Ironman Costume for 5yr old - LINKS on PAGE 1 - tips & important bits

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Shoulder Bell Work

Another small update...

I finished up the foam test shoulder bell and have coated in three heavy layers of plasti-dip. I think it's sorta crappy with too many edges, but I've taken it this far so I might as well finish up the painting process and see what it looks like when finished.

I'm kinda thinking that it makes the most sense to just go with this (and another for the Right side) so I can get on to building the chest, back, legs, boots, abs, etc, etc.

Here are some pictures...

5956338777_ff7e6fe654.jpg

Shoulder Bell built from 3mm EVA closed-cell foam smoothed a bit with latex caulk.

5960011908_3c1989dbc5.jpg

After several coats of plasti-dip (prior to final painting).

5960012960_9fc4394998.jpg

Same Shoulder Bell from the reverse (back) side.

****

Building will be on hold tomorrow. Mikey goes into the hospital for a test that will happen Friday morning. Prior to the test he can't eat or drink for 24 hours. During this time the doctors will give him medicine that will 'flush' his system during his stay Thursday. With some of Michael's Sensory Integration issues, tomorrow at Children's Hospital won't be much fun for him. My wife is handling the day shift and I'm going over after work tomorrow to have a 'sleep-over' with Mikey tomorrow evening in his room.

Luckily, this is a one-time test and after Friday morning my little buddy will be 'right as rain' and ready to chow-down on some serious food! :)
 
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Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Shoulder Bell Work

Finished up the first foam Shoulder Bell last night...

After adhiesive promoter, it was painted with Dupli-Color Dark Cherry Metallic auto paint. And then a quick coat of clear gloss for plastics.

5965962696_5b2aba7b96.jpg


Then it's weathered with a faux-blackwash. I call it that cause, it's not really created by the technique but it looks similar. As I have some fabric paint sitting around, I just paint on this effect with a small brush rather than using thinned acrylic or oil-based paint.
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And then I touch-up the edges with a bit of silver leaf rub-n-buff to give it that 'chipped paint' look.

5966429171_dfbab41485.jpg


It's not mounted yet, but that shows were it will be in general...

I've got most of the foam pieces cut out for the Right Shoulder Bell. I'll work on assembling and painting that piece this weekend.

Thanks, again, to Graphic Jordan that strongly suggested sticking with foam for the bells. It worked out well and it will continue to keep the build more flexible and comfortable for Mikey!

***

Lastly, Mikey came home last night from his hospital visit and GI test. It looks like we're going to have to move him to a full Gluten-Free diet. :(
 
Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Shoulder Bell Work

LOOKS AMAZING!

I am going to have to ship my whole suit to you for painting lol. You've done a wonderful job! Mikey is going to be soooo damn lucky.

Glad he is home from the hospital. Sucks he is gluten-free now. I know that can be expensive from a grocery standpoint. I have a co-worker that is allergic to gluten and has to be very careful about the things he eats.
 
Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Shoulder Bell Work

Here's the right Shoulder Bell. I've smoothed a couple rough seams and now that's curing before I can start the plasti-dip and painting.

5967562737_29332d7232.jpg



******

While I wait, I'm starting to work on scaling the BRACE piece for the chest build.

Does anyone have any pictures of someone wearing the Brace piece (without the chest and back) so I can see how this piece should fit Mikey?

Thanks!
 
Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Shoulder Bell Work

I've now built two and half Brace pieces trying to nail the scale for Mikey. The problem for me lies with how BIG his head is. If I make the scale big enough for Mikey to fit his head through the brace's opening, it's nearly full adult size (which I know won't work when I scale the chest and back the same amount).

So, now I'm planning on just cutting the brace open along the shoulder line. That way he can get it on without it having to go over his head.

I'm only seen one picture of this brace piece being worn (without the chest and back also on)...

Can anyone verify that this scale is correct?

5977644258_5126435402.jpg
 
Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Shoulder Bell Work

Mockle said:
I guess is the the hole where the Arc goes looks too low ???
Click to expand...

Yeah, see that's the issue... I've been changing up Robo's files from the ~25% range to the ~17% range (depending on the piece); however, in this case the neck hole is WAY too small to fit over Mikey's head at ~17%. At ~21% the thing is too big... This one (pictured) is at 19% and would still definitely need to be sliced open to allow him to get it on.

I guess the chest being a little big would be better than it being a little small, but I'm finding the scaling process for this section to be harder than expected.

I guess my other option would be to pep the full chest piece until I get the scale right... Honestly, I would have just preferred to pep the brace 3-4 times and not the full chest piece. :unsure
 
Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Trouble Scaling the Chest/Back

well it's all about making it comfortable for Mikey, so I reckon you could get away with not even doing the brace...the brace does very little for the external appearance anyway (its only real purpose was to help hold the abs and lower body up) so you could just add those pieces in with foam later...

so I'd say just scale the chest/back to where it needs to be and don't worry about the brace....

hope that helps...

Edit: if you have trouble getting enough room for mikeys head I'd be willing to modify the chest and back to widen it up a little for him
 
Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Trouble Scaling the Chest/Back

robo3687 said:
Edit: if you have trouble getting enough room for mikeys head I'd be willing to modify the chest and back to widen it up a little for him
Click to expand...

I really appreciate your offer, but I think I'll be ok to mod the pep once I build it up in card stock. Most of the pieces on the final suit are modified quite a bit post-pep due to the tiny size and odd proportions.

I was definitely planning on using the brace as support (chest mostly). But had been kicking around the idea of keeping the brace (modded to open for getting it on and off) and actually bringing the brace neckline a bit higher -- as I have to delete the neck seal for comfort reasons (I will likely have a fabric hood of some sort that I will just paint up to look armored rather than using the foam neck seal).

I guess my issue is really laziness... I just didn't want to pep the chest out completely to test for scale. :confused I know that's the best way to do it... I just thought if I nailed the scale with the brace I could pep the chest and back ONE TIME rather than a couple of times while trying to hit the right scale.

Looks like I need to just buck up and start pepping. :$
 
Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Trouble Scaling the Chest/Back

Oh well now that you put it that way....lol...that does make sense....

I guess that why you guys are the builders and I'm just the designer...lol
 
Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Trouble Scaling the Chest/Back

One more Chest-Related question for those of you that have built this suit before (and/or worn it). I was looking at the movie prop images and noticed that the cod piece pep I fiberglassed is actually both the cod piece AND the first segment of the abs over each hip.

Now, that's not an issue, except that I also notice how close that is to the chest piece.

5977550649_5203e5599c.jpg


Do any of you have any issues with these two pieces touching or otherwise hindering your movement side-to-side?

For Mikey, I might actually dremel that extra section off just to there's more very flexible thin foam (or even fabric) abs area between the chest and the cod piece.

Thoughts?
 
Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Trouble Scaling the Chest/Back

Jon. That image you posted is the suit on his wall of armor.. thus is slouching much more than usual. Look at any other pic and there is wayyyyy more distance between chest and cod/lower ab segment.
 
Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Trouble Scaling the Chest/Back

I didn't build that part on my suit as you've probably noticed. My abs from top to bottom are all eva. its way more flexible and comfortable than having that extra part attached to the cod. Also you won't have to worry about rubbing the chest area and that piece together.
 
Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Trouble Scaling the Chest/Back

Some more progress... slowly but surely.

I've almost finished the paper pep build for Mikey's chest. I'm pleased with the scale, so a big 'thank you' to all the folks that gave me feedback as I tried to get the Brace scaled so I could avoid pepping the chest multiple times! :):thumbsup

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Next up... building the Back pep in card stock and then I'll have to make the foam-friendly templates out of the Brace, Chest and Back peps.
 
Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Chest Progress

Thanks, Jordan and STEALTH!

As I'm building the chest pep, I've been toying with the idea of buying some stretchy fabric (maybe from HERE) to do Mikey's Abs in.

I'm thinking that I can glue this to the inside bottom edge of Mikey's chest armor and then velcro it along the inside top edge of Mikey's Waist/Cod piece. If it's stretched tight, color matched to the rest of the armor and has some painted detail lines it might look passable for Halloween!

Here is the screen-shoot of the 4-way stretchy latex coated spandex.


I've talked to the Spandex World, and they are sending me samples of this as well as some other reds and even something from their metallic collection.

I'm not sure if there's a solution anyone could use for an adult suit in this, but I think it's worth looking into for my scaled down 5yr old Ironman version!

What do you think?
 
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