I Want To Make An Iron Man Suit...

[GhoulishDreamer]

I would really like to make an Iron Man suit for myself, but don't know how to do anything, like molding, or adding any electrical components. Anyone please help?

 

[momoss]

I think the cheapest route for an armor costume is using pepakura which is basically building it out of paper and then fiberglassing it. I would read all of the stickies in the Pepakura forum to help you learn how to get started.

 

[GhoulishDreamer]

Would this be a hard material, and would look somewhat movie quality?

 

[BenStreeper]

Finheads is made using pep files. As is most of my own work. If you take the time you can make dang near anything.

 

[momoss]

Would this be a hard material, and would look somewhat movie quality?

Pepakura uses cardstock paper. Its basically taking a 3D model of something and building it out of light cardboard. Its like putting together a huge puzzle. You have to harden it with fiberglass for it to be sturdy enough for wearing. Fiberglass is pretty strong, its used to repair boats and various other things. Pepakura has the potential to look movie quality if you put A LOT of time and effort into it, high definition models are great but require a bit more skill to put together than a low definition one. You have to make clean crisp folds and glue the pieces together properly. When fiberglassing you have to be sure not to warp anything, and make sure you apply bondo to add detail/smooth out the piece. Then it should look pretty close to movie quality.



I really recommend reading all the stickies here: http://405th.com/forums/index.php?showforum=12

It should help you get started.

 

[MADsMoKe]

Read every sticky that you can, trust me it helps i am already on my Bondo stage so... It really does help to read evrything!



Hope all goes well :rolleyes

 

[GhoulishDreamer]

Thanks everybody! This really helps!

 

[MADsMoKe]

Thanks everybody! This really helps!

Glad to help!

 

[Heatshock]

theres a piece of advice an experienced costumer & prop maker once told me -



there are 2 major factors in prop making - time, price and look/accuracy. You can once ever achieve 2 of these at a time. SO have a think.



so if you want to limit the price - you are gonna want to really read as many stickies as you can so you can get the look and accuracy right (esp.ly if you want movie quality). plus expect to have to go learn up the skills that you may have to learn. these include working with resin, fibgrlass, casting resin.

Oh and expect to spend oooodles of time to get it right.



thres lots of stickies here and on the internet. the one thing I finally realised is that there often isnt one Right Way of doign stuff, thers gonna be lots of trial and error. good luck and I am sure lots on this board will be here to answer any of your questions!



Nate

 

[elkrisp]

Excellent advice, Heatshock!



This is something I was taught in a Project Management training course for my job. I never thought to apply something geared toward projects in the corporate world for your own personal stuff. But it sure does apply!