KevZone's Master Chief ::: Spartan Mk VI Armor Status Back to the KevZone

			Welcome to my Halo Mk VI Spartan armor status update page. I'll be using this page to track the status of my armor build for my Master Chief costume from Halo 3. I started this project in April of 2013 and my original objective was to have the complete costume finished and ready to wear at Mid South Con 32 in March of 2014. Unfortunately due to me spending all of my spare time in 2013 playing in a rock band, I didn't achieve that objective. Now that I've missed the window for Mid South Con 32, my new objective is Halloween 2014! My new target to complete the build of my Spartan Mk VI is October 31, 2014 and to wear it to work at IP for the Halloween costume contest! Of course, I'd love to get it done earlier than that, but with a wedding this summer, I think Halloween is a reasonable goal. This is what I hope to recreate in this costume build:

	= = = = = = = = = = The Build Blog = = = = = = = = = = March 2014 UPDATE: After getting kickstarted back into the pepakura in February, I made a fateful decision... I'm stopping work on the Spartain Mark VI and going to build the Master Chief costume from the "Forward Unto Dawn" mini series instead. What does that mean you ask? Well, all of the work I've done on my costume to date is all for naught. I won't be able to use any of the armor pieces I already created on the new version of Master Chief. So, if you want to see the status of my CURRENT build of the Forward Unto Dawn Master Chief, then go HERE February 20, 2014: I added two coats of Rondo to the left shin and also finished scoring the print outs for the right shin. February 19, 2014: I scaled and printed out the pepakura files for the right shin. I did the left one so long ago that I had to measure it and apply the scale factor to the right one before I could print it. February 18, 2014: I scaled and printed out the pepakura for the new helmet and started scoring the fold lines. February 17, 2014: Unfortunately after adding the Rondo to the helmet, I've decided that it is just too big AND I used the wrong pepakura file. Instead of using the Robogenesis file, I should have started out with the Flying Squirrel High Definition file. The Robogenesis just doesn't have the level of detail I want so guess what...I'm starting over on the helmet! One bit of good news, my paintball gloves came in today. February 16, 2014: Well after a NINE MONTH LAYOFF, I decided to get back to work on Master Chief. I added two coats of Rondo to the inside of the helmet and also completed the hardening of the hand plates with Rondo and Bondo. This was my first attempt at adding Rondo to the resined pepakura parts and it went really great. I was surprised how quickly it went and it was relatively easy to do. Although I've already bought some material for fiberglassing, I'll probably stick to just the Rondo method because it is so easy and fast to do. Editorial Comment: After the Cancun vacation, I spent all my spare time focused on the band. A nine month period passed where I did absolutely NO WORK ON THIS COSTUME AT ALL!!! May 2, 2013: We're flying to Cancun tomorrow for a week of vacation so the Master Chief project will take a week off. I did pick up some fiberglass cloth this week so once I get back from vacation I'll be ready to start "glassing" the parts that are already in resin. April 28, 2013: I put a coat of resin on the left shin armor so that piece is progressing. Printed out the left thigh and started scoring it but my fingers are sore from scoring, cutting and pepping so I'll probably take a couple of days off from this project. April 27, 2013: Today's effort was a total waste of time. I pepped out the left thigh armor only to find out it wasn't scaled correctly and I had to throw away about 3 or 4 hours worth of work. Bummer! April 22, 2013: I put a coat of fiberglass resin on the inside of my Mk VI helmet and also resined the hand plates. I printed out the left shin and started pepping it out. Still waiting on my motocross armor before starting on the torso. April 21, 2013: This weekend I put the first coat of fiberglass resin on my Mk VI helmet and it turned out really good. (I'll post photos when I get a chance.) I need to put a coat on the inside and once it fully cures, I'll be ready to move on to the fiberglassing stage for that piece. I also pepped out both of the scaled down hand plates. I'll probably resin them while I'm finishing the inside of the helmet sometime this week. Alyssa, Ricky and Kenny also worked on pepping out some armor parts so the group is making a little progress. Me and Ricky also both bought our motocross armor online so once that gets here, we'll be able to crank the torso building into high gear. April 17, 2013: I pepped out one of the hand plates for my Spartan Mk VI armor and it ended up being WAY TOO BIG, so now I get to scale it and start all over. Ah, the joys of building pepakura armor! Next time I'll try to measure and scale before printing and building to see if I can get a little closer to the right scale without having to build the prototype part first. April 14, 2013: Stayed up late and finished pepping the Mk VI Spartan helmet for my Master Chief costume. I'll take some photos soon but it turned out better than I originally thought it would. During the pepakura process I was a little worried because it was so flimsy, but now that it is all together, it is stronger than I feared it would be. Building armor parts out of card stock is a new experience for me so I'm learning a lot as I go. Next up, I'll be adding a coat of resin to stiffen the cardstock and then on to fiberglassing the helmet. March 27, 2013: Ok, you know I'm all about the Star Wars costumes and being a member of the 501st Legion but this year after going to Mid South Con I came home with a brand new plan for a costume project this year....MASTER CHIEF from Halo! I've started researching it and once I told the family about it, Alyssa and Ricky (Alyssa's boyfriend) immediately wanted to join in and build a set of Spartan armor to wear to MSC next year. I even talked Diane into agreeing to go in costume. Looks like I'll be pretty busy this year learning pepakura and building Spartan armor!