Iron Man Faceplate - WIP (pics)

[Pinn]

Saw an Iron Man mask at the store today and decided to see what I can do with under $25.

So step one was to remove the excess parts (no pictures for this.) I used a dremel and box cutter for the larger pieces. Then used a file and sand paper to smooth the edges.

While removing chunk after chunk of plastic from the outer faceplate I accidentally cracked the left side of Iron Man's cleft. I also drilled into his face a bit....Immediately, I slabbed some Loctite on the crack and hoped for the best.

It dried after a while and all is well!

Step two!
I sanded the face down a bit.

I noticed a circle on his forehead as soon as I removed some of the glow paint.

Step three!
Prime it! I wanted to put a thin coat of primer on it to see the imperfections better. The paint that was already on the mask was glow in the dark paint.

Step four!
Step back and see what I need to do. I need bondo work....which...is so much fun. I can't even explain how much I loath it.

The plastic had a weird circle indention on his forehead area....weird. Hopefully bondo will smooth it out? I guess it was a manufacturer defect? The plastic must've been warped when being removed from a press and the paint hid it or something.

Oops, I don't have any bondo. Guess I gotta shop tomorrow after taking the family to the park.

Sorry if this seems like a lame attempt at the whole Iron Man thing, haha. Just wanting to make my own el cheapo prototype looking faceplate. More to come tomorrow!!!

 

[red4]

You should try making the eyes smaller with styrene.

 

[Pinn]

I've got a 1/16th inch thick styrene sheet laying around my shop, how would I go about adding it to the faceplate?

Any quick mock ups you wanna throw in here so I can test fit?

 

[red4]

I don't have any mockups, nor any experience with styrene, but I theorize you could cut some pieces of styrene to fill the eyes as much as needed, and then attach it with bondo from behind (the part that goes toward the wearer's face); then fill the gaps in the front with more bondo, and sand it smooth.

 

[red4]

Okay, here's a mockup.

The off-white trapezoids represent styrene.

 

[ZukutoSkyKiller]

thats pretty slick so far.i saw this in the store while with my gf and thought of cuttingit up making the eyes smaller and having a displayable face plate. good job so far!!

 

[Pinn]

Oh yeah I see what you're getting at! The store didn't have any plastic bondo so I went with Permatex epoxy...the label said it can be used to fill scratches so I figured it would work just as well.

Going to give it a shot and see how it looks.

Oh and negatory on the helmet question. Just want a display piece faceplate. Well, I'll have two now haha.

 

[poohbear88]

I am doing this to the same mask the circle on the plastic is one of the mounts for the rubber on the inside i am also reducing the eye size but i hot glued card on the inside to get the right shape then filled with chemical metal my next step is to reshape the faceplate to look more like the mk 3 im doing a mix of helmets .....what chunks from the mask did you need to remove ??? Looking forward to seeing the finnished itam also are you turning it into a full helmet

 

[Sean]

can some one tell me what store to get one of the mask.I really want to try this too....

 

[red4]

can some one tell me what store to get one of the mask.I really want to try this too....

I'm pretty sure you can find them at Kmart, Target, and Walmart.

 

[Sean]

Cool.thanks red4

 

[Pinn]

Well I filled the holes and sanded down....however it isn't as flush with the rest of the faceplate as I wanted it to be. My next step is to use this one and put my Gundam model skills to it and battle damage it.

I'll pick up another mask at walmart tomorrow and be more careful with it haha. Now I know what to do and what not to do. Anyone know of a mirror finish type spray paint for plastic? The krylon metallic one I'm using makes it appear metallic...just not shiny/reflective.

 

[Pinn]

-------------
Battle Damage finish

MAKE IT BETTER:

----


Alright. Done with one faceplate. Gonna start the next one on my day off.

 

[iamdrake]

Outstanding work. I might have to try a similar build.

 

[Pinn]

I'm gonna get a shadow box from work and see if I can rig a neat display for it. Just got to figure out how to make the mask stay in place in a picture frame. Maybe some kind of small c-hooks in the back corners.

 

[poohbear88]

That looks awesome how did you do the battle damage

 

[Pinn]

I used a dremel to cut the huge gash on the eye slot.

A box cutter for the few very fine scratches.

Then I used a piece of cardboard and rubbed it across the mask to make the burn areas.

After that I roughed up 60% of the mask with a fine sand paper.

As for the battle damage colour effects, I used a couple of my Tamiya weathering sets on it. I was used to doing it on my model kits, so I applied the same technique to the faceplate just upscaled it.

I used black soot, orange rust, jungle mud. They are from two different sets made by Tamiya. Think of it as make up for a face. Everything is done by layers. Gonna test a clear coat once I pick some up today gotta protect the finish.