Ironman Costume for 5yr old - LINKS on PAGE 1 - tips & important bits

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Progress Report 10/20

Oh I see that may save me some $$$ by using less cans of auto paint

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Progress Report 10/20

by chance indie do you have a idea of how many can's you used and how many a adult suit might need?

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Progress Report 10/20

jayjayn said:

by chance indie do you have a idea of how many can's you used and how many a adult suit might need?

Click to expand...

Sorry... I didn't keep track out of pure denial. As in, I didn't want to know how much I was spending. :behave


*****

I didn't get much done last night, but I did finish up the back of the knee area for the underarmor.

Here is the pattern I created for the gold shiny satin material that matches closely the gold armor sections.



I used spray adhesive to attach the panels. I followed that with some basic stitches around the outside edge to make sure the darn thing doesn't come off as the underarmor stretches. And finally I drew some detail lines on the gold satin so it looks segmented.

Here's what it looks like on the back of the knees - if it looks odd, Mikey's mannequin is upside down in the picture.

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Progress Report 10/20

indiefilmgeek said:

Sorry... I didn't keep track out of pure denial. As in, I didn't want to know how much I was spending. :behave


*****

I didn't get much done last night, but I did finish up the back of the knee area for the underarmor.

Here is the pattern I created for the gold shiny satin material that matches closely the gold armor sections.

I used spray adhesive to attach the panels. I followed that with some basic stitches around the outside edge to make sure the darn thing doesn't come off as the underarmor stretches. And finally I drew some detail lines on the gold satin so it looks segmented.

Here's what it looks like on the back of the knees - if it looks odd, Mikey's mannequin is upside down in the picture.

Click to expand...

great idea! , i know how you feel .. i've been keeping all my receipts in a bag and i don't dare to look yet lol, every time i get a chance i buy all the spray cans i can find usually two at a time at every car shop i drive by and don't keep track of how many i actually have accumulated, until today lol

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Progress Report 10/20

jayjayn said:

great idea! , i know how you feel .. i've been keeping all my receipts in a bag and i don't dare to look yet lol, every time i get a chance i buy all the spray cans i can find usually two at a time at every car shop i drive by and don't keep track of how many i actually have accumulated, until today lol

Click to expand...

That exactly like I did it (two cans at at time over months and months).

Actually, I finally signed up for a loyalty program at one of the auto parts store (gets you a free $20 after five purchases of at least $20). I don't know how many cans I've purchases since the beginning of the year, but I've just received my second $20 certificate. So, I've spent at least $200 in paint. :unsure

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Progress Report 10/20

My son is so envious and loves your work,so thanks for always showing and explaining your steps. I'm working with Plastidip for the first time, so please bare with me. All our stores carry is the black. So my question to you is what is the best paint to cover it?

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Progress Report 10/20

lilcajundevil said:

My son is so envious and loves your work,so thanks for always showing and explaining your steps. I'm working with Plastidip for the first time, so please bare with me. All our stores carry is the black. So my question to you is what is the best paint to cover it?

Click to expand...

I found black very hard to cover with the Dupli-color Dark Cherry Metallic Red (which is the auto paint I use for Mikey's suit). Can the store that is currently carrying the black plasti-dip order you some cans of red? I know ACE here in town has the ability to order additional colors beyond the ones they have on the shelf - they usually come in within days of their ordering.


*****

Quick update for Saturday...

Most of my work was on my daughter's Murloc costume, but I did finish up the last section of Mikey's underarmor.

Here is what the top part of his thighs look like on the underarmor. This will fill in the area right above the leg armor and below the cod piece.



I also created a small piece of extra armor that hangs down from the bottom of the lower leg armor. This covers the area between the lower leg armor and the top of the boots.



Here are the two pieces plasti-dipped and ready for their red paint jobs...




*****

Things still to do before events start happening this week:

1. Gloves - finishing up the first one and constructing the second one.
2. Create the strapping for the legs.
3. Add Hip Pods (might skip these if time is short).
4. Finishing the paint job and mounting of the top top-of-the-foot-piece.
5. Connect the wiring for the repulsors into the chest of the suit.Find a workable neck (or back-of-the-head) underarmor solution.
6. Add magnets to the helmet (the back of the helmet is not being held on tightly enough.
7. Finish the detailing of the Chest/Back piece.
8. Add a bit of under armor detail to the arm holes at the chest (totally optional).

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Progress Report 10/23

This build is insane, your leaving nothing undone ,its so professional!
Can't wait to see a shot of your whole crew suited up!!!

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Progress Report 10/23

Hey Indie, I was wondering if you had any issues with the Ace epoxy? I mixed mine as per instructed and after curing it has a sticky residue feeling. I've used other epoxy resins before and they harden smooth. Did you come across this?

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Progress Report 10/23

Indie,
The smaller stores can order it for future projects,but alas they are closed on the weekends and my project has to be wearable Tuesday. I will keep that in mind for changes and the future projects.I cleaned out Lowes and Home Depot but they only carry black. Do you have to use car paint to cover the plastidip, or can rustoleum brands work since my time crunch is the problem? Thanks again for all of the pointers!
Brandy

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Progress Report 10/23

dabiddabird said:

Hey Indie, I was wondering if you had any issues with the Ace epoxy? I mixed mine as per instructed and after curing it has a sticky residue feeling. I've used other epoxy resins before and they harden smooth. Did you come across this?

Click to expand...

I haven't had that happen with my Ace Epoxy, but depending on humidity and temp even the five minute epoxy can take more time to fully set. If your second test with that epoxy on a different day turns out the same, you might just have a bad set of tubes.

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Progress Report 10/23

lilcajundevil said:

Indie,
The smaller stores can order it for future projects,but alas they are closed on the weekends and my project has to be wearable Tuesday. I will keep that in mind for changes and the future projects.I cleaned out Lowes and Home Depot but they only carry black. Do you have to use car paint to cover the plastidip, or can rustoleum brands work since my time crunch is the problem? Thanks again for all of the pointers!
Brandy

Click to expand...

Sorry for the delay - yesterday was very rough (kids) and busy (costumes). :confused

You should be fine with most paint over the plasti-dip (provided you use a good adhesive promoter between those layers). My daughter's Murloc costume was plasti-dipped, hit with adhesive promoter and then finished off with a can of Krylon green. It's solid.

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Progress Report 10/23

Thank you for all the information you have provided throughout this build. Your kids are sure to be a halloween hit. Cannot wait to see Mikey full suited up

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Progress Report 10/23

I really wanted to finish off a bunch of stuff yesterday, but I had a good friend ask me for a last minute logo - so I dropped everything and worked through that with her. She's got a fantastic charity business going, and I was happy to help out... even though it delayed my costuming.


*****

HIP PODS (non-screen accurate):

Skipping screen-accuracy, I picked up two cylindrical containers from the $1 store, glued a quick foam piece on the top of each screw-on lid and painted them yesterday.

Once painted and detailed, these will be what I use for Mikey's hip pods.




*****

GLOVES:

Another high priority was to work on the gloves. I've never finished even the first one, so I had one full glove to start and another one to finish off.

As discussed before, Mikey didn't like the foam armor plates on the gloves - it restricted his movement too much. So, after pulling off some of those pieces I ended up trying a completely new method.

First, I painted all the 'armor' areas with red fabric paint. I tried to really get a nice thick coat in one go, so I won't have to hit it twice.

Then I went back over those 'rubberized' areas with a very small (but expensive) bottle of touch-up paint (Dark Cherry Metallic). I'll take a picture of the product tonight if I get a chance, but it's got both a roller ball pen (pretty useless) and mini-brush applicator and was very easy to use.

Here's what the finished gloves will look like (the other one still needs to get it's final coat of Dark Cherry Metallic).





It's definitely NOT perfect, but it allows very easy movement - which is the goal for candy grabbing! :lol

The 9 LED flashlights that I cut down to just the small plastic reflector and the LED board, are wrapped in 2mm foam and then hot glued to the palm. There are three other foam pieces around the palm, but all the other areas are just fabric paint with the auto paint on top.


*****

LESS THAN 30 HOURS TO GO!

Yikes. :confused

That's right, we're less than 30 hours from our first Halloween event for 2011 (Tuesday evening Boys & Girls Club party).

That means function trumps all else tonight! :unsure

Highest Priorities:

1. Leg straps - Mikey needs his leg armor to stay up while walking (a must)
2. Additional Helmet Magnets - The added weight of the battery pack has caused the main body of the helmet to be heavier than the small magnets holding the back piece on can hold. If Mikey looks DOWN, the helmet falls off his head as the back piece pops off the main helmet piece. (also a must fix situation)
3. Finish up the gloves and mount the battery pack - I've got to put the final coat of paint on the other glove and then mount (read: hot glue) the combined battery pack inside the chest armor. I have taken one of the 9 LED battery packs (3AAA batteries) and wired it up with a switch and two sets of wires. It SHOULD run the both lights for half the time it would have run a single flashlight. I'm hoping that's enough life to get us through Halloween. :$
4. All the other details...

Wish me luck - I'll need a good long night of work to polish this all off, but it's definitely doable. :thumbsup

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Progress Report 10/23

Good luck!

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Progress Report 10/23

I understand the running out of time thing all too well! Especially when it's at the 90% completed point!


Definitely good luck! :thumbsup

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Progress Report 10/24

Father of the year right here! :thumbsup

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Progress Report 10/24

You'll pull it off. I've no doubt whatsoever Even if you are making small tweaks at the party, you'll have it done.

Mikey is a very lucky guy!

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Progress Report 10/24

Great gloves!
I know we are all here cheering you on buddy!(YOU GOT THIS)
Now get off RPF and get in the costume building zone!!!!

Re: WIP Ironman Costume for 5yr old - Progress Report 10/24

Can't wait to see the final product!