Im starting mine now as well in between doing painting commissions..honestly i think there is a few ways you can do it. Im using all styrene sheet, so i cant really fold the pieces. Im cutting and gluing them togther with an added tab of thicker styrene or "corner braces" . I didnt really have any issue figuring them out because ive been looking at these gauntlets for years. I feel they are pretty straight forward shape wise when you know the gauntlets well.
Im also modifying the templates, to make them more accurate. Similar to the Jetpack im also currently doing lol. My approach isnt the normal though, so not sure how much help id be. For example, the whipcord housing..its made to be folded into the box type shape. Since im using styrene i can't fold it from one piece so i printed the templatre twice. One i cut out the top and bottom of the houseing out if 1/8" sintra. The other i cut the sides front and rear out of .030 styrene. i will then assemble it like a model.
I wasnt going to put up a build thread, but maybe i will. If it helps one person its worth the effort.
As for the shrnking sintra... that i dont know. I havent used sintra as of yet.