Introduction

Well, I'll freely admit to being a huge fan of the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers of the Halo universe. I've loved them since they were mentioned in The Flood, and when I heard that a game was being made entirely around ODSTs, I practically crapped myself with excitement. I began thinking about building a costume, but sadly, my artistic talents don't extend much further than a flair for explosions, firearms, and similarly destructive pursuits.

Recently, however, I discovered Pepakura and more importantly, 405th.com, an online resource for Halo costuming enthusiasts. Pepakura essentially amounts to taking a 3d computer model and unfolding it into flat panels that can be printed onto paper (I use 110-lb. cardstock). These panels are then cut out and folded according to lines printed on them, at what point you glue them together and produce the original model in paper. The level of detail that can be produced in this manner is truly amazing, and I encourage you to browse the forums on 405th.com to see some of the results.

Over the course of about two weeks, I slowly collected the best files I could find for each component of the Halo 3: ODST armor, and decided to begin the project when I went home over my winter break. I've broken it down into a few basic steps, which I'll now outline:

1. build a single piece of each component and try them on to determine the proper scale
2. build the properly scaled components
3. use fiberglass resin to coat the paper models, hardening them for the next step
4. use overlapping strips of fiberglass cloth (think paper-mache) to reinforce the inside of the pieces, wetting them with industrial-strength epoxy to produce components that are essentially glass-reinforced plastic (which is insanely tough and hard wearing, not fragile at all)
5. pad the inside of the components with dense foam and attach the straps
6. build my undersuit
7. paint the armor
8. wear the armor

obviously, this is a pretty simplified overview of what needs to be done, and my master plan is much more detailed. I plan to document as much of the process as I can on this blog. My original intent was to build an exact replica of Dutch's armor from the game, but I think now I'll do my own color scheme/unique parts. More later!

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