CaptainSkully
New Member
Hey folks. I'm introducing myself and starting my build thread at the same time. I've done very legit Captain Jack Sparrow, Witchking of Angmar, chain mail armor costumes, so I thought I'd give Iron Man a shot. I first found out about this by surfing Youtube and finding Xrobot's tutorials, which blew me away. I then found this awesome forum with so many talented people sharing their efforts and skills. I immediately wanted to start asking newbie questions, but intead settled down and starting reading every single IM/WM thread I could find. Funny, almost all of my questions were answered somewhere. I of course have watched all of Stealth's videos also. I downloaded all of JFcustom's foam pepakura files, ran to the craft store, etc. So now I'm ready to start building, trying to take advantage of everyone's techniques and input.
My plan is to build an IM IV out of foam, then possibly reinforce it with rotocasting plastic. I had some neighbors when I lived in TX that had a special effects studio in their garage, so I've got some experience helping them with molding/casting. I even have a life-sized bust of myself, which should come in handy. I also have experience with AutoCAD and CNC machining, so might be able to make some custom parts.
Here's my plan of attack: I've taken Xrobot's cue to bend the foam intead of using the pepakura slots to make the foam parts as smooth as possible. With the understanding that my skills will increase during the build, I'm starting with the most important part, the helmet. That way, I'll be able to see the worst-case-scenario on the part that will show any mistakes that will be glaringly obvious to everyone. Then I can develop my skills as I work down the rest of the costume. If the boots end up being considerably better than the original helmet, I'll rebuild it, knowing that it'll be much better. Once I get all of the scaling issues ironed out (pun intended), I'll build an arc reactor to fit the properly sized chest piece.
I'm a 43 year-old Mechanical Engineer, so I'm not afraid any of the technical aspects of this build. Although I have this idea of using spring loaded shocks that catch and release when pressed, so it's a considerably simpler mechanical mechanism instead of having to worry about wiring up something that requires batteries and switches.
So, with the concept in mind that pics are very important to a forum like this, I thought I'd post my first baby steps. I cut out the pepakura model of the back of the helmet (left), since it's one of the most curved pieces of the helmet. I then cut it out of foam exactly as described by the pep model and hot glued it together (middle). I was blown away by how difficult it was to get a good seam on the folds, so kudos to you guys that have pulled off that miracle. I then followed Xrobot's advise and taped the card stock pep model together and using a heat gun, heated up an oversized piece of foam and pushed it into the card stock as a form to mold the foam. Once it had roughly attained the right shape of the pep model, I let it cool, then traced and cut it out (right). As you can see, it's a much more attractive and smooth version, and that was just my very first piece. The rest of the helmet will hopefully go together as well and I'll have something to keep me jazzed about progressing on a project of this magnitude. Of course, I'd like to be able to have this available by Halloween, but if not, I've got the aforementioned costumes to wear to the yacht club party.
I'll post my progress and answer any questions that might pop up to the best of my ability. I believe in giving back to forums like this to in some small way pay back for the information that I've benefitted from.
BTW, the foam is 6mm EVA craft foam from Michael's for $0.99 per 8-1/2" x 11" sheet. I may buy some larger sheets from www.foamorder.com to allow for larger parts cutout in a single piece (e.g. chest).
My plan is to build an IM IV out of foam, then possibly reinforce it with rotocasting plastic. I had some neighbors when I lived in TX that had a special effects studio in their garage, so I've got some experience helping them with molding/casting. I even have a life-sized bust of myself, which should come in handy. I also have experience with AutoCAD and CNC machining, so might be able to make some custom parts.
Here's my plan of attack: I've taken Xrobot's cue to bend the foam intead of using the pepakura slots to make the foam parts as smooth as possible. With the understanding that my skills will increase during the build, I'm starting with the most important part, the helmet. That way, I'll be able to see the worst-case-scenario on the part that will show any mistakes that will be glaringly obvious to everyone. Then I can develop my skills as I work down the rest of the costume. If the boots end up being considerably better than the original helmet, I'll rebuild it, knowing that it'll be much better. Once I get all of the scaling issues ironed out (pun intended), I'll build an arc reactor to fit the properly sized chest piece.
I'm a 43 year-old Mechanical Engineer, so I'm not afraid any of the technical aspects of this build. Although I have this idea of using spring loaded shocks that catch and release when pressed, so it's a considerably simpler mechanical mechanism instead of having to worry about wiring up something that requires batteries and switches.
So, with the concept in mind that pics are very important to a forum like this, I thought I'd post my first baby steps. I cut out the pepakura model of the back of the helmet (left), since it's one of the most curved pieces of the helmet. I then cut it out of foam exactly as described by the pep model and hot glued it together (middle). I was blown away by how difficult it was to get a good seam on the folds, so kudos to you guys that have pulled off that miracle. I then followed Xrobot's advise and taped the card stock pep model together and using a heat gun, heated up an oversized piece of foam and pushed it into the card stock as a form to mold the foam. Once it had roughly attained the right shape of the pep model, I let it cool, then traced and cut it out (right). As you can see, it's a much more attractive and smooth version, and that was just my very first piece. The rest of the helmet will hopefully go together as well and I'll have something to keep me jazzed about progressing on a project of this magnitude. Of course, I'd like to be able to have this available by Halloween, but if not, I've got the aforementioned costumes to wear to the yacht club party.
I'll post my progress and answer any questions that might pop up to the best of my ability. I believe in giving back to forums like this to in some small way pay back for the information that I've benefitted from.
BTW, the foam is 6mm EVA craft foam from Michael's for $0.99 per 8-1/2" x 11" sheet. I may buy some larger sheets from www.foamorder.com to allow for larger parts cutout in a single piece (e.g. chest).
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