Iron Man Molded Suit

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Ixius

Jr Member
(FINISHED SUIT at POST # 15. Thanks!)



Hey All!



After finishing the pep Master Chief suit , I have turned to sculpting and molding an Iron Man suit. This thread will be devoted to my progress and hopefully after some time we'll see how it turns out!



I started by creating a packing tape body double of myself, then fiberglassing the outside of it to harden it structurally enough so that I could apply clay without it deforming. I placed it on a wooden base and secured it with right-angle brackets. Since I have never sculpted before, it has been quite a chore, but I find it to be a lot of fun.



The abdomen piece seemed like the most logical choice to begin with, due to the fact that if I wanted it to fit into the chest area, I would have to mold it first. Here is my progress so far! (Note: I made the mistake of using two colors of clay. Once the abdomen piece is molded and cast, I will re-use the clay but first mix the colors for consistency.)



b6u5gl.jpg


sx26u8.jpg




Side View:

9k73a0.jpg




Back View:

kb3hc6.jpg




And, of course, my workspace (I'm using another artist's sculpt for a basic reference)!

ic2u88.jpg




Obviously there needs to be more detail in this piece, but hey, what's a progress thread for?





Thanks to all for viewing and stay tuned!
 
Looking good, I personally have never sculpted anything but, I have taken a ceramics class and it's amazing the type of stuff people can do with clay.
 
Great sculpt so far! At least your clay matches a little mine was grey and white lol all I could find in short notice.

Cheers!
 
Ixius said:
Since I have never sculpted before, it has been quite a chore, but I find it to be a lot of fun.
Insert words of shock and awe here.
Seriously good job Ixius, you got skillz!
 
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Hey again,

New progress, I added some detail to the front codpiece as well as some major overhaul on the back. It still needs some major smoothing, but like I said, that will come later.

Here's a few pics:

2s0olqv.jpg

ziwrht.jpg

2872ct1.jpg


Some of these lines remain slightly off, but again, it's just clay. Next post will be the pre-molded model (hopefully soon)!

Ixius

EDIT: updates. Here's the plug ready to be molded.

2likgfc.jpg

dgp7w4.jpg

2a6o2dk.jpg

al3meo.jpg
 
Great work!! I'm planning on trying out something similar, myself, and look forward to seeing your progress. Just a thought, here... you seem to have begun sculpting your abdomen in a fully upright position... What are your plans for allowing yourself enough flex to be able to bend and twist your torso while you're wearing it? I'm guessing you'll be using some sort of clasp or maybe velcro for opening and closing so you'll be able to put it on? This looks excellent so far and I'm extremely curious to see how you'll tackle the problems of a full suit. Keep it up!
 
ShadoKat said:
Great work!! I'm planning on trying out something similar, myself, and look forward to seeing your progress. Just a thought, here... you seem to have begun sculpting your abdomen in a fully upright position... What are your plans for allowing yourself enough flex to be able to bend and twist your torso while you're wearing it? I'm guessing you'll be using some sort of clasp or maybe velcro for opening and closing so you'll be able to put it on? This looks excellent so far and I'm extremely curious to see how you'll tackle the problems of a full suit. Keep it up!

The movie costume didn't actually have any bend or flex between the codpiece and the abdomen area, it was just one connected piece. However, they cast it out of a flexible urethane plastic that had some give for the stunt actors who wore it.

I'll be cutting it in half and then will affix a hinge on one side and clips on the other, with those clips being resined into place so that no straps are used (provides more rigidity). This will limit my motion (but I'm not looking to be the real Tony Stark here, lol). I sculpted more room in the butt and groin area to provide more give if needed.

Hope this answered your question, and thanks for the compliments!

Ixius
 
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......awesome, you know the reason i got into armor making is because of Ironman, then I found this site hehe. PERFECT work hehe, a lot of hard work ahead, but it'll be all worth it in the end can't wait to see finished works... :D
 
Or it could be casted in urethane foam or rubber for the flex.

How did you manage to fiberglass the tape double without dissolving the tape with resin?

Anyway, awesome sculpt so far :D

(You should show it to TMP, that from who you're using your reference pictures i believe ^^)
 
LastSpartan said:
Or it could be casted in urethane foam or rubber for the flex.

How did you manage to fiberglass the tape double without dissolving the tape with resin?

Anyway, awesome sculpt so far :D

(You should show it to TMP, that from who you're using your reference pictures i believe ^^)

Thanks for the comments! I was thinking about casting it in urethane rubber, but since my budget is tighter I think I'll just stick to resin and fiberglass. I won't be wearing it all day long, after all :p

And as far as the tape goes, I put on a SMALL coating of resin about 6 times for structural integrity, THEN glassed it. The 6 coats of resin allowed the tape double to hold shape while glassing.

I've actually already cast this piece, and also made a helmet. I'll post pics up soon as I make them look better through sanding and bondoing. Thanks again!
 
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dang! Ive been looking into making/sculpting something out of clay like that, but I could only wish it looked half that great.
 
Well all, it has been a LONG time since I've been on the 405th...mostly due to laziness and a huge amount of work. But, I DID complete my Iron Man costume! Sorry there are no progress pics, but I became consumed by the project! I just debuted it at Otakon 2009, posted here are some pics. It's no where as good as TMP's, but with the resources I had, I think I did a fine job. Thanks to Adam for his successful paint technique to make the armor looked weathered. The suit's chest and abs were molded and cast, but the rest of it was pepakura.



Pics:

2r4hrmx.jpg


slis93.jpg


oh4oq8.jpg


i6f5g5.jpg


(Credit to the author of the last pic, it was not taken by me at Otakon)



Thanks for viewing!
 
LastSpartan said:
Man, that's gorgous!



I want to see more pics of the sculpt + mold if you have some!



Sadly, the mold broke about 5 times and was made from plaster. Most of my time was spend salvaging the mold and repairing it with plaster, as it became a waste mold. I don't have pics... :( Hence why the piece looks like it's been banged up a bit.



However, the ab sculpt can be viewed above. The chest RT sculpt was also destroyed in the making of another plaster mold.
 
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Yeah I hate plaster as well, destroyed my helmet mold :angry



What have you used to cast it?



A foam or rubber or just plain resin?
 
LastSpartan said:
Yeah I hate plaster as well, destroyed my helmet mold :angry



What have you used to cast it?



A foam or rubber or just plain resin?



I sprayed the mold with ease release 200 after sealing it with paint, then cast it in Smooth Cast 300. Removed the mold with a good ol' mallet and chisel. Things like the gloves and neck which had to be flexible were, believe it or not, made from foamies! Wish I had knew about them earlier, they were a GREAT material to work with, and some people do a professional job with them. They were painted and weathered as well. Thanks for viewing!
 
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