First Project ever: WAR MACHINE

zombienoms

Active Member
INTRODUCING- THE JRXL 1000 VARIABLE THREAT RESPONSE BATTLE SUIT...WAR MACHINE (Pictures Followed by Story)


Comic Con Ally.jpg

Comic Con Official.jpg

Comic Con Pepper.jpg

Comic Con With Wolverine.jpg

Comic Con Buzzfeed Cost.jpg

Partial Suit Up 1.jpg
Fullsuit 1.jpg
Fullsuit 2.jpg
Partial Suit Up 2.jpg


Test of System Electronics








Backstory:
So I always loved the War Machine armor growing up and when I found out he would appear in Iron Man 2 I was psyched out of my mind. Seeing this badass come to reality was awesome and every time I watched the movie I just thought "why not me??!". So one day I'm minding my own business on the internet and I stumble upon a video of someone who has made their own armor. Be still my heart someone made their own? Continue my awe to find out it's not just one person there's tons of amazing creative and talented people who have taken the leap to bring their favorite armors to life. Inspired I decide to see what it takes to make armor and begin my education. After watching countless videos from people on all kinds of processes and tech I decide I'm ready to begin my build!

The Build: My original plan was to make a totally foam suit and call it a day. As I began I was still looking at other suits though and as I did I became more ambitious wanting a more realistic and detailed suit. This led me to think why don't I try a technique I saw detailed by user xrobots involving the plastic coating of foam. In his video it made this gorgeous smooth finish over the light foam and seemed ideal. Sadly I'm not as gifted as xrobots and couldn't master the technique so I abandoned it. This led me to a second path of using bondo on fiberglass reinforced pieces. This had a much more favorable outcome and allowed me to cover my mistakes with the plastic coating. When it came time to do the helmet which I considered the most important part I decided to try my hand at a regular pep job with cardstock as a base since my first attempt at a foam helmet came out wonky. The result was glorious and made me realize that for my next project I will be making that my method of choice for the whole suit. I also used cardstock for the mini-gun pep.

Build Time: 1 Year. What can I say I was slow because it was my first project and I'm in grad school. That coupled with not having a constant space for workshop use and having gaps of a month where I couldn't work on the suit made progress at times crawl

Cost: Somewhere in the Ballpark of $300. Honestly a lot more of my cost came in the fact that I had so few tools or materials to start so I needed to buy basic things like a exacto knife or a sander. Also electronics can add up

What I Learned: SO FRIGGIN MUCH. Honestly there were times of failure or frustration but it was a learning experience and I still wouldn't trade it for anything. As a total novice to such things there was some apprehension trying at all but there were never problems, only obstacles I had yet to navigate. I would offer the following tips to people trying this for the first time (get ready for random advice)

Tips:
-Plan, Plan, and Plan some more. Having an idea of what you want and where you want to go will save you trips to the store and also making something and then figuring out how to add something you could have before with less hassle

-Buy an electric sander. I appreciate a good work out as much as the next guy but when I say there may be times you find yourself sanding till the end of time I mean it. At these times it's a blessing to have a power tool that can quickly take down that chunk of bondo you put on because "you didn't want it to go to waste" as it was hardening

-Buy Files! Big ones, small ones, coarse ones, fine ones! Files are your friend for multiple reasons to me the top ones are the fact that unlike sandpaper they last and can be cleaned and reused and being hard metal means they wont shape to your fingers when you use them preventing and wavy patterns in your armor. Another great thing is the needle file. Let me tell you if you want a crisp clean line that is the bees knees to have in your tool box. I could cut an initial line with a dremel that might be a bit wavy or have edges that aren't uniform and after a few swipes with a needle file you would think I molded it in. GLORIOUS.

-Have a respirator and work in an open ventilated space. Between sanding dust and the stink of resin its good to get some air and have something protecting your lungs. Tip for respirators: make the filter last longer by using compressed air to blow them out. Just burst the air from the inside of the mask out. You'll clear out dust making it easier to breathe through and expanding the lifespan, and also give you an appreciation for how much dust it's keeping out of your mouth!

-Patience is a virtue. This whole thing can take a while, don't be afraid to walk away for a bit if you're getting frustrated. A clear mind also will help you figure out what the hell went wrong

-If your bondo or resin starts to harden, STOP! It's not worth it. You think "oh its bumpy but I can sand it off and then I can still use what I poured guilt free" but trust me this is more frustration than it's worth. Better solution is simply work with smaller quantities and don't expect that you're going to be the wizard that bondos a whole chest piece in one scoop. It's easy to pour a fresh bit of your compounds, it's a pain to deal with gobs of chunky stuff to sand that isn't even going to stick that well

-When it comes to materials for Resin get disposable brushes Harbor freight tools offers a pack of 36 for $11 and by far is one of the greatest deals ever Chip Brushes - Pack of 36 2" Industrial Grade Chip Brushes Also get a plastic mixing bucket. Available in places like Home Depot or Lowes for a few bucks these things come in a few sizes (I got a 2 small ones), they have measurements on them and the best part is resin doesn't stick. Pour your fiberglass resin, and when it's empty let the residue harden in the container once it does just bend the walls of the cup till it pops off and then it peels right out for a fresh clean cup ready for another pour. When it comes to using the fiberglass with the resin I used fiberglass mat. First I would put on a layer of resin plain on the cardstock, after that dried I would put on another layer and use that to stick on the mat. This works best if you make sure the mat is lying flat and tucked into all the nooks you need it in. Also try to use as few pieces as you can (instead of cutting six pieces to cover an area try to use one big piece). As you put the mat down also slather on more resin, this will help it lay flat and also reinforce it. Another thing I seemed to notice is that by not being stingy with the resin it ensured that the mat was soaked and hardened evenly an thoroughly as well as giving a smoother initial finish (though you still need to sand down the sharp points before you wear it!). Helpful things to have for bondo application include plastic applicators in a few sizes, though I mainly used one it's good to have variety They also sell metal applicators or you could use some other hard plastic like say an old credit card. Other ways to apply bondo that I used included popsicle sticks or even just my finger to smash into smaller spaces (latex disposable gloves are super handy for everything). To lay out the bondo I found an old art palate in my house used normally for paint. Basically it was sheets of a thicker wax paper that you could tear off when done and have the fresh sheet underneath. This was very handy as I could use it 3-4 times and then simply tear off the messed up paper and have a new start. For mixing the bondo work in small amounts and get the hang of how much it takes of compound and hardener and what kind of working time you get. I used just a big spoonful using a plastic spoon and worked with that amount. It was on the smaller side but still it went a long way and allowed me to get smoother initial applications. When the bondo starts to stick or get tacky STOP!

-Spot Putty is your friend. Being new and a bit impatient at times I didn't always sand and layer as I should have, luckily spot putty prevented my armor from looking like a total disaster. I smeared it on with a glove, filling in small imperfections that showed after primer coating pieces. Sanding it down with fine grit sandpaper made things smooth

-Look at your pieces in a few different ways and touch things as you work. Sounds kind of creepy but there were times where I would look and say hey fantastic but then hold up a piece to a different angle of light and I see valleys bumps and ugly everywhere! Running your hand along things can also help find trouble spots as well as be gratifying after an hour sanding that one damn spot. Another way to find high places is dust coating- lightly spray paint a piece and sand, whatever goes first is higher than the rest

-Reach out to people. I went into this blind but thanks to members here, on youtube, and other places I found help wherever I looked. This is truly a great community and there are plenty of people in it who will help you along your build

Acknowledgements: Tons of people helped me in one way or another be it with electronics, techniques on sanding, where to buy materials, generously having pep files, or even just inspiration to do this by looking at their builds. With that in mind...

Honus: Huge help with electronics I seriously could not have had a faceplate that worked without you, from tutorials you had already to the personal help, code to wiring, god bless you for having the patience to answer the multiple PMs

Stealth/The Heroes Workshop: Kind of started this whole thing for me after seeing his tutorials I got the guts to say hey maybe I can do this. Not to mention he had the pep files for the suit as well as pepakura designer software. Really a catalyst that made me look into this

Ladman: All the War Machine Pep files I could ever want courtesy of great people like Stealth, Juice, Dubean, Bollomonkey, Zabana, Darkside501st, robo3687, Gimpee and Sharkhead

7sinzz: Has a tutorial that made me think...maybe I can look into automating this helmet

xrobots: Super nice gave insight into the plastic coating process

ShadoWorx: Tips on sanding and treating a piece like something that needs love

Amazing builds that helped inspire: Honus, Stealth, Mizuno Hadouken, Electraflier, Don Juan, Darkside501st, Projectearth7

Please let it be noted I have no talent or skill and that without the help of these and others none of this would have been possible so truly thank you for everything
 
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Looks good man!... When I first saw the sign with "1 year, $30000" on it, I thought you spent 30K!!! I almost died.. lol...
 
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