Newbie trying to put together an Ironman suit for charity campaign

E

espido1001

New Member
Hi,

I chanced upon this website and am hoping to get some feedback/opinions.

I'm planning to dress up as Ironman and visit terminally-ill kids in hospitals (Chicago/New York) this summer.
https://www.gofundme.com/summer-of-hope

I'm looking to obtain an Ironman suit but with a budget of at most US$2.5K (Raw casting, painting or vinyl wrap, internal cushioning, strapping mechanism, electronics, etc.). Obviously, if I can spend less, that would be ideal.

Need to have a completed suit by around June and will only have weekends to work on this...

I will not likely have the time/expertise/tools to build one from scratch so need to purchase a raw casting from someone else.

I was planning on purchasing the full suit casting from:

1. Gemini Industries (Atlanta, GA)
A. Total US$720 (US$20 shipping)
B. Under 'Finish" option, I selected "Resin"​

OR​

2. The Heroes Workshop
A. Total US$2,024 (US$1,799 + $225 shipping to Chicago)
B. This guy seems pretty legit as he has decent ratings and an instructional video also for sale as well(US$9.99)
C. But...very expensive!​

Q1: What are your thoughts/recommendations? Any other sellers to consider?

Q2: For option 1, why is the "Fiberglass" option so much more expensive at US$3,000 (vs Resin @ US$700)?

Q3: For option 1, would the "Resin" option be sufficient (aka just sandpaper and paint over it or cover with Vinly wrap?)

Please advise. Thanks!
 
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you don't need fiberglass unless you are going to fight with others.i mean,the kids won't punch the armour ,won't they?

I recommend you make one suit yourself with EVA foam,it only takes you 3 days.there is a place where they sale well cutted EVA parts .i will give you the link soon as possible.

Sent from my SM-J7108 using Tapatalk
 
As ronchan said, eva foam will probably be your best option. Option 1 + resin is just a card-stock pep coated with resin, there's still some / a lot of work to be done to convert it to a finished suit. You can finish cutting and assembling an eva suit in a couple days of working time (example: http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=272997). That way you can also minimize your costs for the job, but it will be hard to achieve screen quality using eva foam.

This thread has a lot of different suits and you can see the difference between final results. (http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=156463)



If you had the time and resources to work on it, I would totally recommend a 3D printed suit. You'd probably spend $500 or less on the finished product.
 
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@ronchan32004: Thanks for your quick response! Also thanks for sharing the link to the Ironman Eva foam suit, very affordable. Wow. I actually understand Chinese so I understood the website. :) However, I don't think I really like the eva foam look... As for the non-eva foam suits, after reading through several threads, I'm starting to realize the Ironman suit might not be the best choice for this charity run. Especially the part about the the suit being very inconvenience (going to toilet) and uncomfortable (restrictive movements and unable to sit down). It never really crossed my mind. This forum is already providing a lot of insight into costuming. Yikes!:(


@Heaven: Thanks for your inputs as well. Also for sharing the links to the other threads, I read through them thoroughly...It does look like if I want to go the Ironman route, it would be better to go with eva foam, although I prefer the more realistic hard suit. I would prefer something as realistic as possible. Maybe I should pick Batman or Captain America....something that is less cost-prohibitive to obtain a more realistic look, is more convenient (going to toilet), and is more comfortable to move around and able to sit down to rest? :confused

My only criteria is that the superhero character needs to be someone that does not actually have superhero powers (aka just a normal person).
 
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I would say making a full Batman suit would be just as hard as an Iron Man suit, depending on which version you choose. You could probably make an eva armored bat pretty easily. Check out this guys channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZerKxUatjvs). There are also some eva foam Iron Man suits which look pretty convincing for the kids. Example: instagram user aztonystark and brampton_ironman.
 
espido1001 said:
@ronchan32004: Thanks for your quick response! Also thanks for sharing the link to the Ironman Eva foam suit, very affordable. Wow. I actually understand Chinese so I understood the website. :) However, I don't think I really like the eva foam look... As for the non-eva foam suits, after reading through several threads, I'm starting to realize the Ironman suit might not be the best choice for this charity run. Especially the part about the the suit being very inconvenience (going to toilet) and uncomfortable (restrictive movements and unable to sit down). It never really crossed my mind. This forum is already providing a lot of insight into costuming. Yikes!:(


@Heaven: Thanks for your inputs as well. Also for sharing the links to the other threads, I read through them thoroughly...It does look like if I want to go the Ironman route, it would be better to go with eva foam, although I prefer the more realistic hard suit. I would prefer something as realistic as possible. Maybe I should pick Batman or Captain America....something that is less cost-prohibitive to obtain a more realistic look, is more convenient (going to toilet), and is more comfortable to move around and able to sit down to rest? :confused

My only criteria is that the superhero character needs to be someone that does not actually have superhero powers (aka just a normal person).
Click to expand...
espido are you chinese? I am from hong kong ! batman is hard to make,because it consists of bracers, chestplates and boots,cowls and stuff like that.i recommend a spider man costume.
I have one of those!the quality is great. http://c.b1yr.com/h.dK0yE4?cv=2EOHjC3pua&sm=85ec28

Sent from my SM-J7108 using Tapatalk
 
And yet another option is to make the EVA suit and use Xrobots-James, in the UK-directions for epoxy coating the foam to make it hard like plastic...it looks great and nothing like foam!
 
kickman88 said:
And yet another option is to make the EVA suit and use Xrobots-James, in the UK-directions for epoxy coating the foam to make it hard like plastic...it looks great and nothing like foam!
Click to expand...
yeah but ,epoxy is expensive. if you use EVA, you would like to抹原子灰(that's chinese ) or apply a coat of pva glue before spray painting.

Sent from my SM-J7108 using Tapatalk
 
Heaven : Regarding the batman suit, I'm actually thinking of this one (unassembled version. Seller says it just requires gluing the armor pieces to the main undersuit and assembling the cape). It is also under my budget @ US$1.4K (including $35 shipping). (He also sells an assembled version but it's like an extra US$600). What's your thoughts on this? :confused
https://www.etsy.com/listing/162679401/batman-dark-knight-suit-not-assembled

aztonystark does resemble tony stark. wow.

Damn..The eva foam suits do look very realistic, I guess I was wrong about eva foam suits. Oops.

However, at this point...I think I'm leaning more towards Batman because then I'll be able to drive around (for exposure of campaign purposes), have more mobility in general (sitting down, moving around, etc.), and the suit would also be easier to pack into my suitcases (Planning to visit hospitals even when I travel overseas on vacations).
JayCVenlo : Thanks for the recommendation. I'll check it out. :thumbsup
ronchan32004 : Thanks for spiderman suggestion. However, I would like to pick a superhero that does not actually have a superpower. Kind of want to drive the message that "Everyone can be a superhero, even if you do not have superhero powers", if that makes sense. :)

I was actually born in Hong Kong ! What a small world ^5 ...although I grew up in Singapore afters.
 
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espido1001 said:
@Heaven : Regarding the batman suit, I'm actually thinking of this one (unassembled version. Seller says it just requires gluing the armor pieces to the main undersuit and assembling the cape). It is also under my budget @ US$1.4K (including $35 shipping). (He also sells an assembled version but it's like an extra US$600). What's your thoughts on this? :confused
https://www.etsy.com/listing/162679401/batman-dark-knight-suit-not-assembled

aztonystark does resemble tony stark. wow.

Damn..The eva foam suits do look very realistic, I guess I was wrong about eva foam suits. Oops.

However, at this point...I think I'm leaning more towards Batman because then I'll be able to drive around (for exposure of campaign purposes), have more mobility in general (sitting down, moving around, etc.), and the suit would also be easier to pack into my suitcases (Planning to visit hospitals even when I travel overseas on vacations).
@JayCVenlo : Thanks for the recommendation. I'll check it out. :thumbsup
@ronchan32004 : Thanks for spiderman suggestion. However, I would like to pick a superhero that does not actually have a superpower. Kind of want to drive the message that "Everyone can be a superhero, even if you do not have superhero powers", if that makes sense. :)

I was actually born in Hong Kong ! What a small world ^5 ...although I grew up in Singapore afters.
Click to expand...

That batsuit looks pretty close to the screen version lol. It's probably your best bet for achieving the best quality suit in your limited time frame. You might want to message the seller and ask him the extent of the difficulty of assembly and what other supplies you will need. I would buy that suit as well, but I won't be cosplaying as batman anytime soon haha. But for your concerns of mobility as well as driving around, batman would be one of the easier costumes to wear. Captain America is also a good choice.
 
espido1001 said:
@Heaven : Regarding the batman suit, I'm actually thinking of this one (unassembled version. Seller says it just requires gluing the armor pieces to the main undersuit and assembling the cape). It is also under my budget @ US$1.4K (including $35 shipping). (He also sells an assembled version but it's like an extra US$600). What's your thoughts on this? :confused
https://www.etsy.com/listing/162679401/batman-dark-knight-suit-not-assembled

aztonystark does resemble tony stark. wow.

Damn..The eva foam suits do look very realistic, I guess I was wrong about eva foam suits. Oops.

However, at this point...I think I'm leaning more towards Batman because then I'll be able to drive around (for exposure of campaign purposes), have more mobility in general (sitting down, moving around, etc.), and the suit would also be easier to pack into my suitcases (Planning to visit hospitals even when I travel overseas on vacations).
@JayCVenlo : Thanks for the recommendation. I'll check it out. :thumbsup
@ronchan32004 : Thanks for spiderman suggestion. However, I would like to pick a superhero that does not actually have a superpower. Kind of want to drive the message that "Everyone can be a superhero, even if you do not have superhero powers", if that makes sense. :)

I was actually born in Hong Kong ! What a small world ^5 ...although I grew up in Singapore afters.
Click to expand...

Head over the DC section here on the forum and check out the work involved in attaching the rubber pieces to an undersuit. It is not easy or quick. Given the questions you have been asking and your current skill level, if time is a factor, you have a very steep learning curve or you need to pay someone to assemble it for you.

Fair warning: Gotham City FX can have VERY long wait times to get items. Be sure you have a clear deadline for them to meet before you commit to a purchase.

Good Luck! I have visited a number of hospitals and it can be great and heartbreaking. The setup to visit can sometimes take weeks or months depending on the willingness of the hospital staff.
 
Psicorp7 said:
Head over the DC section here on the forum and check out the work involved in attaching the rubber pieces to an undersuit. It is not easy or quick. Given the questions you have been asking and your current skill level, if time is a factor, you have a very steep learning curve or you need to pay someone to assemble it for you.

Fair warning: Gotham City FX can have VERY long wait times to get items. Be sure you have a clear deadline for them to meet before you commit to a purchase.

Good Luck! I have visited a number of hospitals and it can be great and heartbreaking. The setup to visit can sometimes take weeks or months depending on the willingness of the hospital staff.
Click to expand...
Psicorp7 : Thanks for recommending checking out the work needed to attach the rubber pieces to an undersuit.... I might just jump the gun and get the assembled suit instead. I also just noticed the unassembled suit does NOT come with gloves, boots and I'll need to get the glue they suggested (which would easily add another US$150)...so the Q really is whether I want to pay an additional US$350 for them to assemble everything for me. hmmm....:confused

Yes, you are absolutely correct that I have zero experience and skills in possibly assembling this on my own. That's my worry. :unsure

Good note on Gotham City FX possibly taking a very long time to complete the items and ship to me. I'll be sure to have a clear deadline for them before I commit.

Also thanks for your last note about hospitals and the extra time it might need to set up visits, I'm planning to reach out to a few hospitals this weekend to gauge their responses and see how it goes :D
 
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I know what you mean about restricted movement, i'd love to make some iron man appearances but instead I opted to go with my armored batman suit,way easier to move in and remove if I need to use the restroom, took me very little time to build...
imageQYELQPK4.jpeg.jpg
 
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