boomshakra

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

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

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!

Awesome - thank you!

Jason Sager 4796 EIB Letter

Jason Sager 4796 Centurion Letter

I've been following your build thread on the 501st boards - very impressive!

My RT-Mod was easy to get to Centurion - you just do the additions/modifications as you build. It takes a little more time but is worth it in the end. The bucket does take a little more work - be sure to do a little research on replacing the rivets at the bottom of the ears with screws (I started a thread when I did mine). Read Darth Aloha's build thread...and read it again. Then refer to it as you build, often. Have fun!

My resin doopys stays home on display, Hasbro mod goes trooping. Neither is impossible to replace, but it stings a little less when it's a $40ish kit instead of $100 (estimated prices - haven't looked at their web site recently), although 'used' hasbros are getting a bit more difficult to source on craigslist...

RT-Mod - I have a pretty good sized melon and mine is perfect (6'2")