Iron Man Mk VII Build-couple of questions

Lakayitha · Jul 17, 2014

Hello everyone!
I'm fairly new here and I've started a Mark 7 build about two months ago. Since I've been busy with school and work (and since this is my first real pep project), I've just now finished fiberglassing the helmet and I have also done some other parts (neck, lower forearm, handplate) using the pep files from Darkside501st (helmet) and Omarbou1 (rest of the parts) respectively.

I mainly started this thread to ask a few questions (hadn't found them in the list yet and I figured that, since I was planning on putting my progress on this forum anyways, I could just as well ask the questions

).

Had to alter them to make them fit, so they aren't all exactly like the models, but just a bit wider

(or, in case of the handguard, smaller). Also, in case you're wondering why the parts seem to be made in such random order, I wanted to finish one arm first but since I've burned my finger today I haven't been able to work on the bicep/ elbow anymore. We'll see tomorrow. Worked on the lot for about 30-35 hours, I think.

As for the questions, firstly, seeing that I want to try and bondo the whole helmet somewhere in the near future (maybe this weekend?), I was wondering if it would be better for me to first take the helmet apart and cut the faceplate out etc. before bondoing, or vice versa.

Moreover, about the other parts, since I only have pep viewer and I can't scale them, it's kind of hard for me to see how big they need to be to fit after I've glassed/bondoed/painted/padded them. Anyone have any advice on that? I'd love to know before I build the whole suit too small or out of proportion :lol

Was also planning on scratch-building the hands, and make the back/ chest out of foam or cardboard. What would be the best for that?

Thanks in advance, everyone!
I'll try and update this once in a while

Lakayitha · Aug 17, 2014

Hi everyone,

Hadn't updated for a while because I've been in Austria for two weeks. Took my stuff with me though, and got started on cutting out the parts for the second arm. I've also bondoed the helmet which I'm sanding right now, and I'm planning to get it painted over the weekend. Right bicep/ lower forearm/ handplate are also bondoed and I'm hoping to get them finished very soon too.

When I'm done with that I really want to get started on the chest/ back and the arc reactor, so I'd love to know if anyone's made a mixed suit (foam and pep) before and how that turned out (for example differences in painting, final looks, etc.).

My phone cam is broken so It'll take a bit longer for me to et the pictures, they will probably be up either tonight or tomorrow

.
Cheers and stay awesome~
Maxime

ct23456 · Aug 17, 2014

Sorry I can't answer some of your questions, but I know a guy on Facebook who went resin/foam. I think he said he did Foam for the Ab area to make it more flexible to more around, and maybe the neck too. So there are people who have done it, stick around and hopefully they'll answer the rest of your questions. Good luck!

Lakayitha · Aug 17, 2014

@ ct23456
Thanks for your input anyway, I'll keep looking

If I don't find anything on it, I think I'm just going to try it.

ct23456 · Aug 17, 2014

Having thought about the helmet question I did have a thought and PLEASE if you experts think I am wrong call me out this is just a theory.
I would bondo the helmet as one piece first, then cut it up. This would make it easier to get the separate parts smoother as they fit together than if you tried to separate then fill and sand for smoothness where they connected

Lakayitha · Aug 17, 2014

@ct23456
That's what I've done in the end, indeed to get it smoother and get it to fit. I've cut off the back part and the faceplate is probably going to go out tomorrow or somewhere this week anyway. The back part doesn't really fit now though, but I'm sanding it and I'm going to alter the parts to make it fit

Lakayitha · Aug 27, 2014

Quick update because I'd promised some pictures and I haven't uploaded them yet.

I've glued together the right shoulder and another forearm, but I haven't glassed them yet, which will probably happen somewhere at the weekend. Bondo/ sanding on my helmet is almost done; I'm finishing it today and tomorrow and so the painting is *hopefully* also happening at the weekend

Bondoed the right bicep, also sanding that piece so that makes the missing arm pieces the elbow (I'd already made oine but unfortunately it broke, so I have to make a new one) and the upper forearm.
Especially put a lot of time into the helmet, bicep and the new paper pieces. Pictures will come your way as fast as possible!

Lakayitha · Sep 4, 2014

Hey all!
Finally snapped some pics, they're down below

Cut half the other shoulder but since I prined the same pattern two times without realising it was an asymmetrical design, I'm inverting it. Should've paid more attention to that :lol
Started glassing the right shoulder, lower forearm and the neck and bondoing the missile pod (from the forearm) and still the bicep/helmet.
Cheers~

Spardax · Sep 4, 2014

Great progress! :thumbsup

Lakayitha · Sep 8, 2014

Thanks Spardax! Trying to work on it as much as I can in between school work

Done some more filling and sanding at the weekend so that I could spray on the first coat of filler primer. Still needs some work before painting though, since there are still some rough edges that need smoothing and the lower back part of the helmet needs to fit :lol. Also need to finish the ear parts and cut out the faceplate. This is what it looks like at the moment:

MTBrands · Sep 9, 2014

Looking quite nice already! I am also working on a mk 7 helmet. One question, how does yours fit? Do you have parts you have to take of before putting it on, and how much space is there inside? I'll definitely be following this!

Lakayitha · Sep 10, 2014

MTBrands said:
Looking quite nice already! I am also working on a mk 7 helmet. One question, how does yours fit? Do you have parts you have to take of before putting it on, and how much space is there inside? I'll definitely be following this!

Thanks

Um, I've cut off the lower back part to put it on and I'll be adding magnets to that part and the back of the helmet later to still make it fit. Helmet is a bit big but I hope that'll be okay in comparison to the rest of the costume once that's finished. Snapped some pictures for you to show it

First and second are with and without the back part, last one is to show the with of the helmet in comparison with my hand. (Also notice the subtle Iron Man sweater in the third picture

)
I hope this helps you, and I'll check your page out too

Cheers~

MTBrands · Sep 11, 2014

Aha yes, that clears it up a lot! Will still be quite a while until I get to that point, I'm currently pepping the top bit of the helmet. Turns out I'm quite bad at folding and gluing the small parts.
I love the sweater!

Lakayitha · Sep 27, 2014

Hey guys!
I've been very busy with my school work lately, but I've managed to find the time to work on the parts some more. Worked on some minor dents and imperfections on the helmet-especially the back-, and I think I should be able to find a space of time to cut out the faceplate and line up the back part somewhere this week (maybe tomorrow, who knows?). Anyways, here are some pictures (sorry for the pic spam):

Lakayitha · Sep 29, 2014

Quick update to let y'all know that I've done some more sanding yesterday. Helmet is mostly clean, the only things that still need work are the back (to make the bottom part fit on) and the faceplate which I am cutting out as fast as possible (I am fully aware that I've been saying that since day 1 tbh). Furthermore, I've done a second coat of bondo on the lower forearm and on the handplate and I'm working out the details on the bicep. \
Cheers~

ct23456 · Sep 29, 2014

At this point I would go ahead and do the upper fore arm piece to make sure things fit correctly before doing anything else. That's just my opinion though

Lakayitha · Sep 29, 2014

ct23456 Yep, I've been working on new peps too. Shoulders probably need to be bigger and I need to remake the elbow and do the upper forearm. Planning on finishing the peps for those parts before finishing the rest of the arm but I'm kind of working on everything at the same time

ct23456 · Sep 29, 2014

It's tricky because the arm pieces all kind of connect, I made the mistake of making my biceps fit "better" by using a different scale than the rest of the arm pieces and when I tried matching them up for test fitting the pieces didn't meet up correctly and everything was just off.
I've abandoned Pep and I'm just going to print this time ._.

Lakayitha · Sep 30, 2014

@ct23456 Sorry to hear that

Good luck with your print though! Do you have a thread on it? I'd love to see how it works out.
I'm trying to match everything, but since I just have Pep viewer I'm adjusting everything myself. Hope it all matches up! I'm probably starting on the upper forearm this afternoon so I'l drop you all a line on how it's going (probably today or tomorrow). Cheers~
Maxime

Lakayitha · Oct 9, 2014

Hey guys!
Haven't been able to work on the project that much last week- school and all ): At the weekend I tried my hand at making the upper forearms which I unfortunately built too small (used Omarbou's file) when I noticed that Darkside501st's file was actually a bit broader. I am still glueing that one and since I'm at school at the moment I don't have any pics of it. I've also finished the second lower forearm and the second handplate, and I'm cutting out the second bicep too.

Moreover, good news and bad news on the helmet:
The bad news is that my dad accidentally dropped my helmet so there's this big, nasty crack right in the middle of it ):
The good news is however that the crack partially runs along the faceplate- line, so I should be able to fix it with some extra fiberglass and bondo.
I'll let you know how that works out~
Maxime

Iron Man Mk VII Build-couple of questions

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