Iron Man Mk43 foam / 3d printed complete

[Bright]

To start this off I want to give a massive thank you to the RPF community for all the amazing time and effort
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that people put in just to help us all out, it's a shame some people steal work :/

I especially want to say a massive thank you to Helagak for his Mk42 files, as I wouldn't have a clue where to start without them!
&
James Bruton of xrobots.co.uk for providing loads of awesome in-depth enjoyable content, and inspiring me to start creating!
As well as Bill Doran of Punished Props!
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Hey RPF, long time lurker here

Quite a while ago I decided I can't just keep looking at peoples awesome builds, I have to give it a go myself,
so after a long long time of intensively researching techniques,templates, tools, materials, coating, painting, etc

I decided to start on my own suit.
This is my first serious time making anything 'craft' like, so I've taken on alot, but I love a challenge.


I'm trying to aim for a really polished detailed build, but I'm comparing myself to people that have had years
of experience over many projects, so we'll see how it ends up.

Being a perfectionist is both useful and annoying

I decided on the Mark42 as I love its complexity, and it has also been well documented from others builds.
As well as the fact it's looking like the Mk43 is a respray of Mk42 !
Click Spoiler for my bad first attempt

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Spoiler

Hopefully you can see some progression through each piece

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Spoiler

I started with the Chestplate:



Then the back:


The Helmet:

[SUB]I decided to challenge myself and attempt the helmet quite early on, I'm quite pleased with it, as you can see it hasn't been fully moulded into shape yet, and I'll most likely redo the faceplate.[/SUB]

The Arms:

[SUB]I made left then right, the right one has cleaner cuts and glue lines which I'm pleased about.[/SUB]

And here's it all together so far:

edit: And..... Then I realised the Torso was way too small, I wasn't pleased with its result anyway, so I rebuilt it

V2 In next Post
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Suit Finishing Technique

I'm going to be using James Brutons Plastic coating method
Or Epsilon resin
as I really want my suit to look the best it possibly can.

I'm not using just PVA or Plastidip as I want a durable rigid finish

This will also help cover up the mistakes and bad glue lines on the pieces too


Hope you enjoyed my build log, This post will be edited many hundreds of times

Please leave any advice or suggestions that you might have

Thanks!

 

[Bright]

Re: Iron Man Mk43 Rigid Coated Foam (WIP)

So It's 4 months on..

In between making plenty of mistakes (mostly with scaling -_- ) and planning and designing my next projects, I've worked more on Mk43,
and I now have the entire upper body complete

Torso / Abs / Cod


I need to work on the second set of fasteners for the abs and make the arc reactor bezel insert but it's mostly complete.

Everything is attached with either Strong Magnets, Buckles, Fasteners or Nylon and elastic strapping and I actually have a decent amount of movement whilst wearing it, which I'm pleased about, although I'm sure most of that articulation will go when I have the legs complete, then even more so when it's rigid!


Speaking about legs, I've currently just finished the thigh piece and am working on the Knee and shin

(once again, ignore the bad faceplate )

I'm not sure on the scale of the thigh, it looks way too big, I know the Mk43 has big thighs but I'm not sure, It has a 'big' fit, but when i've held it to my leg to test movement it seems fine. Any thoughts?

I've bought some Hinged Knee Brace Steel Supports which seem to be perfect to use for the knee hinges, although I'll have to wait until the entire leg is complete to test that.

More updates to come soon

 

[markseven]

Re: Iron Man Mk43 Rigid Coated Foam (WIP)

Nice work! I'm excited about this. I really like the way you did the abs. Nice to see more fellow mk43ers. Btw I also thought that the thighs were too big but I had to rescale 3% bigger because it was too narrow at the knee. Maybe because I used 10mm or I have fat thighs hahaha

 

[Bright]

Re: Iron Man Mk43 Rigid Coated Foam (WIP)

Thanks!

and I feel much more at ease with the thigh scaling now


The abs drove me nuts, i spent ages thinking of how to design them so they fit well and could easily be attached, but I ended up somehow having them way too long front to back, (Scaling is the devil itself... ) i ended up just trimming the side parts down to the right length to get a nice fit, attached them with fabric fastener snaps on some webbing and it's pretty much skin tight but it's to scale and fine to wear

 

[Bright]

Re: Iron Man Mk43 Rigid Coated Foam (WIP)

So it's been a while and i haven't given any updates, so here we are!
.... With 18 days to go until it needs to be complete for MCM london....

never the less, i'm mostly on the way to at least finishing the upperhalf of the suit and boots.

Since the last update i've got a 3D printer and it hasn't stopped printing since,
I've printed the knee joints for the legs, the hands, boots and helmet.

I modified pepekura files for 3D printing for the helmet and no, i won't be sharing them as i did not create the originals.
once again a million thanks to Helagak!

I decided on Epsilon Resin and i couldn't be happier with it

I'm using 4-6 coats of which i understand 6 is pretty overkill but i'd like it to be as tough as possible.

I'm using U-Pol easy sand filler for any small parts that need a touch up or smooth

I'm kind of rushing things for completion so ignore any blemishes and rough bits

Progress Pictures!

[SUB]The helmet needs masking for the chin,cheek pieces and to glue on the ears; the hands need some touch up still.[/SUB]
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The colour paints i've used were - Ford Toreador Red & Lexus Beige Metallic

As suggested by blickfangQ2 here

I bought them from Riolett Custom Aerosols as i couldn't find a UK seller of the suggested brands.
Brilliant quick friendly customer service and prompt delivery, highly recommend!

Hope you've enjoyed my build log!!

 

[Bright]

Re: Iron Man Mk43 Rigid Coated Foam (WIP)

Phew!
It's now a week since May MCM and luckily it was complete just in time, i had a few issues with the helmet hinges coming unglued but i was saved by a fellow ironman with a glue gun!

I had at least 200 photos taken over the friday / saturday but haven't found many

I'm in two videos too:
https://youtu.be/j81Ov0zxkPo
https://youtu.be/K7z_2SJm8XU

Overall i'm massively pleased at how my first suit came out, now to start on the next one!
Hmmm... choices, choices..

 

[Daleacre]

I am your glue gun man!!

You mentioned you were on here, but i never expected to find you so easy; this was purely coincidental!

Said it at London, I'll say it again; great work!! Everyone loved it! I'm just sorry security cut up your under suit...

Here is the pic I got of you and your buddy at London. Keep up the good job!

 

[Bright]

Woo, yeh that kinda sucked

Thanks so much for the help again. Suit Savouir

Thanks for the picture too, had loads taken but haven't found many