Well after 3 changes of models, with the first two half papered, it's time I dump some progress pics and ignore the old thread.

Obviously I'm using the models I unfolded [Thx Shaz for the models] and really all of those details are in the thread of that name. Since my fellow Aussie beat me to the progress pics, I thought I'd show what I've done.

Shows the gaping hole in the chest for the arms for added mobility.


Here's some pics of the chest & shoulders showing scale etc. Note that the feet 'should' be raised up another 4" or so. I've resin'd about half of the pieces but ran out of supplies, I even threw some epoxy and glass at the inside of the chest.

That's it for now, still got a few pieces to build in terms of paper, LOTS more to do, resin, glass etc.

Nice work! Well done!

Keep on rocking!

MATE !! That is EPIC......Awesome job so far bro.

When I finished pep'ing the chest, I sat back and thought "how the hell am I going to wear this?!? "...But your pics have eased my concern.

Well done Sir, I tip my hat to you.





Ps....I still can't believe this is your 3rd suit. :lol:

3rd 'start' :) I have friken parts of models all over my bedroom and shed still..

Yah, I have a pretty good idea on what to do to get it wearable.

Diapers - Braces TK style. May have to make 2 piece for putting on costume
Thighs - Garter, to a belt, much like orignal TKs
Greaves - Possibly bed-foam holding to calf / webbing connecting to thigh [which connects to belt] or combo
Boots - 3-4" riser built with light timber, with shoe on top, moveable or angled toe for mobility. Glass up after support and base built, expand foam fill.
Bicept - attached to shoulder / inner bed-foam or combo of
Forearm - Inner bed-foam
Gloves - Ice hockey gloves possibly with back of hand plate
Backpack - Mounted [wing nuts] to chest
Chest - Inner harness and clips to help offset backpack weight

Gaps/abs - custom ribbed / boned / padded, snaps/velcro holding. Somewhat unknown.

Putting it on ....
1. Diapers, attach to braces
2. Thighs, attach to belt which is attached to braces
3. Sit down, greaves, slip into boots [this will be tricky!]
4. Chest-Shoulders-backpack. Get into and attach webbing snaps. attach 'abs'
5. Biceps
6. Forearms
7. Gloves
8. Helm


it's actually really easy to get on and off, much better than a TK ;)

Fellow Aussie?
Who's the thrid?

I like!! Looks excellent..

If it's possible, i know I took on my mandalorian shins and on a friend's RC and helped attach horizontal bands of elastic one above and one below the calf muscle. We never needed anything else to help keep it in place. And the suckers never moved.

I think the more I look at these, the more I'm warming up to having MK VI greaves. No knees sounds so much easier.

Tango: Ahh.. I meant, 3rd start of doing this project. the first was using the 'blood angels' model, second Vrogy's and finally this one.

Erus: I'm planning on attacking my knee to the greave and thanks for the tip, that might work. The main thing is the greaves will weight a few KGs at least so, not sure if I can get that to 'stay' but indeed, my Vader uses a couple of straps to hold it on, so might work here too, like the idea.

No, you said something about a fellow Aussie beating you to progress pics and I was wondering who else here was from our humble island.

Tango: There's a few of us :) Kol's racing me and from Queensland and I've got another friend Mark, who's local to me [and good mate] who's here in Vic. There's more on the forums, but they're the two who are doing SM's that I know of. Where ya from mate?

WA
I forgot about Felix earlier, he's here in WA too
It's nice to see a decent number of Australians actively posting

you look big and mean but isn't the legs a bit to big ? you will need to go like a cowboy ^^

That looks great. The scale for the stuff you are wearing looks good. YOu should try get some pics with the legs, and we can see if they look right.

he'll be putting risers in the boots to gain i think between 4"-6"

(i'm in brisvegas) :P

Yah, the risers in the foot are for 3-4" [said it about a zillion times in the SM game unfolds thread... , I tested it before it went to resin to make sure, heck I tested and TESTED bits out and tried to find solutions and I'm pretty certain about most parts. Obviously there might be problems, nobodies taken this model all the way.

In terms of the legs being too big/cowboy like, ha... indeed... but that's the way they are in the tabletop, images, video games... If the model is right, they will have calves [Greaves] that are too long. "I" know that with a riser in the boot they will be fine but I can't show you guys and can only give an approximate measure because the greave has a big dish of paper in the bottom that I want to leave in till they are firmed up properly with resin. Don't worry, pics will head this way soon enough, it's a priority of mine to check the fitting and figure out how to be mobile in them.

The main problem I see is the diapers, really not happy with them as is, they're huge, didn't hold their shape well [no support] and they are 3 parts all of which don't fit properly. I do have a resin'd Vrogy's diapers that fit me pretty good as backup so, we'll see.

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Screw ups.. love em, all about learning right *cough*
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I stupidly did some resinin' in my tiny shed [drips of resin everywhere yaaaah] .. also tried short chopped strans on the outside of a bicep... started out great, went on smoothish.. but soon turned crap as the strands separated in the resin...thinking it'll go into the bin, looks like a little glass fibre porcupine, ie a mess, ... powdered aluminum and resin, heavier than normal, you are supposed to be able to polish it, but frankly for what I wanted to use it for, thinking I'll find an alternative. When I was putting down the resin, the wind found it fun to throw bits of armor into the garden and grass, much to my horror. Some bits of grass will forever remain in one greave. Joy joy. PVC laminated to foam [foamcore] de-laminated with only a bit of stress, was going to be my bolter, that's going to the bin. Oh and NEVER to forget the 2 previous starts on different models, some with resin, only to restart with the newer model ...

Hey mate,

Any up-dates and pics on the "jocks" ?

It sounds like you weren't happy and were having trouble with them. What were the problems so I know what I'm in for when I get to them.

I also noticed you put up a second Diapers file, what's the difference between the two you have un-folded ?

Yah, I figured out how to edit in 3D and have remade the jocks/diapers* so they are all one piece, it's a MUCH better version. Pretty sure that second pair are 850's but I personally scaled it at 770 for a much closer fit for me, but I can still get into them without having to split them. Besides having narrower hips will make the shoulders look even more beefy haha

I have been holding back announcing one way or another till I have had a chance to try them on with the other parts, and make sure I don't have to modify it further for wearing it. In paper it seemed to work great, but I do like to make sure of things. It also has a much narrower gap between the legs than standard, to allow better mobility but retains the look front and rear. .

in terms of the rest of the project, most things are now fully glassed, still a few odds and ends which I'll hopefully nail tomorrow [day off] though I've got some parts to make-remake.

I can take a pic but it's a bit of a mess, this being my 2nd adventure into fibreglassing, Will be better in a few days after I trim off the excess and give it a rough sand.


A few more days and I'll start putting this sucker together. Not building a helmet just yet, figure I'll do it after I get the rest done. Only got about a month *laughs* Of course the outer coat and the sanding will probably take a couple of eons, so..





*homage to Vrogy's naming of them :)

Did a fair bit of trimming and sanding, not much to show par-say, though a lot of necessary work making many pieces ready for the outer mud/rondo. Still have a bit of glassing to do, does feel like I'll never get there ha. In case anyone cares, 'mostly' used 600gs/m chopped strand mat. Found it much better than using two layers of lighter material, saving time and the end result is rather solid. Totally recommend going that way. I also had no end of trouble doing the inner corners and ended up using loose chopped strand a fair bit, might be my inexperience with glass, but tight angles were a pain.

Test of leg position, using 3" of riser in the boot. The knees dead center. Not sure if I need to bump it up a little to allow foot movement yet. Note the cuts in the chest allowing greater arm movement. The chest will sit a little higher when properly positioned.




Thinking that I want to go with a movable toe, which will help walking.
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To make - backpack, bolter, helmet, left bicep, elbow, knee
@ full glassing - elbow, bicep
@ partial glassing - both feet, r greave, diaper
@ rondo - Knee, l greave, chest, shoulders, forearms, neck, thighs

Looking awesome! Well done indeed!

She's gettin' there mate..

What do you mean by chopped strand mat ?

And have you mixed a tint into your resin for it to be black ?

The cut outs for the chest don't stand out to much but I can see you have better movement. Nice!

Yah, tinted some of the resin black, trying it out for the 'Rondo'. What I've been doing is using resin and just mixing up my own thickness with binder. The black area you see is just that, some talc and black tint.

Chopped strand mat

.. the most common used, but I used to use the woven mat which is a little stronger/weight but doesn't slip into corners as well.

Used a fair bit of resin so far, rough guess 12Ltrs

Ahhh ok thanks for the picture it make more sense to me now, I was picturing loose fibre strands and wondering how you used it.

Ok going to hit you up with a few questions.

The bottom of the "feet" did you pep 'em and fibreglass them or have you cut out the sole ? In the pic it looks like there's no sole.

The black pieces in the pics have these already got a coat of "bog" on the outside ? If so could you please explain what you used and how to use it. You said you used talc ? Please explain. :)

Sorry for being such a noob on this but the only thing I know about fibreglass is that my boat is made out of it. :blink:

Looking nice, and coming together rather quickly. Good job.

Kol: Meh, I was a total newb too before, and love questions, so ask as many as ya like :P

Right, well originally I cut out the soles, but after seeing another example here, thought it much better to just fibreglass them over. What I'm going to do is to stick building-wall-foam [foamtastic or blue-foam] inside to raise it up [thats what I did in the pictures] inside to get the lift and glass over that. A surfboard's made much the same way. Then attach a shoe on top.


Oh and I'm using the foam to make a big chunk of the backpack since it has so many flat surfaces for strength, lightness and rigidity.

The bolter will inevitably be done the same way.

I used resin .. and added talc and black tint. 'Bog' as we call it here in Oz, or bondo/car filler is just talc and resin anyhow. If you do your own, it works out to be a bit cheaper, you can mix the consistency you want and I don't get yucky pink scratches if you inevitably damage it. I mixed it in a left over resin tin. I also tried some aluminum powder, apparently you can buff it to a metallic look, but I didn't think much of the results and it made the part quite heavy, so black's the next best. One of the forearms is still noticeably heavier through this idea ha.

Cool bro. B)

Here's a quick one...Resin,talc and tint are these a "Bunnings" purchase or do I need to get these from a fibreglass supplier ?

Supercheap Auto is good for resin, as are better similar auto stores

Meh. I'd rather work with 3M exclusively. I find it agrees with Florida heat and humidity more while curing. :rolleyes:

Personally I'd get it from a proper supplier, though didn't look at supercheap admittedly. Barnes is ok priced, found them a little cheaper for most things, they have one in briz but check em.

Approx prices here in Oz
4kg resin [laminating or General purpose] - $55
20kg resin - $150-160 - well worth it, I decant into the smaller can for ease
catalyst - $8 for 100mls [handy size for working], $23 for 500mls
Glass 660gsm chopped mat - $6.60/m [barnes] or saw it for $34 for 10m.. I think I used about 6 or so, bit hard to tell had a crap load of thinner stuff I used up?
tint - 100mls - $14 {I think]
talc - ?
Acetone 4L - $26

I used cheapo yellow kitchen gloves for the glassing with another latex glove on the inside in case I tore it. The glass makes a mess of EVERYTHING and I make up my own brushes out of a little bit of ABS and some dishcloth hot glued on the end, and a bit of tape for good measure. Out lasted and out performed cheapo brushes, will provide a pic sometime. Used it as a stirrer and as the brush. Mostly just poured and dabbed areas or spread it out with it, once I got going. [ie knew what I was doing]

Good idea to 'wet' the area you want to put the glass on [I often just poured some onto the area and tilted it to cover the area. Big areas a proper glassing roller is good [chuck in half bucket of acetone after done!!] with glassing think as little resin as possible, the glass is the strength. It should be 'wet' but try to avoid too much resin sitting on top. [inevitable in some areas] The hard part was the recesses.

I reused the cup and brush until I went on a break, so you get a good number of uses out of them [saves the bucks] basically worked out how much liquid a cheapy cup would hold to a point on the cup and then filled up to that size over and over. At first I used about 80mls.. then I went to 140mls and now I do about 240mls at a time as I got quicker. On a hot day it gels much quicker, watch out for it. Keep a pair of scissors handy for cutting the glass mat to size. Throw into the acetone bucket [make sure it covers as it evaporates quickly] to clean off the resin and glass.

Keep a dishcloth and some fresh acetone handy for cleaning yourself. Wear a respirator, resin's no good for you and you will spend many hours in front of it doing this.

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Bolted the toe to the boot. I did glass over the gap.


Using foam [25mm building foam] to build some of the backpack. Testing the expandable foam as an adhesive...

Seconding Barnes, they're just down the road from me here and I get all my moulding/casting materials from them.

Nice work so far Shiney. No stilts?

Yah, popped in there today for hopefully the last bit of glass ;)

No stilt, risers inside made of foam, will glass over it and embed some webbing for attaching shoes. Planning to put a surround in to help keep the shoe in place as well. attached the toe to the boot.


Backpack in foam, stuck some more together


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To make - backpack, bolter, helmet, left bicep, elbow, knee, abs, knee & elbow joints.
@ rondo - both feet, both greaves, diaper, elbow, bicep, Knee, chest, shoulders, forearms, neck, thighs.

Looking good!

Looking at your build I am starting to see what you mean by my chest is too small :( . I think one of those breathing masks would have been a good idea for last night when I was resin coating mine (still feeling a bit... dizy and sick :unsure: ). I hope one day to be able to build these in spare time with the skill you all have. Great Job thought, extremely impressed.

Safety-safety. Respirators are essential bud. I do all of my work outside and still use one for the whole time I have resin out. For that matter even more essential to have a dust filter for when you do sanding-cutting, fibreglass dust is NOT good for you. You can get 1 respirator and change the filters depending on what you're doing, though I have one for each. Besides the health reasons it's nice to do the work and not be coughing up chemical flavors and dust :)

Skill. You have the skills, I've seen your pepin, looked good to me. It doesn't have to be 'perfect' anyhow, just means more sanding and filling later. I've got a couple of areas that the wetness of the resin and changed position and some troublesome areas like all the folds in the shoulders, so, hardly perfect. Fibreglassing is a necessary messy experience that is well worth reading up on, but it's pretty easy to do, imagine putting fabric onto honey. I'm hardly an expert, you'll do great.

Chest size... well... it depends on what you have in mind. I'm going [eventually] towards reproducing like what is in the game, ridiculously large chest, shoulders etc and all the test fittings [to which I've done plenty ha] suggest that'll fit me pretty well in all areas, provided I raise the feet 3-4" and cut into the chest which you can see in the previous post. Djinns' got quite a respectable costume that's got a much narrower chest so, it's possible. Your larger shoulder bells made it look much better btw. I suggest just not being afraid on redoing stuff, this is my 3rd start at doing a Spacemarine costume ha hah. Making measurements help a ton with scaling btw, happy to help you out where I can.

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Won't be doing much for the next 11 days, got 12+ hr days.. :(

I've done a few small things whilst I'm flat out with work, but here's some shots with a 3" lift in the shoes [used foam]. Looks pretty good at first glance, though need someone to take my shots to be sure. Bit worried that the diapers might not work with the legs as is, because they are sized smaller at 770. The upside is that they fit great around the waist for me, naturally sitting in the right place. Having said that, I've made up a harness that will support it as well as providing points to affix other parts, such as the chest and thighs.

I feel that the calves and greaves out to be joined with some webbing on the 'sides' of the knee, providing weight support to the hips [thighs supported by a belt attached to the harness] and to keep them aligned yet still able to bend.

I'll get back to putting it together properly when I have the time off in a week. Then I'll look at smoothing and painting.

Nice! Coming right along!

Ha, always guaranteed to get your encouragement Daeouse ;)

Not that it necessarily looks it, as soon as I get some time I'll be putting all of the bits together and getting it wearable!

Nice legs. The armour looks good too.
I'm interested to see how you web it all together.

Really busy with work atm, but have done a little despite very long days. Here's the harness system I made. It has a large webbing 'buckle' at the waist [hidden to a point] and one at chest height with adjustments throughout. I might need to add elastic, but will see when it's all together. The girlfriend enjoyed laughing at me in my gear ;)


You can see where it fixes to the harness here. I've got 4 locating points for the 'diaper'


These are scaled to 770 so that they fit my waist properly and I'm using a modified 3D model, which has a narrower join between the legs and all in one piece instead of the 3 pieces that intersect [and therefore are unusable with each other]. Not entirely sure that they will work with the legs yet, will only know when I stitch it all together, hopefully in a couple of days!

That looks like a pretty sturdy system. Good job.