Simultaneous Build of a Black Widow and Iron Man Costumes
Initial choice
I was set on the Mark II armor as it is one of the unusual ones: for a start it is not red and gold, it is not weaponised, it still shows rivets and screws.
For my wife, we picked the Black Widow from the Avengers: Age of Ultron as it has many more interesting features and I found an unusual wealth of references pictures.
I knew I did not have time to build a full iron man armor, so, for comic con, I set my sights on scenes from the development of the Mark II and Mark III, especially around the tuning of the repulsor technology and its control from the arm muscle and nerve inputs. Difficulties with the BWAU suit meant that even this was optimistic. Reference: http://ironman.wikia.com/wiki/Mark_II?file=Tony_Stark-Suit_Test.jpg.
I did pick it up properly after the convention, though, and it now has its own build log: http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=262659.
Inventory of the BWAU suit:
- a spandex/leather body sui, with apparent energy lines feeding all weapons;
- vambrace, with a top launcher and ammos;
- dual thigh holsters and handguns; toolbelt;
- armored boots and gloves, knee, elbow and should pads;
- EMP batons.
I made the early decision to forego the right holster (not present in half the ref pictures anyway), to allow carrying the batons at the belt.
This looked like a short list that should not cause issue...Wrong. This was not counting on my inexperience with all materials and processes involved.
DESIGN and RESEARCH---------------------------------------
Black Widow's Bite: Originally wristband launching gas catridges or cartridges carrying a heavy electrical charge. In the AAU, evolved into vambraces capable of a powerful electro-magnetic pulse, and feeding baton extensions, developed by Tony Stark. From Marvel cinematic universe Wikia: Black Widow's Batons are electroshock weapons, created by Tony Stark for Black Widow. Black Widow's Batons are based on Escrima Sticks. The batons constantly glow with a blue light and being an extension of the Black Widow's Bite, are charged by and stored in the gauntlets. http://marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Black_Widow's_Bite
A pair of Glock 26 handguns, but my ref pix show only a left-side holster.
Again for the same wikia: "S.H.I.E.L.D. Uniform: Black Widow's first uniform was a bluish-black catsuit. It zipped up the front and had fingerless gloves with a S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on the shoulders. It had two belts one of which had a red hourglass symbol on it and the other had lots of different pouches. It also had a thigh holster. Avengers Uniform: Her second uniform was a slightly modified version of her earlier one. The only major difference was the inclusion of built in wrist tasers."
For AAU, "The Fourth Uniform: The fourth uniform worn by Black Widow was similar to her second. She wore a black suit with black padding at the shoulders, knees, and elbows. Her suit also contained a more powerful version of her Black Widow's Bite which when used caused piping on the suit to light up. She also wore a thigh-holster on her left leg."
Initial choice
I was set on the Mark II armor as it is one of the unusual ones: for a start it is not red and gold, it is not weaponised, it still shows rivets and screws.
For my wife, we picked the Black Widow from the Avengers: Age of Ultron as it has many more interesting features and I found an unusual wealth of references pictures.
I knew I did not have time to build a full iron man armor, so, for comic con, I set my sights on scenes from the development of the Mark II and Mark III, especially around the tuning of the repulsor technology and its control from the arm muscle and nerve inputs. Difficulties with the BWAU suit meant that even this was optimistic. Reference: http://ironman.wikia.com/wiki/Mark_II?file=Tony_Stark-Suit_Test.jpg.
I did pick it up properly after the convention, though, and it now has its own build log: http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=262659.
Inventory of the BWAU suit:
- a spandex/leather body sui, with apparent energy lines feeding all weapons;
- vambrace, with a top launcher and ammos;
- dual thigh holsters and handguns; toolbelt;
- armored boots and gloves, knee, elbow and should pads;
- EMP batons.
I made the early decision to forego the right holster (not present in half the ref pictures anyway), to allow carrying the batons at the belt.
This looked like a short list that should not cause issue...Wrong. This was not counting on my inexperience with all materials and processes involved.
DESIGN and RESEARCH---------------------------------------
Black Widow's Bite: Originally wristband launching gas catridges or cartridges carrying a heavy electrical charge. In the AAU, evolved into vambraces capable of a powerful electro-magnetic pulse, and feeding baton extensions, developed by Tony Stark. From Marvel cinematic universe Wikia: Black Widow's Batons are electroshock weapons, created by Tony Stark for Black Widow. Black Widow's Batons are based on Escrima Sticks. The batons constantly glow with a blue light and being an extension of the Black Widow's Bite, are charged by and stored in the gauntlets. http://marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Black_Widow's_Bite
A pair of Glock 26 handguns, but my ref pix show only a left-side holster.
Again for the same wikia: "S.H.I.E.L.D. Uniform: Black Widow's first uniform was a bluish-black catsuit. It zipped up the front and had fingerless gloves with a S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on the shoulders. It had two belts one of which had a red hourglass symbol on it and the other had lots of different pouches. It also had a thigh holster. Avengers Uniform: Her second uniform was a slightly modified version of her earlier one. The only major difference was the inclusion of built in wrist tasers."
For AAU, "The Fourth Uniform: The fourth uniform worn by Black Widow was similar to her second. She wore a black suit with black padding at the shoulders, knees, and elbows. Her suit also contained a more powerful version of her Black Widow's Bite which when used caused piping on the suit to light up. She also wore a thigh-holster on her left leg."
