Iron Man Mark III Build Help Wanted

Hey everyone

This isn't a WIP yet, but hopegully will be soon. I have the Pepakura files for teh Mark III and I am getting ready to transfer to cardstock and begin assembling the armor.

Does anyone have any suggestions when It comes to putting the cardstock together? I have never done this before and all the help in the world would be greatly appreciated. I've been watching tutorials and looking through other threads to get a feel for it.

I'm starting with the Mark III because it isn't super freaking detailed and it more smooth. Figured it would be an easier start than the VI or VII

Thanks!

The way i do it is with hot glue but i have also heard of people using super glue as well.

I used super glue gel through out all the paper pep I did on my build. It worked pretty well for me.
http://www.therpf.com/f9/iron-man-ma...ad-shin-99878/

Superglue Gel all the way.

You may also want to check out the Pepakura sticky at the top of the forum. There is TONS of advice in it, especially for Iron Man costumers ( http://www.therpf.com/f24/pepakura-q...s-first-87056/ )

Good luck.

-Nick

Hey thanks guys. I'll check out the threads you recommended.

I can tell you super-glue gel is the only way to go. It keeps the seams tight and is very quick to keep the build going.

Good Luck!

However, in some cases (I found) what was labelled as "superglue gel" was not actually a gel and was absorbed into the paper instantly... So perhaps some recommended brands might be an idea

Here's what I've always used. Someone else might have another suggestion, but this stuff has never done me wrong.

Loctite Super Glue Gel Control from Loctite Adhesives

-Nick

I feel that the cost of super glue will be really high in the end.

I saw in Stealth's tutorials he uses hot glue

Oh another question. Do you just have to eye ball the files and armor to find out how much each piece needs to be folded or is there a more specific method?

Regarding the cost of glue: you only need one tiny dot of glue on the center of your tabs to hold it. No need to get crazy and smother every tab.

Just start building, it's the best advice I can give you regarding the tab folding. So long as you score your fold lines and give it an initial fold in the proper direction based on the lines (Mountain vs. Valley fold lines) just line up your numbers precisely, and the pieces will fold every piece and line the proper amount. It works because geometrically, those pieces only fit together 1 way in 3D space.

Try it out, and you'll see what I mean. Good luck!

-Nick

TheNickFox said:

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Regarding the cost of glue: you only need one tiny dot of glue on the center of your tabs to hold it. No need to get crazy and smother every tab.

Just start building, it's the best advice I can give you regarding the tab folding. So long as you score your fold lines and give it an initial fold in the proper direction based on the lines (Mountain vs. Valley fold lines) just line up your numbers precisely, and the pieces will fold every piece and line the proper amount. It works because geometrically, those pieces only fit together 1 way in 3D space.

Try it out, and you'll see what I mean. Good luck!

-Nick

Hey thanks a lot man. That actually makes a lot of sense. Now i just need to see if my printer will print cardstock!

Well, for my foam build I found a flexible super glue from Rockler that is working out very well. It has a lot more glue for price and seems better thent he superglue gel I was using in the past.

Since I mostly try to build in foam I'll do my rapid proto typing with cardstock and tape which comes out rather sturdy. this is done mostly to confirm my scales and such and to get a good idea of how the foam might need to be altered to go together. With slapping a small bit of tape of both sides they peps come out very sturdy.

Dean

Thanks,

For my stormtrooper armor I used E-6000, which is like the god glue for the 501st, but that just takes so long to dry I didn't want to use it. Are the glues you guys are mentioning quick to dry?

In my experience, Loctite Superglue gel I linked earlier gives you under 5 seconds of working time. The less you use, the faster it sets.

If you want fast, you won't be disappointed.

-Nick

Yes, as long as you use it properly a drop at a time then it sets fairly quick in about 5 - 10 seconds. If you glob it on then you're gonna be holding it for a bit. I do have an accelerator on hand just in case of excess bottle squeeze. I've found that I run a line of dots along the foam and slowly work from one side to the other while gluing a couple inches at a time works great.

Dean

I used elmers glue all for my pep work and it held great even during the glassing stage for the helmet and chest gave me about 15 to twenty seconds of play before it held tight. but I enjoyed having that freedom for my first pep build. I would dab a little glue on the tab in hand and then smear it even across the surface with a little paper spreader I made. (it helped with the tight areas a lot) After that it was definitely just lining up the numbers properly.

This is lots of great help.

I'll actually be purchasing cardstock later today so I can actually start on this thing.

I think the way I want to do it is pep and then resin/fiberglass cloth each piece so that I don't have to worry about crushing a piece later on on accident. Then I'll bondo, detail and paint it all at the same time.

Any other suggestions with doing this?

I don't expect my first one to turn out all that spectacular but it will still be cool to say that I made this quite literally from nothing.

I've had good luck with Loctite Superglue. I buy the 20 gram bottle from my local craft store, or Amazon.



You'll often find that there are tabs you need to glue in a specific order, but they become hard to get to in tight spaces. These come in very handy:

ooooh I may have to look into grabbing a set of those. I bet they do help a lot