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

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - How I Make Foam Parts Video

Leander said:

thanks, I'm confident enough to start building now.. had my foam gathering dus for a week now

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Awesome! I can't wait to see what you create... and I can't really can't wait to see how those Ironman eyes come out with that reflective tape you got! :thumbsup

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - How I Make Foam Parts Video

Hope the tape arrives soon

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - How I Make Foam Parts Video

Tonight was all about seam-doctoring on the foam arm pieces (all of which have been built now). I've been using latex caulk for this, as you can apply it before the plasti-dip OR in between layers if necessary.

I also got the last of the hardware installed and started the painting process on a couple pieces. I have the other forearm piece almost finished (only the last application of Adhesive Promoter and then the gloss for plastics spray - followed by detailing).

The other exciting thing is that I finished the plasti-dip primer layer of paint on the first bicep piece tonight. It took several layers and some touch-up with the latex caulk at one point, but here is what it looks like tonight.



Tomorrow night is the last night before we head to Florida on our family's summer vacation. I'm not bringing a single thing from the Ironman build with me (as my brother and I will have a 3D printer to build while both our families are staying at my parent's house and taking advantage of the free babysitting!).

Until my final build update post tomorrow night, I'll leave you with this great picture of our hairless cat, Seth (the one that caused all that noise in the foam-building video)...



He has some sweaters and t-shirts, so I guess I could create the first Iron-CAT suit for him? :love

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - How I Make Foam Parts Video

Jon. How is the latex caulking applied over the seams? Squirt some on and then smooth with a wet finger tip? What's your method?

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - How I Make Foam Parts Video

Graphic Jordan said:

Jon. How is the latex caulking applied over the seams? Squirt some on and then smooth with a wet finger tip? What's your method?

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I used both my fingers (very messy) and the backside of my exacto knife (although a small flexible spreader would have made it a lot easier).

NOTE: IF you use caulk, you have to apply at least one coat of plasti-dip or other primer before using the adhesive promoter and final paint coat. The adhesive promoters reacts differently to the caulk and the foam, so the final coat (if applied directly to the foam and caulk without a rubberizing primer, will come out looking splotchy and uneven across the different materials).

Now, as a disclaimer... if I had selected a latex/fabric paint as the original color for the suit, you could just use that across all materials (both hardened and soft). But since I painted the helmet first with auto paint, I was stuck trying to engineer a way to be able to use that paint over all the foam pieces I'm now constructing. :confused

So, my first suggestion to anyone painting foam (or including foam in their build) is to PICK A LATEX/FABRIC paint -- if possible. There are some vinyl/fabric spray paint that I found at auto stores... and it worked very good - so that might work. However, the drawback is that your selection of colors will be limited... and metallic or high-gloss finishes will probably be even more limited.

IF you pick an auto paint for any of your foam suit, this is the method I'm currently using...

A. 2-3 coats Plasti-Dip
B. 3-4 coats of Dupli-Color Adhesive Promoter
C. 2-3 coats of Desired Color (Dupli-Color Dark Cherry Metallic auto paint)
D. 2-3 coats of Dupli-Color Adhesive Promoter
E. 1 coat of Rustoleum Clear Gloss Spray Paint for Plastic



Here is a picture of the Plasti-Dip I use, the Dupli-color Adhesive Promoter and the Dark Cherry Metallic auto paint. The only thing NOT pictured here is the Rustoleum Clear Gloss Spray Paint for Plastic (available at auto stores).

I've wanted to try Pit Bull Adhesive Promoter (as I'm heard it rocks), but at nearly $20 per can... I'm not jumping on that just yet. :confused


Hope that helps!

Message me if you have any other questions.

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - How I Make Foam Parts Video

i swear man, i've never used foam or even considered it with my builds. but after reading through this thread and watching the progress i feel like i could just pick it up and go! the detailed process you supply here is amazing and much appreciated!

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - How I Make Foam Parts Video

master

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - How I Make Foam Parts Video

fantasic work!!! and thanks for all your help also

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - How I Make Foam Parts Video

phaeren86 said:

i swear man, i've never used foam or even considered it with my builds. but after reading through this thread and watching the progress i feel like i could just pick it up and go! the detailed process you supply here is amazing and much appreciated!

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Totaly agree! Thanks for everything

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - How I Make Foam Parts Video

Thanks for all the supportive comments! All of those really help keep me motivated and enjoying the build even when things don't turn out quite as well as I expected.

...and speaking of things not turning out quite as expected, I gave up and fell into bed last night around 2am after struggling with two of the arm pieces I attempted to paint yesterday evening. I followed all of the procedures I detailed previously (and had worked perfectly on other pieces), but for some reason I couldn't get the final coat to gloss-up the finish. I even tried additional gloss coatings, but NOTHING prevented it from returning to a flat finish.

The only thing I can think of that might have made a difference would be - humidity. As strange as that sounds, it had rained most of the afternoon and this morning is the whole city was covered in thick fog. Since I work outside on this project, and since all the other pieces I've done were during HOT and dry times, I can only assume the this humidity change effected the paint's ability to dry glossy...

In fact, upon 'googling' the subject, I found this little tidbit:
"Paint..having fast evaporating solvents will blush (lose gloss) in the flash-off zone of a curing line. As you know, evaporation is cooling. As the faster solvents evaporate, they condense moisture in the high Relative Humidity air which falls as fine droplets onto the paint film affecting a gloss reduction."

Curse you Chemistry and your vile complexities! :angry

Anyway, the crappy thing about this affair is the fact that I will have to wait nearly 10 days to prove this humidity/gloss-reduction effect, as we head out to Florida tonight for our family vacation.

It's depressing to pack up the project for over a week with this unanswered question lingering.


BAD NEWS: This thread will go quite for the next 10 days. Sorry folks, it's 'family' time! :love

GOOD NEWS: I plan on posting some updates regarding my related project my brother and I will be working on in while in Florida with me - a 3D printer.

If all goes well, I could have access to printing plastic parts for this build or future ones from 3D computer models. It's pretty exciting! However, since I don't want to clutter up this thread with that side project, I'm going to just update THIS THREAD I posted on the subject.

I hope everyone enjoys next week and I'll update you as soon as I get back home after vacation! :thumbsup

Take Care!

UPDATE 7:30pm 6/10/11 --
I couldn't keep from testing out the humidity issue before leaving... So, I hit the two pieces I had worked ALL night on with a coat of Adhesive Promoter and then one coat of that gloss for plastics this nice dry and hot evening... PERFECTION!!!

It was ALL the Humidity's fault... However, a quote from a friend at work was the best: "You know what they say... It's not the HEAT, it's the STUPIDITY." Nice. Very nice.

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Update 6/24

I'm back from vacation, we have power back on at our house (it's been out due to severe storms for a couple days) and I have ordered a new laptop HD (as mine died this week). All things considered, it's been a rough week. :confused

...but FINALLY I'm able to get back to work on Mikey's Ironman suit...

I painted up the first bicep piece and finished the other forearm armor. Here's some quick pics...



bicep armor with red painted area taped off... ready for gold paint.


final paint is done... but they need a bit of weathering...


A bit of light weathering makes them look so much better...

I've got the Elbow pieces and the other bicep piece to finish painting... and I also need to get the handplates pepped and harden this weekend in order to stay on schedule. I'd love to get far enough along to work out the first of the repulsor/glove parts (and the electric trigger for the light and sound).... we'll see.

More later! :thumbsup

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Update 6/24

glad to have you back!! I've been missing your updates! Great build!

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Update 6/24

That's a really cool project. Looks like you are doing a great job

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Update 6/24

Just some minor updates...

Assembled one of the arms and Mikey's 3yr old brother offered to model it...


I also tried to create a fiberglass-hardened handplate, but I struggled with getting the two piece properly lined up for hinging (which I plan to use for the repulsor trigger). So, I foam built one as a test of that material...




Hopefully, I get to post an update tonight that has Mikey in all the pieces we have finished up so far... but we'll see. It's raining AGAIN today so the humidity will kill my gloss finishing coats so I don't know if I can finish up the last two arm pieces or not. :thumbsdown

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Update 6/24

These builds are so awesome. *looks at sad, cyberman costume*

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Update 6/24

blf said:

These builds are so awesome. *looks at sad, cyberman costume*

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You better not be talking about the Cyberman costume you're working on for your daughter. I've been keeping up with your build and showing my daughter your WIP. It's looking really good!

I know for my build, most of the WIP photos don't do the pieces justice. Once you paint them (and do a bit of weathering), those same pieces look 1000% better!

I have NO doubt your daughter will be the BEST dressed kid town!!!

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Update 6/24

With just four short months until Halloween (and with very little actually finished), I had to sit down and write up a build schedule that would get Mikey a completed suit by mid-Oct. What I discovered was pretty scary.

To get everything complete, it's going to be a challenge. Through the end of yesterday, my build schedule had me completing the arms and starting on the handplates.

Ok, so here's the weekend update...

Finishing the arms. Done! Hurrah!!!



Here's a shot of all the piece I currently have done...


And here are two rough pics of Mikey in what we have created so far.... I apologize for the bad pictures... Michael was pretty excited to be this much of the armor!



So that's where we're at the end of June.

I'll be posting a longer post today regarding my plans and work so far on the handplates...

Have a GREAT week!

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Arms Finished!

That is so awesome. Bet he's going to be the coolest kid on his block come Trick or Treat.

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Update 6/24

REPLUSORS:

In the past I posted some of my initial thoughts on the subject of gloves and how I'd like the repulsors to work (LONG POST ON THE SUBJECT HERE).

I broke down the build into the following categories:

UNDER ARMOR BASE GLOVES
In the original post, I debated cloth vs wool. After that post and some additional materials tests, Joe (TK171) pointed me toward some some great child-size riding gloves (which I purchased and modified slightly to match Mikey's hands). I'll be using these for Michael's Under Armor Base Gloves.



BUILD MATERIALS -- PEP vs SCRATCH BUILD
I'm still leaning toward scratch building these rather than pepping them. I am also adding the option of FABRIC PAINTING them rather than applying a bunch of hardened piece to his gloves... after all, he needs to be able to get candy or perform tricks on Oct 31st.


ELECTRONICS -- LIGHT IT UP!
I'm also still planning to use the two 9 LED mini-flashlights I picked up for the repulsor lights. I will cut down to just the thickness of the LEDs and then wire it to the main battery power pack for the suit.

The circumference of the mini-flashlight housing is almost perfectly scale for my 5yr old's hand and the light is intensely bright.

With the light squared away, I'm now focused on making the light strobe and adding sound. To do that, I'm breaking apart a $3 arc reactor toy that has a sound FX component and a light controller. The light controller will be wired to the 9 LED flashlight at Mikey's palm and then those wires will run back to the switch which will activate the sounds and flashes via the toy's circuit board.



TRIGGER -- HANDPLATE PLANS
Now, I've got the board with the sound and light control, I have the 9 LED light for the palm of the hand and I have a good solid base glove to mount all this stuff to... So, what's missing? A trigger!

I really want Mikey to be able to 'fire' these repulsors at will, and to do that I need to design something that triggers the sound and lights when he tips his hand back (into firing position).

I played around with several designs for triggers, but most of involved the electronics being housed on the gloves. That seemed dangerous for me, as I figure Mikey will shed these at some point so he can use his hands more freely. And, in that case, these things will be heavy and bulky and probably easy to bang up and damage.

So, my new plan is to hinge the two pieces of the handplate armor so I can build the repulsor trigger into the handplate (which will be hard-mounted on the wrist/bracer piece).

This solves two problems. First, it's a safe and secure location for the electronics (as that piece will not get knocked around as much as the glove). And secondly, it allows for me to only house the 9 LED's (which keeps them light and easy to remove and put back on - especially with a snap-to-connect 2-wire connector).

Here's a quick sketch I did in Church. I know, I know... That's bad form. All things considered, I guess now the costume can be attributed to Divine Inspiration!



With all this in mind I've started to construct the hinged handplates.

Pics and details to follow...

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Arms Finished!

Mikey looks like he is ABSOLUTELY LOVING THIS!!!! Yay for you and yay for him! How awesome!

You're making it hard for me to settle for "less than perfect" on my build - lol!