Iron Man Armor (Sintra) !WIP!

[PacoDeth]

Sorry for the multiple posts, I figured I should start a thread with a title that matches what I am working on, as I have gotten through most of the questions phase. I got a nice handful of pictures which I will include in later posts, but for now I will reiterate a bit of what I am doing to have it all included in one single thread.

The Project:
So basically I am trying to put together some Iron Man armor before the upcoming Halloween party we try to hold every year . After gaining TONS of useful information on this site, and deciding to go with using the Sintra material, I started making headway one piece at a time, and pretty much from scratch. I would love to make it look as good as the new movie armor, but the detail and complex amount of pieces are well out of my current skillset, and way out of my time constraints. So the armor pieces I am making from scratch, just using sheets of paper to measure out pieces which will give me good coverage of various limbs and body parts and the like. The armor will no doubt be closer to looking like this rather plain Iron Man armor here:

Except I will be sticking to the Red and Gold classic Mark III armor as opposed to the silver seen here.

Not that I won't be shooting for some things to look like the movie armor, I will be doing my best to make the helmet/mask resemble that of the movie armor, and plan to have glowing blue pieces for the chest-beam, each palm-beam, and glowing eyes. Also, the mask needs to be either removeable or raise-able so I can drink alcohol while in the suit as the Halloween party is a big drunk fest as well!



Painting:

After about 10 different cans of spray paint, alot of wasted money, and alot of wasted time, I finally found the perfect Sintra painting solution. In one simple world, Duplicolor! The biggest problems with painting, was finding something that would stick solidly and be difficult to scratch off. After many different Krylons, Testors, American Traditions, etc. paints, I found Duplicolor was the only one that stuck well, wasn't sticky, and was very difficult to scratch off.

After reading some posts about using Self-Etching spray paint, I found some Duplicolor Self Enching Primer (which unfortunately only comes in puke green color) and picked up a can of that. To match that of the red for the Iron Man armor, I picked up some "Autumn Maple Red (Metallic)" Duplicolor paint, which looks perfect, and has little sparklies within which I actually like the look of. So I basically spray on 3-layers (in 1 coating run) of the Duplicolor Self Etching Primer, and then 2-layers (1 coat) of the Autumn Maple Red paint. I will also be finishing them up with some Duplicolor Glossy Clear Coat. Of note, to get a good stick and finish, that is difficult to scratch, the paint color alone works great too! So the Primer isn't necessary, but I feel safer with it on. The gold paint for the armor is Duplicolor Instant Gold.


Attaching Pieces:

For joining the pieces of Sintra together, I have stuck with using Rivets and a manual Rivet gun. I don't mind the appearance of rivets on the armor, and they kinda suit the feel of it, but best of all it provides flexible and rotate-able joints! So I can use a couple of rivets to make a knee joint, and be able to rotate that joint for standing or sitting. The rivets are also easily painted to match the paint on the Sintra material and provide a very strong and permanent hold. If you plan to use Rivets in your own projects, make sure to buy the "washers" too for the backside!

[PacoDeth]

Images:

Here is a set of pictures of some of the work completed so far, as of 10/08/2007.

Starting off with the first 3 pieces I made, a boot/shoe covering for the armor. Unfortunately I had to scrap the middle largest piece in the end as it was too tight on the shoe once I got my foot in there. I eventually went with a new larger piece with a big tongue piece sticking up. This was also the first part of the suit, and as of now only part of the suit which I have painted. It uses rivets to connect it all together, which also makes it flexible for the different arcs my foot and ankle can make. Note that I had not painted the rivets yet for these pictures and they are still in the natural steel/aluminum look.




This next set is the Shin piece I put together today, consisting of a lower and top half, and a backplate. Currently holding the pieces together are simple Twist-Ties, as I need to paint each piece individually before riveting them together. You might also notice a small screwdriver holding the middle rivet slot (hey it works!). The first image is the Front/Side, the second image is the Back/Side, and the last image is the Shin piece just resting atop the Boot piece for reference:


I might do some more cutting to this to make it fit smoothly with the boot and put some curves to it, but I need to figure out what under clothing I am going to use, and how to attach the armor pieces to it first.

These next two pictures are the forearm, wrist, and hand (minus the fingers!) piece I put together the other day. I still haven't figured out how I am going to do the fingers as I would like to match the look of the movie armor with multiple seperate joints, but the Sintra material is too thick, and I am having trouble figuring out how to make the joints, make them flexible, and make them attach to each other. The first image is the topside, the second the bottomside, note that the two pieces are not connected yet as the forearm will be part of the clothing, the the glove will be a seperate removeable piece of the suit. A standard leather working glove is and will be used as the inside of the completed armored glove as seen in the images:


And for the last and final set, the most difficult piece I have had to work with, the helmet/mask! After racking my brain trying to figure out an easy way to make the rounded top of the helmet out of Sintra (without gluing tons of triangles together), I decided to simply go out and buy a biker/skater helmet from Wal-Mart for $14, and build around it. This gives me a nice helmet piece with a chinstrap to keep it on, and padding for my fragile head. So after attempting to map out the 3D helmet into a flat design on the Sintra meterial, and cutting out 3 different facemasks (the first two didn't work) I finally made one that works. It will be attached to the Wal-Mart helmet with two rivets, and can be raised up like a visor so I can drink or do whatever outside of the constraints of a permanent facemask. The first image is the front, the second the Top, and the third the Side:


It still needs a bit of refining, but I am happy with it so far, and it took tons of work, and reworking, and cutting little pieces here and there and small grooves here and there to get it where it is now. The eye slits are cut out as well, and to give it the glowing blue eye look, as well as allowing me to see out of the slits, I "plan" to use blue transparent film or plexiglass, with a small LED light making the plexiglass glow. So far I haven't had much luck finding either blue plexiglass, some sort of thin film, or transparent blue paint to coat the plexiglass in (hmm wonder if I can dip it in food coloring...).

I believe that is it for now, I may start another thread or so with specific help questions, but this thread will be reserved for updates on this Work In Progress Iron Man armor. And I greatly welcome any comments, suggestions, criticism, advice, or anything any of you all wish to add to this thread!

[Bountys Hunted]

Interesting! For the blue eyes- you've got this option- Some Clones have the mirrored motorcycle visors. I believe you can get them in blue as well. Leds, el wiring is also used for Republic Commando visors. Rave websites have colored leds in a variety of "holders" for a nominal cost. I got blue ones that work perfectly inside the helmet. I'm sorry, but I don't have the site anymore. They use watch batteries and work quite well. Do search on google for rave products...they also have those thin tube thingies that connect to make necklaces...

For the gloves, I used to fight in plate steel armor in the SCA. Make them out of sign plastic the same way. Use a heat gun to form them, rivets to fasten them. You've already used this method, just keep going. Make a cylinder shape, making them smaller as you work towards the fingertip.

You could also glue them to a strip of elastic attached to the top of each finger...

[HeadlessHunter]

Great work, I love the retro Iron-Man armour, its more 'real world' cant wait for the movie, and keep those updates coming!!!

[Majewski79]

NICE! I too love the retro armor...Awesome job!

[PacoDeth]

Well a small update, but some pretty difficult work to acheive. Basically I made the abdomen plate(s), and the left side plate (chestplate with uni-beam light soon to come when I figure it out!). Replicating the left to make a right side should be simple enough, then I just have to make a single piece backplate (as Iron Man's back hasn't really been shown yet, and there is no need to get fancy with it) and I should have the whole lower torso complete. I will just have to make the chest plate, shoulders, neck, and rear shoulderblade pieces. The mid abdomen plate is 4 V-Shaped pieces riveted together overlapping a bit, the left side is 3 pieces (2 V-Shapes, one flat bottom).

Unforunately I screwed up... twice on the left side, by putting connecting pieces in the way of rivets that were already there, so a bit of a nuisance and set back but should be fine.

These pieces which I will show a few pictures of connected together actually represent the look of the movie armor, which I will also provide a picture of. It seems as I work more with the Sintra, the more I am able and willing to try to replicate the look of the highly detailed and intricate movie armor. Cheers.


The two plates are connected by a single rivet at the bottom there, I will have to make cut a small piece of Sintra out to connect them at the top too, to fix my mistake.

As for making the chest plate, I am guessing it will have to be in two pieces (a left half and a right half) as from the looks of it, trying to make it into one large piece just won't fit in the large cookpot I am using to boil water (and they don't really make them any bigger).

[PacoDeth]

Success at last! So I have been searching ever since I started this project for adequate eye-piece inserts. I needed some sort of clear blue material that was easy to see through, which has been quite problematic. I found several items that were clear, but distorted your view so much that well... if I had been drinking I would no doubt get sick eventually. So finally, after visiting a part supply store, I found my holy grail, a $2.49 pair of giant novelty glasses with crystal clear blue plastic lenses! Easy to bend material and easy to cut with a pair of scissors, my long search is finally over! First picture is the novelty glasses with one of the lenses already removed and cut up, 2nd picture is the lenses temporarily installed into the facemask (until I paint it) with the light on, 3rd picture is with the lights off. I have a small LED light set to the side of the left eye slot in each picture to give off the glowing blue eyes look, which I plan to incorporate into the helmet for both eyes.


Also I have completed the entire lower torso, the right side matches the left side posted above and I have attached a backplate to complete it. Having a bit of trouble figuring out the chestplate piece, but I should be able to get something workable together in the coming days.

Unfortunately I am running out of material and only have about a 2ftx3ft piece left due to wasting some decent sized pieces on two bad facemasks and a large legpiece which are all going to be difficult to try and reuse for anything. So looks like I will have to make another run to the sign shop, where all together this suit will probably incorporate about 4ftx12ft worth of Sintra material and probably 120-150 rivets.

[PacoDeth]

So I finally got the chestplate pieces cut out and installed. I kept making them too small and they looked silly, but eventually they came out about right. Unfortunately I had to do it in two seperate pieces split down the middle to better fit them in the cookpot for boiling. Note that the top part above the round chest uni-beam light hole isn't connected together yet, so there is a small gap there until I build the rest of the upper-torso.

Also, I found a nice little light to put behind the chest beam to make it light up nicely, while also having good battery life. It was this little Garrity 8-LED work light which lights up about a 3.5inX3.5in white box with a simple push button, picked up for about $10 at Wal-Mart and uses 3-AA's. I figure I can wire the button up to a switch at the hip of the armor or somewhere else convenient to turn the chest light on and off.

So now pictures:
1. The first is the Garrity light I purchased

2. The second is the entire lower torso completed with left and right chest plates attached and chest beam hole cut out. I temporarily taped the other blue lens out of those party glasses into the opening (which it sadly does not completely cover, and put the Garrity light behind it to get a basis for the chest Uni-beam effect. This picture was taken with the room light on.

3. The third is the same as the second, only with the room light off. Enjoy!

[Jaiden]

Looking good so far, Paco!

[wesari]

Wow, that's talent. I can't wait to see how this comes out!!

[pennywise]

I can't wait to see it done!

[GCNgamer128]

Looking pretty cool!

[kanol matea]

really neat

[pizzaman24]

that's a pretty cool suit for not being canon. Are you gonna make it more like one of the armor sets after Halloween?

[corby]

this is going to be flipping awesome when it's done!

[Devin Jax]

cool i like the 2nd newest armor its called the modern armor its pretty cool too

[PacoDeth]

So minor setback, but progress nonetheless. I really didn't like the first helmet/mask combo I had. Was entirely too big and was closer to the old big steel/silver armor in the picture at the top, than the sleeker/smaller movie armor helmet. The skateboarding helmet was just entirely to big with all of the padding and protection, so I had to scrap it .

If only I had done this from the get-go.... so I ran over to the local sports shop (Dick's Sporting Goods) and picked up a cheapo plastic Cinncinati Reds replica helmet for a whopping $8 dollars. It's just a cheap thin plastic shell, but provides an excellent one-piece dome for the head.

Couple of pictures, first is the helmet with bill, second is the bill sliced off (had to bust out the good ol' Dremel for that), and third is the new helmet/mask. I also shaved a considerable amount of stuff off the facemask piece as it just wasn't right yet (those gold horn type pieces going up the forehead are a nightmare to recreate!).



On the bright side of all of this, I have pretty well completed the entire Torso region of the suit (frame-wise, haven't installed lighting setup yet), but have decided it would be best to have the Torso as one large piece, and purchased some comfy Gel-Shoulder Straps which I will attach to the Torso piece so it can be easily put on over any clothing and taken off. Think of it as the top half of a pair of Suspenders. I will then make a seperate piece that might resemble something like a football shoulderpad setup to go over top the head and rest on the shoulders.

Also, the idea of wiring up a switch for the chest light and all that has gotten me thinking of other neat additions that might be feasable to install, including a voice modifier type setup to allow you to project that hearty Iron Man robotic voice. If I manage to get really technical I might try to figure out a way to rig up the eye-piece lights to go on and off with speech like they do in the Ultimate Avengers movies.

Anyways, plenty more work to be done, and I went out and bought another full sheet of Sintra now that I have run out of my first stock. Sooner or later I'm going to have to bullet-proof this armor and install lcd panels into the eyeslots with 360degree camera's.

[Ion_Cannon_Gunner]

I've been waiting for someone to do this. I was going to try it myself but I've been to busy with my fett. Nice work you've got there man. Have you read the ultimates? I personally like that armor the best but the new movie stuff tooks pretty sick as well.
Good luck with the armor bro! Lookin good!

[Stormrider]

Talk through a micro fan, into a voice amp.

[PacoDeth]

Good Idea Stormrider! Although I could maybe just talk through the fan byitself and use my natural voice span to save on trying to incorporate more equipment and batteries into the suit. Hmm...

And of course all ideas and comments are greatly appreciated and welcome, I check this thread several times a day while working on the suit just in case any good ideas come up that I can incorporate into the suit before it's too late!

I also found a website that shows me the backside of the movie armor from a special edition toy made of the movie armor. You can check it out here. It gives you a 360degree slideshow of it, although looking it at I'm not sure if I want to recreate that big spine looking piece on the backplate, might just stick with what I got.

[fettfan54]

any thing new?

[PacoDeth]

Sorry for not replying for a while with any updates, I've been busy starting a new job that has taken most all the free time I have. When starting this armor I was fortunately and unfortunately unemployed and had lots of time to work on the armor and drive around town finding parts for the armor.

At this point it is obvious I won't have this armor done for the Halloween party this Saturday, nor will I prolly have it done for Halloween night. I will however be trying to get as much of it done as possible before Saturday, and get as many parts together for the suit.

First new thing is a glove covering, I finally found a method that works for making Iron Man gloves, and I got most of my help from a Freddy Kreuger glove teplate. Using "For Sale" signs as material, I have the left glove nearly complete, only thing left to do other than paint it is to find a device to use as the palm light, and lock down the palm plate. I found this perfect little round LED lights, that used twist tops which would be easy to turn on and off in the costume, but I didn't realize till I got them home that they are "disposable" and you cannot replace the batteries. Considering that would make the palm lights pretty ****** once they ran out of juice I am still looking for affordable small disc-type LED lights for the palms.

I got a lower leg done, which has the shin, a padded kneepad inside to strap the piece to your leg, and the large kneecap piece present on the movie armor, a picture will be below.

For the Torso, I attached a plate to the back to more closely resemble the back on the movie armor, and also setup a shoulder strap system using comfy gel-padded straps so the main torso piece goes on like a bullet proof vest (the armor however is NOT bullet proof ). For the chest, I made a piece to go accross the front, a sort of V-shaped plate to resemble that of the V-shaped piece on the movie armor chest going over the cheat uni-beam. The chest uni-beam consists of two thin clear plastic plates stuck together, one I sprayed with a Transparent Blue paint, and the other I rubbed down with sand paper until it became opaque. So with the chest uni-beam light turned off, all you see is a opaque white disc, but when the light comes on, it glows blue.

Pictures of all of this work is as follows: 1st the Glove, 2nd the left leg with Red/Black hidden Kneepad showing, 3rd Torso Back w/New Plate, 4rth Inner Torso with Shoulder Strap hooks attached, 5th Me wearing the Torso with V-shaped chest plate and Chest Uni-Beam Lense installed and the backing light just kinda sitting back there not installed yet.

[PacoDeth]

Well, another update, and some good pictures to follow. So I spent pretty much all evening spray painting the pieces I had more or less finished. This includes the top helm and face mask, the left glove with working palm light, and the torso. Pictures are as follows, enjoy!

[Melvin Fett]

That is SICK! Awesome!

[Devin Jax]

u should of made it first apearance armor i thought it would look all silver but still lookin great!!!8)

[fettfan54]

THATS SWEET!!!

[t_bone9600]

Sweet!

[Vable Boba]

ok, there's only one thing to say, even though this is a Boba Fett site....THAT IS THE COOLEST THING I'VE SEEN IN A LONG TIME!!!!!!! I've been interested if anyone had made a realistic Iron Man, and here it is. I can't wait to see the finished product....I'M ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT!!!!

*takes a breath* ok everyone, i'm ok now

[Vable Boba]

hey man, we all need some final pics...we're all dying of suspense here.

[GCNgamer128]

That's turning out awesome!

[PacoDeth]

Sorry guys n gals, the armor has taken the backseat for a short bit while I get myself out of poverty, heh. Just started a new job recently from being unemployed for too long so I am finally starting to get some leisure money back. My freetime to work on this as well has been cut very short, so it's hard to get time to work on the armor.

On the other hand, I dressed up in as much of the costume as I had done for the Halloween party, but am sadly waiting ona select few people for pictures of me in it. If I get the urge I will toss it on and try to take some pictures myself. I will say that the hand lights were pretty cool and useful! To make the grand entrance, my roomate wanted to turn the lights off and have me enter from upstairs in the dark, so being behind the helmet blue tinted lenses with limited visability meant I couldn't see the stairs at all. So I used the hand beams to light my path!

The mask still irks the **** outta me, I dunno if I can get the perfection I want out of the Sintra material, but I guess I should just be happy with what I have. The hardest part I am trying to figure out, is the armor "diaper" of sorts to cover the crotch and butt area. Cause I want the armor to be reasonably comfortable, definately flexible, and able to sit down in.

So far though the armor feels great, really feels like you are suited up in some heavy duty armor that could take a beating. And really, it prolly could take a beating from fists and baseball bats, maybe even stop a knife, just can't repel bullet yet, but I'm workin on that .

[Devin Jax]

man i got that exact same figure.but to go with the topic its turnin out pretty good so far

[walshafett]

pretty sweet

[PacoDeth]

So a little bit of an update, and a couple of pics. A friend stopped by on new years and checked out the armor and thought it was really good, so I got a lil boost to start work on it again. Not too much really, but these are both of the lower legs complete with rotating knee cap. I'm trying to decide whether to attach the upper legs to the lowers permanently, but I fear it will make them too difficult to get into, as getting into the lower legs alone isn't overly simple (although not really too difficult either).

The size of my pot for boiling water is putting limitations on the size of pieces I can use, so it looks like the upper legs will be comprised of several pieces riveted together. This is also why the lower leg / shin piece in two seperate pieces, as I found out the hard way couldn't fit one large piece into my pot. Still contemplating putting the little wings on the left and right side on the bottom of the lower legs to match the movie armor, as well as the under-flap in the middle.

Anyways, first pic is of me actually wearing the lower legs (overhead shot), there are nice soft kneepads connected to the inside to strap on to your leg/knee to insure a tight, flexible, and comfortable fit. Second pic is of me wearing them again but from the front. Last pic is better lighting and just of two leg pieces sitting on the ground. Enjoy!

[morpheus1977]

So a little bit of an update, and a couple of pics. A friend stopped by on new years and checked out the armor and thought it was really good, so I got a lil boost to start work on it again. Not too much really, but these are both of the lower legs complete with rotating knee cap. I'm trying to decide whether to attach the upper legs to the lowers permanently, but I fear it will make them too difficult to get into, as getting into the lower legs alone isn't overly simple (although not really too difficult either).

The size of my pot for boiling water is putting limitations on the size of pieces I can use, so it looks like the upper legs will be comprised of several pieces riveted together. This is also why the lower leg / shin piece in two seperate pieces, as I found out the hard way couldn't fit one large piece into my pot. Still contemplating putting the little wings on the left and right side on the bottom of the lower legs to match the movie armor, as well as the under-flap in the middle.

Anyways, first pic is of me actually wearing the lower legs (overhead shot), there are nice soft kneepads connected to the inside to strap on to your leg/knee to insure a tight, flexible, and comfortable fit. Second pic is of me wearing them again but from the front. Last pic is better lighting and just of two leg pieces sitting on the ground. Enjoy!

Paco instead of using a pot of boiling water have you thought about picking up a heat gun and trying that?

[bearden6521]

Nice progress!

[Southern hunter]

Paco instead of using a pot of boiling water have you thought about picking up a heat gun and trying that?

I didn't have much luck with a heat gun. The distribution of heat was uneven, and the plastic got too hot too fast.

I've been able to bend Sintra by putting it in the oven at 200 degrees Fahrenhiet for about 2 or 3 minutes. You can make a cardboard or chipboard shape, then lay the sintra on top of it. Paper ignites at 451 degrees, so the wood, cardboard, chipboard or newspaperboard should not catch fire. It will get warm, but not ignite.

Let heat and gravity help and this stuff will kind of bend itself around the shape. If you are using 3mm Sintra, just increase the time in the oven, NOT the temperature. Trust me on that.

Keep an eye on your sintra. At 195-200 degrees, it should not get so hot that it begins to bubble, any hotter, and it will ruin it. Water boils at 212 degrees F, so with the oven at 200 -210. If you're worried about fumes, it's about the same thing as immersing sintra in boiling water.

I always open a window any way.

[Byyynik]

Wow thats looking great!

[PacoDeth]

yeah, I have not tried the oven method as I do worry about the fumes, it may just be silly, but I worry about the fumes and possibly causing the insides of the oven to become toxic and then when I throw my oven pizzas in there, I don't want to have to worry about getting sick.

The heat gun was actually the first thing I tried, but it came out to be pretty difficult IMO. It took quite a while to heat the pieces up to where I could form them, but then reheating "quickly" to reform again right after the first time took too long. As well trying to heat up large pieces so I can bend/form it all at once wasn't very feasable. Then I heated up a spot a bit too long and it started to burn/melt the Sintra and left a nasty brown spot with bubbles. I ended my heat gun dealings at that point and switched to boiling water.

I hope to get alot of progress done in February, then maybe get alot of painting done in March, and hopefully have it most the way ready for April to prepare it for the movie's release on May 2nd. Not sure what I will do with it once it's finished though, I prolly won't be wearing it to the movies heh.

If I have the time, I will prolly be doing the facemask over again. I'm having one hell of a time getting the Sintra to do want I want it to for the facemask and haven't gotten around to trying to plan out a better construction of the facemask using multiple pieces of Sintra instead of one.

On the bright side, every couple weeks a new image is released from Marvel with a different look or angle of the Iron Man armor which is really helping me with how to get this armor together and it be somewhat comfortable while wearing as well as fully flexible and have the ability to sit down in it. All of which is pretty difficult when using Sintra to creat an armor that encases every inch of the body.

[jjv5150]

Any updates? ...

[PacoDeth]

nothing really at the moment, work, sleep, laziness, and other projects have kinda gotten int he way of me making progress on the armor. Setbacks of making pieces that don't come out as expected or are too small or too tight have really put me off. Spending a couple of hours working on a piece only to find it's only use is as scrap material now gets really old.

I'm having difficulty creating upper leg parts that fit nicely, aren't too tight, will rotate to allow you to sit, and are also easy to put on and take off hasn't gone so well. I am thinking about maybe making the upper legs only front and side pieces, but leaving the backside open with tie strings or something. Biggest problem so far is finding a way to make the upper legs attachable to ones leg, without too much effort or without the need for a friend to help you put pieces on.

Anyways, I hope to have something together by the end of the week.

[Banzai88]

Very resourceful with the parts/lights used. WIP looking good!

[lonewolf]

great work....Keep it up.

[darth_schröder]

Great! Lokking forward to see the finished armor.

[Skjoldhammar]

This is from over at our local garrisons forums, but he doesnt mind me posting them.





Just wanted to share them as an inspiration.

It looks friggin SWEET in real life

[ChaosHelljumper]

VERY NICE !!!!!

HOW MUCH !!!!!

Awesome iron man. I wish I had the skills to make something like that.

[Masterle247]

check out my iron man armor 90% completed




if you want to see more goto http://www.myspace.com/anthonyqle

[fettfan54]

***!! SO much better than I thought it would be. You have earned the name Iron Man!

[Masterle247]

lol thanks for the comment. The original poster used sintra i used only poster board. but his armor is cool too, i just need to finish on the shoes and then the butt and croach area. then im 100% done hehehe

[Masterle247]

here some update on my Iron man costume









enjoy, if you want to see more goto www.myspace.com/anthonyqle

[jawafive]

Seriously, that's amazing. I can't believe it's just poster board. The black outlines really make it pop.

[corby]

Masterle247, that suit is amazing! is the helmet made of posterboard too? if so, did you get plans for it somewhere or just figure it out yourself?

[Masterle247]

the helmet 80% of it is poster board, i originally bought it at walmart as the half small size kid mask. What i did was i chopped it up and extended where it needed it. Then i bondo the front face to the new length. Sanded until its smooth then primered it then painted . so the helmet was alot of work, and especailly making it full helmet from half helmet. but thanks for all your comments

[Masterle247]

Masterle247, that suit is amazing! is the helmet made of posterboard too? if so, did you get plans for it somewhere or just figure it out yourself?

i just figured it out myself, since there never a guides to be found on the internet.

[green_arrow102986]

sweet man think you could help me make my armor?

[SinisterFett]

Posterboard Iron man armour??? WOW!! That looks excellent

[Ghostsoldier]

Ahhh...the power of creative necessity! You guys have done wonders with posterboard...keep up the good work!
Rob

[GundamZeppelin]

I am impressed!

[Sixxgunn13]

poster board... WOW,

I would use a cheap pair of ski boots for ummmm boots...lol

that would top it!

[bywinsaniac]

Awesome! Hey Masterle, any chance you could set us up with some profile/back shots of the helmet? Also, maybe some close, detal shots of the chest/shoulders? I'm totally blown away by what you've done with posterboard!

-JJ

[setra]

wow i dunno how the hell i missed thios thread...im doing the same project man!



thats all i have so far...but there is a hell of a lot more to come!

[ImprovIronman]

Well this is the first time for me on this thread and the the first time for me on this forum, and the only reason i'm joining is because i used to be fascinated with armor and knights and stuff, and I want to be Ironman for Old Hallows Eve as well, and you guys, your armors are freakin sweet, and I hope its not to forward to ask if I may be able to take some of your design ideas and run with them?

I also had an idea that if you could make an all purpose armor with removeable weapons or helmets and what not, you might be able to create the different types of Ironman Armor, so one day you're Mark 2 Ironman, and the next day you're Warmachine.

[ErikGalindo]

I also had an idea that if you could make an all purpose armor with removeable weapons or helmets and what not, you might be able to create the different types of Ironman Armor, so one day you're Mark 2 Ironman, and the next day you're Warmachine.

Speaking of War Machine...my son asked to be him for Halloween this year, and since I doubt I'll find a costume for that...well. I'm still just starting, but I've learned alot about costume making from the fine people here at TDH, so I'll put up a new thread when I'm more along the way with it.

BTW, good work on the costumes shown above.

[Masterle247]

Left is War Machine Helmet being finished, right is my Iron man helmet being refinished to exact movie. im redoing it because im picky. Im in the process of making a War Machine Full custom Costume for my friend with all weapons.


More at www.myspace.com/anthonyle

[DangerRuss]

i use el lite strip for my helmet. only 25 bucks plus shipping. powered by 9 volt.

[DangerRuss]

hey paco, not bad looking good so far, i wish i had time to finish my costume...

[Masterle247]

quote=DangerRuss;340572]i use el lite strip for my helmet. only 25 bucks plus shipping. powered by 9 volt.[/quote]

well heres my eyes mod
[









-Cost N/A
-Powered By 3 volt battery

[ErikGalindo]

This version of War Machine, is it based off the second suit the use in the movie? The one Rhodey looks at and says, "Next time baby!". It looks more like that to me, or also the Stealth version they're selling as the toy. I know this is not the comic book version, or at least not the WM comics I have, that I'm going to base my kid's helmet on.

Left is War Machine Helmet being finished, right is my Iron man helmet being refinished to exact movie. im redoing it because im picky. Im in the process of making a War Machine Full custom Costume for my friend with all weapons.


More at www.myspace.com/anthonyle

[LOGANCLAW2242]

Masterle,

Great suit! Here are pics of my U.S. War Machine that I designed after the comic book version of U.S. war Machine. Your WM is gonna look sweet!

Paul D.

[SarlaccBits]

WOW! Amazing work.
o.0

[the_batman]

I love all the armors being designed/ I'll add mine to the pot soon/ I' am starting with the exoskeleton th





e the red and gold panels

[the_batman]

anthonyle, what did you make the white helmets out of????
they look awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Masterle247]

i made mins out of poster board, and sealed all the exposed edges with hot glue to water proof it more.

-LoganClaw thats awesome, the war machine costume im making is sticking close to is the movie armor. Only thing that may be a problem is my friend is really skinny. So i have to make it look cool.

-The Bat_man
looking great! cant wait to see the end results

-Thanks for the comment.

[Masterle247]

Recent Updates






More Pics





05-21-08





Still need to get the shoe covers done and need to be wearing full armor with update pictures


enjoy, if you want to see more goto www.myspace.com/anthonyqle

[SinisterFett]

Wow!! that posterboard armour really does look the biz, especially now you've done the lighting upgrades. :thumbup

[jodo]

*smacks self* Why can't I do such awsome projects!?!?!?! Looks realy good mate!

[Dougal]

Hey guys these look awesome!!!
Im making my own costume, but just wondered how you guys did the palm lights cus am having trouble figuring that one out thanks

[the_batman]

here are my latest mods on my helmet. I added 4 curved strips to allow the face shield to raise and lower....enjoy!
Oh! Anthonyle I tried finding the light strips, but I got alot of bad LED strips....

[corby]

here are my latest mods on my helmet. I added 4 curved strips to allow the face shield to raise and lower....enjoy!

thats flipping awesome dude!!!!

[Geo]

Beautiful work guys!!! Have any of you guys used the pepakura software for your suits?

Have you tried EL lights strips?


Geo

[ErikGalindo]

the_batman, that is an awesome idea for flipping up the face mask! I was thinking something more like a flap type movement, but I'll have to reconsider. Thanks for posting those pics!

And as if this wasn't enough work, with the armor, then lights, but umm...has anyone given any thought to putting in some kind of voice box to alter your voice? Similar to the Darth Vader/Optimus Prime helmets that came out not too long ago. If the lights are the icing on the cake, then a voice box would be the stripper who jumps out of said cake.

[DangerRuss]

hey batman, nice work! i'm experimenting with a flip up faceplate as well, when i make some progress i'll send you pics.

[the_batman]

thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm just glad there are others that share the same passion in designing these suits of ours....

[the_batman]

I went with the flip design because on halloween at the local mall do NOT allow adults to wear masks due to child abductors. So I made the flip helmet so I can still go trick and treating with my 5 yr old daughter and son. On the voice box, I took the voice box out of my nephew's transformer (Optimus Prime) costume I made for him last year. You can pick up the voice box at wal-mart for about $5-10 dollars in the toy section. I also have designed intenal compartments to hold a mp3 player with speakers built into the front and back of the shoulder joints. A superhero with his own theme music!!!lol!!!
Lastly, I'm adding thin plastic tubing with pin size holes through out the exoskeleton with 2 mini fans. This will prevent over heating in the suit.

Has anyone used a brush-on type resin on their suits???

[the_batman]

can't wait to see them!

[Masterle247]

here are my latest mods on my helmet. I added 4 curved strips to allow the face shield to raise and lower....enjoy!
Oh! Anthonyle I tried finding the light strips, but I got alot of bad LED strips....

dude i so love your creativity! i was thinking of doing that but dident have time since i goto school, work etc. So yeah im still thinking of doing a helmet mod like that so i dont have to take my helmet off all the time

[Masterle247]

I went with the flip design because on halloween at the local mall do NOT allow adults to wear masks due to child abductors. So I made the flip helmet so I can still go trick and treating with my 5 yr old daughter and son. On the voice box, I took the voice box out of my nephew's transformer (Optimus Prime) costume I made for him last year. You can pick up the voice box at wal-mart for about $5-10 dollars in the toy section. I also have designed intenal compartments to hold a mp3 player with speakers built into the front and back of the shoulder joints. A superhero with his own theme music!!!lol!!!
Lastly, I'm adding thin plastic tubing with pin size holes through out the exoskeleton with 2 mini fans. This will prevent over heating in the suit.

Has anyone used a brush-on type resin on their suits???

Use bondo, or fiberglass, since both is light weight. I usded bondo for the helmet. So that it would be strong yet smooth

[Omegus Maximus]

That's AWESOME!

[HeadlessHunter]

So many kick *** Iron-Man's (Iron-Men?) out there

[Masterle247]

Update on Helmet mod!
May 24th 2008

ok I saw The_batman helmet mod, and it just made me say forget it" so i went out and got parts to make the helmet flip. Only thing i need to finish is to re-wire the L.E.D. Also ran to walmart and tryed to fin the Voice box and i guess they fdont have it anymore. If anyone knows a place to buy it for cheap let me know ^_^ enjoy the pictures.

Angle helm View

Front View Helm

[tubachris85x]

thats pretty **** cool right thar

[the_batman]

nice work!!!! try doing 4 joints for the face plate. 4 joints make it more stable and it moves in a very michanical way. 2 joints at the temple and 2 joints on the cheeks.
Again you suit is very cool!!!! OH, the voice boxes are in the toy section usually across from the toy $1.00 section....

[the_batman]

here are the gloves I made over lunch to day at work. I just nide to put some type of hardner on them then prime and paint. I've got full range of motion and they are durable. I made the housing for the lights out of water bottle caps and added 3 leds instead of 1. I used foam for the palms and card board for the back of the hands. The fingertips are made of plastic. I got burned alot doing this with the hot glue gun, but it was worth it.

[the_batman]

here are some of the costumes I designed before. The batman suit is about 3yrs old. We used it for my daughters birthday for a batman action show. not shown are the scarecrow, comm. Gordan, and swat team member costumes we made. The pick with Batman, Optimus prime and Arcee are from last halloween. the kids costumes had lights, voice changer, air conditioning.
The last on is of my wife in a future police/ ghost in the shell type armored gear. enjoy everyone... Never stop designing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[the_batman]

****! sorry about the picture size.. My wife is going to kill me!!!

[Masterle247]

lol thats awsome that your wife gets in on it lol, and that P90 shes holding we sell it at where i work at. Oh for the voice box i dident see it anywhere when i went, believe me i wasent going ther to leave empty handed

[Masterle247]

here are the gloves I made over lunch to day at work. I just nide to put some type of hardner on them then prime and paint. I've got full range of motion and they are durable. I made the housing for the lights out of water bottle caps and added 3 leds instead of 1. I used foam for the palms and card board for the back of the hands. The fingertips are made of plastic. I got burned alot doing this with the hot glue gun, but it was worth it.

lol i know about getting burned alot from hot glue XD but you get used to it hehe. love the pictures of the costumes too

[Masterle247]

-The_BATMAN i forgot to ask are you making war machine or IronMan its hard to tell, since he has many armors lol.

[the_batman]

i'M DOING IRONMAN.....LOL!!!

[the_batman]

finished my neck piece!!! I tried it on with the helmet and I can turn my head and I can nod up and down....