Forging a new Iron Man

I am new here to the dented helmet but am not new to prop building in general. I have decided to start an Iron Man project and wanted to share progress with all of you out there. I have seen the Iron Man costume by TMP and I must say how impressive that truly is. I would buy a costume but I want one that is going to truly mimic the movie costume.
I have decided to create an Iron Man costume that is the precise size of the one in the costume, one that is as close as possible and still able to be worn and have movement. It should be the same or similar dimensions to the one in the movie. I basically want to start this thread to just show the progress overall.
I have just begun the project and don't have the luxury of working on it every day. I intend to post updates with pictures to get any opinions you all may have. This will be a labor of love for me as I have always liked Iron Man. I hope you all will follow along with my progress. I am a firm believer that by sharing all of our work with eachother, we all get better.

The project is made out of .5 inch blue foam. I have never used this medium before so there is of course a learning curve. Enjoy.

It all started with a design on the foam and started to carve it.
As it was a few days ago.

that's pretty sick bro. can't wait to see the finished product

most excellent work there. Looking forward to seeing it through it's stages

Looking good. I used to always use surfboard foam, it has a great consistency and is easy to work with.

It did freak out the guy though when I went to Santa Cruz and bought a blank from a surf shop then proceeded to cut it in half to fit it in the car. The guy came out screaming "you can't build a board out that now man!!!"

Originally Posted by Bubba Fett

Looking good. I used to always use surfboard foam, it has a great consistency and is easy to work with.

It did freak out the guy though when I went to Santa Cruz and bought a blank from a surf shop then proceeded to cut it in half to fit it in the car. The guy came out screaming "you can't build a board out that now man!!!"

He probably had nightmares about the Surfboard Slasher for weeks!!

That's awesome craftsmanship, but... doesn't it seem a bit thin? I'm looking at my hand the way your holding it up, and it seems like it's not wide enough from ear to ear. Maybe it's your camera?

Looking good bud, I can't wait to see how it comes out.

Nice work. What tools do you use to remove foam during the carving stage? blades? dremel? it all looks hand-carved.

Originally Posted by askywalker98

That's awesome craftsmanship, but... doesn't it seem a bit thin? I'm looking at my hand the way your holding it up, and it seems like it's not wide enough from ear to ear. Maybe it's your camera?

The camera angle is a bit off, but I believe it is close to the right size. At least the schematics started off that way. There is absolutely no way that the helmet will fit as a one piece like fett or a stormtrooper. Instead it will have to assemble/disassemble similar to the movie. It may not fit someone with a large head either. If you see the movie stills there is no bobble head. In fact it is streamlined much to the exact size as a human head. Thus no room.

I will take some measurements tommorrow.

Originally Posted by Count Dookie

Nice work. What tools do you use to remove foam during the carving stage? blades? dremel? it all looks hand-carved.

This stuff doesn't work as well as other foams. I am using a dremel and a sander. But I don't think I can glass over it. Instead I intend to use bondo and then sand that down to proper size.

It is shaping up well. Looks good man. Keep it up.

Test the bondo on a scrap piece of foam first. Sometimes bondo has a tendancy to dissolve styrofoam. Especially if it is soft to start with. Might not hurt to test some glass too. It may not be as corrosive to the foam.

I made a dragon scuplture out of pink foam, definitely beware of resin dissolving it. Nice work, and by the way you will be finding bits of blue foam around the house for years. Its a great medium, but I wouldn't rely on it to hold too many fine details.

Yeah, if you sand it, it'll look nice, but oh god what a mess. It gets static charged sticks to everything... terrible :P Your sculpt looks awesome though, you've got some skills there.

Originally Posted by t_bone9600

Test the bondo on a scrap piece of foam first. Sometimes bondo has a tendancy to dissolve styrofoam. Especially if it is soft to start with. Might not hurt to test some glass too. It may not be as corrosive to the foam.

Thanks for the heads up. I should try the bondo on some other pieces. Everyone is right about the foam not holding the finest of details. it is also next to impossible to get it completely smooth, thus the reason for thinking bondo next.

I have been doing the project outside as this blue stuff goes everywhere. I should post another update today although I am at work.

Has anyone ever used this as a medium and tried to continue the project in another manner, ie. glass, plaster bandages or plastic?

If you can find a resin that will not dissolve the foam I would coat it with that first. The bondo will try to adhere to the foam and when you sand areas where the bondo is thin it may have a tendency to flake up and take chunks of foam with it. your best bet actually is to use some kind of water based polymer putty that air dries, coat it and detail with that. Then use that as a plug to make a rubber or fiberglass mold. Use the mold to then create your actual armor pieces. The foam should be a prototype, it is not strong enough to resist damage from even light use. I used foam as the core in the head of my godzilla costume but that was because it was a solid brick of foam and the features were very blunt. It was covered in felt and that shell allowed it to stay pockmark and dent free. A mask is going to be too thin. In my opinion at least.

Originally Posted by Racin Vhett

If you can find a resin that will not dissolve the foam I would coat it with that first. The bondo will try to adhere to the foam and when you sand areas where the bondo is thin it may have a tendency to flake up and take chunks of foam with it. your best bet actually is to use some kind of water based polymer putty that air dries, coat it and detail with that. Then use that as a plug to make a rubber or fiberglass mold. Use the mold to then create your actual armor pieces. The foam should be a prototype, it is not strong enough to resist damage from even light use. I used foam as the core in the head of my godzilla costume but that was because it was a solid brick of foam and the features were very blunt. It was covered in felt and that shell allowed it to stay pockmark and dent free. A mask is going to be too thin. In my opinion at least.

This foam is nothing more than the base of the master so to speak. The helmet itself will contain no foam at all. Instead, it will be entirely fiberglass. I am looking for a material to coat the foam which will A) not dissolve the foam and B) will accept a fiberglass shell. I think I will just need to try it out on a scrap piece. Updates to follow.

Looking mighty impressive!

Here are some pics as of yesterday afternoon. The dimensions are as follows: Length - aprox 10 inches
Width - aprox 7 inches
Height- aprox 11 inches
Circumference - aprox 30 inches

The ear details are not finished and the back of the head is a bit crooked and has also not been finished. I just took these pics for measurement although the pictures aren't that great.

Just make sure that the helmet is big enough.
I have seen 3 or 4 helmets the last months that all where a bid to small.

If you like, I can send you some pictures of what I´m talking about.

Mike

Originally Posted by Loanstar

Just make sure that the helmet is big enough.
I have seen 3 or 4 helmets the last months that all where a bid to small.

If you like, I can send you some pictures of what I´m talking about.

Mike

Sure pics are welcome thanks.

What ever happend with this??