Iron Man Mk VII Build-couple of questions

[Lakayitha]

Quick update: I've managed to cut out the faceplate without messing the whole thing up
I should be able to fix the cracked part pretty easily- turns out that it was a patch that I'd missed out on while fiberglassing the whole thing, so a bit of extra fiberglass and bondo should do the trick. Working on that over the weekend and next week because I have a school break then
Cheers~

 

[Lakayitha]

Hi everyone,
After more sanding and some last filler, the faceplate is now ready for painting! (Finally ) I primered it yesterday and I'm doing the first coat of paint today hopefully. A quick picture from before the primer can be seen below (though I can say that it looks way better now!)
I've been wanting to start out on the torso for a little while now so I'm downloading the pep files today, though I was wondering of I should use the foam files since I'm planning on building it with cardboard.

Pictures of the painted faceplate will be up as soon as possible
Cheers~

 

[Lakayitha]

It's still drying, I'll have better pics by tomorrow probably. I've also started working on the chest piece

 

[Lakayitha]

Hey guys,
I've been working on the chest and back, and I've also worked out some details on the faceplate. Repainting that this week, luckily the paint I bought was the right colour
Does anyone have any tips on cardboard bulds? I'm fiberglassing it and I've also bought some polyfiber for the outside.

This was the first time I tried it on, and the top parts of the shoulders hadn't been worked out yet. I just stuck them together with tape here, mainly to see if they were too high (my helmet was touching those parts if I turned my head). Now that I've stuck them together, I'm going to need to find a way to get them to properly fit beneath my helmet.
The helmet itself is going to be a bit higher up, since I'm lining the inside with EVA foam once it's finished.

That's all for now
I'll try to post an update as soon as possible~

 

[Lakayitha]

I'm hopefully finishing the last bits of the back today, and I'm planning on doing the first resin coats on the chest and back as soon as possible (maybe today, definitely this week!). Does anyone have any tips for resining cardboard? Probably doing a coat of resin on the inside as well as the outside of the parts, and then fiberglass on just the inside. I'm very keen on getting this right the first time since I want to have it finished by March

I'm also still looking for a way to fix the problem of the helmet touching the shoulder parts of the back, has anyone else encountered that problem? I'd like to fix it without having to redo the whole helmet

Cheers~
Maxime

 

[zorprime]

I'm actually building a Mark Vii out of cardboard as well, I only have the left arm and shoulder and the right forearm done now. Now for strengthening cardboard, I have and plan on just resining the inside and outside of the pieces. If it needs more straighten then I'll put fiberglass matts on the pieces. But other than that, cardboard is a whole lot stronger than paper and does not need as much support. But, that's just me, now if I planned on using the piece to make copies of them (vacuum form) I would then make the piece as strong as possible. Good luck and keep at it, it looks great so far!

 

[Lakayitha]

I'm actually building a Mark Vii out of cardboard as well, I only have the left arm and shoulder and the right forearm done now. Now for strengthening cardboard, I have and plan on just resining the inside and outside of the pieces. If it needs more straighten then I'll put fiberglass matts on the pieces. But other than that, cardboard is a whole lot stronger than paper and does not need as much support. But, that's just me, now if I planned on using the piece to make copies of them (vacuum form) I would then make the piece as strong as possible. Good luck and keep at it, it looks great so far!

Thanks a lot! I'll just try my hand at it like that then

 

[ct23456]

From what I've heard Fiber-glassing is a must for most Foam and Pep projects. The Fiberglass will keep the shape from warping over time and give it added strength. So I agree with Zorprime but I would fiberglass the inside as soon as the resin cured. When I finally get around to getting a 3d printer I plan on using fiber glass before priming and painting.

 

[Lakayitha]

From what I've heard Fiber-glassing is a must for most Foam and Pep projects. The Fiberglass will keep the shape from warping over time and give it added strength. So I agree with Zorprime but I would fiberglass the inside as soon as the resin cured. When I finally get around to getting a 3d printer I plan on using fiber glass before priming and painting.

Thanks!
Yes, I'm definitely going with the fiberglass though, seeing that I do plan on wearing it when it's done

 

[SMP Designs]

@ct23456 Sorry to hear that Good luck with your print though! Do you have a thread on it? I'd love to see how it works out.
I'm trying to match everything, but since I just have Pep viewer I'm adjusting everything myself. Hope it all matches up! I'm probably starting on the upper forearm this afternoon so I'l drop you all a line on how it's going (probably today or tomorrow). Cheers~
Maxime

Havent read all the way to the end yet, so sorry if someone already mentioned this... I believe that you can download and use the Pep Designer for free to scale your pieces - the caveat is that you can't save them. So, you have to scale and print in the same session. I remember reading that a while ago. Might be worth looking into...

 

[Lakayitha]

Havent read all the way to the end yet, so sorry if someone already mentioned this... I believe that you can download and use the Pep Designer for free to scale your pieces - the caveat is that you can't save them. So, you have to scale and print in the same session. I remember reading that a while ago. Might be worth looking into...

Thanks I'd been looking into that indeed, since a friend mentioned it a while ago too. Haven't had the time to download it yet though, but for now, having just Viewer won't be a problem since the standard scale for Darkside501st' files is the scale I need. I'll look into it some more later on, because I don't think I necessarily need to save everything, as long as I keep track of the used scales. Thanks a lot for the advice though, I'll have probably downloaded this by the end of the day
Cheers~

 

[Lakayitha]

Hey everyone!
Over the weekend, I've busied myself not just with Iron Man, but also with Captain America! I wanted to see if I could pull off fiberglassing cardboard (with one layer of resin on the outside and one layer with fiberglass on the inside). Might add another layer of resin on the outside though. It's working out pretty well so far; I've glassed the inside of the center of the shield (the star and the circle it's in) and that's drying now. I'm finishing the shield as soon as possible so that I can get started on doing the Iron Man torso, I'm curious as to how it's going to work out!
I'll add some pictures of the shield and the progress in the Iron Man project itself later on (probably tonight or tomorrow). Either way, I'll keep you all updated on the whole thing

Cheers~
Maxime

 

[Lakayitha]

Thought I'd show you guys some of my recent progress on the shield. While I wasn't able to work on it at the weekend, I had not yet put my earlier pictures on here, so they're down below. I might be able to finish the fiberglass on this tomorrow. I'll keep you updated!



Cheers~
Maxime

 

[Lakayitha]

Hey all!

I've been doing some work on the second bicep as well as the back and some other loose parts. My brother got me a small LED base from his internship, which I'll be using as a base for the arc reactor. It's too small but can easily be incorporated into something bigger so I'm really happy with it (especially since I had no clue a to where to start on building the arc!). Over the course of the next two weeks I'm hoping to really make some progress, since I want to be able to have the whole project finished by the end of March (Dutch Comic Con )
Here are some pictures of the LED base:



As you can tell it's pretty bright and the LEDs already kind of form the triangle for the arc, so that's pretty nice.
I'll be finishing the peps for the second bicep, second elbow and the back soon (hopefully tomorrow or the day after). I'll keep you all updated on that

 

[stigmorgan]

Cool I was wondering how this was progressing. Looks like a great start point for the arc

 

[Lakayitha]

Cool I was wondering how this was progressing. Looks like a great start point for the arc

Thanks I'll try to keep this updated over the next couple of days.

 

[Lakayitha]

Hey all! I hope everyone who's celebrating it is having a nice Christmas eve
I've finished the second arm in pep today (not the upper forearm though, because I haven't figured that part out yet). I also put resin on the chest yesterday and I've sprayed a second coat of gold paint onto the faceplate. I'll put up some pictures of those parts tomorrow as I don't have the time to take any now.

Over the past week I've also been spending time on the opening mechanism for the helmet, which is based on James Bruton's YouTube tutorials. I'm not sure if I want to motorize it yet though. I'm planning on finishing the basics for that tomorrow, as well as the back pep.

See you then
~Maxime

 

[Lakayitha]

Took some quick pictures of the progress on the arms so far. I'm starting on the cod (and hopefully the legs) tomorrow.

 

[Lakayitha]

H3ey all! Thought I'd show you my progress up until now. I've been working on one of the thighs but I decided to skip the cod for now, to see if it would be better to use cardstock or cardboard.

I've also been looking into different ways of fixing the electronics into the helmet. I would really like to keep all of the wires and battery packs in the helmet itself, so that I can take it off without having to mess with those. Landed back on the EL tape and such, I was wondering if any of you have done that? I could also use some old LEDs that I still have at home, but this might be better?

Anyways, here is what the leg and helmet look like at the moment:

I've also already put some fiber-bondo onto the chest, and the back is almost ready to be glassed

Cheers~
Maxime

 

[zorprime]

Looks good, I got my shins finished over new years holiday, and I'm starting to work on the upper thighs. About how far down did you make the thighs go? To just right above the knee?