My Iron Man FOAM build (Mark IV)

Oh and one more thing for the folks who want to buy flexbond, there's enough flexbond in a gallon to coat 3, maybe four suits worth. I've put two full coats on my entire suit and i still have more than half of the gallon jug left.

IronManiac - if you have time... it's worth it to add 1 more coat of flexbond over your paintjob and then a clearcoat - this makes for one indestructible paint job.

I can't wait to see this painted !

I thought about that Sam. Actually, on one of my test pieces I found that the gold paint would rub off with just a little pressure from my thumb. So my plan was to add another coat of flexbond over the gold areas once it dried just to protect the paint and also dull the gold down just a hair, as it's very 'blingy' out of the can.

I'm running short on time before halloween, but I think i'll put a coat of flexbond over the entire suit after the holiday (and after i make any final touchups needed) before i store the suit.

And i just remembered i took a shot with my phone last night. Here's the legs and pelvis, ready to wear.



I'll post more when I finish painting.

for something made out of foam it certainly looks good.
as you said, not prop quality but the ease of wearing outweighs the negatives.

being able to sit down!

Graphic Jordan said:

THe purpose of the Foam suits is not for it to be prop quality/etc... we use Foam because it's cheap, flexible and comfy to wear for things like halloween... So resin/fiberglass would contradict that.

And I am pretty sure the resin would heat up the flexbond surface and perhaps bubble/melt/peel.

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I understand the purpose of most foam builds - foam is also used quite a bit in cosplay because it's easier to work with that pep, especially if you're not using templates and doesn't require quite as much bondo buildup. I've seen a few methods for going from foam to resin, and was just curious if it'd work with flexbond.

Hey Iron Maniac,

Here's my suit:



Some parts of my paint is chipping out because some edges of the armor rubs with other parts. I rushed the paint job to finish by this weekend though, and I feel like more plastidip layers would have been much better. I can't wait to see your suit finished--arc and all!

hey aoifrost, what plasti dip did you buy? or where did you get it from? I love home depot and it has 2 kinds there, the spray and just regular.

DarkBebi said:

hey aoifrost, what plasti dip did you buy? or where did you get it from? I love home depot and it has 2 kinds there, the spray and just regular.

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I got the spray on in the red color. I then coated with some dark red regular spraypaint. I think 3 cans should be plenty to cover a suit.

I actually did some pieces without doing the plastidip first and the paint chips off those parts. For the pieces I took my time plastidipping, I have not seen paint coming loose yet.

whats better...flexobond or plastidip?

aoifrost said:

I got the spray on in the red color. I then coated with some dark red regular spraypaint. I think 3 cans should be plenty to cover a suit.

I actually did some pieces without doing the plastidip first and the paint chips off those parts. For the pieces I took my time plastidipping, I have not seen paint coming loose yet.

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thanks for the quick reply aoifrost, I am trying to build a suit from scratch and what troubles me are the lines when you super glue the pieces, so I was thinking the plasti dip spray would be able to clean them up a bunch!

I got my flex bond in just in time. Painted my son's master chief spartan armor last night. looks great. The flex bond created an excelent sealer and made the foam paint ready. It looks and smells and feels like elmers glue.? Anyway I'll post pics on my thread. So far no paint is coming off.

Absolutely stunning build! can't wait to see the finished article

I feel like Flexbond is probably better and more resilient than Plastidip (though I have not worked with Flexbond so I cannot say for sure). Plastidip works if it's the only thing you can get though!

Hey frost,

Suit looks excellent! Really well done, my friend!

Tell me about your gloves...what are you using? looks like black gloves..what about the repulsors?

IronManiac said:

Hey frost,

Suit looks excellent! Really well done, my friend!

Tell me about your gloves...what are you using? looks like black gloves..what about the repulsors?

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Thank you!! I drew a lot of inspiration from this thread... I wouldn't have even attempted if I hadn't seen your posts. There are parts I want to rework post-halloween, but I am happy that I have something together for the time being!

Yes. Right now they're just black leather gloves. I want to grab a pair of red. My plan was to glue small pieces straight onto the gloves from cardstock and paint it red for the armored look, but I have run out of time for that... so I think I'll leave it as is and maybe come back to the issue in the future. I'll be wearing this in a dark club setting so I kind of let things be "good enough" to get the job done. This is definitely one of the things I want to come back to post-halloween.

The repulsors are your usual 3-LED sticky light. I found a set on ebay for 3 of them shipped for $9. I notched the case to allow me to pass an elastic band through it. I attached the elastic band to the outer hand guard in a similar way so I just slip the piece on over the glove. I also am still working on a small chip that goes on top of the hand guard with red LEDs to emulate the slicer laser that isn't shown in the photo... hope I can get it working by tomorrow night!

That's what i figured. I bought a pair of LED tap lights at walmart when i first started the project, i'll just use those.

So, a note to everyone who hasnt painted yet, make sure you get a primer that has tint to it...i.e. white or grey. The original primer i used was clear, and it didnt give me good coverage over the blue. The parts of the suit i've painted so far are a little more burgandy than i would have liked. I started painting the last pieces i have tonight, and put some grey primer down first. The red on those pieces is more 'red' and less 'burgundy'.

Luckily, the pieces i have yet to paint all go together, so they'll match each other when they're put together.

Tomorrow is the last day of painting, i'm going to start really early, let it all dry in the afternoon, then go out late tomorrow night. I'll be posting pics of the completed suit this weekend!!

What? How did I miss this? Most excellent build!! can't wait for updates.

Happy Halloween, RPF!




Costume is done! I'll have more pics late tonight, or in the morning!

Well, here's how it all turned out. I'm going to take some more photos tomorrow...after walking around a big street party the costume is a little out of sorts, and i need to go back and mend a few small things.

But i was a BIG hit! I went to a local bar/pub area that was holding a big street party with DJs and a costume contest. EVERYONE was pointing me out to their friends, yelling out 'There's Iron Man!' and giving me the thumbs up. Dozens of strangers walked over to me to tell me how much they loved the suit, and they were amazed when i told them i made it myself. Alot of people wanted their photo taken with me too, so that was great fun. I wish my girlfriend had thought to take photos while we were out too, but she was busy parading me around for everyone to see.

They also had a costume contest, a requirement was that a 'Miller Lite Girl' had seen you in the crowd and given you a sticker as a nomination into the costume contest. I had not seen one of these ladies, but when they called for costumes nominated for the contest i just walked over and asked to be included. The girl looked me up and down and just handed me a number to be in the show.

When i got up there, i got a HUGE response from the crowd. Screaming and cheering all around me...That really made the months of work all worth it, i felt like Tony Stark up on stage at the beginning of Iron Man 2. Exhilarating. I got to be a rock star in a shiny suit for just a moment.

Of course as I predicted, i got beat out by a bunch of scantily clad chicks...as i walked back through the crowd I got another wave of support, cheers and people telling me how I was robbed, I was the best costume they had seen there..so on so on. It was so much fun being the center of attention, just for a few hours. :lol

Before we went out, with my Iron Man poster i created.


Back home a few hours later...pardon the suit, I couldnt really see myself for pics, and my girlfriend didnt know what she needed to fix and adjust before she snapped the camera. I'll take more photos tomorrow.



Close up. The helmet was from Vash D Stampede, it turned out really nice with the eyes. I could see out of it, but i couldnt really look down, because the chin hit the suit! :lol



And without the helmet. I walked around like this most of the evening, just so i could see well enough to navigate through the crowd. And so i could see all the smiles and waves.



Thanks to everyone who gave me tips, advice and help. Thanks to everyone who's kept up with my thread, it really kept me motivated along the way. I'm so proud of myself for just finishing the thing, I tend to do things halfway and I was determined to see this through to the end. The party tonight was a great way to show it off and be proud of myself for completing the suit.

Thanks all!

thats an awesome result