Fetts $25 Iron Man - Mark V Suit Tutorial

Fetts, you are a true gentleman. Looking through my workshop I came across 2 45 gallon plastic drums, I think I am set on plastic LOL!
 
Abdominal section


This flexing ab section thing is not very hard to do and Finhead hit the nail on the head. All it's made of is elastic and plates of plastic. Those arms you see on the side, those are not necessary to the function of this part. They are only for show.

Let's start with the ab template. The main ab plate can be whatever shape you want, so feel free to change it up, play with the templates, etc. The arms on the template might not be the size you need. I made them longer in case someone had a larger midsection and needed the extra length to make it look right. I'll show you how to put it together and find out what's right for you.


I bought 4 yards of 2" wide white elastic.

I wrapped a strip around my chest, where I wanted the top of the first Ab plate to sit. I cut the elastic to size and put a safety pin in to hold the two ends together.

Then I riveted the top of the main ab plate body to the elastic.
2098-04-16-Mark-V-ABs-012.jpg

2098-04-16-Mark-V-ABs-013.jpg


You will need to use washers on the back of these rivets. The elastic won't hold if you don't use a washer.

You should use washers on the back all of your rivets, but if you get in the habit of not using washers this is not an area you can do with out them.

At this point if you do this 3 more times, you'll have a nice abdominal chest piece. So, if you are doing War Machine you wouldn't need to add the little arms that come off the main plates. Since we're doing the Mark V, we'll add the arms.

I drilled a hole for the arms to attach to the main plate, which you can see in the above picture.

I cut a quick strip of plastic out and riveted it to the main plate, then attached another strip of plastic to the first one to form an obtuse angle. Some what of an exaggerated "L" shape. The top of the "L" is attached by rivet to the top of the same strip of elastic that the main plate attaches to.


Somehow I missed taking a picture of this, but you see what I mean in the pic below. I'll post a better picture later.

So, like I said, do this 4 times or more depending on how many plates you want to do. If you decide to make the plates smaller you might need more.


When I made this, it was before I uploaded the most recent Ab templates and the arms are too thick. I made them thinner in the templates that are available now. I also had them pined on the elastic to test it out.
At this point you should have something like this:
I just threw this together very quickly to give you an idea of the articulation.
test.gif


If you want to hide the rivets, you can cut out the fins on the template and glue them over the rivets.
Like so:
Capture.jpg


I decided not to hide the rivets, so I skipped this part.

My advice is to lay it out how you plan on assembling it. Hold it to your stomach and see about how long the arms should be for you. Some will need longer arms than others. This is one of those parts where the template won't work for everyone. Luckily it's pretty simple.

Any questions, let me know.
 
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Hey Fett, this looks amazing!

How long do you expect this suit to take? If I can get it done before May 7th I am thinking of attempting... :confused

Also, the photos of the trashcan with the cuts in it was very helpful because it helped clue in to which parts had the bends! :thumbsup
 
Hey Fett, this looks amazing!

How long do you expect this suit to take? If I can get it done before May 7th I am thinking of attempting... :confused

Also, the photos of the trashcan with the cuts in it was very helpful because it helped clue in to which parts had the bends! :thumbsup

I don't know exactly. I made the abs last night and the chest the night before, so, I don't think it will take too long. A few more days and we'll have it finished I bet. :)

I didn't think of people wanting to make this for the movie opening. I'll try to get going on the helmet tonight since thats the main focus of the costume. I'll also start on the arms and legs.

As far as the bends, I might not be finding the best parts of the trashcan, so look at the shape of the can and what you're going for and go from there. Of course if those pic are helpful please use them.

Here is what it looks like now:
2098-04-16-Mark-V-ABs-011.jpg


It looks pretty distressed.
 
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It wouldn't be too bad to just pep a helmet. I know it doesn't match the style but it would be peace of mind knowing the method is there to utilize for an accurate helmet and still keep costs down. I'm still curious to see how your helmet turns out though. be blown away for real. Keep up the awesome work

Masterfett lol :p
 
I don't know exactly. I made the abs last night and the chest the night before, so, I don't think it will take too long. A few more days and we'll have it finished I bet. :)

I didn't think of people wanting to make this for the movie opening. I'll try to get going on the helmet tonight since thats the main focus of the costume. I'll also start on the arms and legs.

As far as the bends, I might not be finding the best parts of the trashcan, so look at the shape of the can and what you're going for and go from there. Of course if those pic are helpful please use them.

Here is what it looks like now:
2098-04-16-Mark-V-ABs-011.jpg


It looks pretty distressed.

You decimated that poor trash can, where are you gonna put the scraps from this project now?
Seriously though great work! Its nice to see tutorials on things like this.. If not just for the plastic craft.. but how the ab was put together and the templates.. Great work!
 
My kid brother just joined this site after watching me on it for the past 5 years. He's attempting this suit and is super excited about it. Fetts he said that you have been VERY helpful answering all his questions. Thanks that was very nice of you. Excited to see how this turns out.


-Ash
 
My kid brother just joined this site after watching me on it for the past 5 years. He's attempting this suit and is super excited about it. Fetts he said that you have been VERY helpful answering all his questions. Thanks that was very nice of you. Excited to see how this turns out.


-Ash

Thanks!
 
Thanks Fett! :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup

I think I am going to get started on this then. Onward!

How many trash bins have you used so far? Just the one? How many do you expect to go through?
 
Thanks Fett! :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup

I think I am going to get started on this then. Onward!

How many trash bins have you used so far? Just the one? How many do you expect to go through?

I've only used one trashcan so far. As I type this the second trashcan is in pristine condition but is looking very frightened.

I really hope to only use the two trashcans. If your trashcans come with lids make sure you get them. You can cut the lid up too.

Make sure you think about where you tape your templates when you do your cutting. Find the curves you want to use.

If you need to reshape anything you can use a heat gun to heat up the plastic a little until it is flexible and hold it in place until it cools. You can poor cold water on it to cool it down quickly, which helps. Try to concentrate on using the curvature of the trashcan and use the heatgun sparingly. A lot of your symmetry comes form using the curvature of the plastic and too much heat gunning could warp it a bit. Also, if you're not careful you can melt right through the plastic.


I ended up using the heat gun to make the curves in the top of the breastplate fit my neck better.

That's the only heat gunning I've had to do...on the suit part.
adsqd.jpg
 
A few people have expressed an interest in finishing a suit for themselves in time for the May 7th opening of Iron Man 2. I'm trying to finish this tutorial in time for you to do just that. I'm kicking it in to high gear while trying not to neglect my other obligations too much.

That said, the helmet is probably the coolest part of the suit. If you have a cool helmet, you're 90% there. So lets see if we can figure out our options.

This trashcan plastic is too soft to make a helmet. At least I think it is. So, I'm not going to waste my time trying to make a trashcan helmet.

We can buy a helmet but that cost money. We can try to make one out of sintra (but what the heck is sintra) or we can pep a helmet. Pepping involves bondo and fiberglass and sanding, skill, and time.

So being that we are dong a budget build with limited time....
Good-Cheap-Fast <- "Pick Two" as they say

I'm going to try to do a sintra helmet just so you can see if it's something you want to take the time to explore. It kinda lends itself to the plastic theme of this project.

First I pulled up Gemini Khan's page where he made his awesome sintra helmet. I have some experience with sintra from making fett armor so I kinda knew what to expect, but not really. Anyway I downloaded his template and set to work.

Where do you get sintra?

Sign companies. Call the closest sign company and tell them you'd like to buy a sintra remnant. They may refer to it as PVC expanded foam board or expanded PVC Sheet. So throw those words around like you use those terms every day.

Tell them you'd like to buy a remnant (scrap) and it can be dirty, dinged, etc. I got a 2'X3' remnant of 3mm sintra for $15 dollars. Not too bad.

I printed the template out and cut it out of the sintra.
asefwae.jpg


Then I heated up the template where I wanted it to bend and I started shaping it. First, I bent the sides and then heated the face up to give it a bit of a convex shape. I superglue the edges so they would hold.

waret.jpg


Then I cut a bunch of 1-2 inch strips and heated them up individually and bowed them to make the crown of the head. If you read Gemini Kahn's page, you'll see what i mean. I didn't take any pictures because I was really moving fast and I forgot.

After I got a bunch of bowed 1-2 inch strips I started supergluing them along the crown of the helmet to form the top.

Once I got the top formed I cut two large strips of plastic to form the back of the helmet.

To make the crown smooth I applied a generous amount of bondo to the top and sanded the crap out of it until it looked half way decent. Then I put more bondo on and sanded. I repeated this about 4 times until it was shaped the way I wanted.

I rattle canned some white paint as on it as a primer and as soon as it was half dry I started spot puttying the edges that were still nasty.

wat.jpg


sdfw.jpg


So, I would say that the sintra helmet is doable in the time we have left and it was fairly cheap assuming you have bond, sandpaper, and red spot putty t home.

There were some instances where I wanted to sit this helmet on the ground and drive my foot through it. So it wasn't step 1- cut, step 2 bend, step 3 bondo and enjoy.

I would also explore the option of pep-ing a helmet or even purchasing one even if you plan on trying this method.


I'm trying this method out to hopefully save you some time if you're in a rush to make the Mark V suit. I don't plan on finishing this particular helmet, although I might. This helmet has a long way to go before it looks nice. Gemini Kahn has much more talent than me! :lol After trying this I have so even more respect for him and his project. To think he made that beautiful helmet from sintra blows my mind.
 
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