Busy, busy, busy.

It's been much too long since I last wrote here, so there's a lot of catching up to do. I've had projects and events ranging from the normal convention photoshoots to professional sets and filming to class projects. Let's start off six months way back in June.

The 405th Pacific Regiment was invited out to filming for the crowd-funded web series "Con Man."
Considering it was an hour drive out to Long Beach Convention Center and I had nothing going on I signed right up for it. Originally I only planned on being out there for one day, but they had two more days of shooting for convention scenes and they wanted me and any other Spartan out there those days as well (unfortunately I was the only one who's schedule allowed them to make it).

This past week I finally sat down  and watched the series and I was really entertained. Of course I spent the whole time watching for where I might end up as an extra.

I squeak by in the background here:
 

And later in the episode get a little more forward:



A couple episodes before that though, I'm pretty hard to not notice:



When Wray Nerely first steps onto the con floor, there I am, excited to see him:



Within the show, one scene consists of a cosplay contest, and there I have my 5 seconds of fame (although 1 second is closer to how long I'm actually on screen):



In the beginning of October, Warp Zone needed some Spartan armor for and me being the guy with the flexible schedule meant I was the Prop Master assigned to the shoot to watch over everyone's armor and make repairs on the fly. Getting there was no problem, everything fit in my car but I didn't consider the fact I would need to take an additional two suits back to Ben's place with me.




Driving through LA with zero peripheral vision was a terrifying experience. At least with the usual LA traffic it was slow enough for me to spend a lot of time checking if I could change lanes.







It was a lot of fun being part of the shoot and being on set again. Warp Zone did a great job adding the VFX to bring the shoot to life. The weirdest part of seeing the finished project and being on set dressing everyone up was that the guy in Ben's suit moved just like Ben, so much so that I kept thinking it was him in the suit.

The Halo 5 Dance Battle in all its glory and the Behind the Scenes that goes with it.



And then of course, the Halo 5 launch. The Microsoft Store at the Mission Viejo Mall wanted some props to display in the case. With most of the props coming from Jose of Armory Props and three helmets of mine on display, the display case was fully stocked and ready for release night. ASTRO Gaming donated four headsets to giveaway to anyone that preordered the game...



and Jose and I won two of them. Totally by accident, but we were really stunned at that and embarrassed at how bad it looked that the two guys in armor won. The other two headsets went to a couple kids so that definitely alleviated our nerves.



In the very beginning of November, the 405th was representing at Bakersfield Extra Life. We walked around, took photos with attendees, played a little Rockband and participated in a photoshoot out front with some 501st members. This year the Bakersfield team again passed their goal in donations.



Funhaus did another Dude Soup Live in LA and I wanted to give the group a Funhaus themed Warmaster helmet. Well, it was apparently a great gift considering it was the main prop for their masterfully crafted (and plenty ridiculous) "Master Chief Loves Princess Leia"



The 405th Pacific Regiment 2016 Calendar featured many Spartans in various styles and poses. I went for the sillier beach photos, playing some volleyball and taking part in Sexy Spartan Saturday.





My final project for my casting class doubled as a test for my new fingerplates which turned out pretty well.



Testing out some new casting resin and dyes has been a messy process today, but it went pretty well. I'm still learning the techniques I need to get these to come out bubble free and the right shade of gray.



And to be a little more careful and precise when measuring the two parts. I may have accidentally created a foam with this.





And finally, the commission I've been working on for a client is coming along smoothly. I'm really excited to be back out in the garage working with bondo and smoothing and sanding it all out. It's oddly cathartic just sitting out there and working.





Hey, you made it! The end of my post. Now all I've gotta do is write a little more regularly and take pictures as frequently too.

Building Your Marine Kit

So you've decided on dressing as a Marine and purchased one of my kits, or you just want to see what goes into assembling a set. First off, congratulations and thank you! I'll be updating this as I work on better ways to put this all together.  Let's go through how to turn this:



Into this:


For a full walkthrough of my build process, keep reading.

Vacuum Forming on a Budget

For an average cosplayer and costumer, shelling out a couple thousand dollars for a vacuum former just isn't feasible. Making one out of some pegboard and 2 by 4s works and I've done so in the past:

The problem with that though, is I'm limited to what I can fit in my oven and even if I can, it's preferable not to have your food taste like plastic. Through some Google-fu I found tk560.com. He set up a table top vacuum former and heavily documented his build process here. 

My build process isn't nearly as in-depth but some of the pictures I took are pretty.

The machine in all its glory:

Want to know what happens when you underestimate the power of homemade circuitry? Keep reading, I was in for a jolt!

Halo: Reach Helmets, San Diego Comic Con 2012, "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him well"

In Halo: Reach, armor parts can be swapped in and out, mix and matched, and I had some free time on my hands. I looked through the dozens of potential helmets and decided which were my favorites: Commando (the one seen in previous pictures, Mark V (A), EOD, and Haunted. With this selection, I was picking a little from different eras of Halo. Mark V (A) is based on the original Master Chief helmet, EOD has been modified and carried over from Halo 3, and Haunted debuted in Halo: Reach.



Haunted was definitely going to be the most challenging piece I would have made up to this point. The visor couldn't be easily made with a motorcycle visor, I would need to vacuu-form one to match the bubble shape of this helmet. Then there's the problem that although I have a skull, it's also covered in flesh, so I'd have to find a way to replicate the skull-in-a-helmet effect.

Did I lose my skin for the sake of a costume? Keep reading to find out! (Spoiler alert, I didn't)

Halo: Reach Spartan Updated, Halloween 2011, Chest, Knives, and Lights

Around the September following Comic Con, I felt prepped for the upcoming Halloween. And then V4 of the torso was released. Welp. Considering the one I already had may have been ever so slightly too small to math the rest of me and lacking small details here and there, it was already time for an update.

Here you can see some of the differences between the two chest pieces, notably the detail on the ribs and the ridges between where the armor would snap together.





To read on the rest of the modifications I made, you'll have to keep reading.

Halo: Reach Spartan, San Diego Comic Con 2011, The First Big Con

It was decided, my family and I would be going to Comic Con. My ODST from the year before wouldn't cut it; the armor itself wasn't accurate to the character, the colors were off, if was hastily strapped together, and quite literally rough around the edges. With Halo: Reach having just come out, everyone within the Halo costuming community was hopping aboard the Spartan III train. At the time I was unsure whether to go for a main character or a character of my own.


I started off with the biceps and with a number of different models floating around, I did my best to pick the most accurate and start from there, the chest piece was released about a week before I started making it and at that point was the modeler's V3. It proved to be the most difficult piece I had put together yet with the most detail I'd seen and more complex curves than anything before but I plowed through it and finished with a very nice looking chest piece.





To see more paper turned armor, read on.

Transformable Transformer, Halloween 2007, The One That Started it All

At the time, my Halloween costumes were usually store bought and relatively simple, although my first five Halloween costumes were homemade by my mother. When I thought of what I had been the year before, an army man consisting of camo patterned long sleeves and cargo pants, I wanted to be something better but nothing on the shelves were worth buying. Transformers had just come out the Summer before, and that's when it clicked for me. I didn't need to buy costumes, I was completely capable of making it (with the help of my dad). I didn't have the time nor any idea how to make it more complex, so I went with a simple shell design to keep it all together (even now I'm trying to think of how I could make it better).



Putting this together is simpler than it looks, to see how I did it, keep reading.