Halo 3 Marines

This page is to document ideas on how one might go about creating an affordable, accurate, wearable, Halo 3 marine based upon the video game itself.

Halo 3 Marine Pep files are located on the Pepakura File Index.

A Reference Pack is located on the References Page, along with more pictures availible in the reference gallery at the 405th Forums.

Helmet

Normal techniques should suffice here- custom model, Pepakura, cardstock model, resin, fiberglass, bondo and smoothing, then silicon mold and urethane-cast copies. There is a variant to the design shown, which includes a yellow tinted visor plus microphone.

Back and Shoulders

The chest and shoulders should be one unit, the chest two molded pieces with a fabric lining, and the shoulder pieces attached to a thick fabric base which is dropped from the shoulders of the chest.

Back

The neck collar creates a bit of a quandary. There appear to be rivets on the exterior of the collar, indicating it's a hard metal plate.. but it also seems to act like a cushion around the neck and as a pad for the harness over the shoulders. I think the intended effect is a neither a thick plate or all-cushion construction, but a cushion beneath a hard armor shell, which is easily enough replicated. Here, molded pepakura then typical resin-fiberglass-bondo and molding should work. The shoulder, neck, and backplates should all be one piece, and the front chest piece another. fabric-covered foam pieces can be glued or otherwise fastened to the lining of these pieces to flesh it out, and make it wearable. The side fasteners should be snap-closures, while the front closure can be merely a strap hinge.

Shoulders

The shoulder plates are attached to a large fabric-covered slab of material which extends across both shoulders almost to the elbow, with an underside strap near the elbow. It's a shoulder drop-plate of sorts. The top shoulder piece is actually three, which can be attached to each other with strapping and rivets or snaps, which could also serve to attach it to the drop-shoulder pad. The other plate is merely attached directly to the drop-shoulder plate. The variant shown here doesn't have the "3-way" shoulder system.

Elbows

Elbows can be plates build via model-pep-bondo-molding, and attached to normal elbow pads.

Girdle

The belt and its pads are simple- a military surplus belt of proper width and color should suffice. Pouches are frequently seen on either side of the buckle in front, and the pads underneath the front and back can be sewn from nylon or canvas. Add belt loops, and it's simple. The drop-leg plates are an actual military item as well, and are available for around 20-25 USD each, or they as well could be fashioned cheaply from canvas, thick foam, and strapping.

Greaves

These aren't horribly complicated. Two separate plates, one for the knee, one for the upper shin, hinged between the two, attached to a custom, covered foam backing, with custom strapping. Canvas flaps are at the bottom of the greave, with eyelets for lacing into combat boots.

BDUs

The Battle Dress uniforms (BDUs) worn by marines appear differently depending upon the lighting levels applied to them. One word of warning though, the colors shown in the images on this page have been lightened for clarity and don't reflect the shades as they appear in those areas of the game. A more canon source might be printed graphic materials such as the images found in the Halo 3 Stategy Guide.

If you belong to a group/club where people already have marine uniforms it might be a better idea to match what they're using for the sake of consistency. WETA used heavily faded New Zealand DPM pattern for their marines which is similar to British DPM. The British Pattern is more widely available internationally. There is also a 2 colour desert variant that does not require fading but lacks any green.

Variations

In Halo 3, there are variations in the way the Marine uniforms appear, but they use the same components otherwise:

• Some appear with hats on, or without helmet or hat entirely.

• Some have helmets with yellow-tinted visors and a head microphone.

• Some appear without shoulder armor.

• Some have pouches on their chests, and/or waists, others don't.

• Some carry a communications backpack, complete with a phone (one per squad, maximum)

• Some have on a Naval Pilot helmet and Chest Plate overlay on over their chest armor (only as pilots)

Forget something soldier? This one has no shoulder armor.	Call for Air Support? or your mom when it's time to pick you up?