Ironman Costume for 5yr old - LINKS on PAGE 1 - tips & important bits

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Arms Finished!

Things are looking awesome.. Love the idea's for the sound effects, lights.. I think that's what will really bring this suit over the edge.

Just a friendly remember.. You're far in the build so it may be too far to go back..

Built a Super Mario Bro's 2 NES Princess costume for my 3 year old niece.. Took about 6 months. By the time I got done, she had grown.. Was too short, and I had to spend 20 hours before the party making corrections to fit her new size. Kids grow fast.

always make room when making kid stuff. They grow like corn.
 
Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Arms Finished!

...always make room when making kid stuff. They grow like corn.

You're SO right on that point!!! :thumbsup

Adding to my difficulty with targeting a normal 5yr old's growth over one full year is the fact that Mikey started on a new medicine last fall that made him almost double his weight in two months. It all makes planning a costume that's as tight-fitting as this one, nearly impossible. :unsure

My initial plan was to try to pick parts that would be time consuming while not being as critical in the 'tight fitting' category. The first piece I created (starting back in late 2010) was the helmet. I've waited to pad the helmet until we get closer to Halloween. Right now, it still fits with room to grow.

Then I worked on the electronics for the helmet, repulsors, base gloves for the hands, cod piece and now arms. Each of the costume parts have some room for growth (the wrist and forearms have an overlap of almost 2" for example so he can get a little 'longer' in the arms).

Next up will be the connection of the gloves and repulsors and then shoulders... all of which should be easy to size without restricting his ability to grow a bit.

The last items I plan on constructing will be the chest/back, legs and boots. The chest needs to fit very well to be comfortable and the legs are an area of high mobility, so it's very, very important that they fit and move easily.

Now, all this sounds just grand, but the proof will certainly be in the pudding... IF it works - GREAT. However, I've also calculated a bit of 're-sizing' time in my construction schedule... just in case! :lol

Thanks for the comments and compliments!
 
Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Arms Finished!

I have used Velcro where it seems fit. IE the sides of the chest piece and the arms (underneath so they can't be seen)
 
Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Arms Finished!

HANDPLATE REPULSOR TRIGGER

Sorry for yet another long post, but here's a photo-heavy post regarding my attempt to build a repulsor trigger within the handplate piece.

First off, I'll show you my first attempt... and total failure! This is a picture of a sloppy, limp, card-stock pep of the handplate I tried to harden with fiberglass.
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After this I decided to create a foam version, and then harden it with epoxy (which I have used before in sections of the arm where extra strength was needed or wear-and-tear will happen).

Here is a picture of the foam handplate build using 3mm EVA closed-cell foam. It will fit 60% on the wrist piece with the overlapping 30% hanging over the back of the glove.
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My plan is to have the two sections hinged with the back section mounted on the wrist piece (in my case this is a hardened fiberglass piece). The front section of the handplate will then be spring-loaded to stay close to the back of the glove. As the hand is bent backward in a motion that reveals the palm repulsor, the spring-loaded front section of the handplate will move a lever inside the piece which will depress an electric switch -- which triggers the sound and light effects.

Here is that bad sketch I did of the planned switch...
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Once built, the foam handplate pieces needed to be hardened... but at the same time, they needed to remain 'lined up' so they fit together nicely.

My solution for this was to insert 1/16" shims between the pieces and then tape down the sections from the opposite side I was going to harden with epoxy.

Here is what the piece looked like with the spacers and tape on the the top/finished side before I epoxied the underside of the piece.
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And here is the same pre-epoxy piece from the underside...
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After epoxy...
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And then after removing the spacers, cleaning up any overflowing/connecting epoxy, I taped the spacers back into position from the underside so I could epoxy the top/finished side.
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And, after both side were done, I pierced the piece with a narrow-gauge wire as my hinge.

Here is a video demonstrating the range of motion of the epoxied foam piece...



I just received my 2-pin connectors today (which I plan to use to connect the handplate electronics to the glove light). I will be playing around with wiring this puppy in the next couple days... and I'll post my results!

Thanks for putting up with my ridiculously long posts! :rolleyes
 
Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Handplate Hinge VIDEO

this is getting pretty epic... could possibly be the most Badass childs ironman ever.. Can't wait to see the finished suit. Looks like you have a great plan as well with all the diff. parts. impressive.
 
Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Handplate Hinge VIDEO

Very creative! Are you an engineer in RL?

Nah. I work for a big theatre chain in Film Marketing... I love it - working with studios to get their materials up at our theatres and coordinating with them on all sorts of projects to promote their films - it's a blast! :)

But I've always been a bit of an insanely geeky and crazed inventor. I was the type of kid in middle school that created a complicated Rube Goldberg style machine to close and open my room door. :rolleyes
 
Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Handplate Hinge VIDEO

Man this build just keeps getting better and better. Keep it up! Mikey is going to blow his friends minds with this suit!

Question for ya? Love the way you did the weathering on the finished parts, what kind of paint do you use to get that weathered look?

Thanks
 
Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Handplate Hinge VIDEO

Question for ya? Love the way you did the weathering on the finished parts, what kind of paint do you use to get that weathered look?

Ok, this is rather silly but I'm currently just using some old black fabric paint I had laying around. Thinned modeling paint would be best for the sort of blackwashing I'm doing, but I didn't have any laying around and I'm pretty comfortable with the fabric paint. I certainly DON'T recommend this paint for weathering!

HERE is a pretty good video tutorial on blackwashing.... I think he's just using some black acrylic craft paint - which would be better than the crap I'm using. :unsure

The other technique I use is a simple way to make the parts look like the paint has been scratch off -- you just use Rub-N-Buff with a makeup sponge. Apply just a bit of the Rub-N-Buff (in my case it's silver in color) to the sponge and then brush it lightly on the edges you want to apply the silver color. Rub off what you don't want (or like) and the result is that chipped paint look.

I'm certainly not the best at this sort of weathering, but I'll try to put together a little video tutorial on the Rub-N-Buff stuff when I get a chance.

If you have any other questions feel free to drop me a line here or via PM.
 
Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Handplate Hinge VIDEO

that is the luckiest kid in the world
but the thing that stinks is that you'll have to build him a new suit every thime he grows lol
 
Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Handplate Hinge VIDEO

Keep up the amazing work! RDY 4 the final product!
 
Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Handplate Hinge VIDEO

Thanks everyone for the encouraging words! :)

And now... I want to show you a video of the handplate repulsor trigger I've been building!!!



Ok, I know the focus sucked during the youtube video so let me show you a better still image of that wiring and trigger...

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Now, I just need to clean up all the wiring, mount the handplate-trigger, mount the 9-LED light on the glove, armor the glove... and then do the WHOLE thing again with the other hand! :confused

Nite folks!
 
Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Working Repulsor Wiring VIDEO!!!

So impressive!
I agree with STEALTH. I'm very impressed with your contribution and injenuity within the forum. I know i've learned alot from you since youv'e been here. I've thought about doing the same thing using my sons glove but didn't want to destroy it cause it was a holiday gift. But I may try my hand at it anyway. I'll buy my own of course. BTW I love the way this suit is coming out. Beautifly done! Keep Building!.... - Delray.:love
 
Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Working Repulsor Wiring VIDEO!!!

This absolutely ridiculous.


...ly cool. Absolutely awesome! Love the repulsors and sound effects and such. Easily gonna be the coolest kid at the party!
 
Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Working Repulsor Wiring VIDEO!!!

That Rocks! are you really going to need all those "C" batteries for each hand? ouch.
 
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