I've been thinking about doing a iron man gauntlet build since the first movie came out. But you know time, money, and all that other stuff got in the way and I've finally got around to working on it. This is really my first build without any guidance. Usually I have some purchased parts, or at least a tutorial, but this one is from scratch. I don't have access to a water cutter, a CNC machine, a 3D printer, or any other fancy technology so this has to be a "fly by the seat of your pants" freehand type of affair. The goal was to have something that looks like this:
Well just the fore arm anyway. Pictures of the Hot Toys Tech Mech suit proved to be very valuable, as well as this forum and others who have attempted this project in the past, as you really can't get a good angle for every part of the gauntlet in the movie. The plan was to do this on the cheap, so all the parts were can cut from sheet aluminum. With the addition of some dowel rods, wire, popsicle sticks, the grate off a PC fan, and and some junk electronic greebles, it ended up looking like this:
I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. A jigsaw is no substitute for machine cutting. But honestly I kind of like all of the gouges and scars; it makes it seem more authentic. It's not quite finished, I still need to add the joints at the top and a few more greebles. I'm contemplating, adding the bicep assembly as well, but only time will tell if that ever happens. I'm also considering adding a few of the armored pieces from later in the movie, but they cover up some of the more attractive bits of the gauntlet so it may not be worth the effort, though I did already pep the plates:
If you are wondering if I can get my arm in there, the answer is just barely. If I ever do it again I'll have to account better for all of the space the greebles take up. I also built some electronics that will light the palm and do sound effects triggered by a reed switch when I raise my hand, but they haven't been integrated into the gauntlet yet, as I'm largely out of room in there. Oh well, that is a problem for another day. I'll post some more progress pics as I finish it up.
Well just the fore arm anyway. Pictures of the Hot Toys Tech Mech suit proved to be very valuable, as well as this forum and others who have attempted this project in the past, as you really can't get a good angle for every part of the gauntlet in the movie. The plan was to do this on the cheap, so all the parts were can cut from sheet aluminum. With the addition of some dowel rods, wire, popsicle sticks, the grate off a PC fan, and and some junk electronic greebles, it ended up looking like this:
I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. A jigsaw is no substitute for machine cutting. But honestly I kind of like all of the gouges and scars; it makes it seem more authentic. It's not quite finished, I still need to add the joints at the top and a few more greebles. I'm contemplating, adding the bicep assembly as well, but only time will tell if that ever happens. I'm also considering adding a few of the armored pieces from later in the movie, but they cover up some of the more attractive bits of the gauntlet so it may not be worth the effort, though I did already pep the plates:
If you are wondering if I can get my arm in there, the answer is just barely. If I ever do it again I'll have to account better for all of the space the greebles take up. I also built some electronics that will light the palm and do sound effects triggered by a reed switch when I raise my hand, but they haven't been integrated into the gauntlet yet, as I'm largely out of room in there. Oh well, that is a problem for another day. I'll post some more progress pics as I finish it up.
