Halo Marine and ODST Cosplay photo-drop {WARNING: PIC Heavy}

[Helljumper425]

Been absent for a while working on my projects, including fiction and again, cosplay and prop making. Thought I'd make my return and show off a few of my accomplishments.

 

UNSC MARINE BUILD

 

I ran out of time with this and ultimately decided upon just dealing with the helmet and chestplate for when I attended ACEN 2014 in Rosemont. I liked how it turned out, seeing as most people who approached me knew exactly what I was supposed to be, and in my opinion that's what matters. You don't have to be 100% perfect the first time through. People just have to appreaciate it, and making it yourself is satisfying enough as it is.

 

Without further adeu...

 

Day one: I get oggled by Korean tourists. It must be a cultural thing. Also, that's rain atop my helm. I foolishly didn't hit my helmet with a coating of clear coat to seal in the paint. Don't make the same mistake I did. It didn't damage the paint, but it did take it a while to clear off the rain properly.

 

 

 

The weapon's not mine, it belongs to the Spartan in the photo with me. I'm not entirely sure what her exact materials are, but I know for a fact the framework for the sniper rifle was build up from a nerf gun of some kind. Possibly a Nerf Recon, not sure. There are definite parts that I can tell are cardboard, like the flash hider at the end of the barrel. It goes to show, you can make a prop weapon for dirt cheap if you're motivated.

 

 

 

 

 

Lucked in on my romantic interest...and photobombed by Tony Stark.

 

 

In the words of this awesome Colonial Marine beside me, "Space Marine then; Space Marine now..." This was just some kind of great irony.

 

 

"Hail to the King, baby."

 

 

 

 

ODST Work In Progress

 

This time around I decided to try out EVA foam for my materials rather than pepakura. DaFrontlineTrooper, otherwise known properly as Andrew Cook, has a lot of helpful tutorials on youtube that have walked undoubtedly dozens of fans through making their own builds. I myself  am almost halfway done with my outfit and even start painting someone of the main components. The work time thus far has only taken me about a week collectively. EVA foam is a lot less labor intensive but takes a bit of patience, sharp knives, and some steady hands. Also, good brand hot glue is a must.

 

Here goes. Sorry I don't have my girlfriend's shiny camera to help out, so my BlackBerry had to do the trick (work with what ya got, right?)

 

 

 

 

I propped it up beside some of the leg and waist plates. Also ,yes, that's a recon helmet. That's a project that I'm not sure is going to be as good as I hope, but I'm figuring out how the visor installation is going to work.

 

 

Not quite happy how the shoulder turned out. I never did like the Halo 3: ODST design, much preferred the smoother Halo 3 variant...

 

 

But it does look cool when put into perspective. Also, that abdomen piece looks like crap so I may or may not replace it since it's the best that I managed of that piece after mutliple attempts. Just remember the words "Screw it; it's good enough."

 

 

And that being said, it just might get the point across. (BTW compression shirts like the one above...really don't leave much to the imagination. Use at your own risk.)

[Connor Kenway]

perhaps you could do a Recon ODST? they exist lol this looks sick man nice job

[Helljumper425]

I might. I plan on handing off the master helmet to my girlfriend once I'm done with figuring out how to make a mother mold. I also played with the idea of helping her make her own build too, so endless options.

[Connor Kenway]

Buck and Dare cosplay? that'd be cool

[D-38 Boss]

Just FYI, the gun the spartan used for the sniper was a Nerf Longshot. A few of the guys from the 501st used them as a base for clone commando weapons.

[Helljumper425]

I wanted to guess the Nerf Recon after seeing someone make a UNSC Army build, but then I remembered he used the Recon for the MA35 assault rifle. Still, really cool. I'm gonna practice customizing a nerf Firestrike into a Mass Effect pistol for my girlfriend's Kasumi Goto cosplay and see how I do with it before moving on to something bigger.

[D-38 Boss]

Yeah, a lot of the newer Nerf guns are ripe for rebuild when it comes to Cosplay.

 

Luckily for me though, there's quite a few companies that make Resin kits for building the blasters from Star Wars. It sucks trying to build from scratch.

[Connor Kenway]

Yeah, a lot of the newer Nerf guns are ripe for rebuild when it comes to Cosplay.

 

Luckily for me though, there's quite a few companies that make Resin kits for building the blasters from Star Wars. It sucks trying to build from scratch.

oh how I want a DC-15

[D-38 Boss]

oh how I want a DC-15

 

Unfortunately, None exist that I know of. Like I said, most of the people I've seen with Commando costumes used Nerf Longshots.

[Connor Kenway]

it sucks that they make everything except the DC-17m ;-;

 

 

 

Edit: I just realize my major mistake I meant the DC-17m lol not the DC-15

[Helljumper425]

I have this feeling that the DC17 would be kinda easy to make, at least as far as the base SMG style blaster goes. Still, would be cool if someone were to make it all interchangeable too. From in-game animations, it looks like swapping out attachments is as easy as a few clicks.

[Ranger Intel]

This is great work! Great to see you back and I'm looking forward to your future work.

[Spartan Nix]

And a month later.... Hello there. I'm the spartan in your pictures. XD
Yes, nerf longshot.

Materials used are Foam, cardboard, and a flashlight in addition to the pvc barrel. 

Material on the costume is foam, and a smoothcast helmet. 

[Helljumper425]

WOW! Small internet world. Sorry we didn't send those pictures to you, my girlfriend's computer crapped out among other complications and I've been beating her over the head to send them. Anyways, the whole ACen album is up on her FB page, but if you still want the high-res photos I can keep cracking the whip (so to speak) https://www.facebook.com/nell.lisabeth/media_set?set=a.10201854830123745.1073741847.1572756576&type=3 .

 

 

 

Update time:

 

Finally put some coats onto the main armor. Tried Satin first...ended up a bit to glossy for my liking.

 

 

But luckily it was paint/primer in one, so I decided upon a flat black.

 

 

Much better.

 

 

In the mean time, the recon project is coming along at its leisure. I took this side by side with a custom design I purchased off etsy ( Luna Armor Works FB https://www.facebook.com/lunaarmorworks - Custom Helmet https://www.etsy.com/listing/195106081/completed-black-modified-halo-recon?ref=related-0  ). Gotta say, it's come pretty far from its base design, but I often prefer creativity and customization over stock.

 

 

 

 

Anyways, I finally applied a base coat to the Recon Helm as well. My girlfriend chose the paint for this one, deciding upon a glossy, Colonial Red...thinking it's a bit too glossy. A dulling agent, clear coat might help, as will the accents when we finally get around to giving it some more detail

 

 

 

[Ranger Intel]

These are looking great. Keep it up Helljumper.

[Helljumper425]

And done with the torso! Now I need to finish the shoulders and shins as far as paint goes. In addition I still need to cut out the gauntlets, the abdominal piece, and the sacral plate. But so far so good. Gave this bad boy some weathering and sealed it all up.

 

[Connor Kenway]

Any ideas on the paint job you'll give it? Like the stripe down the helmet and stuff

[Spartan Nix]

ODST looking good! I managed to grab some of the pics from the album you shared. 
If you ever need to troubleshoot or bounce some ideas off someone I'm happy to try and help.

 

[Helljumper425]

Any ideas on the paint job you'll give it? Like the stripe down the helmet and stuff

I'm going to give it the stock ODST look really. I ordered a helmet from a guy on etsy and told him to give it the "off the assembly line" look, so no weathering, no scuffs. This set of armor probably won't have anything other than the simple wear that I have on it now. Some of the shins might have some battle damage to cover up some stuff ups I made while dremeling some rough edges off.

 

But other than that, it's going to be all black. Except for the shoulders, they're getting that white accents from the Halo 3 version of the ODSTs. I also scuffed the paint off a bit to make them look worn. I'll likely make another set, as this one is rather amateur. Then I'll toy with some paint schemes.

 

ODST looking good! I managed to grab some of the pics from the album you shared. 

If you ever need to troubleshoot or bounce some ideas off someone I'm happy to try and help.

 

 

 

Thanks for following! All of the pics from ACen are on my girlfriend's album. Sadly we didn't get as many pics this year as we did others. I'll let you know if I got anything in mind. Right now I'm just thinking of a replacement for hot glue, but other than that I can't think of much else.

[D-38 Boss]

Looking good so far. Can't wait to see the finished product.

[Helljumper425]

Quick little update. Please excuse the less than stellar quality of the photo (I still used a Blackberry...). I wanted to capture the Halo 3 style ODST shoulders as my attempts at the H3: ODST/Halo Reach shoulders ended up in partial failure. I'll retry eventually, but I was never really fond of the newer look, as cool as they are. Too edgy, I kinda like the smoother look.

 

I used white acrylic after masking out the pattern on the pieces. When I removed it, it seemed to contrast the black base coat way too much, which wouldn't be a problem for a factory issued look, but I had already applied weathering to the main torso. So to give it that used look, I took a sanding tool to the accents to give it a nice, messy, scuffed look, then masked it off again for a second coat of spray paint. I've learned a lot from working with foam and certain paints as of late, so this will likely be a method that I'll probably only use once unless I really have to.

 

[Spartan Nix]

I still use hot glue for my work. Some people are using contact cement and the black rubber glue. 

My issue with those things is that once its on, there's no going back on that piece. Hot glue can be softened and fixed.

[Helljumper425]

My gripe about hot glue thus far is that when I test out some pieces in the heat, they can tend to come apart real easily unless you later it on heavy. I might start using rubber cement or some form of super glue. Practicing with pepakura has given me some pretty steady hands with pieces.

 

On that note, most of the gear is complete, though I'm struggling ober putting straps on a few pieces. The shoulders are gonna be giving me some trouble if I don't velcro them in, but so far it's looking good. I also finally received a helmet I've been long awaiting. I've got my own personal gripes about it only because I've waited so long to get it, but even though I'm starting to make a new helmet myself, I've started to make peace with it.

 

And I have to say, at a glance, I'm not sure anyone's gonna notice.

 

 

 

 

The size of the helmet is my biggest gripe, so to bridge the gap over my neck, I input a little detail that is signature to some of my favorite OCs; the shemagh. I didn't know what to expect out of the look, but I like the wastelander look to it.

 

Also, I've deviated away from the use of the compression shirt. I'm not really confident in its look, as it shrinks me down and makes the armor stand out more. If you've ever switched your Halo: Reach character model to female, you'd know what I mean when I say the armor is too bulky for the body. With that said, I tried out one of my rapid assault BDUs and found it to meld very neatly, adding a bit of size and texture to the sleeves unlike the smooth compression wear.

[D-38 Boss]

Ah, the shemagh.... nothing says "I'm an operator/the protagonist" Quite like it.

 

 

Looks good, though.

[Ranger Intel]

Liking the ODST suit. Nice.