Iron Man Mk3 Build
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electraflier
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the offer Doc! am going to pep and glass the Mk3 so probably wont go foam on that one. My War Machine will be hybridized foam/pep/glass/plastiic depending on the part... You should put it on the junk yard! Someone will probably take it in a heartbeat!
Finish the armor! I need more folks to talk to and work with! It pushes me to see others ahead of me or doing cooler ideas, it will do the same for you I am sure!!
M
Finish the armor! I need more folks to talk to and work with! It pushes me to see others ahead of me or doing cooler ideas, it will do the same for you I am sure!!
M
propnoob74
Well-Known Member
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
Nice helmet borther!!! I got me one from JoWe now I just have to wait until the weather allows me to work properly, is been humid like crazy...
electraflier
Well-Known Member
It is a wonderful helmet! :love
I have recieved loads of compliments and it is already getting old telling everyone I didnt actually make it LOL! I have to give full credit to projectearth7 for masterful work! :cheers
My cranium measures 22 3/4 and it fits well, as I said I am sort of narrow. I however had to work out a special tilt to get it over my ears LOL! If you look at projects newest pics (the ones with the geared faceplate) it is supposed to fit sort of snuggly anyhow without being like a bean in a tin can! The side by side pics with Robert D show clearly that it is not supposed to be huge...
There is still enough room for very flat orbital gearing for a visor, lights and a servo set up.
I think you should try to get a straight on (ear to ear) width measure and have RJ give you the size opening of the helmet ( I believe he has a picture on the thread with a ruler over the opening) without the back section on. My ears want to hang up on the disks inside hence the need to tilt the helmet forward for me.Once over my Dumbo sized ears it sits beautifully and I will pad the top with foam for perfect adjustment...
If your inches are in the forehead and rear you should be ok if you see what I mean:cool
I have recieved loads of compliments and it is already getting old telling everyone I didnt actually make it LOL! I have to give full credit to projectearth7 for masterful work! :cheers
My cranium measures 22 3/4 and it fits well, as I said I am sort of narrow. I however had to work out a special tilt to get it over my ears LOL! If you look at projects newest pics (the ones with the geared faceplate) it is supposed to fit sort of snuggly anyhow without being like a bean in a tin can! The side by side pics with Robert D show clearly that it is not supposed to be huge...
There is still enough room for very flat orbital gearing for a visor, lights and a servo set up.
I think you should try to get a straight on (ear to ear) width measure and have RJ give you the size opening of the helmet ( I believe he has a picture on the thread with a ruler over the opening) without the back section on. My ears want to hang up on the disks inside hence the need to tilt the helmet forward for me.Once over my Dumbo sized ears it sits beautifully and I will pad the top with foam for perfect adjustment...
If your inches are in the forehead and rear you should be ok if you see what I mean:cool
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electraflier
Well-Known Member
Not a huge lot of progress today! :unsure
The Wife got tired of me on the dinning room table messing up the floors and leaving armor pieces strewn about our main living areas, so went and bought a glass topped work table and small wood working bench and reclaimed "The dogs room" where we crate our puppies when we arent home during the day.
I told her now all of the dogs are in one room. :lol
I had to assemble the bench and desk and rearrange the rooms LOL! I am now moving all of my stuff from the dining room to the now "HOBBY ROOM" yes, you hear it! :lol
I finally, for the first time in my life, have an actual hobby room inside my house!! Very excited, now I just need some Marvela and Iron Man movie posters and some shelves! Well off to finish moving! Yiippee!:cool
The Wife got tired of me on the dinning room table messing up the floors and leaving armor pieces strewn about our main living areas, so went and bought a glass topped work table and small wood working bench and reclaimed "The dogs room" where we crate our puppies when we arent home during the day.
I told her now all of the dogs are in one room. :lol
I had to assemble the bench and desk and rearrange the rooms LOL! I am now moving all of my stuff from the dining room to the now "HOBBY ROOM" yes, you hear it! :lol
I finally, for the first time in my life, have an actual hobby room inside my house!! Very excited, now I just need some Marvela and Iron Man movie posters and some shelves! Well off to finish moving! Yiippee!:cool
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electraflier
Well-Known Member
My pleasure! I hope it helps! Please don't hesitate to PM Projectearth7, he is really very awesome and very helpful. He will steer you straight!
M
M
I too have a I'm helmet from project earth7 and my head is a little big for the opening and HAD the ear pulling too... Inside the head I still have space and I installed my led eyes and hinges but the mod I did to help the ears was in the lower part of the disc I sanded down each side slowed to even it out until my ears cleared better.. And now it's more of a custom fit for me, also added some foam padding and still gots room to breathe so size of helmet is good! by the nice build on this thread!
electraflier
Well-Known Member
I was just thinking that! I was at the gym lifting weights and I though that maybe I should look at sanding the disks down just a touch because I only need a few mm just to clear the ears! :confused You are correct Kicx, once in it is perfect! I am glad to hear you did that successfully,
how much material did you remove...?
What kind of hinges did you use? I am going to use Mightyjohns orbital hinges, ordered my plan sheet and instructions, they are sweet! . I am going to try making Mycarta with resin, denim and paper.
I wanted to try that over aluminum, though that is an option.
M
how much material did you remove...?What kind of hinges did you use? I am going to use Mightyjohns orbital hinges, ordered my plan sheet and instructions, they are sweet! . I am going to try making Mycarta with resin, denim and paper.
I wanted to try that over aluminum, though that is an option.
M
electraflier
Well-Known Member
Making progress today! :lol
Resin applied to IM MK3 parts! and working on making the Micarta composite material for the orbital hinges for my helmets.
I was wondering how to hang my pep parts to cure as we went to all plastic hangers in our home, so no metal hangers to cut up mommy dearest! :angry
The masking tape worked great!!
Since I had the resin out I thought I'd try my hand at some homemade Micarta. I need to start expirementing now..
The material came up when I asked my brother in law,who is part Mcguyver and part Edison, for some ideas about materials for the orbital hinges that Mightyjohn designed for our IM helmets. Blue prints in hand, I showed him the plan and told him my thoughts.
I was all for aluminum or brass,but machining metal is out of my wood working tools realm. Plus the machining would need to be tight and smooth.:sick He told me that he thought that something light but very strong like a composite material would turn the trick better. He suggested micarta..
The trouble with the metals would be machining all the compound curves and inner slits the armatures follow. The trouble with composites are that professionally made ones like Micarta are hideously expensive like 800-1200$ for 4x8 sheets and that is the really cheap stuff! :eek
He uses "homemade" Micarta to make knife handles and says it is almost as hard as light metal or really stiff plastic, yet it sands and works like wood.
Here is the method I used.
Homemade Micarta - YouTube
There are literally a bazzilion videos up so pick a narrator you like and give it a look.
I know I needed to stay thin,(you can make this stuff as thick as a boat hull if you wanted) but our visors are really light and we are working in a very small area, so for this first attempt I went with 2 pieces red construction paper, 1 layer denim, 2 pieces red construction paper, 1 layer denim (with the weave opposite the other) and then 2 pieces red construction paper.
Each layer had a coat of resin applied then they were wrapped in wax paper between 2 blocks of wood and compressed as hard as my wood working vise would compress it. Since I don't need huge pieces I was able to do this without C-clamps in the vise jaws. Plus industrial micarta is made under tons of pressure, i wanted as tight a piece as I could get, so compression must be high. You need to watch out for material slipping/squirting as the compression makes the material want to push out of the wax paper. A little finnesse and knowing it does that ahead of time will save you a wasted run.
I used 5 oz of resin for the one piece due to the layers and wanting good resin penetration.
Torqued the vise and ;
It really squeezed out a lot! Make sure the wax paper is looped on the bottom of the micarta so it doesnt drip on the floor.
Well back to pepakura! I going to let that cure till tomorrow and uncompress it then.
I will be posting how it goes... I may not be able to fully motorize my helmets by halloween, but hopefully I can get the MK3 and WM helmets geared and ready to accept servos..that way I can open and close the visors by hand at least.
we'll see.:unsure
Resin applied to IM MK3 parts! and working on making the Micarta composite material for the orbital hinges for my helmets.
I was wondering how to hang my pep parts to cure as we went to all plastic hangers in our home, so no metal hangers to cut up mommy dearest! :angry
The masking tape worked great!!
Since I had the resin out I thought I'd try my hand at some homemade Micarta. I need to start expirementing now..
The material came up when I asked my brother in law,who is part Mcguyver and part Edison, for some ideas about materials for the orbital hinges that Mightyjohn designed for our IM helmets. Blue prints in hand, I showed him the plan and told him my thoughts.
I was all for aluminum or brass,but machining metal is out of my wood working tools realm. Plus the machining would need to be tight and smooth.:sick He told me that he thought that something light but very strong like a composite material would turn the trick better. He suggested micarta..
The trouble with the metals would be machining all the compound curves and inner slits the armatures follow. The trouble with composites are that professionally made ones like Micarta are hideously expensive like 800-1200$ for 4x8 sheets and that is the really cheap stuff! :eek
He uses "homemade" Micarta to make knife handles and says it is almost as hard as light metal or really stiff plastic, yet it sands and works like wood.
Here is the method I used.
Homemade Micarta - YouTube
There are literally a bazzilion videos up so pick a narrator you like and give it a look.
I know I needed to stay thin,(you can make this stuff as thick as a boat hull if you wanted) but our visors are really light and we are working in a very small area, so for this first attempt I went with 2 pieces red construction paper, 1 layer denim, 2 pieces red construction paper, 1 layer denim (with the weave opposite the other) and then 2 pieces red construction paper.
Each layer had a coat of resin applied then they were wrapped in wax paper between 2 blocks of wood and compressed as hard as my wood working vise would compress it. Since I don't need huge pieces I was able to do this without C-clamps in the vise jaws. Plus industrial micarta is made under tons of pressure, i wanted as tight a piece as I could get, so compression must be high. You need to watch out for material slipping/squirting as the compression makes the material want to push out of the wax paper. A little finnesse and knowing it does that ahead of time will save you a wasted run.
I used 5 oz of resin for the one piece due to the layers and wanting good resin penetration.
Torqued the vise and ;
It really squeezed out a lot! Make sure the wax paper is looped on the bottom of the micarta so it doesnt drip on the floor.
Well back to pepakura! I going to let that cure till tomorrow and uncompress it then.
I will be posting how it goes... I may not be able to fully motorize my helmets by halloween, but hopefully I can get the MK3 and WM helmets geared and ready to accept servos..that way I can open and close the visors by hand at least.
we'll see.:unsure
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electraflier
Well-Known Member
Thanks so much! Wow! coming from you Fingaz ...wow! Thank you Sir I am humbled!:$
I hope to come close to the example you set my friend! Your armor is a masterwork!!! :love The latest pictures were so much fun to see!
I hope you build other pieces and share them with us!
Sincerely, Michael
I hope to come close to the example you set my friend! Your armor is a masterwork!!! :love The latest pictures were so much fun to see!
I hope you build other pieces and share them with us!
Sincerely, Michael
electraflier
Well-Known Member
The micarta does not need to cure till tomorrow (makes sense, once the resin cures it is done) :unsure per my kindred so here are the de-vised? pictures!
I cleaned up the edges with my chop saw and the wax paper though really stuck on there, scoured off easily with hot water, detergent and a scrubby pad! It worked out so awesome!!!!:lol
30mm x 11mm and 3 mm thick and flat as a board!!!!
It actually is a perfect amount to do my Mightyjohn orbital parts!!
Per purchase agreement I cannot show the actual parts or their design, :cry however these are paper blanks cut out so I can see the layout and it is flawless!!!
I am going to glue the actual templates to the micarta with pva and use my dads fine scroll saw with the jeweler blade that is ultra fine. He uses that for cutting wood inserts for his inlayed boxes he builds. I should be able to use fine jewels files to clean up my tracks and pivot points.
I am very very pleased.:$ This stuff is as hard as really stiff plastic, but has a very slight side to side give that should help with the slight curve of the inside of the helmet!!
Keep you posted!!
I cleaned up the edges with my chop saw and the wax paper though really stuck on there, scoured off easily with hot water, detergent and a scrubby pad! It worked out so awesome!!!!:lol
30mm x 11mm and 3 mm thick and flat as a board!!!!
It actually is a perfect amount to do my Mightyjohn orbital parts!!
Per purchase agreement I cannot show the actual parts or their design, :cry however these are paper blanks cut out so I can see the layout and it is flawless!!!
I am going to glue the actual templates to the micarta with pva and use my dads fine scroll saw with the jeweler blade that is ultra fine. He uses that for cutting wood inserts for his inlayed boxes he builds. I should be able to use fine jewels files to clean up my tracks and pivot points.
I am very very pleased.:$ This stuff is as hard as really stiff plastic, but has a very slight side to side give that should help with the slight curve of the inside of the helmet!!
Keep you posted!!
I sanded about 2mm on each side.... The only shortfall to this which is not bad at all is there will be a slight gap but if your wearing a suit under it creates a shadow Like effect... Also to counter the shaving of the disc if your picky, I was thinking the 3rd piece of the helmet which is the rear lower neck attachment you can widen(with bondo or fiberglass) the disc area to refill that missing gap so when the main helmet and neck piece attaches together it becomes flush again! I havent tried that option yet cause the way I see it, nobody will notice the sanded area because it's evened out and faces downward to see the gap
electraflier
Well-Known Member
You could glue in a ring of very thin, soft, black craft foam inside the ring to hide the gap, it could actually be painted to match the helmet and be flexible enough to allow ear passage. I was thinking of the inner rim of the helmet where the ear covers join the helmet. for me the outer edge is good.
Thanks for the response Kicx! I will definately look into using your idea!!!
M
Thanks for the response Kicx! I will definately look into using your idea!!!
M
sorry I forgot to mention that option too regarding the foam being glued!! lol cause im actually cutting the foam pieces now..... and forgot to answer your question about hinges... i, using the simple hinge set from pannus prop.... they are easy to install just needs to be aligned and depending on the angle you ,ight need to sand a bit off the inside of the faceplate or the actual helmet so the hinges can clear when they open up!
electraflier
Well-Known Member
Thanks Kicx! I appreciate the info!
Here are some more progress pics. I have glued all the lower leg parts together in prep for resin tomorrow! Dancin_fool this is for you! Thank you again!:cool
I keep reading that the right and left calves are different? Is it just the venting of the flaps or something more significant. I hope to resin,bondo glass and cast this twice for my suit, but if I need to build two I need to plan now!
Anyone have input for me!? Thanks!
Before I glass, I have some minor alignment issues to fix like the nubbin that holds the heel cover and other small tweaks. It's pretty straight otherwise!
Lovely pep to build Dancin_fool!
I did not glue the knee cover on. I am going to prep that separately and glass it apart from the leg. I keep reading tons of critiques where folks say that the knee cover should float freely. I am going to put in some Micarta pivots and attach it to upper thigh and lower shin with something springy with a foam donut inside the knee cover to center it on the patella. :coolThat way you can bend and kneel without destroying the knees. I will lay it out as I do it, but Im a long ways from that right now LOL!:cry
Here are some more progress pics. I have glued all the lower leg parts together in prep for resin tomorrow! Dancin_fool this is for you! Thank you again!:cool
I keep reading that the right and left calves are different? Is it just the venting of the flaps or something more significant. I hope to resin,bondo glass and cast this twice for my suit, but if I need to build two I need to plan now!
Anyone have input for me!? Thanks!
Before I glass, I have some minor alignment issues to fix like the nubbin that holds the heel cover and other small tweaks. It's pretty straight otherwise!
Lovely pep to build Dancin_fool!
I did not glue the knee cover on. I am going to prep that separately and glass it apart from the leg. I keep reading tons of critiques where folks say that the knee cover should float freely. I am going to put in some Micarta pivots and attach it to upper thigh and lower shin with something springy with a foam donut inside the knee cover to center it on the patella. :coolThat way you can bend and kneel without destroying the knees. I will lay it out as I do it, but Im a long ways from that right now LOL!:cry
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Dancin_Fool
Well-Known Member
WOW!!! That looks perfect!!
In regards to the calves being different, I found out recently that indeed the movie calves are slightly different they kind of angle a certain way. I modelled my calves off of the hot toys replica though which did not have any difference between the two calves.
Big turc modelled a calf that's a bit more "screen accurate" so you can see the difference, but personally I prefer the look of the symmetrical calves.
http://www.therpf.com/f24/bigturcs-ironman-mark3-build-143310/
In regards to the calves being different, I found out recently that indeed the movie calves are slightly different they kind of angle a certain way. I modelled my calves off of the hot toys replica though which did not have any difference between the two calves.
Big turc modelled a calf that's a bit more "screen accurate" so you can see the difference, but personally I prefer the look of the symmetrical calves.
http://www.therpf.com/f24/bigturcs-ironman-mark3-build-143310/
electraflier
Well-Known Member
So very pleased! I got two coats of resin on all my lower leg parts and wanted to do an inside coat! LOL!
Here is what I faced!
Hmmm, just a few too many struts and alignment pieces!:wacko
I think I will be putting a third coat of resin over the outside and gently cutting the struts out so I can work on the inside!
I had thought to pour smooth cast down there and "roto cast" it by gently rotating the shin, but think all I will do is coat the cross members too!
This would make them harder to cut out and might damage my piece...
Looks like dremel and me have a date later!:lol
Here is what I faced!
Hmmm, just a few too many struts and alignment pieces!:wacko
I think I will be putting a third coat of resin over the outside and gently cutting the struts out so I can work on the inside!
I had thought to pour smooth cast down there and "roto cast" it by gently rotating the shin, but think all I will do is coat the cross members too!
This would make them harder to cut out and might damage my piece...
Looks like dremel and me have a date later!:lol
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