So, some of you may have not seen this before (though I would imagine it's just anyone new, since this thread did have a bazillion posts in it), and I've got just a couple more pics to add to it.
My sister's high school had their homecoming football game last night, and I went as Master Chief. It was super hero night, and she was bummed that she didn't have anything to dress up as, so I figured that I would just go as a dry run for next friday (big costume contest).
The top comments for the night were
1: obviously "can I/we take a picture with you?"
2: Will it hurt you if I punch you?
3: Will it hurt if you punch me?
4: How much did that cost?
5: You didn't really build that
6: how long did it take to make that?
I only had one kid that was a jerk and tried to punch the chestplate as hard as he could. I think he almost crapped himself when I grabbed his forearm in mid punch to stop him. I was surprised I was fast enough in the suit, but I didn't have any more problems from him the rest of the night. He walked away rubbing his forearm with a look of disbelief on his face.
I handed my dad the camera, and it wasn't until the end when I asked that he told me he hadn't taken any pictures. :-\ but, I made him snap a few so I could see how everything was fitting.
This was a very successful test run. It's the first time I've worn the suit out since I started p90x in january or february (can't remember). I only mention that because this is a suit of armor that was built to fit me when I was a 44" chest, 40" waist, 210lbs, and 5'10". well, I didn't grow any, but I'm now a 42.5" chest, 31" waist, and weighing in at 171lbs, so nothing fits the same on the suit. This run showed me that I'm going to have to add lots of straps to hold everything up and in place if I'm going to be walking around an 18+ club for the costume contest this friday. I do have a "bouncer" going with me to help keep the stupid people at bay, but it's always a risk going out in the suit. The ignorance of 75% of the people that approach me is incredible.
From the run, I came up with a list of things that were going wrong.
1: The shoulders kept falling backwards every time I lifted my arm and the straps lost tension
2: the shin pieces will not stay up by themselves no matter how tight the strap that goes around the back of my knee is. they slide down with any amount of walking
3: My thigh suspenders would slide away from my neck every time I'd walk or bend down slightly.
4: The right boot was giving me a chafe of epic proportions
5: the helmet lights need to have a hidden switch that is accessible to my gloved hands on the outside of the helmet
6: The boot top covers need to have some kind of locking mechanism that keeps them in place when I walk. Velcro was okay for 2:00AM on halo 4 release day, but it's not good enough long term
7: The li-ion cell in the backpack didn't take a charge, so it probably needs replaced.
If you really look back through this thread, you'll see that I had originally planned to use a pressure suit under the armor. that would serve as both the anchor point that doesn't move and the visible sections between armor plates. That pressure suit wound up not fitting me with the suit, so I just used plain under armor. Well, after last night's run, I realized the shoulders on the suit were going to be a huge problem no matter how I strapped them (even like pauldrons, they would still rotate front to back if I lifted my arms). Then it hit me, maybe I fit the armor with the pressure suit now. So I tried it on, and sure enough, I fit into the armor with the added padding of the pressure suit. So I made some quick work of dremeling some slots into the shoulder pads of the pressure suit, and strapped the shoulder plates of the armor through those slots.
Now, that takes care of problem #1 as well as problem #3, and here's why. The thigh suspenders can be threaded underneath the shoulder straps and that prevents them from sliding too far away from my neck.
Next on the list is problem #2. I'm thinking a pair of straps running down either side of my knees to keep vertical tension on the shins will solve it. For the rest of the problems, I've got ideas, but that will cover the big ones. The chafe can be solved with athletic tape if necessary.
Backing up a little ways, I made (with lots of help from my mom, credit where it's due) a duct tape dummy to display the suit proudly in my room when I'm not wearing it.
there's the frame
and that's how the suit looks when on display. looks better on me (probably because the duct tape dummy is actually wider than I am everywhere and it has no joints), but it's so cool to be able to display the suit.
Now, long term, I do have plans for a battle rifle with blaster core and color mini screen, as well as a voice core, but that stuff is going to be towards the release of halo 5.
More to come after my thermo exam on monday! Thanks for reading!