Metal Armor Brainstorming

[GMer56]

How about using metal flashing for armor? It's fairly flexible, durable and cuts pretty well with a knife: you score & tear along the seam. Ripping metal is a satisfying sensation (me stronk!). And it comes it 2 flavors: aluminum & steel.

I've done some primitive shapes with it for my mech using rivets (toying with some MJOLNIR armor for it just for lulz of having a 1:1 scale spartan), but you could probably use other adhesives in a more Pepakura style with tabs & whatnot.



I'm thinking roof patch rubber with a few rivets to hold it together might be good. I helped my father patch his roof last spring and my work gloves are still just as covered as day 1. Only downside is the metal edges are a bit of a hazard, but probably can be mediated with some cloth brushed with aforementioned roof rubber. (And wear some thick leather gloves when working with it!)

Think of the bragging rights: "Oh, yes. My armor is aluminum." If you bang it around and the paint comes off, it will reveal shiny metal underneath instead of foam/bondo etc. Makes weathering it a bit easier...

Probably some fine detail would be a challenge but... whatcha think? I'd put my money where my mouth is but its -5 F outside and my garage ain't much warmer D:

 

[mblackwell1002]

I might be interested in metal hydroforming to make armor, that would make the most sense to me. It would be expensive, but if you're thinking of making metal armor, you've probably got a decent budget.

I've definitely seen others use metal for armor, there was a metal Destiny helmet a guy did using pepakura. Turned out pretty nice, but it had to be very primitive.

If you welded a bunch of formed metal together, I think you could do some MJOLNIR armor. You would need a lot of pre-planning, tho.