Iron Man - Glowing Eyes Idea

[Spartan Sauce]

Right, so I've been focusing on an Iron Man helm lately,

and I've kinda given up on the crown for a bit, because its

epic fail because it can't hold itself (too flimsy).

So I'm focusing on the face.



I was looking around for reference to the helmet and saw some

completed Iron Man suit projects, all of which didn't have eye

pieces, and I thought to myself "wouldn't it be cool if I could

make mine light up?" and its brought me here.



Here's my ideas:





This is my face pep, very nicely done may i just say

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And here starts the ideas.

On this photo you can see the inside of the pep, not the little rim going across

where the nose would be and to the eyes. I thought I could add some LED's in it,

under and above the eyes, and have a lense in the eyes so the lense would light up.

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I'm going to add the LED's at a later point once I've resined the piece.

Now i just had to find a way of making a lense, I did this by cutting out a bit

of card, and drawing the eye onto it, I then used some tape to stick it onto the

inside of some plastic (cd case).

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I use a compass to mark it onto the plastic and to pierce it, I then cut it out

and it fitted perfectly into place into my piece.

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Of course its only a bit of thin plastic, and to be honest I want something a bit

thicker, advice anyone?



-Spartan-Sauce

 

[mkshane81]

Good concept. The only problem you are going to run into is the led's being right there next to YOUR eyes. That is going to be a blinding amount of light. Look for some tutorials out there for how to maybe do it. Also, I have seen people buy the polarized mirrored blue sunglasses, remove the lenses, and glue them in place from the back. Technically, you wouldn't even have to cut them.

 

[Spartan Sauce]

Good concept. The only problem you are going to run into is the led's being right there next to YOUR eyes. That is going to be a blinding amount of light. Look for some tutorials out there for how to maybe do it. Also, I have seen people buy the polarized mirrored blue sunglasses, remove the lenses, and glue them in place from the back. Technically, you wouldn't even have to cut them.

Aha, I knew I'd get a question about this, I'm planning on getting a pair of shades and taking the lenses out to put them behind the LED's, so you can't see into them either.



-Spartan-Sauce

 

[mkshane81]

Gotcha. Sounds a little bit better now....

 

[Jonny]

I just order a few electronics for this very same setup.



As most people have said a major problem would be the light getting into your own eyes.

One way would be to lightly sand them so you can shine light into the side of the transparent plastic which will light up. But then it wouldn't be transparent and it would be hard to see. There maybe a happy medium.



I'm going to experiment when my parts arrive.

 

[Spartan Sauce]

I just order a few electronics for this very same setup.



As most people have said a major problem would be the light getting into your own eyes.

One way would be to lightly sand them so you can shine light into the side of the transparent plastic which will light up. But then it wouldn't be transparent and it would be hard to see. There maybe a happy medium.



I'm going to experiment when my parts arrive.

I know it's maybe a little off topic, but as I can see from your avatar, you have a bondo'ed (maybe?) IM helmet.

How exactly did you keep it stable during resining? 'Cos my crown of the helmet is nowhere near stable, even

when I added the face to it. And also with the ears and back of the head part, what do you do there?



-Spartan-Sauce

 

[Spartan Sauce]

Gotcha. Sounds a little bit better now....

Now that you've mentioned it, its got me thinking, these sunglasses you we're on about, do you think I could light them up instead and use them?



-Spartan-Sauce

 

[RadioactiveMicrobe]

There was a member on the RPF that I believe figured out a way, I'll just need to dig it out...

 

[mkshane81]

I don't have the ability to draw where I am, but what if you could put a plexiglass "ring" around the eye openings. Shape it the same as the openings themselves. Use something thin, maybe an 1/8th of an inch. Put your led's around the outside pointing towards each other, across the opening. Then you could attach your sunglass lenses to the back of the ring. Then by line-of-sight they should be large enough to block direct light from the led's from hitting your eyes.

 

[andrew wukusick]

Ive been working on my iron man helm for quite some time, & i have all the plans & equipment for light up eyes, but im using mirror blue sunglasses & 4 blue leds outside of the eye pieces angled downward so it doesnt block your vision. I tested it out & it worked great & looked cool.

 

[Moz]

I'd have to test it, but I think this would work as a split prism.



Put the LEDs vertical above the eyes pointing down, then have a one way mirror lens (aviator sunglasses cut up or something, but it's better if it's not curved) at a 45 degree slope so it reflects the above LEDs outwards and you can see straight from behind. If you recess the LEDs enough you can have it so they don't get into your eyes.

 

[Spartan Sauce]

I'm actually really surprised how many replies this post has gotten.



I think I get the idea, but my vision is still pretty cloudy =/

Could anyone draw up/send me some plans if they have the time please?



Thanks,

-Spartan-Sauce

 

[ADOR]

Have you thought about fiber optic light wires, the light can be made directional and you can run several of these wires from one bulb. You could cover the whole wire and have just the tip lit up. A couple of sources of this are like some of the lights you see the little kids with at the circus, and another one i know of that may be better starting is mid to late 70's jaguar out of the junkyard. They have one light bulb next to the shifter and fiberoptic light wires going to all the places you need light in the dash. Could be a way to direct the light away from your eyes.

 

[Jonny]

I know it's maybe a little off topic, but as I can see from your avatar, you have a bondo'ed (maybe?) IM helmet.

How exactly did you keep it stable during resining? 'Cos my crown of the helmet is nowhere near stable, even

when I added the face to it. And also with the ears and back of the head part, what do you do there?



-Spartan-Sauce

My Pep was one piece, once I had resined the outside, I fiberglassed the the inside and then cut out the faceplate.

Check out this post for Sharkheads version which I used, it's the most movie accurate I've found.

http://405th.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=17020&pid=310671&st=180&#entry310671



If you don't feel like redoing the pep, then you'll need to put some braces across the gaps to help hold it together and symetrical.

 

[Spartan Sauce]

I quite like the fibreoptic idea, and as it happens my dad has loads!

My Pep was one piece, once I had resined the outside, I fiberglassed the the inside and then cut out the faceplate.

Check out this post for Sharkheads version which I used, it's the most movie accurate I've found.

http://405th.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=17020&pid=310671&st=180&#entry310671



If you don't feel like redoing the pep, then you'll need to put some braces across the gaps to help hold it together and symetrical.

Funnily enough I found this just before you posted xD

And I'm pepping now



Cheers for all the help guys, wish me luck.

-Spartan-Sauce

 

[mozsey]

Actually, if you angle the LED's right you will only get some of the light. I made glasses with like 10 LED's in each lens and they were angled to the point where i could barely tell they were there.

 

[Spartan Sauce]

Actually, if you angle the LED's right you will only get some of the light. I made glasses with like 10 LED's in each lens and they were angled to the point where i could barely tell they were there.

How did you go about it? and was the result good looking? ;D



-Spartan-Sauce

 

[Spartan Sauce]

Done my new pep, here it is:

We've gone absolutely insane with new ideas, if anyone cares here's the post.



-Spartan-Sauce

 

[Jonny]

My parts arrived yesterday so I a bit of a play.



I had some left over acrylic sheeting so I cut out some parts for the eyes.

Using a lighter I gently heated it till it became soft (you'll need heat protection gloves). I then pressed it over the eyes so it would mold the shape. I wired up the electronics with a single LED for initial testing.

I found when I heated the acrylic that if I let it get too hot then bubbles would appear inside the plastic. This was both good and bad, good because it meant it would show up white when the light was shone through the plastic. But bad because they would become less transparent and therefore harder to see through.



Here are some pictures, but be aware these pictures show it better then it really is.

Also the first images the face plate looks distorted, but it's not it's just the angle I took the picture.

 

[gwiguig]

wow that looks insane!!!!! but are you gonna see with those bright LEDs so close to your eyes? I mean teh concept is awesome and it looks bitchin but arent you scared to go blind afrter a while?