Iron Man Mark 50 (Battle-Damaged) Suit

[The14thDr]

Hey everyone!

Owning an Iron Man suit has been my dream for a very long time now. I’ve had a few false starts in the past but this time I’m confident that I’ll be able to pull it off. The Mark 50/Infinity War suit doesn’t seem to get a lot of attention from cosplayers but IMO it’s the coolest suit in the movies!

As a slight twist, I wanted to build something similar to the suit from the very end of the Titan battle, with large sections missing as the nanoparticles were relocated to create new weapons and replace the parts that had been wrecked by Thanos. Aside from creating a good-looking Iron Man suit, another important aim for this project is to make the armour quick and easy to put on with no assistance, so I’ll be incorporating some ideas from the front-opening Iron Man thread. If all goes to plan, I should be able to literally step into the armour and therefore suit up in less than a minute. (I’ll share more on this as I work on the mechanisms )

With the introduction out of the way, it’s time to move onto the actual build! I’m using renawolv’s Pepakura files for this build, which I will modify by hand to recreate the torn apart look that I’m aiming for.

I decided to start with the chest as it seemed relatively simple compared to the rest of the suit. Here is the first template post-modification:

Next, I transferred the templates onto 2mm craft foam and assembled them using “Hi-Tack glue” (a product similar to PVA glue but it takes hold of the foam faster and IMO is neater than hot glue.) The chest piece is a little flimsy at the moment but I felt that thicker foamer would have sacrificed the more streamlined look of this suit, plus I can reinforce the inside with paper mache once everything is complete.

 

[iamshazam]

LOVE THIS!! It's on my list to build! I had started planning the build and some prep work for NYC Comic Con 2018, but had to change directions. Good luck, looking forward to the updates can't wait to see how it turns out!

PS: I've also been working on a front-opening suit, still in notes and research phase with some crude drawing concepts

 

[iamshazam]

Wanted to share a few screenshots I had from my early planning just in case they could help

 

[The14thDr]

LOVE THIS!! It's on my list to build! I had started planning the build and some prep work for NYC Comic Con 2018, but had to change directions. Good luck, looking forward to the updates can't wait to see how it turns out!

PS: I've also been working on a front-opening suit, still in notes and research phase with some crude drawing concepts

Thanks!! The Mark 50 really is an awesome suit and I hope I can do it justice! I've been following your Endgame trailer helmet build and I think you've got an awesome project going there. Thank you for sharing those screenshots as well, they will certainly help with mapping out the battle damage on my suit!

P.S. I'd be really interested to see some of your concepts for the front-opening suit; I had a few ideas, particularly for the chest and abs, but I've yet to get any of them down on paper. (Perhaps we could compare notes?)

---

Update time!

This afternoon I finished pepping the first half of the back. Once the glue dries I can attach the chest and start mapping out the battle-damage for the other half.

 

[iamshazam]

I'll dig them up, they are mostly based off of the MK 43 toy that was built and front opens. Making the sections open isn't the really hard part, making them open with movable joints and especially the shoulders. I have a few ideas that, once I find the notes they'll make more sense. If you haven't seen the MK 43 toy video, you must!

 

[The14thDr]

Ah yes, I had seen that video before! That was a big inspiration for me when I first started thinking about this project as it proved that a front-opening Iron Man suit was possible to recreate in real life. I agree that the hardest part is trying to maintain the movable joints - whilst still allowing for the opening mechanisms and not sacrificing any comfort when wearing the suit; I want to be able to move around and pose with as few restrictions as possible. The great thing about building a damaged suit like this is that it won’t cover every inch of my body, so I can afford to cheat in terms of moving joints. For example, if I make the arms/legs extra damaged, I don’t need to worry about covering the joints as I can say that they’re supposed to be exposed!

I also want to make my suit 1-piece if possible so that it can stand on its own when I’m not wearing it, without the need for a mannequin (of course this just complicates things even further!) Like I said, I have a few ideas for the opening “mechanisms” but it’s difficult to write them down in a way that makes sense to anyone else - I’m that bad at describing things!

 

[iamshazam]

I had the same idea (dream)!!! Wanted to open and step out with it still standing!!! I thought about adding a "tri-pod" foot mount similar to the battle bots in IM2 when they secure down for missile launch or in Infinity Wars the MK50 does a similar move when fighting Thanos. But yes, COMPLICATIONS, cause even if that works it would just be the foot and calf, you've got the rest of the body on the ground. Then I thought about setting up a "station" where you backup and the suit attaches to a gantry (something that can be portable) via magnets, which are key in a lot of factors I think for the build - power supply between sections and connecting the sections as well.

Regarding the MK50, you can see in one of the shots basically the entire left side is exposed, so you really can get away with a lot in terms of maintaining movement and having a "complete" suit. UGH, now I really want to work on the MK50 too!! Helmet first and then maybe add to the list of builds...

What paint colors are you thinking you'll go with?

 

[iamshazam]

I should make a thread of my MK42 arm build, Abb Eliten's files for the arm and custom work for the battle damaged hatch and inner mech parts, but figured I'd share. had working repulsor A/V. I was still tweaking the wrist and elbow joints so they're not in the pic. It's 100% 3D printed.

 

[The14thDr]

I LOVE that arm! You did a really great jobs on the painting and weathering - that's exactly the level of detail/realism that I'm aiming to achieve with this build.

I had the same idea (dream)!!! Wanted to open and step out with it still standing!!! I thought about adding a "tri-pod" foot mount similar to the battle bots in IM2 when they secure down for missile launch or in Infinity Wars the MK50 does a similar move when fighting Thanos. But yes, COMPLICATIONS, cause even if that works it would just be the foot and calf, you've got the rest of the body on the ground. Then I thought about setting up a "station" where you backup and the suit attaches to a gantry (something that can be portable) via magnets, which are key in a lot of factors I think for the build - power supply between sections and connecting the sections as well.

Regarding the MK50, you can see in one of the shots basically the entire left side is exposed, so you really can get away with a lot in terms of maintaining movement and having a "complete" suit. UGH, now I really want to work on the MK50 too!! Helmet first and then maybe add to the list of builds...

What paint colors are you thinking you'll go with?

I don't know whether you've seen the front-opening suit thread that I started last year, but towards the bottom of the page I posted my design for a simple knee lock that might go some way to stabilising the joints in the suit (allowing it to stand on its own.) Earlier today I had the idea to build a "station" based on the foot clamps that the Mark 50 uses against Thanos - you place the clamps on the floor, step into them, magnets inside the clamps hold the feet in place and therefore keep the suit steady as you climb in and out of it. If the clamps were weighted and held onto the suit using magnets, they would lower its centre of gravity and the large surface area should prevent the suit from falling over (with the knee-lock mechanisms stopping the suit from collapsing.)

But yes, the exposed left side is going to save me A LOT of trouble in terms of movement and flexibility. Manoeuvrability is already a huge issue with this suit because of how organic it is compared to the rest of the movie suits; everything is one piece and while this works great in CGI, it doesn't translate too well into foam if you're looking to maintain total screen accuracy.

As for the paint: I haven't really looked into any specific colours just yet. In the screenshots I have from the end of the battle, the suit seems to have lost all of its metallic shine so I'll probably go with something matte. Luckily, with the amount of Pepakura-work and detailing that needs to be done on this suit (not to mention designing and prototyping the front-opening mechanisms!) it will be a while before I need to make any big decisions on the paint.

UGH, now I really want to work on the MK50 too!! Helmet first and then maybe add to the list of builds...

Go onnnn...... you know you want to.

 

[iamshazam]

Hold on, you're really thinking about doing the front opening mechanisms for the MK50?! That may be more trouble than it's worth and somewhat impossible. And trust me, I'm usually the ones that my buddies have to say, "you can't make it fly...", so I even hate that I am saying this now...

As you mentioned the suit is more organic, and much more body conforming than any of the others and was never meant to house mechanics like that since it's all nano-tech. You'd have to make the suit a lot larger and then make a rigid frame inside in order to have enough room between you and the suit to mount and withstand the stress from the motors and moving parts. The beauty of the early suits, especially the MKIII to MKVII (I was also was working on the MKIII, actually started printing test parts and modeling) is that they are very "mechanical" and in some way "practical". The MK42 and up really started moving away from the practical, the MK45 / 46 have a very similar body style to the MK50, which really don't leave much practical room for real world mechanics.

I think that the great thing about the MK50 is that it doesn't need to be "mechanical" and that you can get away with a more flexible "armored wet-suit" type of style. I'd just go for simple flex suit with velcro closures and leave the opening mechanical suit build for one of the earlier suits - practically every suit except for the MK 42 in IM 3 front or back opened I think.

BUT...what you could do is something that is a little closer to the nano-suit and similar to how the web-shooter wraps around Peter's wrist. Like a slap-bracelet suit, combined with magnets to hold sections together maybe...like a combo of the MK42 parts flying on in sections crossed with a slap-bracelet concept. That would be cool and for sure hasn't been done, if it can be of course.

Slap-bracelets:

 

[The14thDr]

Well.. the front opening mechanism I had in mind was going to be more manual, i.e. everything opens on hinges but you open and close the suit by hand rather than using motors. Sorry if I caused any confusion, I probably should have clarified that before.... Here are some sketches I made yesterday showing how I planned for the chest to drop down over the abs, and then the abs move to the side to open up the torso. (You'll have to excuse my not-so-great drawings; hopefully they still get the idea across.)

HOWEVER, I really like your "armoured wet-suit/slap-bracelet" idea!! It's definitely something that I never considered before... but it could actually make the suit more durable than my original plan. I could build the torso as a single wrap-around piece rather than separating the front which would help the chest and back to maintain their shape easier... Thank you so much; you've given me some new ideas to think about.

More updates coming soon, I promise!

 

[iamshazam]

if you want PM me to bounce ideas around for the build. Also, I got this very cheap mini tripod as part of an accessory kit and the foam would be a really interesting material to use for flex parts as it has more "stretch flex" than EVA (probably harder to paint even with flex paint I bet). I'm not really well versed in types of foam, so i can't say exactly what type it is but maybe you can ID it.

 

[iamshazam]

I just stumbled onto this channel, builder has a 7 part+ build of the MK50, 3D printed...

 

[The14thDr]

Thanks iamshazam! I've never seen that type of foam before but it could definitely have its uses on a build like this. I'll do some research and let you know what I find; I reckon this would be great to use around the joints and other areas where the suit might need to flex without getting damaged. That YouTube series is really good too, it has given me a few ideas to think about on my own suit.

Speaking of which, it took a little longer than expected but I finished the back and the top of the shoulders!

Unfortunately, I didn't anticipate just how much space a full suit would take up once completed (even with most of the left side missing) so I may have to put this project on ice for a while - just until I figure out where to store it. Don't worry, though, I'll be keeping the chest and back safe so that I can continue right where I left off in the future. In the meantime, I might work on a smaller scale Iron Man project so that I can practice some paint and weathering techniques.

Thanks for following!

 

[iamshazam]

I know right where you are at! It's a big space requirement in addition to the time for full suit builds. Def work on some small projects in the meantime!!