Thursday, August 23, 2012

Final Version: Commander Shepard N7 armor


This is the new armor color. We replaced the "tinted" aluminum with a new paint color, we really like the new look.

Completed Commander Shepard Armor: Photo Shoot

Photos taken at the Tempe performing arts center/town lake in Tempe, AZ. Photos by Ashley Madsen Photography.

Holding the unfinished Valkyrie rifle (finished now, see tab on top bar of blog )








100% complete N7 Armor



We did it! Here are some photos of our completed Mass Effect 3 Commander Shepard (femshep) armor. We will post more photos soon. We promised an announcement about a new part of the project. We are going to do a major post soon, but if you look closely through the photos below you can see a glimpse of the replica gun (work in progress) the N7 Valkyrie!

The costume is almost entirely made out of machined aluminum. We used mirror plated stainless steel to make the
N7 logo on the chest plate (which is considerably more difficult to work with). 
Incredible detail and precision in the metalwork on the back. We have real working LED lights with a battery pack, check out our older posts to see how we did it. We think it looks amazing!

Upper legs/thighs were a very difficult piece to make. Here is a picture of some detail.
We used a custom blended spray can of automotive paint for many parts of the costume including the
chest plate above. We are really happy with how the pearlescent color turned out.
I am holding the N7 Valkyrie (Solid Aluminum), this is a work in progress, more pictures coming soon!
Biotic singularity
Commander Shepard would never make this face
Shepard dance moves! If you have played Mass Effect you will understand. 

Saturday, August 11, 2012

N7 Valkyrie Assault Rifle: 100% Complete

Mass Effect 3 N7 Valkyrie Rifle replica made with solid metal
It is finally done! Here is our Mass Effect N7 Valkyrie Rifle made from solid metal. There were a few details that weren't done in time for San Diego Comic Con, but I go the chance to add all those touchs. I also did a complete redo on the paint. I wasn't happy with the old black paint at all and 4 attempts later I got something I am pretty happy about.
This replica has some differences from the in-game model but most are pretty minor. I only had a couple of images to work off of, so some things I just had to guess. In a couple of other places I just took creative license. The biggest of these changes is the grip. The in-game design is actually pretty unfriendly to the human hand. I substituted a genuine thumhole-stock design. Between that and the rubber foregrip the Valkyrie is very comfortable to hold even at about 15lbs.
While I'm at it... this replica does weigh over 15lbs. It is made primarily from large pieces of solid aluminum. It has a functioning trigger with a magnetic spring mechanism yadda yadda... It was a good project and I feel proud of it. Thanks to my wife for her love and support.
-Zoot

For more from this build check out the "N7 Valkyrie Rifle Build" tab at the top of the blog


Green laser pen embeded in the upper barrel. 






Functioning trigger
 I treated this part as the ejection port. In doing so I made the innards round instead of flat