Iron Man Custom Armour build

This article is the in-progress detail for my own adult sized wearable Iron Man costume. Check out my custom helmet sculpt article to see the helmet details – all the other pieces will be made in roughly the same way, by sculpting them and then making moulds.

Again, I’m using Klean Klay to sculpt these pieces, which is oil based non air drying sulphur free clay. They are then have rubber moulds made from them and the final pieces are cast in Aqua Resin, before sanding, priming and painting. I have also started to use Jesmonite to cast pieces, as a UK equivalent to Aqua Resin.

I now have a new Iron Man Project, which you can find here

Click on the pictures for bigger versions…

-The Finished Parts So Far-

These are the finished parts so far:

-How The Parts Were Made-

Helmet

The Helmet has it’s own article which you can check out.

Chest Plate

Cardboard and clay have been built up over a mannequin torso to make the rough shape:

Still a work in progress:

Final Sculpt:

The moulds from the back and front. I’ve used latex with layers of cloth and plaster bandage with Aqua Resin reinforcement for the support jacket:

The raw casting from the front, and the part sanded and primed, and the almost finished part. I made a bezel for the Arc Reactor out of a disc of plastic sheet and a bass reflex port from a speaker. The Arc Reactor itself is made from the plastic dome from a cupboard lamp and some white LEDs:

Here’s the raw cast from the back, and both halves propped together (that’s a 30cm/12″ ruler):

A lot of sanding, filling and painting, and sanding, filling and painting…

The back of the torso has flexible tabs attached which press-stud onto the front to hold it together – the straps are to hold the shoulder bells in place:

Underneath the torso a strapping system will be worn that will support the legs and lower body / pelvis / stomach pieces:

Legs

The legs are made from the same sculpt for left and right, different pieces will be added to each and the contour at the top will be cut differently on each to make the right and left legs. This sculpt is made from Klean Klay over cardboard, but there’s a lot more to do yet:

Taking shape:

Mostly the finished sculpt:

I’ve divided the mould up with playing cards, then used latex with layers of cloth and then the support jacket:

The raw casts of a pair of legs, both from the same moulds:

After a lot of sanding and filling the primer goes on:

And the paint:

Pelvis

The pelvis part is made from thick mounting board, which is then reinforced with Jesmonite and glass fibre mat:

Shoes/Feet

I got a pair of cheap shoes and stuck foam onto them. The actual foot armour pieces will be made of card reinforced with Jesmonite in that same way as the pelvis:

Shoulder Bells

I have used clay over an ice cream carton:

The moulds are done along with their plaster bandage support jacket:

Here’s the mould having the Aqua Resin laminated inside with glass fibre veil, and the raw cast parts::

Arms

The lower arm sculpt and the divide ready for moulding: