Illuminated
New Member
Hey guys and gals!
As some of you may know (probably not) around 2 years ago I completed my first Foam Ironman suit build (credit to Stealth for the original pep files and you tube tutorials). Now 2 years later I decided to start a fiberglass build and quickly lost interest, what with school and everything demanding my attention. However a recent 3am revelation prompted me to revisit my foam monstrosity and fiberglass it!
Sounds great right? My original plan was to fix the broken parts of the mk6 suit, fuse some of my favorite parts from the mk7 with it, Adhere fibreglass cloth and then resin over it, simple. Or so I thought. It seamed like a great alternative to the painstakingly detailed card-stock but there was a problem. The cloth I have is the woven stuff, and I was worried about the texture it would leave when completed with the resin, sure I could sand it back but I really wanted a smooth surface with little to no effort (lazy!). Back to the drawing board I decided I could ditch the cloth all together as its more used for strengthening the card stock on the inside and with foam I really didn't need the extra heartache or weight. So wondering past a pile of newspaper by the front door, I came up with the idea to paper mache over the foam, which would create that seamless look I wanted and be a perfect base for the resin to sink its teeth into!
So today I started, after the last two days of building and fixing. Ive done half the cod piece and abs section along with half a shoulder. The suit still has it's enamel paint as a layer between the mache and the foam, so it doesn't get too soggy. It'll be interesting to see how it goes on the boots with only a layer or two of PVA glue, fingers crossed it works.
Its been about four hours now and its still not entirely dry yet, Im going to leave it over night and see how it turns out, hopefully It'll harden.
The boots I finished today, they're just foam over old shoes. I did them entirely free handed, no pep files, patterns etc. Just a few foam mats, my memory and a ref picture of the mk7. Over all Im pretty happy with how they turned out, Hopefully the mache will smooth out all my rough foam work.
Ill continue to update this over the next few days as I work on them. Hopefully if this turns out the way I want it'll be a good halfway point or alternative to fiberglass as its very time consuming. Wish me luck!
As some of you may know (probably not) around 2 years ago I completed my first Foam Ironman suit build (credit to Stealth for the original pep files and you tube tutorials). Now 2 years later I decided to start a fiberglass build and quickly lost interest, what with school and everything demanding my attention. However a recent 3am revelation prompted me to revisit my foam monstrosity and fiberglass it!
Sounds great right? My original plan was to fix the broken parts of the mk6 suit, fuse some of my favorite parts from the mk7 with it, Adhere fibreglass cloth and then resin over it, simple. Or so I thought. It seamed like a great alternative to the painstakingly detailed card-stock but there was a problem. The cloth I have is the woven stuff, and I was worried about the texture it would leave when completed with the resin, sure I could sand it back but I really wanted a smooth surface with little to no effort (lazy!). Back to the drawing board I decided I could ditch the cloth all together as its more used for strengthening the card stock on the inside and with foam I really didn't need the extra heartache or weight. So wondering past a pile of newspaper by the front door, I came up with the idea to paper mache over the foam, which would create that seamless look I wanted and be a perfect base for the resin to sink its teeth into!
So today I started, after the last two days of building and fixing. Ive done half the cod piece and abs section along with half a shoulder. The suit still has it's enamel paint as a layer between the mache and the foam, so it doesn't get too soggy. It'll be interesting to see how it goes on the boots with only a layer or two of PVA glue, fingers crossed it works.
Its been about four hours now and its still not entirely dry yet, Im going to leave it over night and see how it turns out, hopefully It'll harden.
The boots I finished today, they're just foam over old shoes. I did them entirely free handed, no pep files, patterns etc. Just a few foam mats, my memory and a ref picture of the mk7. Over all Im pretty happy with how they turned out, Hopefully the mache will smooth out all my rough foam work.
Ill continue to update this over the next few days as I work on them. Hopefully if this turns out the way I want it'll be a good halfway point or alternative to fiberglass as its very time consuming. Wish me luck!
