b00mdr1ve8y
New Member
I got a LOT done over the past weekend to my Iron Age Iron Man build. I am now less than a few days away from the Con on Sunday and I need to get the whole thing wrapped up asap!
So lets get to it!
I started with the torso piece. I will be wearing a cape over the back so for time saving reasons, I decided to just make the front piece of the chest for now to achieve the overall look.
I templated the torso out nicely using Kraft paper. This is excellent stuff for sizing things up prior to your foam cutting and I would highly recommend it to anyone. You can see it below:
She fits great! I did however run into a problem that hopefully turns into a happy accident. I got so worked up and into the build that I made a bit of a beginner mistake. I cut the torso piece in two seperate halves for ease of use and construction. However, in my excitement I forgot to flip my pattern for the second half of the chest piece. The result you can see below:
The result was two havles, perfectly cut, but now one side had the EVA foam mat texture on and the other was the smooth side. I had no more foam for this and I had to run with it. My solution was to sand down the ENTIRE left side of the chest piece in order to achieve a smoother finish and match the opposite side.
This was a bit hit and miss, I sanded as much as I could by hand and managed to put my shoulder out in the process. However, I remembered that using the heat gun essentially CURES the foam top. I managed to cure the foam just enough to almost melt the remaining texture off! There were a few places where I burned the foam, but the more I look at it, the more I realise it should make for a pretty convincing metal texture.
Here you can see the two halves now stuck together with hot glue and its a pretty rigid construction. I also added some extra foam supports to the rear of the armour to ensure its not going anywhere.
As for the Iron Man chest light, I cut a hole out of the centre of the armour using a pint glass for size reference of all things! This was then neatly covered by another slightly larger circle cut in craft foam.
If you want an excellent almost frosted plastic for coverings such as an Iron Man chest peice or even eyes that don't need to be seen out of I would highly recommend the front covers of notepads! If you go into any store that sells note pads of any size, most these days come with a frosted plastic cover across the front. For £1.25 I picked up one from a local Wilko and used the front for just that! See above! It works great for difusing light when placed behind it!
This is where I will leave it for today, I have alot more progress that I will post as the week progresses! Stay tuned to see the whole thing done by the end of this week!........hopefully.
So lets get to it!
I started with the torso piece. I will be wearing a cape over the back so for time saving reasons, I decided to just make the front piece of the chest for now to achieve the overall look.
I templated the torso out nicely using Kraft paper. This is excellent stuff for sizing things up prior to your foam cutting and I would highly recommend it to anyone. You can see it below:
She fits great! I did however run into a problem that hopefully turns into a happy accident. I got so worked up and into the build that I made a bit of a beginner mistake. I cut the torso piece in two seperate halves for ease of use and construction. However, in my excitement I forgot to flip my pattern for the second half of the chest piece. The result you can see below:
The result was two havles, perfectly cut, but now one side had the EVA foam mat texture on and the other was the smooth side. I had no more foam for this and I had to run with it. My solution was to sand down the ENTIRE left side of the chest piece in order to achieve a smoother finish and match the opposite side.
This was a bit hit and miss, I sanded as much as I could by hand and managed to put my shoulder out in the process. However, I remembered that using the heat gun essentially CURES the foam top. I managed to cure the foam just enough to almost melt the remaining texture off! There were a few places where I burned the foam, but the more I look at it, the more I realise it should make for a pretty convincing metal texture.
Here you can see the two halves now stuck together with hot glue and its a pretty rigid construction. I also added some extra foam supports to the rear of the armour to ensure its not going anywhere.As for the Iron Man chest light, I cut a hole out of the centre of the armour using a pint glass for size reference of all things! This was then neatly covered by another slightly larger circle cut in craft foam.
If you want an excellent almost frosted plastic for coverings such as an Iron Man chest peice or even eyes that don't need to be seen out of I would highly recommend the front covers of notepads! If you go into any store that sells note pads of any size, most these days come with a frosted plastic cover across the front. For £1.25 I picked up one from a local Wilko and used the front for just that! See above! It works great for difusing light when placed behind it!
This is where I will leave it for today, I have alot more progress that I will post as the week progresses! Stay tuned to see the whole thing done by the end of this week!........hopefully.
