Overall Design and Construction

All the armor pieces followed the same core construction method. This was my first armor set before I got into 3D printing, so the armor was constructed by hand by shaping thermoplastic (Sintra) around a base form.

First, the game model was acquired and imported into Blender. The individual armor pieces were pieced out and cleaned up to create solid forms. They were then resized to fit my body while maintaining the core proportions that make the armor iconic, notably the bulky shoulders and chest. Each of these pieces were then exported into Pepakura, which generated a flat pattern from the polygons. These were then printed on cardstock and reassembled into low-poly armor. Once the fit was confirmed, these armor pieces were all solidified with a fiberglass coating. To smoothen the curves, a layer of Bondo body filler was coated over the pieces, then sanded down to create smooth curves. These pieces are the mold forms.

The molds were subdivided into simple-curve sections (the thermoplastic can’t stretch to match complex curvature). These were transferred onto tracing paper, which were then transferred to sheets of Sintra plastic (expanded closed-cell PVC). These were cut out and thermoformed to the contour of the molds, then reassembled with cyanoacrylate glue which forms a chemical weld with PVC. Reinforcement strips were added underneath the seams. Seam gaps, corners, and edges were filled with Apoxie Sculpt then sanded down to be sharp and clean.

Rigging, electronics, and acrylic diffusion panels were installed before paint.

Rigging and Connectivity

Many of the armor pieces were solid single pieces that didn’t require special rigging or separation. The biceps, forearm, lower legs, and shoes are all single pieces that either hold themselves in place or are attached to the spandex undersuit with velcro. The rest are detailed below.

Pauldrons

The huge, bulky shoulders sit far away from my actual shoulders, and had to be supported in a way that articulated with arm movement. Ball joint speaker mounts were installed onto the collar area of the upper chest piece, and the corresponding locking piece was installed onto panels on the inside of the shoulders. The shoulders then slide into place on the mount and rest on support material that contour to my shoulders. With this setup, the shoulders bend and turn exactly as my shoulders do.

Chest Armor

The chest armor was subdivided into three pieces - red upper chest, yellow ribcage, and yellow upper abdominal plates. They are held together with neodymium magnets on extended portions on the inside. The chest includes the mounts for the pauldrons, but on requires additional no rigging for itself since the collar part can use my body as support.

Thigh Armor

The thighs are an inverted cone shape and needed to be suspended or they easily fall. They are buckled to a climbing harness worn underneath. The orange top plate was built separately from the yellow inner plate, since in the source the yellow portions seems to sit underneath the orange and this also makes for more straightforward painting (no need to mask). They are aligned with neodymium magnets and reinforced with velcro strapping.

Abdominal Plates

The abdominal plates around the torso are all separate pieces that attach to velcro on the spandex undersuit. There is enough spacing left between the plates to allow for free movement of the torso and give the illusion of a fully articulated core armor.

Gloves

Similar to the abdominal plates, the fingers and hand pieces are all small individual plates that are affixed to a black glove base. There is enough spacing to allow free movement of the hand.

Finishing and Painting

After pieces were filled and sanded to precise edges and smooth curves, they were smoothened up to 400 grit.

After priming, they were painted with Duplicolor Metalcast rattle cans, first using the Ground Coat to metallize the surface, followed by the correct candy tint (red, orange, yellow, or green). These paints cure to a hard, glossy, durable surface and no clear coat was required.

The bare-metal accents on the leg rings and inside the grooves of the pauldrons were painted with Rustoleum Hammered Metal paint.

Matte-black lines were hand painted on the grooves on the chest, helmet, pauldrons, legs, and arm cannon