War Machine Mk 1 Build! (How will it all hold together?!)

[AegidiusDesigns]

Hiya everyone!

So I'm a new member, but I'm in the middle of a project right now so I thought I'd share and ask for tips and such! I've been cosplaying for a while, but my last two projects (the Iron Man Mk 43 and this War Machine) have been some of the most time consuming and complicated projects I've ever done. Granted, a lot of members on this site have been making much better looking suits and are much more skilled at it. Still, here's my new War Machine build. I've been working on and off with a friend on it (we only worked on it when we could get together, so we probably have about a week's amount of work done, spread over 2 months) and here's what we got:
(sorry for the quality, I took these with my iPhone, I'll take hi res once it's all said and done )



This is the first time I've worked this much with EVA foam, and I gotta say I quite enjoy working with foam. My Mk 43 was made of Cardboard, so this was something new. A lot of my cuts weren't too even, but once I add the PVA it evens out. Also, I still need to do the crotch piece and the mini gun. We bought a pair of cheap electronic toy MP7A1s that we'll stick under the arms and try to wire up to the gloves, too. I'm currently in the process of PVA-gluing it all and getting it ready for paint.

One of the biggest problems I had with my Iron Man suit that I'm having with this one also is that I don't know how to hold the armor together. The legs fit on, the arms the boots too, but they're all a bit loose, and I don't know how to make them hold in place.. If I start walking, the legs eventually slip off and make it impossible to walk. If some of you more experiences Iron Men could help me out on that front, maybe show how your suit holds together, I would be eternally grateful I actually used some straps and some buckles for the Mk 43, but I have yet to find a solid way to go about doing all of these things!

Anyways, I know this was a wordy post, but thank you all for taking a few minutes to look at the suit

 

[Jmen]

Hiya everyone!

So I'm a new member, but I'm in the middle of a project right now so I thought I'd share and ask for tips and such! I've been cosplaying for a while, but my last two projects (the Iron Man Mk 43 and this War Machine) have been some of the most time consuming and complicated projects I've ever done. Granted, a lot of members on this site have been making much better looking suits and are much more skilled at it. Still, here's my new War Machine build. I've been working on and off with a friend on it (we only worked on it when we could get together, so we probably have about a week's amount of work done, spread over 2 months) and here's what we got:
(sorry for the quality, I took these with my iPhone, I'll take hi res once it's all said and done )

View attachment 523991View attachment 523992

This is the first time I've worked this much with EVA foam, and I gotta say I quite enjoy working with foam. My Mk 43 was made of Cardboard, so this was something new. A lot of my cuts weren't too even, but once I add the PVA it evens out. Also, I still need to do the crotch piece and the mini gun. We bought a pair of cheap electronic toy MP7A1s that we'll stick under the arms and try to wire up to the gloves, too. I'm currently in the process of PVA-gluing it all and getting it ready for paint.

One of the biggest problems I had with my Iron Man suit that I'm having with this one also is that I don't know how to hold the armor together. The legs fit on, the arms the boots too, but they're all a bit loose, and I don't know how to make them hold in place.. If I start walking, the legs eventually slip off and make it impossible to walk. If some of you more experiences Iron Men could help me out on that front, maybe show how your suit holds together, I would be eternally grateful I actually used some straps and some buckles for the Mk 43, but I have yet to find a solid way to go about doing all of these things!

Anyways, I know this was a wordy post, but thank you all for taking a few minutes to look at the suit

Maybe fastex and velcro?

 

[AegidiusDesigns]

But how do I fix the velcro to the pieces? Is there some kind of strong adhesive that'll hold the velcro to the foam, because I'm pretty sure Hot Glue won't do that :/

 

[Bogleo]

I used nylon straps, plastic buckles, and velcro for my suit. Hot glue holds them on just fine.

 

[VinMan]

Contact Cement is the best adhesive for foam.
I use it to fuse my foam pieces together also. Way neater than hot glue. No holding pieces in place while it sets up. no burning the foam. no seepage through the seams.
Also holds any velcro, strapping etc. like a champ!

check out evil teds tutorials on foam armor. Total game changer for me!
He's on you tube

 

[Jmen]

I used nylon straps, plastic buckles, and velcro for my suit. Hot glue holds them on just fine.

+1 for hot glue.
if not - what about epoxy resin?

 

[AegidiusDesigns]

Alright, thanks a lot guys, guess Hot glue it is! I'll try contact cement on future projects, too I guess Thanks for the tips Vin Man

And so do I just put the straps on the legs for them to hold in place? On my older Iron Man suit I tried to link the legs to the crotch piece but they still were slipping a bit.. And do I link the shins/boots to the legs also to avoid them falling?

 

[zorprime]

On my previous Ironman foam suit, I linked the shins to the thigh pieces and that keep everything in line, Whenever I tried linking the thighs to the cod piece I keep braking the straps. All though if you have a bad problem of them staying up, you may try running straps from the top of the tight to over your shoulders (suspender like it's the way I do my cod piece). Either way, great work and it makes me want to get back to working on my suit

 

[AegidiusDesigns]

That's how I did my cod-piece too! I guess I'll try making a harness that goes over the shoulders and attach both the cod piece and the legs to it. Oh, and I've now begun the long process of covering every piece with PVA glue and then painting it all. Pretty satisfied with the way it's all going I just need to find a good filler for the inevitable holes that happened while I was cutting the foam and assembling the pieces. Once I get better at cutting clean cuts and things, those seams will become better. Need to buy blades in bulk for that, though .... -_- But thanks a lot for the compliment, and I'd love to see your suit sometime

Anyways, the suit's coming along slowly but surely And while it's all drying and waiting I'm working on my IM Mk VI that I can hopefully wear at the Con in a month.

 

[AegidiusDesigns]

Lil' update! A lot of pics, mostly. Applied fresh coat of matte black paint to the boots, forearms (still drying, no pics), helmet, biceps and shoulders, and I started making the decals on the shoulders, which are an absolute pain but are so worth it in the end because they just look cool If you guys have any tips for applying the decals in some way shape or form, feel free to share because besides making little templates out of masking tape, then painting over those to get the shapes I need, I don't have anything else...

 

[zorprime]

Here's a pic of my Ironman suit, the first time building anything like this, and I had a hell of a time, but I learned alot. The warmachine I ran into at the con and we hung out the rest of the night having a blast

 

[AegidiusDesigns]

View attachment 526837

Here's a pic of my Ironman suit, the first time building anything like this, and I had a hell of a time, but I learned alot. The warmachine I ran into at the con and we hung out the rest of the night having a blast

^ That looks really cool! My first suit is in my profile pic, I'll probably upload a high res some day, in some other thread.

The War Machine is very flashy tho! I for our build me and my friend would rather keep it a bit more somber, with the only lights active being in the palms, the chest and eyes. We might also put a small light on the gatling gun, but certainly not that flashy XD

I prepped the chest and abs for painting today (need to put a third layer on the abs), will be painting all those things up tomorrow hopefully, so me and my friend who will be wearing the suit can try fitting him in it. I also added silver 'wear' on the shoulders and the helmet and stuff, they look really sharp now!

Here's what still needs doing:
-Painting the abs, chest, thighs and arm guns.
-Making the Gatling gun out of PVC pipes, cardboard tubing and EVA.
-Making the Gatling gun support.
-Making the neck piece (probably same technique as my Iron Man neck, just in Black)
-Wiring up the arm guns
-Making the gloves
-Eye lights
-Cod piece and 'spine' for lower back and codpiece

Anyways, I'll upload pics tomorrow night when I get home of the various pieces.

 

[AegidiusDesigns]

Small pictorial update as promised! The chest is pretty dry (still a bit tacky, but it's fine), the black paint is taking forever to dry.... Anyways, hopefully the little silver dry brushing I did on the forearms, on the helmet and the shoulders show through a bit I also swiped the helmet with black acrylic and then wiped it with a tissue, looks really cool! The whole suit is starting to look like I want it to. Oh, and my side project is sneaking in, he wants some of the attention

 

[AegidiusDesigns]

Been about a week since my last update, but I'm moving along on the project! We did some fittings and we started strapping things with nilon straps and clips, it actually holds together a LOT better than I thought it would, because my cardboard Mk 43 really didn't hold on to straps too good. But yes, straps work on EVA (I also sand and cross hatch the backs of the foam now, it makes so much difference!).. Anyways, here's my friend wearing the suit, then the empty suit, and then the gatling It rotates, but I won't have time to add a motor in there. I'll probably come back to it after the convention!

 

[AegidiusDesigns]

At last! Big day yesterday at FACTS, but both suits were finished. War Machine's minigun fell off, but one of the guns hung around till the end under the forearms, and overall I'd say we looked pretty good! I certainly had a lot of fun making and sharing the project. I'll probably come back to it some day and add a few things I couldn't add due to time constraints. I'll be uploading pics of the con as they come! We found a badass group of Avengers (Thor and Cap) and we made a pretty cool team! And my friend who was cosplayed as Cap did a few Civil War poses with me! (I don't have a lot of pictures of the War Machine suit yet, as I said I'll post them as they come!)

 

[Whereswally]

Hi, your gear looks great. Do you have any tips on how to wire up your arm guns?