Iron Man Mk VI for Three Year Old (pic heavy)

[Incinorator]

Well, I'm a new poster and I discovered this forum looking for info on how to accomplish my latest project. I've decided to build an Iron Man Mk VI for my three year old son as a Halloween costume. I've always been into building costumes, but I never planned far enough ahead to get into the "big leagues" and work with more advanced materials such as fiberglass and bondo.

Here's last year's Mk I

Iron Man 2011 Video

Put together in about a month out of aluminum and rivets.

My plan is to create the majority of the costume using the pepakura/resin/fiberglass/bondo method. I'll probably have a few foam pieces (neck, abs, inside of joints). Like I said, it will be my first time working with these materials, but I hope I can pull it off!

As far as electronics go, light up hand repulsors, chest, and eyes.

I'm using Robo's MK VI files and I started to do the pep for a forearm and discovered that scaling for a three year old will be a challenge. When I set the scale correctly for the length of the forearm, the wrist wouldn't fit through the opening. I think what I am going to end up doing is editing the 3D models, then having to redo the unfold by copying the original unfold. Here's the forearm piece where I've increased the width and depth by 50% vs the original

Original:

Expanded:

I thought that this might actually help with the proportions so that the head didn't look so huge in comparison to the rest of the body (big forearms, big calves and boots, big shoulders and big head) kinda like the Super Hero Squad Show characters.

I want to give props to indiefilmgeek for inspiration (his thead is here.). He's blazed a trail for me to follow and I hope I can do half as good a job as he did for his son!

Well, I think that's enough info to start. Here's a pic of me as SubZero!

 

[GakAttack]

Re: Iron Man Mk VI for Three Year Old

haha best halloween costume ever! That kid is lucky =p now if only flame throwers were equipped.... =p

 

[Incinorator]

Re: Iron Man Mk VI for Three Year Old

Here's an update... I went about making a duct tape dummy of my son for fitting and display of last year's costume. Here he is all taped up:

and here's last year's costume on display:

After a couple of tries, I settled on a forearm that is 33% fatter than in the original pep files. Here's the assembled piece:

It fits good, his hand just goes through the wrist piece. What I'd like to do is go through the whole process of fiberglass/bondo/paint on this one piece before I tackle the rest of the suit.

Also I'm a bit concerned about fitting with the bicep. If I make it the same 33% fatter scale so the joint lines up, is that going to cause issues with the armpit and shoulder? I hope not, or at least nothing that can't be fixed easily.

 

[Incinorator]

Re: Iron Man Mk VI for Three Year Old

I haven't updated in a while, summer got the best of me, but I'm back on it. I got the arm finished (kind of). The finish isn't as smooth or as glossy as I'd like, so I'll probably sand and try again later.

My process was as follows:

Coat inside and out with a light coat of fiberglass resin. Let dry.
Apply fiberglass cloth and resin inside (I decided mat was too messy and cloth is strong enough). Let dry.
Scuff and apply bondo on outside (I think I used too much cuz sanding was a pain!)
Sand with progressively higher grit sandpaper, I used 60-150-220-320.
Spray three coats of dupli-color filler primer
Spray three coats of dupli-color barcelona red metallic (thanks BlackDynamo1!)
Spray three coats of krylon fusion clear.

When I did the painting, I got in a rush because I really wanted to see a piece "done." I think I need to let each phase dry overnight and do some wet-sanding in between if I want that really shiny coat.

Anyway here's a pic. My plan going forward is to get the whole suit pepped and glassed and then do all the bondo/painting at once.

 

[Incinorator]

Re: Iron Man Mk VI for Three Year Old

Pepping Continues...

I've almost finished the upper half, here's a pic. (Helmet is a size tester)

My plan was to get the whole suit pepped by the end of August but I don't think that's going to happen. I do have a new plan though. After many evenings of numb fingers, I've decided to look into computer cutting the remainder of the suit. Luckily I work for a graphics company so I plan to adapt one of our machines to do the cutting. It won't be as streamlined as I imagine the Silhouette Cameo solution is, but I still think I'll save lots of time and headaches.

While I'm waiting on some parts to arrive, I'm going to start resin and fiberglass on the pieces I have done. I know the trick is going to be getting them to go into the right symmetrical shape, especially for the big pieces like chest and back.

I also ordered size 4 youth extra small under armour and I'm having my wife sew some elastic gloves. I know the hands will be a challenge to do with the pep method since they're so small, but I plan to give it a shot.

 

[Incinorator]

Re: Iron Man Mk VI for Three Year Old

Well, crap. I pepped the helmet and wouldn't you know it's too small. That's almost an entire week down the drain. What got me is the ear pieces. On the size tester the ears are flat and flush with the rest of the helmet. On the "sharkmark" helmet, the ears are inset a couple of cm. I've decided to switch helmets to the "samuray small chin" because the ears go out instead of in.

Also, after remeasuring, I think the helmet is going to be way big in proportion to the rest of the suit, even more so than in the above pic, but there's no way around it.

On another note, I've abandoned the hand-cutting of the pep pieces. I mentioned above that I was going to try to cut the pieces on one of my machines and I've got it working perfectly! Here's a video:



Now we're cooking with gas!

 

[Incinorator]

Re: Iron Man Mk VI for Three Year Old

Here's what I got done over labor day weekend:

Samuray Small Chin Helmet

Cod and Thighs (thighs were fattened up, default ratios wouldn't come close to fitting his legs)

Gonna try to get the shins and boots done this week, time is running short!

 

[MrBibou]

Re: Iron Man Mk VI for Three Year Old

This is a really awesome build. I just love the SD look the armor is having so far.
Hope I had a dedicated father like you :lol
Keep up the good work !

 

[Boneheadideas]

Re: Iron Man Mk VI for Three Year Old

Someday, this kid of yours is going to dress up like you. Great build, but the real beauty of this is what you're doing for him.

 

[Incinorator]

Re: Iron Man Mk VI for Three Year Old

Thanks for the kind words!

 

[Incinorator]

Re: Iron Man Mk VI for Three Year Old

Well, I assembled the first boot, and I was musing about how I'm going to put the three pieces together and secure a shoe in there.

I've gotten some dress shoes, and I trimmed the rubber soles down so that they're as low profile as possible. They fit the boot well, although I'm going to have to cut the boot apart after hardening to insert the shoe. My plan is to epoxy the shoe in, that way there aren't any exposed screws in the sole.

Here's the boot and shoe:

Here's how I'm thinking of attaching the three pieces together. I'll cut holes in the main boot and the two sole pieces and custom cut cardstock boxes for each that line up. Then when I harden, I can fiberglass these and then drill holes to bolt the pieces together. I'll epoxy a nut into the top piece so that I can detach/attach at will from the bottom.

Here's a rough sketch:

Here's the plan:

1. Make my custom mount boxes for each piece.
2. Rondo the boot sole
3. Harden the rest with fiberglass
4. Custom cut foam to fit inside the remaining hollow areas
6. Cut apart the main boot part to epoxy in the shoe
7. Reattach the main boot part with the shoe inside

Another option instead of the epoxy would be to pour rondo around the shoe once it's in there. That might be a better idea, although it would be heavier.

So, a couple of questions:

1. Do you see any problems with my method of bolting the pieces together?
2. What's the best way to get the shoe permanently mounted in there, epoxy, rondo, something else?
3. What's the best way to reattach the two boot halves after the shoe is in there?

Thanks!

 

[flamingBurrito]

Re: Iron Man Mk VI for Three Year Old

This build is awesome. Your son is going to be the coolest kid on the block come halloween

 

[Tigerblood]

Re: Iron Man Mk VI for Three Year Old

use casting resin instead of rondo to fill the soles. Rondo is going to be brittle when it comes to that thickness.

 

[Incinorator]

Re: Iron Man Mk VI for Three Year Old

Would the casting resin be good to fill in around the shoes to hold them in?

 

[Tigerblood]

Re: Iron Man Mk VI for Three Year Old

Would the casting resin be good to fill in around the shoes to hold them in?

Yes, it would definitely work. Get them the casting resin from a fiberglass supply store and get some micro-balloons too.

 

[Incinorator]

Re: Iron Man Mk VI for Three Year Old

Update, I finished pepping the boots:

And that marks the last of the big pieces so I started hardening:

I did a light coat of resin on outside of the whole suit today. Over this week I'll add the fiberglass inside. I also plan to mix in work on some of the smaller pieces, gloves and hip pods.

Once I get it hardened, I'll add strapping and joints and do a test fit of the whole suit.

 

[Incinorator]

Re: Iron Man Mk VI for Three Year Old

By the way, here's how the boots are shaping up:

I've got the mount points lined up for the bolts and the next step is to harden, then pour casting resin to shore up the soles. Then I'll cut foam inserts for the front and back pieces. I plan to make the foam big enough that there's a slight cushion between the pieces.

That's my plan, I hope that two bolts for each piece will be enough.

 

[LawNinja]

Re: Iron Man Mk VI for Three Year Old

I have to say, this is the most adorable thing I've seen in a while. Can't wait to see the results!

 

[Genises]

Re: Iron Man Mk VI for Three Year Old

Someday, this kid of yours is going to dress up like you. Great build, but the real beauty of this is what you're doing for him.

couldn't have said it better myself!

 

[Incinorator]

Re: Iron Man Mk VI for Three Year Old

Thinking about the gloves tonight, do you think I can brush on casting resin into the fingers to harden them instead of using fiberglass? They'll be so tiny, I don't think I can get fiberglass in an area that small.

I found a local source for Smooth-Cast 300 and I'm gonna get some tomorrow. They don't carry the whole line, but I figure 300 should do for most applications. I'm also gonna pick up some Oomoo 30 silicone. I don't have a use in mind yet, but I want some just the same.