough to get on my head. I think my daughter is secretly hoping i'll move on to V3.0 so she can have this one . Last night I assembled a hand plate and while it looks right in pictures, it still feels a bit small to me - and I don't have the paintball (armored) gloves i'm going to use for a better compairison. Oh, well. Tonight i'll go ahead & make the other one and then move on to the boots - the weather is supposed to clear this weekend so I want to have as many parts ready as possible to resin and/or fiberglass, and hopefully start on the bondo stage of my V1.0 helmet

Good luck - I'm watching your build thread over on the 405th site

Ok, not pepakura, but a nice addition to my armory: I plan on attempting to make my own MA5 and/or MA37 rifle from foam or pepakura (or a combination of both)...but that is still a ways off. Glue gun warming up...off to get some work done!

It warmed up enough today that I could have done some resin/rondo work, but I opted to keep on with the pepakura work on my 2nd helmet. I finished cutting it all out on Thursday and did a lot of gluing today - not done, but getting very close. The forecast for next weekend looks promising, so if all goes well I can start on the bondo/shaping of my 1st helmet and at least a coat of resin applied to the second one. getting VERY close - I think most of the tiny (read: frustratingly difficult to work with using my hulk-hands) parts are in their correct places: If I can get an hour or so a night of gluing I should have it put together by the end of the week & ready for resin

Mine (so far) is definitely my HALO Mk VI build. And finish my Mandolorian and get it approved by the Mando Mercs .

The cold snap continues...but I did get the helmet fiberglassed about 99% - I didn't get the underside of the visor of the helmet (the part sticking out above where the gold visor goes...). Once it warms up I'll be coating the inside with rondo to smooth it out & get into all of the nooks & crannies I didn't cover with the fiberglass. I have to report that using spray adhesive before putting down the fiberglass helped TONS - much more efficient that way and didn't have to worry about the resin curing prematurely. Here's a comparison of size to my RT-Mod bucket: Since I can't do anything with chemicals for the time being I printed out another helmet and started scoring/cutting. As I work through it it seems like it is going to end up on the small side, but I said the same thing about the one above! I plan to be brave this weekend and cut out one of the "gold" visors with the dremel this weekend. Once it warms up it will be back to the land of toxic fumes - looking forward to getting this thing shaped! Even though it probably won't be used with the rest of the armor, I'm planning to see it through to the end and plan to install the LEDs that MC has on his helmet - stay tuned!

You can get ODST armor pre-made - it uses thinner ABS than TK armor (at least from the source I will likely buy from), so it is a good idea to fiberglass or rondo (or both) the inside of the plates to add strength. I'll be investing in a set sometime next year, but until then will keep working on this. Pepakura is a matter of time and patience...and nimble hands Some of the folds are kind of tiny and I don't have the steadiest hands to glue them quite as well as needed. You should give it a go - just use 110# card stock, not regular printer paper. Check out the forums over on the 405th.com - TONS of info and tutorals there I haven't picked up any foam to work with just yet, but did start on fiberglassing the helmet - no pix just now, letting the resin set. I have to say that the strands from the fiberglass mat get everywhere and stick to EVERYTHING! I had some residual resin on my gloves so that made it all the more fun to put the mat down inside...and now my gloves look like Wampa claws . Still, progress made - hopefully the warmer weather will continue through tomorrow and I can get a little bit more done. I am almost out of catalyst for the resin so I will get some more of that tonight. Next week will be really cold so other than taking some pictures I won't have much progress to show. I might go ahead and print out a properly-sized helmet file and start on the cutting/folding for it to keep me busy...or move on to another part. The visors I ordered arrived today and...well, they are gold-ish when you look at them at an angle. They're for practice anyways, so no worries, although I did notice they might be a bit small for the opening on my oversized bucket...oh, well - that's what bondo is for, right?

A cold front blew in for the holiday weekend...grrrrr (and brrrrr ). I have the first layer of resin covering about 80% of the exterior of the helmet, but I'll have to wait to do more until after it warms up. But, I am catching up on reading more build threads over on the 405th forum which certainly helps me fine-tune how my build will progress. The helmet I currently have pep'd is definitely too large for the armor, but I'm going to finish the build for experience sake. There are other HD pepakura helmet files that are a little easier to work with (fewer small parts), so that will (hopefully) speed up the next build. I found modified pepakura files for using foam...but they are for the Mk VII armor...just a LITTLE different. Since I won't be able to do any resin or fiberglass over the next few days I will probably play with that to see what it is like. There are a TON of foam build files for Iron Man armor, so that will be added to the future build list Now if I could just get my darn Mandolorian armor finished...!

You should give it a go! While cutting/folding is VERY time consuming, I find it to be kind of relaxing..."Zen and the art of Pepakura"

Actually, I am going to give foam a try for the rest of the armor - I found some files to use for the patterns and hopefully will start on that part some time in the next couple of weeks. Yeah, pepakura isn't the easiest way, and there are always sizing challenges: Probably not going to use that one in my build...and given the difficulty of just putting that handplate together I will probably opt for the LD files and add details afterwards. Started on the resin - safety first! I managed to get most of the top of the helmet covered before I ran out of daylight & the temperature started to drop. I should have the outside done by the end of the week and hopefully can schedule some time this weekend to start on the interior. The visors are shipping - I'm going to use two, one with the cut out that will go over the inner one. I'm not using the HJC visors at this point - found some $7.95 gold visors on amazon that i'll use to experiment with for cutting before dropping the $30 for the good ones.

Accidents happen...or some runners might be a bit more protective (aggressive) of their remaining flags. Better safe than sorry - I can see someone running 'over' instead of around a zombie.

Well, in a "DUH" moment...I could, I dunno, just use my own armor to model/shape the foam...would be easy to size it to my body, since it is already fitted, length-wise at least.. Of course, the helmet will be the most challenging - from what I've seen so far making the dome isn't an easy undertaking, although foam can be shaped pretty well using a heat gun. The thought of pressing a heated piece of foam to the top of my bald melon isn't all that appealing... thanks for the suggestion, Vern - if anything, I might see if anyone has an extra codpiece. Just from the experience of my run on Saturday, the protection of hard armor in that area would be helpful.

MODS: Since this is a thread about non-501st approvable building, please move it to wherever is more appropriate if necessary - thanks! I didn't think about that until after I posted...sorry! Yesterday my daughter and I participated in the Run for your lives 5k - an obstacle course which also included zombies who would chase you trying to 'infect' you. You started out with 3 flags on a belt and if you lost them you were infected. Some of the Z's were runners, and needless to say neither of us survived (although we finished): I am wearing my Imperial Cog underarmor top...so technically I have already been recruited as a Death Trooper Participants (both runners and zombies) were encouraged to dress up and we encountered Santa zombies, Elf zombies, a Snow White zombie and a Thor zombie. What I got to thinking about is designing some Death Trooper armor that would allow me to be a runner zombie. My initial thought is that it would be a foam construction, sized down for a tighter fit and more movement in the joints. It would attach to the underarmor with velcro, so no strapping. The helmet would need to have a decent split around at least one eye for good visibility. Foam would also help minimize any damage from inadvertent contact with other participants - I accidentally took out one of the zombies yesterday...was running by, turned my body to avoid her grasp, and dropped my shoulder...which connected with her face. I stayed with her to make sure she was alright & got an escort back to the medical tent. I also dropped by there after I finished to check up on her & they said she was fine. I felt TERRIBLE about it though... I have started a thread about my HALO Mk VI armor build using pepakura, but might do the rest of the armor (already pep'd a helmet) from foam, so I'll see how that goes before attempting this project. What I'll need to track down is some templates for all the armor parts to cut out of the foam...trying to free-hand would probably end up with armor worse than a Rubies kit . This project is in the 'thinking about' stage and may never come to fruition - I have my HALO build to get through first which is going to take a considerable amount of time to complete. But, if anyone already knows of a source for foam templates for TK armor, please PM me or post a link here. I have no illusion of trying to make it 501st approveable, just something to have fun infecting hapless living people with

On the Star Garrison page we track our troops in a thread named the "Death Star Initiative" - for X number of troops you get a certain level of recognition (an avatar that changes color depending on your level). The entry level for the avatar is Level 1, which you have to have 20 troops to achieve. I am one shy of my Lvl 1 cert...with nothing on the calendar for the rest of 2012. So close! But, 2013 already has several events, so it's all good

Mods: Please move this over to the "Non-Star Wars costuming" forum - thanks! While my Mandolorian build is languishing without funding, I decided to see what kind of mischef I could get myself into over on the HALO side. I have seen 405th Infantry members at different cons, and I have always thought their armor was extremely cool. After checking out the forums over there and also watching "Forward Unto Dawn" (highly recommended, even for non-gamers such as myself) I thought I'd give it a go. What the hell, right? Just the cost of some 110# card stock, some hot glue...and a TON of time. I downloaded the software needed to open the pep files and took a look at an ODST helmet first - a lot of my Squad are going to do that build from pre-molded armor this coming year (me included, pending budgetary approval). After looking at 45 pages and ~1400 pieces to be glued...I went for the Mk VI - only 16 pages and 70something parts. Got everything printed and realized I had used the sizing for an ODST helmet...ok, so it might not fit, be a little small - no worries, it will be a practice run to see what I'm getting myself into. If nothing else, the experience will be worth it & if it is too small the kiddos can have it. Apologies in advance for the crummy cell phone camera pix... Over the course of last week, I estimate I put in at least 8 hours here and there cutting and scoring the pieces. Here's what the fruit of my labor looked like as of Friday night: So, out comes the glue gun. They call it a HOT glue gun for a reason...my fingertips will never be the same, but should I find myself doing something outside of the law, the authorities will never be able to match my fingerprints to the scene of the crime Yesterday morning's progress: Note I said 'morning'...I kept finding myself back at the dining table waiting for the glue gun to heat up again End of yesterday: Creating/gluing in the lights (the two bumps by the cheek/ear) and the rebreather tube (jawline) was difficult to say the least. The sad part is that once the resin/fiberglass/bondo is done, the lights will be drilled out for LEDs and the rebreather area for actual tubing. All that work and gluing itty-bitty tabs...for nothing (other than solidifying the build in those areas). No rest for the wicked today: You can see that the top and bottom are not connected at this point. My original thought was to keep them separated until the resin process so that they would be a bit more solid and easier to work with. Then I realized that should they harden in a shape that I couldn't match up/glue the remaining tabs together...well, I'd be hosed and back to square 1. The tricky part I was now facing is having to glue the tabs while they are inside of the helmet. Granted, it turned out to be larger than I expected (as you'll see below...I think even Master Chief would find this bucket roomy!), but fumbling around with a glue gun and then trying to get everything lined up and stuck together before the glue cooled off was challenging. But, off I went. The result: (Dark Helmet emulating Princess Vespa's voice) "...your helmet is so BIG!" (/end Dark Helmet voice). Of course, the finished product won't be sitting that far forward on my head once I get padding installed. Also, the chest piece and its 'exhaust' vents on the shoulders should make it all more proportional. This was definitely one of the more challenging projects I have ever undertaken, and I still have a long ways to go - I will probably tackle the chest piece next to get that one over and done with...so don't expect any updates for a couple of months. Seriously, I am optimistically projecting that I will be done with the armor, resined, fiberglassed, bondo'd, painted and strapped by then and not a day before. Having that finish date so far out takes the self-imposed pressure off a bit, but there is a long way to go still. Thanks for looking and wish me luck! See ya'll in a couple of months, if not on a Troop before then

I'm glad you enjoyed it and take that as a compliment - I try to weave a good story to go along with the pictures. The hard part is sorting through almost 400 of them and trying to cover all of the different armor/characters from our troops, especially a joint one with the Rebel Legion, Mandolorian Mercs, and Jedi. I'd post fewer pictures of myself, but i'm just so darn photogenic . Our squad is fortunate to have several different photographers join us for events! One last note and pic - Our Squad and the Legion lost a member earlier this year, Chris Lewis, BH-3836. We honored him Saturday by wearing the decal below on our armor. sorry for the crappy picture - at the bottom it says "Forever With Us" in Aurebesh

It's time for one of Central Texas Squad/Star Garrison's favorite events - The Chuy's Parade! Every year Chuy's Tex-Mex (to die for...teh yummeh...) Restaurants hosts the parade to benefit Operation Blue Santa, collecting toys to be distributed to families in need so their kiddos have a Merry Christmas. This was my first time Trooping this event, although I have volunteered several times over the years, even marching as Darth Vader (Rubies armor, I think...was years before my 501st days) one year. (all photo credits Rob Tuckfield) Edit: While we were staging, a gentleman from a bagpipe group walked up to us and broke into the Star Wars theme song! It was EPIC!!! Unfortunately, the only documentation we have is a cell phone video (the last 16 seconds)...while it is on Facebook, you'd have to be friends with my Squad-mate (or me) to view it...

Continuing on the cars threadjack, my neighbor down the street has a pretty new Honda Odyssey minivan. It is black (glossy) and I swear if you look at the front of that thing, with the shape/silver color of the headlights it looks like an oversized Shadow Trooper Helmet! I have thought about trotting down there in my TK armor to take a picture...but IIRC, she was one of the neighbors who asked my wife "what the hell is your husband doing" after I did a around-the-block test-walk/shakedown when I was building my armor

One day I'd like to get a VW Type 181 (Thing) and TK-ify it: paint the brow, eyes, frown and traps on the hood, vocoder in front (between headlights), blue stripes on the front fenders, and the OII on the engine cover in back...maybe have a mount between the front two seats for a DLT-19. On the plus side my wife would NEVER ask to borrow my car...downside is most of the Type 181s out there are restorations and are a bit pricey... /end threadjack //yes, I have put a lot of thought into that project

6'2", 200lb - RT Mod was almost perfect - I had to trim the kidney/abs and thighs (chicken legs) but it accomodated my height very well.

Ah, snap plates. I think I ended up making ~50 or so, but buy more of the snaps than you think you need. During my build I would hammer it wrong or forget to put one of the two pieces on the strap & make both parts useless... I would also suggest making the webbing lengths a bit long so you will be able to cut them down to the length you need for where you're placing it. I made a few too short and those ended up being useless as well, since you want to keep the glue off of the metal snap if at all possible. Have fun & look forward to seeing build progress!

Boooooooo*snicker*oooooo*snort*ooooooooBWAHAHAHAHA

Awesome - thanks!