I was working on the boot and leg of the model when I saw the temperature was going to be a balmy 45F this weekend. I quickly cut the forearm pieces out of 3mm craft foam sheets and swung by Lowe's to get a can of red Plasti Dip. I would definitely want to give it a thin layer of a darker red later, but for now, it'll do.
I found a tub of metallic acrylic paint at the craft store I had to have and now have a use for it! Dry brushing it on gave a nice brushed metal look. I don't know if this is the appropriate silver finish for an Iron Man suit, but I'm happy with it. The cuff of the forearm was painted without sealing and the elbow was painted after sealing it with watered-down glue first. The piece that was sealed ended up a with a much smoother brushed finish, so obviously that was the way to go.
Sealing was done using my patented glear glue method. It allows the foam piece to be sealed, but still stay flexible as needed for folding and bending. In this case, I sealed them while flat, but then assemble them into the larger forearm sections to be painted without worrying about them cracking. Worked well.
It was colder than what would be optimal, but I still managed to Plasti Dip outside, then bring the pieces inside and let them dry in my bathroom with the fan on. It gave me some not-optimal texture on the Dip, but this forearm piece is more proof of concept anyway.
Then I cut out the little struts and painted them, mixed some black paint in with the silver to create some contrast, painted the joining pieces and then glued everything together.
I'm kinda mixed on the thinner foam. I wish there was more of the "depth" that I always talk about. I would probably want to use thicker foam in the future. 3mm is fine, but on the thin side. The plus side is that the template works, and while I'm skinny, there's plenty of room in the forearm for thicker people. So there you go.
I found a tub of metallic acrylic paint at the craft store I had to have and now have a use for it! Dry brushing it on gave a nice brushed metal look. I don't know if this is the appropriate silver finish for an Iron Man suit, but I'm happy with it. The cuff of the forearm was painted without sealing and the elbow was painted after sealing it with watered-down glue first. The piece that was sealed ended up a with a much smoother brushed finish, so obviously that was the way to go.
Sealing was done using my patented glear glue method. It allows the foam piece to be sealed, but still stay flexible as needed for folding and bending. In this case, I sealed them while flat, but then assemble them into the larger forearm sections to be painted without worrying about them cracking. Worked well.
It was colder than what would be optimal, but I still managed to Plasti Dip outside, then bring the pieces inside and let them dry in my bathroom with the fan on. It gave me some not-optimal texture on the Dip, but this forearm piece is more proof of concept anyway.
Then I cut out the little struts and painted them, mixed some black paint in with the silver to create some contrast, painted the joining pieces and then glued everything together.
I'm kinda mixed on the thinner foam. I wish there was more of the "depth" that I always talk about. I would probably want to use thicker foam in the future. 3mm is fine, but on the thin side. The plus side is that the template works, and while I'm skinny, there's plenty of room in the forearm for thicker people. So there you go.
