Iron Man Mk3 Build

I just wanted to say hello! I am new to RPF but have to say that the level of hard work, craftman/woman-ship and loving attention to detail is inspirational! I was invited to a superhero themed party and didn't want an off the shelf costume so started on YouTube. Lord what I saw made me go looking for Pep files and then build ideas and then to the RPF! I am starting my build and will be posting pictures, asking for ideas and input often. You all rock and have so much talent!
I am sure someone has already tried this, but I wanted to do a build by starting with the Peps of course, covering them with resin, redoing all the details and filling holes with sculpting clay, then silicon molds folowed by rotocasting like the gentleman from XRobots on YouTube did. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="XRobots - Quite a boring video about moulding my Iron Man suit legs with Silicone RTV - YouTube" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> This vs bondo. If anyone has tried that and wants to offer pros and cons I would rather not reinvent the wheel!
Here is a pic of my first serious bigger piece. I had to throw a couple attempts in the trash as I figured out that Hot Glue and me do not mix at all. (That stuff sticks to your skin like naplam) It is my Iron Man boot. I still have a long way to improve but as attempts go???? well you all judge. I really couldn't find a specific MK3 Pep for boots so this is close and I'll fix on the resculpt. I am laying up the resin tomorrow, then laying up my clay... molding in silicon will wait till I have a few more parts done... Sorry the photos so huge LOL! I have to figure out how to shrink it. I have a really strong back ground in radio control airplanes and want to servo drive as many flaps, gadgets and boot details as possible so I hope to keep you all entertained with my disasters and successes!
I want to give a shout out to Projectearth7 for his patience and inspiration too!
Many thanks!

Thanks for the shout outs! I have so much to learn and you all have been there and experienced all the problems and the hits too. I was thinking the same thing about the hot glue as well, the bumps might stick out as you sand close to the seams and make the primer blanche away or any numbe of issues. I have some paint and body work experience from my younger days LOL! I know what primer and paint hate... Surreal I hade to say that after I found your boot I tossed MK1 paper pep to the curb! I saw that I had better bring my A game on to this site, plus I was un happy with the scaling. It seemed to small for an Iron Man suit. I have seem some awesome builds with dainty appearing feet. It makes things look top heavy to me... Back to the cutting board.
Projectearth7 You are awesome and thanks again for the warm welcome and support! I can't wait for the progress reports and thanks for the rubber cement ideas.
My wife thank God is a huge Marvel fan so isn't to freaked by my new found obsession LOL! Unfortunately she's an Xmen fan...I don't know how we must sound, me 49 her 36 arguing in public how Iron Man can kick Magnetos and Storms butts. So she understands, haha! wait till she sees the silicon and fiberglass molds....that should lead to some interesting discussions....well off to my day job! Cyanosis!

Hey all, I tell you, I am enjoying my continued adventures into my boot build. I am sure the problems I am experiencing are not new to anyone here. If you remember I am starting at the bottom and working up...I am on my third boot.
I am also starting to get the hang of posting to RPF. I apologize if I break format or don't do something right! Please feel free to post me if I mention you and didnt give proper credit or if you need me to change something in reference to yourself!! I really appreciate how cool everyone has been and how helpful too! Any complaints or observations are my own, I find that everyone here, especially the people who build and unfold these wonderful Pep files amazing, and my issues are related to my inexperience or difficulties I experience as I try to modify them and not with the original files!!
There are several problems I have dealt with. Number one was not finding a good boot pdo. Then finding too many LOL! I hope to find a Dancin_fool boot someday!! Check out his pdo's I intend to use them for the rest of my build! Here is a link to his thread! http://www.therpf.com/f24/dancinfool...-files-101543/
I really liked the look of the Robo3687 foot pdo. It has a nice tech look and sharp edges on the profile. That is the one pictured in my first post. It is a nice build, but it has no pivot build in and was going to need mods to be what I wanted. Second problem for me, is that it also has a scale of (19.29) preset, that is child small. That is the scale of the one in the picture number one.I have rebuilt the boot on the (22.9) scale and it is closer. This was a problem for me because when you look at the numbers you get a correct height but the depth seemed to come out wacky on mine. It was nowhere close to the posted 130 mm!! So you will have to tweek and measure, then go bigger! I am incidentally a size 10/11 shoe depending on brand.
I mentioned to someone in another thread, "dont be aftraid to start over "LOL! So I rebuilt at the 22.9 and it is a tiny bit tight, but since I am cutting everything apart to combine boots it shouldnt matter. If it does, I'll just reprint the specific part at (30 or 31 scale)
I plan on using the upper part of that boot for my super boot.. I stumbled on Surreal Studios build of the Zabana boot...in the words of Christopher Walken, "WOW!" IRON MAN MARK III build... Unibeam Fun at Avengers IMAX Premier ! pg.36 If you look around page 28 of his thread, you will see pieces of his boot! Please look at the whole thread, the work there is masterful!
I want to quickly thank Surreal Studios (Shout out to Matt for being such an inspiration and very willing to help) He did a magnificent build of the Zabana boot pdo. with mods.
Also you need to check out his Unibeam too! It is absolutely spectacular, and he builds them for folks to purchase! http://www.therpf.com/f13/surreal-st...-stark-141877/
I liked the Zabana Boot pdo he told me about, especially the sole and the front/toe area with the build in pivot! I really wasn't to crazy about the open back section. I want something more enclosed like Robo..
Here is a picture of Robo3687 boot one and the parts of boot 2 that I have built.you can see the scale difference!
You can see that it is a sharp boot too! here is the profile again.
I am almost finished with the Zabana boot! It is a beautiful unfold, be aware that it had tons and I mean tons of micro pyramid folds. LOL! you know the ones, the tiny triangles that take ages to cut out. Pep guru's will probably be able to simplify the unfold, but us noobies are stuck. Still I will post the completed Z boot with a side by side with Robo387before I kit bash them together into the superboot. Then we will be off to resin and finishing in prep for molding in silicon!
Lastly, if anyone can share by PM how to post the pics as expandable thumbnails I would apreciate it! I use Photobucket and it blasts out these Mufasa jumbo pictures. I am sure the site will appreciate me using smaller pics !

Very excited, just laid my first coat of resin on my test boot! Here are the pictures! After it hardens I can start Experimenting with my skinning techniques!!! Still working on super boot! Zaban boot has tons of details and tons of folds!! :P
First shot, boy this stuff hardens fast!

All sealed and when cured I'll get the second coat on!
Happy day!

So, If you have been reading about my developement of my Iron Man armor, you know my goal is to goto mold and lay up my parts in poured plastic. I'd love to have an immediately ready to wear suit, but really want a suit that I can wear to Comicon Orlando, rather than a rapid build. I really don't care to work with Bondo, as my stint in paint and body work really wore out my love of this useful and benefical product. Just personal nothing valid... (hate the dust, the smell, the times it wont sand, ect) So since I am not intending to wear the pre-mold armor I have been looking into...alternative ways to bring the resin hardened pep files up to a finished state. One that will accept all the details, have sharp crisp lines and be smooth as glass. It will need to be mildly durable as I pour/brush the silicon around it. Once I have my mold, Bazinga!
I thought that I'd try modeling clay...well, LOL! no one stopped me. It goes on soft and is maliable and it cost a whopping $8 for a 10lb box. Probably enough to do 2 or 3 Iron Man builds!
I took my test piece and feathered it on and let it dry. Here is the picture. (the pep was not resin treated for this test, it was just card stock.

I'd say that was an fail! As we have to put thin coats over large sections of armor. I had thought that It would harden up a little better, actually.

You can see the cracks, just from one mild flex. Granted the material would sand and I'd be able to shape it, but any serious manipulation, llike packing clay around it and prepping for molding would render it useless...
I am a pretty good DIYer around the house and if you ask anyone, I am very good at spackling! *LOL! * Seriously, I love the stuff, it goes on like cake frosting and hardens to a sandable hard plaster. So that is my next try! I may still end up in bondo, but I will be able to say I gave it my best and not sit there covered in enough Bondo dust to build a Corvette and say over and over to myself, "there has to be an alternative!"
Here is the resin covered test boot with a light coat of spackle.

The cool thing about it is that it is meant to be put on in thin layers and it drys slow so mistakes are easy to fix. It hardens up and can be sanded or cutting tools can be applied and all I will need is sand paper, emry boards and small sanding blocks. I can hopefully use fine sanding paper too for a smooth finish. I can also spray on a coat of clear spray paint for a super smooth finish and wet sand it as that will protect the plaster which hates getting wet!
Lastly I will not need all the gear I'd need for a Bondo build! No, DA sanders no expensive Bondo. No small angled sanders to re sculpt all the details....no... you get my point! : I might be able to save my money for my mold making and paint! Here's the pictures.

I am waiting for the stuff to dry...Hmmm that might be a down side?? Slow drying time?? I'll let you know!

I'll be back as soon as this stuff drys and I start sandning it! It might be an epic fail or it may work. My only real concern is that the resin, even after 2 coats is still slightly bendy and flexible on the big areas. The spackle may "firm" that up or I may have to switch over and buy smooth cast 321 and catalyst hardener so that the pep is more rigid like Stealth did on YouTube! Stealths video shows that this stuff hardens up really realy well, has less fumes and that might be the ticket. But I'm going to see how the resin workd first as that is what I have.
Alternative to Fiberglass Resin on Pepakura Parts Method - YouTube

So I still haven't figured out how to put up smaller photos LOL! :P
I am very, very happy tonight! These are the pictures of round one of spackle and literally, no really literally 10 - 12 minutes of sanding!!!! The spackle sticks like glue, sands like a dream and you can wet sand with a soft sponge at the middle stages. Zenman is correct I will have to either reinforce the pep with fiber glass, at least in the soft areas and around the the edges or the flex can cause the spacle to chip.
I am going to try the Smooth Cast 320. I am going to spend some time looking for the best prices first though.. Stealths peps looked rock hard after an inside outside coat, so that is for me. If I can avoid F-glass until the last phases of strengthening my cast parts I will! here are a couple of pics!

This is only a test boot that I am not going any further with it, But you can see the preliminary results are very promising!

Well *sigh* back to my Zabana boot. Thank god I only have to do one as they are mirrored. Then on to shins!! I am not going to cast anything until I get a few parts done..I am excited about trying larger parts.