Foam Iron Man - Imperfect Start - Con Page 5 / Sound Page 6!

[venator]

Thanks guys! But honestly telling me "make sure your printer works right" isn't much help, since I don't know the dimensions to start with. That being said, I'm going to go forward and paint it up to see what it looks like and continue with the build! I can always go back and remake something right? What would be a HUGE favor though, would be if someone could print-out the foam Pep helmet file that contains less pieces and physically mail it to me? I've tried 3 printers now all with bad luck, so I'm hoping the helmet is the hardest piece given its size and needed curves.

Get a tape measure, get someone to measure how wide your head is, go into 2d -> Change Scale

What I said was "make sure your printer is not scaling" not "make sure your printer works right".

The menu to the right of the 2d menu also has paper settings, make sure that is set to the correct size.

Scaling issues happen to everyone, hell I made a piece of the mark 7 last night and it's way too small (I'm 6'4)

 

[Bradester]

Re: Foam Iron Man - An Imperfect Start

I would probably suggest first getting the files to print properly first. You could end up wasting a lot of foam and time freehanding it. Plus, it may not be what you dreamed it would be. I'm pretty new to costume making myself but I have always told myself that I want it to look as close as possible to real thing cause I don't want to be the guy at the convention that people see and say to themselves, "Nice try buddy, don't quit your day job." For mine, I didn't have pepekura designer, because I have a mac, so I found some foam files that someone saved in pdf format. I think the default size was for about a 6ft person and I am only 5'6". However I noticed that for my printer settings, if I selected "size to fit" in the print settings as opposed to "actual size"; it slightly scaled them down.
Here is a link to the pdf's IronMan_Foam.7z - 4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download

Hmmm.... what is a 7z file?

Wait! Nevermind. I was able to open it. I am curious of this, as it does have WAY LESS pieces than the other files I had. I may try a helmet again then

 

[Bradester]

Re: Foam Iron Man - An Imperfect Start

Ok, I'm ready to give the helmet another shot now that I've learned what the foam will and won't do. Plus JFcustom and his thread http://www.therpf.com/f24/inexpensive-5-days-built-foam-iron-man-147915/ has given me new hope!

But I do know since I didn't try to do the angled cuts on the first helmet, and me being quite dyslexic (and color blind and ADD), that this suit will pose quite the challenge for me, as my brain just won't let itself figure out which direction angled cuts to make. I think it's going to cause me quite the frustration, especially since I see how fast other people can make their suits and me knowing the big projects I've designed in the past and being frustrated that a "smaller project" causes me troubles. But I'm ready to give it a go again! ROAR!

 

[joker53]

Re: Foam Iron Man - An Imperfect Start

Ok, I'm ready to give the helmet another shot now that I've learned what the foam will and won't do. Plus JFcustom and his thread http://www.therpf.com/f24/inexpensive-5-days-built-foam-iron-man-147915/ has given me new hope!

But I do know since I didn't try to do the angled cuts on the first helmet, and me being quite dyslexic (and color blind and ADD), that this suit will pose quite the challenge for me, as my brain just won't let itself figure out which direction angled cuts to make. I think it's going to cause me quite the frustration, especially since I see how fast other people can make their suits and me knowing the big projects I've designed in the past and being frustrated that a "smaller project" causes me troubles. But I'm ready to give it a go again! ROAR!

i went tru the same problem too, mine looked like "bulk head" from transformer, keep trying and i'm happy with the new result..

you should keep the current one, who knows you have an inspration on making an "animated" looked:thumbsup

 

[Demolition]

Re: Foam Iron Man - An Imperfect Start

Hi mate looks to me like your bits are right and like Stealth pointed out i just thinks its how you have glued them together so im going to attempt to help you see where you've gone wrong, OK Ive drawn a simple diagram to try and explain look at all your joints on you helmet they are all square so the whole helmet looks square your joints are like to diagram A the butt joint to a side joint which makes it square they need to be butt to butt and that makes the foam curve like in diagram B hope this helps keep up the hard work

 

[Bradester]

Re: Foam Iron Man - An Imperfect Start

Thanks! Yes, I do think that is where I errored too. Tomorrow I will play with foam again. Today though, was $8 arc reactor day!

Parts needed:
1 bottle of Snapple
1 lid from the can of Krylon Clear Coat, with the center cut out
1 cheap LED tap light

Stacked like this:

Gives this cool look:

Once my chest piece is made, this will be inserted and the bottle trimmed to the right thickess. I plan on making it removable and cutting a small hole in the side to be able to push the tap light on and off, to which the chest piece itself will hide. The outter edge of the bottle is quite bright too, its just my camera wouldnt focus on it correctly.

 

[Indigogyre]

Re: Foam Iron Man - An Imperfect Start

Wow, ok, yes this is obvious but I've never used method A or B to connect the top of my helmet to the sides. Method B never dawned on me and Method A was certainly not going to work.

Please ignore my lousy graphic arts , but you should get the idea on how I am connecting the top of the helmet to the sides.

Dean

 

[JFcustom]

Re: Foam Iron Man - An Imperfect Start

Try methode D :

Note we'll only list 26 ways by labeling them with letters... :lol

 

[Bradester]

Re: Foam Iron Man - Imperfect Start - UPDATE!

BEHOLD try #2! Just a few little tweaks and ready for paint! It took 10 hours to build, but I made it as clean as I could! MANY thanks to JFcustom as I am using his altered foam plans.

 

[Demolition]

Re: Foam Iron Man - Imperfect Start - UPDATE!

Hi brad look loads better well done your getting there ive just got some tips for you to make it perfect before your go ahead and paint it there easy tweaks and will make it 100% better see what you think

hope it helps

 

[Bradester]

Re: Foam Iron Man - Imperfect Start - UPDATE!

Hi. Thanks, but it's already mostly painted. I did fix the gaps on the eye corners already, the rest will stay how it is as I had to upscale parts to make it fit my 24" melon.

 

[Bradester]

Re: Foam Iron Man - Imperfect Start - UPDATE!

One of the 2 coats of gold paint drying, PLUS I found these little $7 LED goodies for possible use in the hands!

 

[chamuco110]

Re: Foam Iron Man - Imperfect Start - UPDATE!

Your helmet is getting better congrats!!

 

[Bradester]

Re: Foam Iron Man - Imperfect Start - UPDATE!

TA DA! Done except for the lighted eyes, which should only cost about $10. Paint must dry first.

 

[Bradester]

Re: Foam Iron Man - Imperfect Start - Helmet DONE!

Ta da! I'm happy with it, so that's what matters

I bought a frosted plastic essay protector that school kids use, and cut it for the eye material.

Then I bought 2 LED flexible reading lights and cut the body apart to remove the battery packs from their bulky housing, made velcro straps to keep the batteries in place in their trays, painted the light head black, and glued everything into the helmet. They are VERY bright.

 

[jshull]

Re: Foam Iron Man - Imperfect Start - 2nd Helmet DONE!

Your first helmet reminded me of something, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Then I figured it out!

http://cdn.screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/avengers-earths-mightiest-heroes-header.jpg

The sharp angles and thinner face make it nearly spot on, maybe you could do an EMH build when this is finished. That would be awesome!

 

[propnoob74]

Re: Foam Iron Man - Imperfect Start - 2nd Helmet DONE!

Is it weird that I find the helmet cool? man, I just have an Idea for you, make it a mash up between a steam-punk iron man and Frankenstein! a couple of tubes here and there, some sort of steam tank in the back, a little more copper color, amazing....

 

[jshull]

Re: Foam Iron Man - Imperfect Start - 2nd Helmet DONE!

Oops, just saw that someone else already said it. I stand by the hope of you building an EMH suit though!

 

[made007]

Re: Foam Iron Man - Imperfect Start - 2nd Helmet DONE!

I say keep that one and start another one then compare wich you like best, i bet second try will be better, good luck

 

[teragon]

Re: Foam Iron Man - Imperfect Start - 2nd Helmet DONE!

Looks quite good ! Foam building isn't as easy as it sounds, I've experienced it too...
Unless you really want to go with movie suit, you should give a try at the Earth mightiest's heroes suit, or a hybrid ! You actually made me want to do one, as this show is amazing.
Good luck with the rest of the suit ! By the way, can you see well enough through the eyes ? It seems bright indeed !