Alright, time for a big update.
I got things finished in time, just, and was up late the night before but it was all worthwhile. I tried to get as many photos on the way through it all as I could to document the ending stages so they'll come first then I'll post some final shots from the con along with some thoughts.
Without further ado...
I added a few bits of extra detail to it all with some 2mm foam as you can see on the shoulders for example. I filled the seams as best I could with the caulk and then gave it all 3 coats of PVA diluted with water (about 1 third water and 2 thirds PVA). Shoulders were held in place with elastic straps, 2 per shoulder which gave me reasonable hold for placement. I added nylon strap tabs to the end of them to allow the glue to hold a bit better.
I managed to borrow a garage and got it all painted up. I can safely say I underestimated things massively. First the amount of paint I would need and then the length of time it took to get things masked. I had 6 cans of the red, in the end something in the region of 1500 ml of paint and some areas still didn't get the best coverage. I managed to miss some areas with the masking unfortunately. When I put the overall paper on to cover things up I needed to tape it down better along the edges to stop the paint getting through.
As visible at the back of the jaw. It's not too bad overall at least and I know for future. Took a while getting it all painted but it got there in the end. Around 3 coats of each type. 3 Grey primer, 3 Ford Regency Red, 3 Ford Solar Gold and 3 clear lacquer. All Paints came from Halfords.
With the painting done I was down to finishing touches. The arc reactor was a lot of fun. I'd posted before about the general idea. I had a perspex block that I was going to cut into a circle, a metal grill from the middle and I hadn't thought too much about the other detail in it.
I measured out the rings based off the inner diameter of the hole in the chestplate and the inner diameter I eyeballed, based first off the end of a spraypaint can, then off a tube that I had around. I cut off the corners first with a hacksaw and then drilled around the inside of the inner circle with a dremel before playing join the dots with the hacksaw. I drilled round the outer edge a bit more to make things easier then tidied the ring up with the dremel.
So I had my sweet pot (just the right size to fit the hole) the metal grill (perfect for the middle) and I decided to do a little detail with some 2mm foam. I used the dremel again to bevel the edge of the ring and sanded the whole thing by hand to smooth it out a bit but keep a diffusing finish. I glued the foam detail ring to another ring that was deeper and glued that down the middle. The grill was harder work as it was slightly too big and I found out I had nothing that could cut it. I considered the dremel but with nothing to clamp it I didn't fancy taking something fast spinning near a reasonably sharp bit of metal. I used the pliers to try and bend it till in snapped in the end. I got 2 corners off and just bent the other 2 out of sight as best I could. A bit of diffusing material from the back of a computer monitor and the front was done.
I lined the sweet tub with foil to help circulate the light and cut the bottom out to put the lights in.
I used a bit of foam for backing and put 12 LEDs into an array to be powered of 4 AA batteries. I wired the LEDs in pairs and each pair got a 120 ohm resistor. Brought them all together into a common line and then the wires went directly to the battery box. Glued the lights into the back of the sweet tub, the disc onto the front then the whole lot into the back of the chest piece.
The eyes I went with a tried and tested method I'd seen around here somewhere. Sunglasses from Primark (£1), cheap ebay wedding veil (arrived smelling like fish) then craft foam to hold it all together. I traced the eye holes to get the shape made 2 of them, one was glued to the sunglass lenses and one just inside the helmet to give a little lip. Then I had 2 'frames' that I sandwiched the LED arrays between and put the whole lot into the helmet.
The battery box was held in the foam loops you can see in the second picture towards the back of the helmet. I had initially planned to have the faceplate opening but I hadn't budgeted for my ears and when the helmet went on the side bulged out too much to get a reasonable looking alignment so that faceplate just got glued on in the end. Still looked good I think though.
The hands and the lights didn't entirely work out in the end. Firstly, the circuit I showed in the video died for no reason so I dropped the delay idea. Then I couldn't find a strong enough material to work with the trigger plan and then finally I had issues getting the torch ends to solder to things. The fingers went on fine at least with elastic along the top and sections of some sock I cut up along the bottom to cover the gaps.
Not everything went to plan and time was cut a tad close. By the time I got the hands finished it was 1 30 am on the day of the con but it was done and ready to go.
Next post I'll put in a selection of pics from the con (still going through others I'm finding) and some general thoughts about the whole experience. I'll aim to get that up tomorrow.
Til then.
