Halloween is nearly two weeks behind us, but admiring astounding, game-related craftsmanship is a timeless pleasure.
Shawn Thorsson, who describes himself as “an unemployed sailor, philosopher, artist, and craftsman,” has spent the last three years creating seven suits of Mjolnir armor, as worn by the Master Chief in Halo, ready for hitting the town as only masked space marines can.
The web show Red vs. Blue provided the inspiration for the project – as well as the color scheme for the armor. Thorsson made the molds for the armor by first printing out a papercraft template, then coating it with polyester resin on the outside, so that it could be smoothed and shaped, and urethane casting resin on the inside so that it was strong enough to stand up to the work. He then used these pieces to make silicone rubber molds, before casting the final pieces in urethane resin.
Once Thorsson had cast the basic pieces, he called in the troops to help with the second stage: getting the raw suits into a wearable state. This involved cleaning each piece up, priming and painting them, and then adding straps and buckles so that the armor didn’t fall off. The team also added scrapes and scratches to make the armor look like it had seen some action, rather than just rolled off the production line.
Thorsson said that the project only took around eighteen months of actual work, but that it kept being interrupted for months at a time, which is why it took three years overall. As I’m sure you can see, the time was well spent, as the suits look pretty darn spectacular. You can read more about the build process on Thorsson’s blog.
Source: Dvice
