WIP: Foam Hulkbuster for my 7yr old - Lots of Con Pics!

indiefilmgeek

Sr Member
So, 90 days prior to Oct. 31 my 7yr old says he wants to be Hulkbuster for Halloween. While extremely excited to do a build like this, 90 days scares the crap out of me. Mikey's Iron Man suit took me almost a full year.

Before I get into the build picks... Here's how it turned out!
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The Build:
My default templating method for foam building is to use paper Pepakura files to get the shapes of the pieces and then turn those paper peps into foam templates. I couldn't find any foam or paper pep files for the full hulkbuster, so I had to get creative. I found a papercraft 24" model of Hulkbuster that Julius Perdana did. The model parts are all pre-sized and laid out for 8.5"x11" paper. My kiddo is roughly twice that size, so I took EACH individual part and scaled it up manually and then printed it out.

Original Papercraft Model Files:

Hulkbuster Avenger 2 Paper Model - Head

Hulkbuster Paper Model - Arm (Final)

Hulkbuster Paper Model - Torso

Hulkbuster Paper Model - Hip and Leg

Here is the rough check to see if the scaling was right... this version was slightly too big, so the final set of papercraft files were adjusted before I started using them to build the foam units.
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BOOTS:
I started with the boots... I had a pair of black hiking boots I had picked up for another costume (Mikey's Generator Rex from a couple years ago). Using 1/2" thick mat foam, I cut out the base of the boot template and then cut a hole for the boot. Having seen the wear and tear on boots I've built before, I actually RAISED the costume part of the boot off the floor a bit. I used Gorilla Glue and hot glue to attach this base to the boots.
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I then started creating the top of the boot out of EVA foam.
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I cut a groove into the base foam mat material, so I could get the hot-glued top piece to fit tightly. I then attached both.
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From this base, I created the rest of the templated pieces and attached them.
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I used a wood-burning tool to score the detail grooves into the foam and 2mm thick craft foam to do some of the other details. Once done, I hit them with a couple coats of plasti-dip.
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Then I hit them with Adhesive Promoter (available at autoparts stores) and red (Barcalona Red) & gold (Sunburst) auto paint. I actually also used some standard model paint for the silver and some of the small goal pieces. I was very happy with the way the base colors came out.
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Then it was time to weather and detail them. This is my personal favorite part of the project! :)
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After that, it was a coat of clear gloss for plastics to make it shine...
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Re: WIP: Hulkbuster for my 7yr old

LEGS:

For the legs, I started off with the papercraft templates I had scaled up and began building the lower legs.
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I bought some Dollar Store flashlights, and cut them up to make the lights in the front and the back.
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With those added, here is what the foam lower legs looked like:
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I then built the upper leg:
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After getting them all created...(and the waist piece, I got my 7yr old into them to make sure they fit!
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Things check out, so I hit these with plasti-dip!
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Then I applied the Adhesive Promoter, Auto Paint and model paint...
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I don't have these detailed yet (no weathering/damage yet). But here's what they look like currently...
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Re: WIP: Foam Hulkbuster for my 7yr old - Leg Progress

IFG,these boots are made for walkin' ! :thumbsup looking awesome
Question: for plastic coating,did you have to rotate them until it cured,like XRobots does with SmoothOn65D,or is this different?
 
Re: WIP: Foam Hulkbuster for my 7yr old - Leg Progress

IFG,these boots are made for walkin' ! :thumbsup looking awesome
Question: for plastic coating,did you have to rotate them until it cured,like XRobots does with SmoothOn65D,or is this different?
I use an older method - no rotating needed. I seal the foam with a couple coats of plasti-dip, use Adhesive Promoter, then the desired auto paint. Then give it a gloss with a clear coat designed for plastics. It's detailed HERE
 
Re: WIP: Foam Hulkbuster for my 7yr old - Leg Progress

Thank you for clarifying the process and sharing the info :thumbsup
 
Re: WIP: Foam Hulkbuster for my 7yr old - Leg Progress

Real nice build. Power to ya for being ambitious enough to brave the time crunch, that's awesome!


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Re: WIP: Foam Hulkbuster for my 7yr old - Leg Progress

Workshop is a bit of a mess right now, but I'm working as fast as I can and don't have time to clean!

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Sitting on the desk is the start of the back in 5mm foam. That will be attached to the wood frame sitting on my chair at the bottom of the image.

That framework is the support system for the chest piece.

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Here it is closer up and below is how it fits on my kiddo!
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He will look out from the chest (above the arc reactor and below the hulkbuster head piece). I'm planning to have the massive Hullkbuster arms mounted on the sides of this frame. He will be wearing black long-sleeves and be able to reach into the forearms of the giant 'dummy-arms' to move them around and poise with them.... at least that's the plan.

Here is the center piece of the back panel. as I'm starting to work on it.
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Last evening I finished up most of the details and added the four lights. These are (again) Dollar Store flashlights, that I've pulled apart. For this application, I'm only using the HOUSING of the flashlights... I've pulled out all the flashlight LED's and simply stuck in LED's from a single strand of battery powered Christmas lights. This allows all of them to be on one set of batteries and controlled by a single switch.

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And that was where I left it last night... hopefully, I'll have more to add this evening! :)
 
Re: WIP: Foam Hulkbuster for my 7yr old - Leg Progress

Got some work done on the chest/back piece last night.

Here is the back inset-piece now properly connected to the outside panels and the frame.
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From the inside this is how it looks...
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I then started building up the foam chest pieces that will be under the armor plating...
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Here's a printed paper Hulkbuster head set on top of the chest to show positioning...
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Re: WIP: Foam Hulkbuster for my 7yr old - Leg Progress

Damn

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Re: WIP: Foam Hulkbuster for my 7yr old - Leg Progress

More Hulkbuster back details constructed last night...
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To be honest, I'm sorta dragging my feet on the front chest build... I'm pretty nervous about how I'm going to execute that. :(
 
Re: WIP: Foam Hulkbuster for my 7yr old - Chest/Back Progress

You'll be fine,IFG :D You've gotten this far
Have faith in your abilities and go nuts building this behemoth :cool
 
Re: WIP: Foam Hulkbuster for my 7yr old - Chest/Back Progress

Amazing build its coming along so well finishing im sure wont be a problem keep going its going to be a site to see when its complete ☺

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