Iron Man (yet another one)

[Question]

Hi all

Now that summer is almost over I've convinced myself to start working on my goal: to make a full Iron Man suit by halloween. I don't remember where I got the armor pieces were modeled by callmemilo and unfolded by Belakor.

Here's some of the chest/torso pieces

And here's my forearm and bicep armor

They're pretty easy to fold and not the most complicated. I really wanted to make some of the more advanced peps for IM but they take FOREVER to cut and fold.

I plan on hardening it using Stealth's method (

) because it seems the easiest and quickest

I have some thoughts on the suit so far and if anyone has any suggestions that'd be great:

1) Right now, I'm feeling the bicep piece to be fitting pretty snug (in fact, it may limit some arm movement - is that unescapable?). Once I resin it, do you find the piece will 'shrink' a bit? Or should I make it a little bit roomier?

2) After I harden the pieces, how do I get rid of the 'angular' look? Will sanding down work? Or will I need to use bondo?

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

 

[tatsukko]

looking good so far!

 

[Question]

Just a quick update.

I'm happy to say that I've successfully finished the left limbs of my body. Unfortunately, even with scaling, I will probably have to modify some pieces to increase mobility (decrease height of bicep and thigh armor). I went through a bunch of different helmets and I felt that I didn't have the time/skill to put together Sharkman's helmet so I took the faceplate from that file and the helmet from his tester file to make my helmet.

Here's some pics for your enjoyment!

All that's left for me to do is do both feet, the right leg, and the stomach plating (which I'm still trying to figure out how to make that won't totally hinder me from bending)

I bought smooth cast 321 (trial size) as a harden and will hopefully harden it all next week when I'm done all the pieces

I'm going to try to find some EL paper for the ARC reactor and the eyes ... anyone know of any good providers or reputable eBay sellers?

 

[Question]

Here's the latest

I've finished pep'ing all the parts except for the abs and the feet and I'm just gonna pick up a ton of cheap brushes at the dollar store so I can use smooth cast 321 to harden it.

Lemme know what you guys think

 

[Pipinacan]

Forearms look a tiny bit big in the last pic but otherwise lookin legit! Can't wait to see more!

 

[Jazah]

Looking good.
I've just started working on an Ironman costume myself for an upcoming Heroes/Villans themed party. Im currently working off Sharkmans file for the helmet, and the ammount of cuts and folds required is making me a little worried about my deadline.

Do you have any suggestions for some easy/quick peps I can work from? If it turns out half as good as your arm pieces have so far I'd be happy.

I'd also like to know if bondo is required for smoothing, or if there is a quicker method to get away with such as sanding, if anyone has the answer?
Time is my biggest constraint atm.

 

[Question]

Forearms look a tiny bit big in the last pic but otherwise lookin legit! Can't wait to see more!

Thanks! I agree. I actually cut half an inch away from the wrist so I have more mobility

 

[Question]

Looking good.
I've just started working on an Ironman costume myself for an upcoming Heroes/Villans themed party. Im currently working off Sharkmans file for the helmet, and the ammount of cuts and folds required is making me a little worried about my deadline.

Do you have any suggestions for some easy/quick peps I can work from? If it turns out half as good as your arm pieces have so far I'd be happy.

I'd also like to know if bondo is required for smoothing, or if there is a quicker method to get away with such as sanding, if anyone has the answer?
Time is my biggest constraint atm.

If you PM your email I can send you the pep files i worked with. Like I said in my above post, these files were made by callmemilo and unfolded by Belakor (not sure where I got them from - sorry!) I feel the same stress about the deadline as you ...

That's a good question about the bondo ... right now I'm hardening with Steath's smooth-cast method ... it's turning out to be somewhat of a challenge because the resin hardens in 7 min so I only have a limited window to work with it ... plus I need a new brush everytime ha ha.

Does anyone know if I can do a reasonable job of sanding down the armor with just the resin and primer layer? I don't know if I'll have the time/skill to use bondo

 

[Jazah]

Cant for the life of me find the PM button...
My e-mail is jeremynj@hotmail.com, those pep files would be a great help.

I found some done by robo3687, but its the version with the triangular chest piece, and I much prefer the circular version.

Cheers.

 

[p0g1]

Hi all

Now that summer is almost over I've convinced myself to start working on my goal: to make a full Iron Man suit by halloween. I don't remember where I got the armor pieces were modeled by callmemilo and unfolded by Belakor.

Here's some of the chest/torso pieces

And here's my forearm and bicep armor

They're pretty easy to fold and not the most complicated. I really wanted to make some of the more advanced peps for IM but they take FOREVER to cut and fold.

I plan on hardening it using Stealth's method (

) because it seems the easiest and quickest

I have some thoughts on the suit so far and if anyone has any suggestions that'd be great:

1) Right now, I'm feeling the bicep piece to be fitting pretty snug (in fact, it may limit some arm movement - is that unescapable?). Once I resin it, do you find the piece will 'shrink' a bit? Or should I make it a little bit roomier?

2) After I harden the pieces, how do I get rid of the 'angular' look? Will sanding down work? Or will I need to use bondo?

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

looks good. to answer your question. the bicep piece will seem smaller after layers or resin and smoothcast that you'll be appling to the inside. i used the rondo method that you can see done on here. second the angular look needs to be smoothed over with layers of bondo.

 

[carlino]

Bondo and sanding is about the only thing that will make it smooth and get out those angles you are talking about. It does take time and patience and dedication to get through the bondo/sanding/sanding/sanding stage.. lots of sanding.. and also, did I mention the sanding after the bondo?

 

[p0g1]

Looking good.
I've just started working on an Ironman costume myself for an upcoming Heroes/Villans themed party. Im currently working off Sharkmans file for the helmet, and the ammount of cuts and folds required is making me a little worried about my deadline.

Do you have any suggestions for some easy/quick peps I can work from? If it turns out half as good as your arm pieces have so far I'd be happy.

I'd also like to know if bondo is required for smoothing, or if there is a quicker method to get away with such as sanding, if anyone has the answer?
Time is my biggest constraint atm.

I've done Sharkman's helmet and yes it looks intimidating with the amount of pieces but its a really accurate file. what i did do to make the build quickers is skip all the pieces involved for the eyes and interor ear pieces. so what i would suggest is follow the pepviewer carefully and remove those pieces.

As for your bondo question. bondo seems to be the best method i've seen on here for smoothing. it works great but a little thing i learned from all my attempts at using this is that 1. you get better everytime you try it 2. don't try to get it all perfect the first time. you'll put layers upon layers to get it right and 3. rinse the piece off with water and dry before putting on another layer of bondo.

 

[gamebeatter]

looks great man

 

[Jazah]

Yeah i know what you mean with the eyes, half way through making them I gave up, far too small and fiddly for such a small detail. I also found the same for those 'teeth' looking parts that fill the gap along the jawline where the faceplace closes, skipping them allowed me to skip an entire page of very daunting folds.

I'm not too worried about the detail lost, last theme party I attended I went as megatron made from boxes... so this is a huge step up

 

[UnsureChaos]

Wow that megatron actually looks pretty beast from what I've seen but good progress on IM so far, looking good!

 

[Question]

Thanks for the encouraging words everyone

I'm almost done hardening using smoothcast 321 on the exterior parts of the armor. It's a little tricky to use but it's coming along pretty good. The toughest part is that it hardens pretty quickly (7 min) so I gotta work fast. That and the brush I use hardens and becomes useless lol. I'm going through a lot of dollar-store brushes ... and this is only the exterior. I still have to do the interior!

Pics will be uploaded soon

 

[Jazah]

Can't wait to see the new pics.
Also I just got those files you sent me, thank you

 

[Question]

Hey all

It's been awhile since I last updated. I've been busy with school and hardening everything. As mentioned before, I used stealth's smoothcast method to harden the parts ... it's relatively convenient ... the only inconvenient thing is that whatever you use hardens (ie a brush) so I used a lot of brushes lol (thank goodness for the dollar store)

I've gone and hardened everything and primed and painted everything. No, I did not use bondo, so yes, the parts, on close up, aren't smooth. But I wanted to get it done in time for halloween and with school I don't have as much free time as I use to. Plus, bondo I'm told that I need to wear a respirator and all to use bondo and I feel like I don't have the time to invest into that ... My aim is to hopefully bondo it when I have some free time (maybe next summer) ... hopefully bondo will still work over spray paint

And here we go ...




I redid the back armor plating to make it seem more movie accurate



Likewise, I redid the chest piece to reflect the Mark 6 armor





Everything was primed and spray painted ... Upon close examination of the suit it's obviously not too smooth but kay cera cera




The chest and eyes light up via EL paper that I ordered from glowhut.com. They are fluorescent so they're not LED-bright but will be fine in the dark

What's left to do?

1) I need to figure out a way to get the face plate off the helmet. Visibility is almost nil with the EL paper so I really want to get a motorized way to get the faceplate to come off like in the movie. This is my most pressing matter ... ANY IDEAS?

2) I need a way to strap everything on ... I am going to insert foam padding I bought at fabricland to prevent some parts from being overally lose (ie forearms) and I think I'll use velcro and nylon straps to hold parts that slide down too much (thigh armor). However, I'm having a tricky time with the shoulder bells and to a lesser extent, the bicep armor. I'm thinking of taking a wide piece of nylon and attaching it to the shoulder bells from the chest/shoulder armor ...

Any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated

 

[Telemus]

Looks good. Wish you the best of luck with the strapping!

 

[matth101]

Nice work dude. I just started my Iron Man project yesterday. Tribal has a thread in the creation forum that looks pretty epic. Try asking him how he is strapping his armor up. Good luck finishing up! I'll be keeping an eye on this thread!