SuperheroDIY
Well-Known Member
Yep, it's not a build because hey - I didn't build it! Rather, it was built by Superhero Forge for a costume contest apparently. When they were done with it they put it up on their Facebook page for sale and I decided to buy it! After putting together most of the Batman vs. Superman: DOJ armor, I realized that I'm not really wanting to build this costume from scratch out of EVA foam. That's a lot of work!
Anyway, after the suit finally did arrive - following some shipping issues with Superhero Forge - I immediately found that it is going to need a LOT of modifications, hence the title of this post.
So this is a MK46 (built as MK47 but I had them paint it) suit from Captain America Civil War. It is made of EVA foam, except for the chest and back, which are made of sintra. It came with wiring for lights across the suit, arc reactor LEDs for the chest, and remote-controlled back flaps. Pretty cool! Unfortunately when it arrived, the back was all kinds of broken around those back flaps, and that had to be fixed:
I then noticed that the wiring for those back flaps was ... I guess unconventional. Then again, I don't know much about electronics and it all did work as advertised! But I did know that I didn't want to stick this battery on my back, and I wasn't sure how I would carry around a remote control anyway:
So I took that all out. I ended up replacing it (and all the other LEDs and wiring) with stuff I got from Sparkfun.com. I found this ecosystem called Sparkfun Spectacle, which is basically for people who want some effects but don't want to take electronics as a hobby! I'm definitely no sandbagger so there is no way I could do any of that stuff. The easy way is the way for me!
I ended up getting a bunch of extra wiring, some servos, an LED strip, the director board, light board, button board, motion board, audio board, a couple powered speakers, and some other stuff. Even just some battery boxes with switches in case none of this worked!
After a couple weeks working on this all, including teaching myself how to solder and cutting up the LED strip, I could add the LEDs throughout the suit. That took a good amount of time, wires, and JST or JST-SM connectors, but it looks great. I also ended up making little foam hexagons with a milk carton jug as diffusers all throughout the suit for the little light-holes on the MK46, which I think is an improvement until I get a 3D-printed version.
Old:
New:
Overall:
So far, I have some really cool functionality for the suit. I figured out how to control those back servos (and replaced a couple of them), figured out how to easily separate and solder wire to LED pixels, and wired up an LED disc which was difficult but is a perfect arc reactor after making sure it's behind a frosted "window" and you're protected from the heat it generates. I've also grabbed some sounds off of a post here on the RPF which I'm trying to make work, but for now I just have some good progress.
Hopefully this vid works to show that off:
Next up I'll be ensuring that I can light ALL lights on the suit at once and control the back flaps as expected while suited up. I need to find or make an undersuit, as well as gap fillers - I'm thinking of doing these out of leather or vinyl strips kind of like a Kylo Ren neck seal. I also have to make the hands and fingers, as the ones that came with the suit are really not great looking - but I think I'm going to either 3D print or get them 3D printed (if I get a 3D printer, of course).
Anyway, a good way to go but let me know what you think and/or if you have comments and suggestions! Thanks for reading!
Anyway, after the suit finally did arrive - following some shipping issues with Superhero Forge - I immediately found that it is going to need a LOT of modifications, hence the title of this post.
So this is a MK46 (built as MK47 but I had them paint it) suit from Captain America Civil War. It is made of EVA foam, except for the chest and back, which are made of sintra. It came with wiring for lights across the suit, arc reactor LEDs for the chest, and remote-controlled back flaps. Pretty cool! Unfortunately when it arrived, the back was all kinds of broken around those back flaps, and that had to be fixed:
I then noticed that the wiring for those back flaps was ... I guess unconventional. Then again, I don't know much about electronics and it all did work as advertised! But I did know that I didn't want to stick this battery on my back, and I wasn't sure how I would carry around a remote control anyway:
So I took that all out. I ended up replacing it (and all the other LEDs and wiring) with stuff I got from Sparkfun.com. I found this ecosystem called Sparkfun Spectacle, which is basically for people who want some effects but don't want to take electronics as a hobby! I'm definitely no sandbagger so there is no way I could do any of that stuff. The easy way is the way for me!
I ended up getting a bunch of extra wiring, some servos, an LED strip, the director board, light board, button board, motion board, audio board, a couple powered speakers, and some other stuff. Even just some battery boxes with switches in case none of this worked!
After a couple weeks working on this all, including teaching myself how to solder and cutting up the LED strip, I could add the LEDs throughout the suit. That took a good amount of time, wires, and JST or JST-SM connectors, but it looks great. I also ended up making little foam hexagons with a milk carton jug as diffusers all throughout the suit for the little light-holes on the MK46, which I think is an improvement until I get a 3D-printed version.
Old:
New:
Overall:
So far, I have some really cool functionality for the suit. I figured out how to control those back servos (and replaced a couple of them), figured out how to easily separate and solder wire to LED pixels, and wired up an LED disc which was difficult but is a perfect arc reactor after making sure it's behind a frosted "window" and you're protected from the heat it generates. I've also grabbed some sounds off of a post here on the RPF which I'm trying to make work, but for now I just have some good progress.
Hopefully this vid works to show that off:
Next up I'll be ensuring that I can light ALL lights on the suit at once and control the back flaps as expected while suited up. I need to find or make an undersuit, as well as gap fillers - I'm thinking of doing these out of leather or vinyl strips kind of like a Kylo Ren neck seal. I also have to make the hands and fingers, as the ones that came with the suit are really not great looking - but I think I'm going to either 3D print or get them 3D printed (if I get a 3D printer, of course).
Anyway, a good way to go but let me know what you think and/or if you have comments and suggestions! Thanks for reading!
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