phillbarron
Active Member
A few years ago I built a cardboard MKIV suit for a kid's birthday party and it was ... adequate.
It lit up, it made noises, it was impressive to five year olds and for a while that was enough. Since then it's stood in my office gently decaying.
Which is fine, but I've got a 3D printer now and can surely do something better?
So I've decided to have a go at printing this suit: Iron Man MK6 MK 6 Suit by DaDave which I know isn't super accurate, but is far better than what I've got and an inexpensive way of attempting something I'm not sure I can do.
I've been picking at this for a while, in and among printing various toys for whoever happens to ask and whatever else takes my fancy.
This was my progress ...
... before realising I'd joined the faceplate together without the joining seam. This is this Iron Man Mark III Life-size Helmet by MIPRESIDENTE model by the way.
I kind of gave up for a while, distracted as I often am by shiny objects, but have been back on it again recently. This is the progress to date:
And there's another boot too. It looks like that one, only opposite. Obviously.
I've also started having a go at painting the helmet, which, so far, has been an incredibly frustrating experience.
After a lot of sanding, filler primer, sanding, swearing, filling, sanding and filling I got the visor mirror-smooth ... only to have my daughter pick it up, leaving a fingerprint square in the middle of it.
More swearing, sanding, painting getting dust on it, swearing, sanding and painting I had it almost as good as it had been before, but had managed to erase the screw details. So I printed some new ones and drilled some holes to insert them ... only to crack the faceplate right across the centre.
Some screaming, gluing, sanding, swearing, filling, priming, swearing, sanding, painting, swearing, sanding and painting I got it to this:
Which, you know, I was pretty proud of ... until I dropped it, taking a few chunks out of the cheek:
And putting my on signature under the right eye:
Which is very frustrating.
Still, assuming I can avoid dropping it while the lacquer is still drying I think it'll eventually look alright. At this rate, I should have it finished by about 2028.
It lit up, it made noises, it was impressive to five year olds and for a while that was enough. Since then it's stood in my office gently decaying.
Which is fine, but I've got a 3D printer now and can surely do something better?
So I've decided to have a go at printing this suit: Iron Man MK6 MK 6 Suit by DaDave which I know isn't super accurate, but is far better than what I've got and an inexpensive way of attempting something I'm not sure I can do.
I've been picking at this for a while, in and among printing various toys for whoever happens to ask and whatever else takes my fancy.
This was my progress ...
... before realising I'd joined the faceplate together without the joining seam. This is this Iron Man Mark III Life-size Helmet by MIPRESIDENTE model by the way.
I kind of gave up for a while, distracted as I often am by shiny objects, but have been back on it again recently. This is the progress to date:
And there's another boot too. It looks like that one, only opposite. Obviously.
I've also started having a go at painting the helmet, which, so far, has been an incredibly frustrating experience.
After a lot of sanding, filler primer, sanding, swearing, filling, sanding and filling I got the visor mirror-smooth ... only to have my daughter pick it up, leaving a fingerprint square in the middle of it.
More swearing, sanding, painting getting dust on it, swearing, sanding and painting I had it almost as good as it had been before, but had managed to erase the screw details. So I printed some new ones and drilled some holes to insert them ... only to crack the faceplate right across the centre.
Some screaming, gluing, sanding, swearing, filling, priming, swearing, sanding, painting, swearing, sanding and painting I got it to this:
Which, you know, I was pretty proud of ... until I dropped it, taking a few chunks out of the cheek:
And putting my on signature under the right eye:
Which is very frustrating.
Still, assuming I can avoid dropping it while the lacquer is still drying I think it'll eventually look alright. At this rate, I should have it finished by about 2028.
