I really hope this works out. The urge to build this suit has been bugging me for since the first movie so I finally broke down and started it. I'm going with the Mark lll design, I liked it better than the Mark lV from Ironman ll. I'll keep posting as I get parts completed.

Chest piece - This is what I have so far. The construction is a simple sheet foam ring with LED's wired together in a series. The inner ring is the assembly out of a flashlight. The banding between the lights is copper coloure ribbon glued in place. The whole assembly was fitted into a plastic cup and will fit into the chest plate of the armour which will be lined with reflective material to enhance the glow. A cap of some sort will fit over the light to soften the individual bulbs. I have attached a battery holder with four AA's to power the piece, much brighter than the three AAA's I used to test the ring.

top view outer string

bottom view outer string

full assembly 1

full assembly 2

Mask - I almost have this looking the way I want. What I did here is to use a paper mache/plaster mix to sculpt the mask over a plaster cast of my face to ensure a proper fit. I layered the mixture, sanded and shaped and layered some some more to get a good, solid mask. I had to smash the plaster cast out from behind the mask, separate the top and bottom pieces and I still have to build up some areas and shape to get the two halves fitting together properly. The next step after I'm satisfied with the sculpture is to mould the mask with fibreglass, two or three layers thick to get a strong mask, trim the excess, bondo and sanding to smooth the surface and it will be ready for paint.

top and bottom pieces

side view

together side view

together front view

New Mask - OK, that was a learning experience. I intended to fibreglass over the completed scuplture to get a sturdy mould I could layer on the inside with more fibreglass to make it stronger. However, the fibreglass proved to be too difficult to work with trying to cut it and fit around the many small corners of the mask. So I spent my sunday developing another technique that turned out to be a faster, easier process than the sculpture and it gave me more control over the symmetry of the mask. For this method, I hand drew templates on paper which I traced onto sheet foam I bought at Canadian Tire (in the camping section, those rollout sleeping mats). I glued the pieces together with Shoe Goo (a GOOP product), then fitted the pieces together temporarily to see the effect. I will reinforce the mask with metal banding strips to get the shape I want before coating with either an epoxy resin or paper strips and modge podge (depending on the cost of the resin).

assembled pieces front

assembled pieces back

template

New Mask - So after adding some metal strips to get the shape I wanted, I plastered the mask inside and out with newspaper and Modge Podge to make it more solid. I'll build up more Modge Podge to cover the edges of the newspaper then I may have to use bondo or something smooth out some wrinkles. Almost ready for paint!!

side view

front view

I had to make a few adjustments to get close to the look I wanted and it tool a while to smooth it out even this much. It tool several layers of paint and modge podge to get this far. At least the paint is on - now I have to find a suitable lens material and add the eyes...

front view

side view