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I make toys for kids who don't want to grow up. I'm on the lookout for new projects. If you're interested in commissioning me to build something ridiculous, shoot me an email.

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Ironman Costume Part 4: the Gloves

This is the fourth installment in my Ironman replica building series so far.  Here's links to the first three:

Part 1: Rapid Prototyping the Helmet
Part 2: the Hard Parts
Part 3: the Soft Parts

On a build like this, with all of the parts designed to look like metal, getting the joints to look right while still being functional gets a bit tricky.  The problems compound when you get to the hands.

Here's the finished hands I made:


To see how they were made, read on...



Starting with the same batch of digital models I've been using for the rest of the suit, I went ahead and printed out a set of parts for the hands.


It took a couple of guesses in order to get the scale exactly right in order to fit my hands:


Once I was happy with the sizing, I cleaned up the prototypes and gave them a coat of my standard prototype gloss color:
Palms Prepped for Molding

Then I mounted up the parts so they'd be easy to mold:
Fingers Prepped for Molding

Then I boxed everything up and poured on some silicone:
Ironman Moldmaking 01

Here's the first rotocast copy of the left palm:
First Palm Cast 1

Here it is after I'd cut it apart and done a bit of prep work:
Untitled

This is what the rotocast fingers looked like fresh out of the molds:
Ironman Fingers Raw Cast

The repulsors were printed as separate pieces which I molded and cast in clear resin:
Palm Repulsors Fitted

Since it got a bit tricky keeping track of all of the parts, I came up with a quick and dirty inventory system:
Finger Inventory System

Once all of the bits and pieces were prepped and primed, it was time to give them a quick basecoat:
IM Glove Parts

Then I fitted the inside of the palms with rare earth magnets in order to hold them closed:
IM Hand Assembly 00

The individual finger parts were glued directly to an opera glove:
IM Hand Assembly 01

I used cyanoacrylate adhesive (basically krazy glue) to hold the cast parts onto the glove:
IM Hand Assembly 02

The entire assembly was done while wearing the glove in order to make sure that the armored parts lined up properly with my actual finger joints:
IM Hand Assembly 03

Here's the first finished glove: IM Hand Assembly 04

And the pair all put together:
Ironman Gloves Assembled

In the photos above, the camera flash makes the opera glove look very plurple.  Without the flash it matches the painted parts much better:
Wooohoo

In order to make the palm repulsors light up, I cut out a piece of mirrored acrylic and fitted a strip of superbright LEDs around it:
Untitled

Then I glued the whole assembly into place:
Untitled

The power leads were run around to the back of the hand and the two pieces of the hand were hinged together with a couple of pieces of elastic in order to prevent any undue strain on the wires:
Untitled

So the first thing I have to do is put on the glove with the fingers attached:


Then pop on the palm, plug in a 9v battery, and dazzle people:
Untitled

Perfect.

I've still got a few improvements I'd like to make.  I'm pondering making some or all of the glove out of rubber instead.  I'm thinking it'd be better if I can get the joints to have ribbed rubber sections instead of fabric glove showing through.

More on that whenever I get around to it.  Next up I'll be posting about how the boots were made.

Stay tuned...














2 comments:

  1. Awe some work! Im doing a MK 7 do you have any paint tips? What colours are you using?

    ReplyDelete
  2. All of the photos you see here are Rustoleum Colonial Red, but it's not at all screen-accurate.

    ReplyDelete