Halo Reach Mark V Armor by The Irish Cowboy
Contest WinnerFeatured
This is a brief description on how to make a costume from EVA foam tiles. Hopefully my pictures will provide good reference on how to solve pesky parts or how to achieve a certain look. This is my suit create last year from foam. Well, here's just an extremely brief tutorial on how to make your own armor, costume, or anything else you can think of from simply foam tiles, misc parts, and glue. Due to the extreme time frame and difficulty of such a project, this is a very brief description of how to.
1.) Using templates from online or models of your own, trace the parts onto EVA foam tiles.
2.) Cut them out using either an exact o blade or a snap-off carpenter's blade.
3.) Assemble the pieces using a glue gun, being careful not to use too much!
4.) Cover the finished pieces with a coating of Plasti-Dip spray and paint.
5.) Add any other details such as lights and decals.
That is the most basic of ways to create a set of armor from these foam tiles. 
The Helmet was made from a pepakura model hardened and smoothed with Bondo and resin.
The entire suit was later airbrushed with simple black paint on the edges.
The rifle is partially a modified nerf gun with a wooden lower receiver, stock, butt, and "mag" The ammo counter assembly and barrel assembly are styrene and other misc household things. 
Overall:
-50+ Foam Tiles
-100+ Various screws for details
-15+  Cans of spray plasti-dip and paint
-150+ Glue gun sticks
-10 ft of blue EL wire
This complete costume would have to be broken down into numerous step by step tutorials to be complete, but I would like this up here for some constructive criticism for suits to come!
The Irish Cowboy (author) says: Mar 10, 2013. 10:03 AM
My full length tutorial is located here--> http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Make-Foam-Armor/ :D
Gregbot says: Mar 10, 2013. 3:49 AM
EXCELLENT! Thanks!
ccobra says: Mar 9, 2013. 8:21 AM
dude that is soo cool I might make my own, but it probably wont be as good as yours
:) ^_^ :)
budhaztm says: Dec 17, 2012. 1:50 PM
Two Words: Epicness Maximum
TCGames says: Nov 24, 2012. 1:20 PM
Wow, I'm impressed! It looks amazing.
poofrabbit says: Nov 13, 2012. 7:37 PM
Congratulations on being a finalist in the Halloween contest!!! Can’t wait to see if you win! Good luck!
Paulbacca says: Oct 24, 2012. 7:47 AM
Very cool! If only I had the time to make it.
tlingbeck-1 says: Oct 21, 2012. 12:11 AM
I love this!!!! When will you post a step by step if you decide to do so? I love the idea of putting a smart phone in the right arm :) i saw the verizon emblem lol. that is such a great idea!
The Irish Cowboy (author) says: Oct 21, 2012. 7:18 AM
Thanks! I'm glad you like it! I will have my MassEffect suit done by March, so I will most likely have a step by step up in the winter!
o__o says: Oct 15, 2012. 6:48 PM
The best Halo suit I have seen! Wonderful job! Thinking of making Emile?
The Irish Cowboy (author) says: Oct 16, 2012. 12:21 PM
Thanks! But, no.....i'm waiting for Halo 4 for my next suit ;)
wolfman2152 says: Oct 7, 2012. 10:16 AM
awesome suit, just incredible. i am trying to make a much less complicated one for halloween, and was wondering what nerf gun you used. once again, amazing.
The Irish Cowboy (author) says: Oct 8, 2012. 4:58 PM
Thanks! The nerf gun i used was the nerf recon, its fairly mod-able. The front half of mine slides off to reveal the wiring. Pretty nice.
Jsquared24 says: Oct 2, 2012. 7:58 PM
Is that your Halo Reach matchmaking armour? Any, this is a really awesome build! Good job!
The Irish Cowboy (author) says: Oct 3, 2012. 8:37 AM
Why yes, yes it is! lol Thanks!
joshua.g.wood says: Oct 1, 2012. 2:21 AM
can you make a step by step on how to make it
The Irish Cowboy (author) says: Oct 1, 2012. 2:54 PM
I'm actually working on armor from Mass Effect, I will make a step by step on that as I go. It is the same process, stay tuned!
JTMLB26 says: Sep 30, 2012. 6:06 PM
Just curious . . . when you pull the trigger (if you even can) does the number of ammo go from 32 to 31 and so on? If not you should try to find out a way to do that. But even without that it is still the best and most realistic halo armor ever!!!! No joke!!! •~• cool face isn't it!
The Irish Cowboy (author) says: Oct 1, 2012. 2:50 PM
I had the electronics set up to do so, unfortunatly the nerf gun mag system interfered with the trigger so its just a button on the side for the countdown, the battery pack fits nicely into the "mag" and the on/off is in the gap between the grip and mag! And thanks!
jonnybo111 says: Sep 28, 2012. 12:11 PM
Really nice job irish!
Have you looked at a website called 405th?
You should really post a topic on it.

J
The Irish Cowboy (author) says: Oct 1, 2012. 2:49 PM
I am actually a very involved member! :D
bioboy725 says: Sep 27, 2012. 2:29 AM
This is great, and I've been planning on doing this ever since I saw them do it on backyard fx.
toezar00 says: Sep 21, 2012. 2:27 PM
AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:D :D :D :D!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
lotrsam11 says: Sep 21, 2012. 7:56 AM
Dang. Nice!
dubstepmaker says: Sep 18, 2012. 2:18 PM
wwwoooaaaa!! this is so freakin cool I don't even know what to say. This is one of the best I have seen!

Great job man!
curious youth says: Sep 17, 2012. 4:05 AM
this is the most realistic armour i have seen. like ever. just wondering roughly how long did it take you to build ? and how much did you spend ? cheers and thankyou :)
The Irish Cowboy (author) says: Sep 17, 2012. 6:30 AM
thanks! It took me about 2 good years of hard work and I spent around 500$ overall. I appreciated the comments!
snappydragons says: Sep 14, 2012. 2:25 PM
this is neat! i love it!
The Irish Cowboy (author) says: Sep 15, 2012. 8:31 AM
Thanks!
megaduty says: Jun 3, 2012. 11:51 PM
That is excellent looking Halo armor Irish!
The Irish Cowboy (author) says: Sep 13, 2012. 2:47 PM
A big Thank You to you both!
ilpug says: Jun 4, 2012. 4:56 PM
Make a How-To NOW.

One of the best builds I have seen.


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