Iron Man Mark 46 Foam Armor - help with back flaps

Hi guys!! I'm doing an Iron Man Mark 46 (Civil War) armor out of foam, to wear at the Infinity War premiere (may 4 here), but I've come across a hick-up: the back flaps! I wanted to incorporate motorized back flaps and 2 e-cigarette small smoke machines to have the full effect (yay!) but somehow I've no clue how to pull it off, and to make matters worse, I thought that the Mark 47 was just the Mark 46 with a different paint job, right? WRONG! I have two screen shots from the movie and the back flaps are not the same! this 2 are from civil war:


And this 2 are from Spider-man Homecoming:


As you can see, in Homecoming the flaps have the source of the "rocket thrust" coming from inside, and they have to open to "let the fire out", while the Mark 46 seems to have the fire at the lower border of the flap, has anyone else noticed this? do you know HOW to make the motorized flaps? the electronics involved? please help!!

The flaps should be simple enough with some servos and I don't think anyone is picky about accuracy if youre gonna have a dynamic effect. For tutorials on the smoke effect i would recommend Wayne's Workshop on youtube. Good luck!

Warmachine2000 said:

The flaps should be simple enough with some servos and I don't think anyone is picky about accuracy if youre gonna have a dynamic effect. For tutorials on the smoke effect i would recommend Wayne's Workshop on youtube. Good luck!

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Thank you! I have seen the smoke machine tutorials thank you, it's only the flaps section that escapes me, I know it uses servos, bot how to control them? what hinges should I use? what about the rods that the servos drive? all those questions and not a single tutorial....

BruceKenobi said:

Thank you! I have seen the smoke machine tutorials thank you, it's only the flaps section that escapes me, I know it uses servos, bot how to control them? what hinges should I use? what about the rods that the servos drive? all those questions and not a single tutorial....

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It's the same principle as the motorizing the faceplate. You need a controller, servo/s batteries and a switch

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markseven said:

It's the same principle as the motorizing the faceplate. You need a controller, servo/s batteries and a switch

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Hey! thanks! I figured there's got to be some similarities, but the servos: where do you place them? what rods do you use to connect them to the plates? does it have some special way?

BruceKenobi said:

Hey! thanks! I figured there's got to be some similarities, but the servos: where do you place them? what rods do you use to connect them to the plates? does it have some special way?

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That you have to solve for yourself. Each build/suit is different. Look for the axis where the flap should move and place the hinges there

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markseven said:

That you have to solve for yourself. Each build/suit is different. Look for the axis where the flap should move and place the hinges there

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I see, the hinges should be plastic or metallic? what type? I'm really a noob in this

BruceKenobi said:

I see, the hinges should be plastic or metallic? what type? I'm really a noob in this

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Better if plastic, less weight = better for smaller servos

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markseven said:

Better if plastic, less weight = better for smaller servos

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gotcha! will look for plastic hinges to avoid over-stressing the servos.