i see from the close uppicture you enjoy grizzly Dip as much as I do

ive got to make one myself. that is awsome looking (though currently im trying to build a laser pistol with a laser pen)

Thanks again for all the support!

I finished the left shoulder and started working on the right. No Macgyvering on these. They are sintra only. Well, one thumb tack I guess I posted a picture of what the helmet looks like in its current state. I still need to finish the microphone and I'm waiting on the hoses. I didn't finish detailing the shoulder until after the Super Bowl. My wife was in bed by the time I finished, so I couldn't get any photos with me wearing it...I tried. I'll post that photo on my Myspace page, along with a few more. This thing is going to be pretty cool!

Here it is so far...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/MightyJohn/100_1250.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/MightyJohn/100_1255.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/MightyJohn/100_1288.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/MightyJohn/100_1273.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/MightyJohn/100_1290.jpg

This is great. You are the guy in the crowd who is always thinking? "What the hell am I gonna do today?" You inspire others to be creative and have an outlook besides sports. Great job. Keep up the work. Steel be with you. Vercun out!

Thanks Vercun. It feels good to know, I can do something that others enjoy . It is a pretty obscure hobby.

I stopped work on the right shoulder. After spending all of last weekend making the Left, I decided to move on to the Left Forearm. It's together and ready for painting. I'll try to get some more pictures up on Monday. I've also been tweaking the upper chest and Upper arm templates. Hopefully I'll be able to start on those this weekend.

wow! shaping up nicely! think you can send me the full template when ur finished
dragonslayr4@yahoo.com

Excellent work. This thread is very inspiring to me in my own pursuit of a set armor. I have just begun work on my own T-51B power armor, and was wondering if you could tell me what you were using for molds and such in your work with the Sintex. I have been vascilating on what to use for the bulk of my armor and have considered making it from Fiberglass on paper mache molds. I am new to a build of this scale and would be grateful for any help or advice.

Bear

It looks quite impressive, very professional looking. You should certainly finish it if you have the interest to do so, it will certainly look great when it's finished.

That is looking great MightyJohn! I wish my stuff would ever turn out as clean as yours. If you ever get the itch to mold the body armor, I'd be interested in picking up a set.




You could make a fiberglass base on a straight cardstock model then use it as a buck/template for the the sintex plastic. I'm too lazy to do it myself so I just smoothed out the fiberglassed model.

Here's a quick youtube vid I have of the beginning of my T-51b to give you an idea of that method (my halo stuff is more detailed if you want more info) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kreJm-jAoKo

Also the current state of my T-51b to give you a better idea of the finished design, still needs work. http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a394/Sangdraxshadow/IMG_1249.jpg

I finished the left Forearm and built the Left Upper arm. I'll finish painting it tonight and post some pictures tomorrow.

Sigma-LS- My wife has generously donated my skills to my daughters dance class. They want me to design a trophey for their competitions. Once I finish the proto-type, I'm going to have to learn about molding. If all goes well with that...(fingers crossed)...I might make a mold of the armor.

Rampetbear- I don't use any molds. Sintra is a very easy material to work with. You can pick it up at a Sign Shop. All you need is a box cutter to cut out your template and boiling water to shape it. I use a hot glue gun (screws and PVC glue whenever possible) to connect the peices. You can use Bondo or even standard drywall mud to shape corners (If you use drywall mud, be sure to prime every layer of mud to make it strong. I use a dremel to round edges and 150 grit sand paper to smooth all rough edges.

Here is a web site about Sintra. It even has a mini tutorial on making armor:

http://www.tri-dee.com/Sintra%20sheets%20information.htm

You just need to find a material you feel comfortable working with. Sigma-LS is in the 405th. You should check out their web site. Lots of info on all types of ways to make armor:

http://405th.com/forums/index.php?act=idx

...or just browse YouTube for armor tutorials or mold making.

If you're not having fun...try a different material. No point in having a hobby you don't enjoy

holy [censored] thats sweet do you work for a movie studio

Sounds like fun. If you've got a Reynold's Advanced Materials store near you, they can really help out with getting started on molding too. The staff is always really nice at the Texas and Pennsylvanian ones at least and it's nice to be able to talk to a real person to supplement reading tuts and things.

Also stumbled upon a lucky find on an online surplus store. Classic Russian gas mask hoses with the cloth texture the new T-51b has for $5 apiece. https://www.mainemilitary.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=211&idproduct=2250 I got 2 and UPS shipped was still a little less than $20 total.

Thanks Charliezulublue. I don't work for a studio, but that would be an awesome job!

Sigma-LS - Those hoses are going to look great on your Helmet. Great find! I checked for a Reynolds around me. No good. But thanks for the idea; I'll see if I can find something similar in my area.

I got some pictures of the Left forearm and upper arm. I haven't fitted them yet, but I did pack them with foam so I could wear them for the photos. I tried a little cost cutting on the paint job...I don't like it. I think I'm going to repaint it the original way.
And once again, I tried to get a picture with the shoulder. That thing is way to big to balance on the end of my shoulder. I'll work on fitting it.
Also, I borrowed the camera from work...looks like I borrowed the crappy one

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/MightyJohn/100_4665.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/MightyJohn/100_4649.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/MightyJohn/100_4654.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/MightyJohn/100_4656.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/MightyJohn/100_4663.jpg

I also took a picture of the inside of my helmet. It's more of a torture device at the moment...It's not fitted and I haven't filed down the screws and thumb tacks yet

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/MightyJohn/100_4643.jpg

I have a couple of questions.
1)is most of the costume made from sintra? I know you said the helmet was mostly sintra and various hardware store extras.
2) if Sintra do you forsee lots of warpage? I have been told that Sintra warps a lot in hot conditions and after each use.

Bear

Bear,

I had to use a lot of odds and ends for the detail on the helmet, but the structure itself is all Sintra. The rest of the costume is all Sintra except for the screws and thumb tacks I used to create the rivets.

I made some Boba Fett armor 9 years ago and I haven't noticed any warping. Ofcourse, I live in Michigan and only wear it once or twice a year in October when it's AT MOST 50 degrees. And if I'm at a party, I have to step out side every once and awhile to cool off. I saw the notice on the website about not exceding 150 degrees...I don't think you'd want to wear a full body armor of Sintra if it's over 100 degree for more then a half hour for the dehydration factor alone:).

I can see if you live down south, this might be an issue. But, I think, maybe what you heard was more about the flexibility of Sintra. Sintras biggest problem is that it doesn't harden like fiberglass. Depending on how it is bent, with enough pressure it will flex...and flexing pops connections and cracks paint. And since the yahoos that invented Sintra haven't come up with strong glue that can flex with sintra, the best way to fasten it is with screws. If you look at the picture of the inside of my helmet, you will see lots for screws and connection strips to prevent the Sintra from flexing. The shoulder has around 20 screws holding everything in place, the upper arm has about 8 screws and the forearm has around 8 aswell. I'm not worried about my costume poping
Another thing is the finished surface of Sintra doesn't take kindly to glue, so you need to sand or dremel the edges where you want to glue. Screw everything together then glue all the edges (inside and out). So the key is to make as few connections as possible, design your templates to accomidate good connection points and know where the flex points will be so you can reinforce them before anything can happen. A good way to check is to screw everything together then give it a few squeezes.

I believe you can buy smaller sheets of it, if you just want to mess around with it to see if you like it.

I I have the helmet template you made, did you by chance make templates for the rest of the armor pieces? I have actually thought of using some ABS plastic for large portions of the suit as I have some experience working with that making actual armor to protect my body in a combat capacity. I know I can make that into the plates I need then add detail.

I considered getting a surplus helmet and in flight oxygen mask for the basic shape of the helmet then frankenstieing it all togther as well with added detail, still tossing that Idea around.

Yet another question, how are you strapping it all on and to what underneath? Heavy duty velcro to hold on the plates sewn to some sort of bodysuit?


Thank you for all of your generous help.

Bear

I'd give my right nut for that skill.

That sounds sweet! Cosplay armor that you could take into combat. That would scare the crap out of the enemy If you know how to use it and it will work for this type of built, no sense in learning something new that will get the same result. Since I work with Sintra, I choose this costume because the curves are compatible with it. There is no way I would attempt a Halo costume or something with tons of sharp corners. It would be too time consuming and a waste of material. So I think the material picks the costume. And since you said ABS is good for forming curved plates...it sounds like a winner for a costume like this.

Straps...

I haven't gotten too deep into researching it, but this is how I see it at the moment:
The back and sides will be one piece and will be straqed to me like a backpack (strap for each arm and one around my belly). The chest piece will snap or hook to the front of the back straps and maybe velco where the two meet. The neck armor (I just finished forming and sanding last night) will tuck under the chest armor and over the back armor with velcro. The waist will be 2 pieces and have a built in belt. Overlapping at the hips, so it can expand as I do The upper thigh will have a strap that can connect to the belt. The knees will be like knee pads and the shin will be connected to the boots. The forearms will be fine with foam and hopefully the upper arms aswell. Due to the fact that I might want to sit down, I might not make a butt plate...or I might just make an independent plate for each cheek like in Spaceballs. The shoulders will be the hardest part. They need to sit on the very edge of your shoulder and cantaliever out a foot or two. I think I'm going to have to add something to the neck armor that extends way out past the shoulders that the armor can rest on. They also have to pivot, so I might connect them to the armor with hooks or something.

So in general, I'm seeing straps, velco, snaps/buttons and hooks. But it's still in the early stages, I might think of something else.

The under armor will be black. Don't know what yet, but I'll try to find something with some kind of texture.

I have templates of everything I've made so far. Here is the templates for the Helmet and Shoulders in full size (PDF):

http://www.4shared.com/file/87316292/e56fad87/helmetPDF.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/87316291/7c66fc3d/shoulderPDF.html

Remember, these are just MY templates. Use them 'as is' or to help you create your own. And feel free to post pictures of your armor.

Whenever I get down about trying to get the accuracy just right, I remember a story I once heard about a time when Charlie Chaplin held a 'Charlie Chaplin look-a-like contest'. He seceretly entered the contest and came in second place. You just can't win!

Besides, I've noticed 4 different versions of this armor from the CREATORS alone.

EDIT: Fixed links

Hey MightyJohn, I got my helmet about 90% done so the armor is up next. Thanks for all the help man and mold those shoulders pronto so I can grab a set from ya!

Also try a class-2 LED Marine light for the lamp light if you go that route. Cheap and easy to install. Looking forward to more of your progress from my Texas hideaway. Looks like you've already planned out a great deal of the rest of the suit.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a394/Sangdraxshadow/IMG_1290cd.jpg

The epicness of this thread brings a tear to my eye, not only because it's all so beautiful, but because I know I could never afford the materials to make these, and that I don't have the artistic prowess that you fine gentlemen have. I wish I did.

:sad:

Sigma-LS, that helmet looks amazing! Those hoses are perfect! Cool paint job, too! Thanks for the shout-out in your Vid. Though I don't know if I deserve it...you are helping me . I appreciate it, thanks! And that light makes me want to make mine functional aswell.

What I've been up to:

1. I scraqed the forearm and redesigned it. It looks much better. Still need to finish the elbow though.

2. I solved the shoulder placement problem. It's sweet, I have to walk sideways down my hallway . I extended the neck armor 8 inches out past my shoulder (with sintra) and a strip of velcro at the end. I'll also have a strip of velcro where the shoulder meets the chest armor. Its not going to pivot like I hoped, but I can deal with it. I still can't wear it until I finish the right shoulder, because the weight is not balanced.

3. slowly finishing the right shoulder. I think the whole right side of this armor is going to be annoying . My brother-in-law wants to learn how to make armor, so I might 'Tom Sawyer' him into cutting and forming my right forearm and upper arm

4. I cut and molded the main chest pieces last night. My plan is to put them together this weekend.

5. working on the templates for the back & side armor, waist and thigh.

I'll get some pictures up on Monday.

Thanks Abrown916. I don't think it's too expensive... You got me wondering about the cost. I'll see if I can figure out how much I've spent so far. I know the helmet was by far the most expensive part of this costume.

Well, anything really is expensive to me, since I make $10 a week (only 15 years old )
But I'd be interested to know how much all of this costs if you ever decided to calculate it. It's definitely something I'd be willing to invest time into.

Best power armor i've seen!

i want to know how youre gonna get the whole thing on. I was wondered how they got those suits on in game

WOW! This looks awesome!