Iron Man Mk3 Build

[bamboodia]

Woah, it sounds like you've had a bit of a nightmare week dude. I hope the boot problem is resolved on the next pep of it.
It's nice to hear that you've gone for the bodyfiller too. I'm guessing you've decided to go the long road too on this one? With building your boot multiple times I reckon you've got the right attitude for it as patience, and plenty of it, is essential. I might of mentioned this before but can never stress it enough

 

[electraflier]

Yeah, sorry for the rant about the work week and the epic boot fail! I want t report the good with the bad too so anyone whos bored abnd wanting to learn from my pain can...minus the time loss and money spent LOL! That is what i love about most of the folks here!! They are willing to help and give advise and solve issues!!
Bamboodia, but what a week of highs and lows...Yeah, I am in this for the long haul and have learned so much already... My spackle/glue mix has a place for smaller less flexible parts I intend to cast quickly... I think as it dries for days and weeks it might get too flakey and crackle too much. but say a small part with little flex like a buuton or shoe cover plate that is all flat...I can skin it at night, let it dry and sand it flat in 15 minutes by hand, then cast in silicon that day...
There are no wasted experiences or lessons here and I have patience and guess this is patience 101 school! I bought some dyna lite no tack body filler which may solve my tacky surface beef wit bondo...we'll see! More posts to follow!
M

 

[Dancin_Fool]

Neck looks fantastic! it came out really nice, great work putting it together. Sometimes it's nice to take a "break" and work on a bit of a simpler piece.

 

[electraflier]

So like any good administrator, I sat evaluating my goals vs progress... Since I decided to go the pep, harden, bondo sanding priming, molding process; I had to be honest and admit that I (and my MK3) would not make Halloween this year with a finished armor and doubtful Comicon as well.:cry
So Since I want to do War Machine as foam build I made the decision to not stress about my mk 3 as I want it perfect!:love
Got to thinking, "self" your wife has a foam work-out mat, you have sissors, hot glue and a printer why not give a simple piece a try...:facepalm
Here is what I did.
By the way a huge shout out to JFcustoms for his foam techniques! You really gave me some insite into the cleanest way to do foam.
http://www.therpf.com/f24/foam-speed-building-filesntricks-added-iron-man-148889/ Cant wait for your War Machine files!!!

OK? not too bad for a first try? finished it in a couple of hours, covered in a coat of PVA...The wife came home and said, "WOW what a great neck piece!" NOT!!!:lol
I can't possibly match the indignation and squeeky voice but she really said, "WHATDIDYOUDOTOMYWORKOUTMAT!!!???" :angry It was a lot funnier in person because you could hear the squeek!! LOL!!:behave
I of course am still going to work on my MK3 as that is my priority! But I figure a piece a week for the War Machine will get me there by Halloween for my friends party.
I have to tell you, I love the Pepakura better. I know a lot of you foam guys will think I am nuts, but you cant beat the crisp edges and details of the pep. I think each application has it merits and down-sides...Plus for me I noticed with the foam it is so hard to keep your lines and seams straight and sharp. I had an idea that maybe if you PVA the piece, glue your templates back on to the foam then resin it you might get a really nice hybrid type of end product??? I will start a War Machine thread as I also have a great idea for mounting the mini-gun as I hear a lot of guys complaining about trying to get the foam armor to hold up the gun due to compression/bending issues!
You all will like the idea, cheap but very effective. I will be posting the ideas in the other thread.
I may have rushed a lottle due to the mat situation but I think for me the foam will be ok for a quicky build and I'll just keep the peps for the featured presentation! My MK3!

 

[electraflier]

So at the risk of being redundant, I am posting this on both my threads since there is overlap..
I have just finished a sort of experiment by joining pep/template/foam hybrid of a neck for my War Machine a well as finishing first resin for the neck for my Mk3, I dont guess they are anywhere close to perfect, but I believe after plastic/filler/sanding/sanding/filling /sanding and priming LOL! They might pass as something Iron Manish?
I am eager to see how the hybrid neck takes the resin and plastic. I am prepping the foam with PVA like Xrobots videos, to keep the resin off of the foam..(don't want to build that again...
Redundant part rebuilding 6 , Electraflier 0
I like how this turned out as I wanted the benefits of foam thickness and curves as well as the sharpness of pepakura. If this holds up I will do all of War Machine this way due to all the sharp corners and flat face/planes on the upper body especially.

This is the foam/cardstock hybrid.

Back of foam/paper build

Both my MK3 and War machine neck!

I am hoping to spend some time this weekend plastic coating the MK3 neck and maybe a working on a little filler and primer. The War Machine will have to wait for coating as I am waiting for my jugs of 65D...
My wife said "you'll never finish your armour if you keep redoing stuff!"
However at last count I have;
2 necks, a lower leg MK3 (castable) a Zabana boot (castable) and useable for both MK3 and WM! (if I can figure out how to best mold that puppy.
and a ton of supplies gathered as well as tools, plastics; heck even rare earth magnets as well as the materials for the Gatling gun support!!
I have been a busy Pre-builder!
On to War Machines back, lots of measuring and making the final choice as to use JFCustoms awesome speed build or Juices files or Robo's or ...
My breaks will be MK3 thighs! I am sticking with Dancin_fools wonderful MK3 files, they are deluxe!
TTFN
M

 

[electraflier]

No I havent given up on my MK3!!:unsure
I am in the process of resining parts already completed and will be Dyna Lite body fillering then over the next week or so. Depends on what disasters befall me at work :cry
With luck none and as I had to work an unsceduled shift this weekend I need to comp a day off! Potential progress!
TTL!
M

 

[Origin]

This looks awesome! I'm starting this same project, yours is looking waaayyyyy better than mine! keep up the inspiring work!

 

[goofball107]

Looking good cant wait for updates very inspiring

 

[electraflier]

:$ Thanks! :$
Just be patient, go slow and watch Stealths videos on peping on youtube! I also use a straight edge to make my light mountain and valley cuts on the dotted line then use a steel edge to fold them up or down...
I appreciate the kudos!
Post pics!!!

 

[bamboodia]

Great progress man. Two projects simultaneously though? You're a madman! In the deep end hey? Nice method with the cardstock and foam btw. I'd like to see how it turns out when sealed and painted.

 

[electraflier]

Still working like mad to get parts build, :cool, but was very excited to get my RPF shirt in the mail. :lol
Wore it out last evening and Wow! I cannot believe the interest a tee shirt generated! I had literally a person at each place I went ask about RPF and what we do here!! You know how much a builder hates to bend someones ear about what our latest project is!:unsure
Sorry theres not more armor on Iron Mannequin, but it covered up the coolness!

 

[electraflier]

Hey everyone! I had to take a break today as it is raining and too humid to do resin! :cry I cant risk taking my hard won pepakura out into the humidity to do the resin as sagging is already and issue without Floridas'100% humidity,

Here is the one I made!

here is the link to the thread build!
http://www.therpf.com/f9/tesseract-cheap-easy-cosmic-cube-must-any-154280/#post2363559
Kirk out!
M

 

[electraflier]

I know I am a shameless cross poster?? LOL! but this applies to both my builds as it is tool related, sorry to jump people that have my other threads and have seen this already!

So when people ask you why it takes so long to build your armor, (and they will) you can blame the pepakura or the fact that we constantly have to stop and build or repurpose something to facilitate a part of the project you thought would be a cake walk! Riiigghht as if anything about our beloved hobby is a piece of cake???? or is it?
Here is a cake solution to a problem I had. I simply do not have enough hands or ways to support floppy, large pepakura builds.
Here is what I was doing to build my chest and back piece for my War Machine build>

and this fine collection of water bottles saved from going to land fill LOL!

I had one of those moments where I dropped the piece for the fifth time and put a slight crease where one isn't susposed to be!!!:angry

So I went to home depot and bought (6) 1 inch "T"s, (1) "X" coupler, (5) "end plugs" and a 12 foot piece of 1 inch PVC pipe. 20 minutes with my cutter and measuring tape yielded> nnooo it is not a parrot stand LOL!:lol

and this is what I can do with this....

and this as well!!!

I am very pleased with how nice the chest piece looks from here! It is a shame only my belly button will ever know...

I did not PVC glue any parts so that I can now adjust/ cut new pieces for different parts and pretty much use it to do my resin as well!
Just have to cover it with plastic or paper so I don't resin my seams!

20$ solution to a million dollar problem! Sweet!

Well back to work!!!

 

[bamboodia]

Bravo sir! This will make a most handy stand/jig for when resining (is resining even a word?)
I know the pain of creased parts all to well from when my duct tape dummy with my whole suit of pepakura pieces came crashing down on to the floor.

Nice t-shirt too btw

 

[electraflier]

:$Thanks!! I think I stole the idea from you Bamboodia!:$ It was your tragic tale of crushed parts that I remembered and decided to build an mini me version of your stand for working on parts!:cry I can imagine how that was!
So this was cheap, easy peezey and I can use the Xtra PVC for my War Machine gun mount!:cool
I think resining is a word too, here on RPF LOL! I think the proper way to say it is "I am applying a thin layer of Catalyzed resin to my pepakura build" and "please pass the grey poupon! hehehe!

 

[pRoJectEarth7]

Man you're FAST and your ideas are great!!!... do you ever take a rest?

Let me guess, even when you sleep you are dreaming about your next move, and when you woke up, a bulb lights up on top of your head and says "EUREKA"... LOL:lol... It happens to me all the time...:thumbsup

Keep building man... cheers!

 

[electraflier]

LOL! Thanks Projectearth! That's me the Thomas Edison of pepakura! Not. :unsure I feel like I am sooo slow! It is taking forever, and yes I dream of my next move, and when I'm not directly solving a work problem I am off to IM land! This is my happy place!:love
I am eagerly awaiting my MK3 helmet too! You will be the first to hear about it!

 

[electraflier]

Well the wait is over!!! My Projectearth7 IM helmet has arrived today!!! What a lovely piece and now the premier part of my IM3 build! :cheers
Here are some pics!

and last but most important!! The red shirt was just a happy coincidence!:lol

Please, please, if you are struggling with a pepakura helmet build check Projectearth7 out!
He was very helpful and patient to work with and turns out a nice product!
here is a link!
http://www.therpf.com/f13/ironman-mkvi-helm-99-movie-accurate-sample-126814/

I am actually very handy and seem to be doing ok with the pep and building work, :$ however, I seriously had to weigh the amount of time it would take to turn out a helmet of this quality vs the fact that the learning curve here in IM pep land is very very steep, (2-3 rebuilds of a hard part is not uncommon for me) so taking all of that into consideration, this is a huge huge deal and a bargain. I estimated for me to go from pep to mold and output of one helmet (of quality) would have taken far longer than was worth it to me. This saved me countless hours, material, frustration and doublessly $$$ to work on other parts of this and other projects I am better able to use my not so inconsiderable skills on! :$
Be aware, though that I am not a huge guy at 6 foot, Not huge jointed or larger craniumed :behave
I am sort of narrow so to speak and the helmet, is literally "just" right. There is not much wiggle room so get your measurements ( he does post a size on the link) and communicate with PE7 to make sure you are a match for this beauty!! The packing was incredible and extremely professional as well!
If you have any questions or want more personal input please feel free to PM me, I always have time to help people here at RPF!
M

 

[Bftiedt]

Do you happen to have a link to the neck you have in the picture? I would like to make one to display my helmet. Thanks

 

[electraflier]

Sure! Dancin_fool has some of the finest MK3 pep file around here is a link to the neck file.

IronMan_Neck.pdo - 4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download

You will have to join, but it is free and if you are going to do this regularly a lot of the files are here!
here is the link to Dancins' MK3 file thread as well!

http://www.therpf.com/f24/dancinfools-iron-man-mark-iii-pep-files-101543/

The grey neck is just a experiment I threw together from foam using JFCustoms foam speed building War Machine neck seal... I wore it because it is cut down the back, the Dancin_fool neck is not cut as I have only put resin on it at this point, :$
The foam neck can be found here, at this link along with armor enough to last a lifetime if you like foam... jury is out for me still. I love Pepakura...so relaxing!:angry :confused

http://www.therpf.com/f24/foam-speed-building-filesntricks-added-guyver-war-148889/

Hope you'll stay awhile and build a whole suit!!!
My goal after I get done is to try to organize an Iron Man/armor convention for armor builders! Wouldn't that be the ultimate!