Jonathan's Projects

Curves

2011-09-13T21:23:00.001+01:00

Got the crafting bug again so I've continued work on the shield.
Today I added filler to the edges and sanded them round. So it now looks like it's rounded instead of straight edged.

Jonathan

Backing panels attached

2011-07-18T00:24:00.001+01:00

Today I trimmed and attached the panels, leaving a hole to spray in the expanding foam. I attached the panels with a gap of the panel depth, the reasoning behind this will become clear later on. I used a variant of "No More Nails" to attach the panels.
After the panels dried in plce I sprayed the whole can of expanding foam into the gap. In hindsight I should have only used half the can, as I had to clean a lot that kept coming out as it expanded.
I'm quite pleased with the end result, it sounds solid when you knock on the panels.

Jonathan

Started outlining the backing

2011-07-15T22:16:00.001+01:00

Today I started outlining the backing of the shield. I decided to use some cheap cladding panels for the back. These are going to be stuck to the inside the of rim, and then I'll fill the cavity with expanding foam.
Stay tuned.

Jonathan

No progress :(

2011-06-17T21:12:00.001+01:00

Bad weather this week so I couldn't get much time to work on the shield :(
When I get the weather I'll be looking at putting a back to the shield.

Jonathan

All detailing attached

2011-06-08T14:01:00.001+01:00

Today I attached the last if the separate Pep details. These were simply attached by mixing some bondo and filling in the under side of the pieces. These are then placed and help in place for a couple of minutes. Use a decent amount of catalyst and it'll cure in no time.

Jonathan

Bit more detailing

2011-06-05T19:46:00.001+01:00

Didn't have much time to work on it today. I was able to add the bottom detail. The upper detail had warped after the polyurethane stiffening so I had remake the Pep.

Jonathan

Triforce attached

2011-06-04T00:52:00.001+01:00

I bought a new detail palm sander today and boy did it make quick work of the sanding. With the face well sanded I began thinking of how to attached the detail. I figured I better stiffen them first otherwise they might fold, so I did a quick polyurethane coat on the inside.
Once dried I sanded the Triforce piece to form over the shield face. I then attached it with some bondo.
As always lots of pictures in the gallery.

Jonathan

Bondo Mud!

2011-05-31T23:20:00.001+01:00

I've seen this technique used before on other forums so I thought id give it a go.
You mix car body filler (bondo) with polyester resin. Most bondo is made using polyester resin so they're compatible, but always check yours first. Once mixed you use the normal red catalyst paste you get with the bondo. The mixture is like mud, and easier to spread than bondo alone although it is more tacky of the surface.

Jonathan

First filler down

2011-05-28T18:18:00.001+01:00

First layer of bondo is on and lightly sanded. Starting to look nice and rounder.

Jonathan

Reenforcement done

2011-05-27T20:45:00.001+01:00

So I went ahead and started applying the Polyurethane reenforcement and found two layers are more than enough. Each layer was 200ml when mixed so it's combined to 400ml. Starting to feel like a real shield now.
Hopefully I'll get some time to work on it tomorrow.

Jonathan

2011-05-27T10:19:00.001+01:00

From Jonathan's Projects

I had a bit of time yesterday so I decided to apply some Polyester resin to the outside of the shield. This is to serve two purposes,
1 - To help stiffen it before applying the Polyurethane to the inside to help stop warping.
2 - To help fill any small holes there could be around the joints.

I plan on applying the Polyurethane on the inside tonight, probably looking at about 3 coats minimum, but we'll see how we go.

Jonathan

New Project

2011-05-25T14:14:00.008+01:00

From Jonathan's Projects

So the Iron Man armor has been a no go since the last post. I haven't had the drive to continue it.

But last weekend I started a new project, the Hylian Shield from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. I came across the Pepakura for it more than a year a go but never made a start till now. The Pep comes in two parts, the main body of the shield and the detail which is then attached to the top.
I've completed assembling the Pep, but I've not attached the detailing yet. I plan on waiting until the shield face has been filled and rounded until I add the detail otherwise it will just get lost under the filler used to round the face.

I've also added a brace to the back to keep it rigid until the fiberglassing has been done. I hope to start the fiberglassing this weekend.

I downloaded the Pepakura file from the Section Sixteen forum. The links below, however you need to be registered to download the attachments. As they're not my files I'm not going to link to them directly, you will have to register to get them.
http://sectionsixteen.freeforums.org

Jonathan

2010-07-03T00:20:00.005+01:00

I had some time after work today so I spent a couple of hours adding a little more reenforcement to the chest and then started on the car body filler work.

I made some outlines in marker to help seperate the areas so I can focus on one area at a time.

Jonathan

Back complete and chest re-enforced

2010-06-27T23:19:00.002+01:00

I've now finished the back and managed to re-enforce the chest today.
I first glued a wire hanger into the chest so it would keep it's shape. This worked out really well.

Next step I'm taking is adding the detail to the chest using car body filler.
Hopefully get some done during the week.

Chest done onto back.

2010-06-24T09:20:00.003+01:00

Okay, so I've finished the chest and at first I thought I'd need to rescale it as it didn't seem to sit right. But after referencing some images of the Mark VI I found I was just holding it too low, once in the correct place it looked good.

So I've not moved onto the back and done a fair bit, starting from the spine, moving downwards then upwards. I'm about 40% there and hopefully I can finish it before the weekend.
Pictures to follow.

Jonathan

Mark VI has begun!

2010-06-15T13:52:00.005+01:00

I've been waiting for a Iron Man VI Pep to come onto the scene since watching the first Iron Man 2 trailer and finally one has arrived.

robo3687 on the siwdat.com forums has provided a well detailed set of Iron Man armors which cover the Iron Man 2 movie suites. These can be found here

So I'm almost done with the Pep work, although I spent a couple of hours prior to Pepping sorting out supports so it would keep its shape during the re-enforcement stage. The total Pep time is going to come to 7 hours and hopefully I can re-enforce it this weekend.

Well I missed a few blog posts :S Sorry!

2010-06-14T11:36:00.004+01:00

Well I did eventually finish off the mold and have successfully cast a few helmets. Can you spot the difference?
Next step on the helmet front is to make a nice copy for myself and install a set of light up eyes like I did for the master and an electronic system for the faceplate.

If you've not seen the light up eyes yet then check my Flickr photo stream here

I've started moving away from Flickr, and towards Picasa so I'm removing the Flickr gadget on the right because it seems to make the page take ages to load.

Keys!

2009-12-01T21:39:00.002Z

Today I got on with more silicone with thixo and then finally applied the keys. The silicone keys just stick on with a bit of the thickened silicone.
These keys are important as they help align the fiberglass jacket I will be making.

As always check the Flickr stream for more pictures.

Jonathan

-- Post From My iPhone

Yay for Thixo

2009-11-29T18:59:00.002Z

With the print layer done I started on bulking it up so it would become stiffer. Problem with this is that silicone is too runny. The solution to this problem is thixo. Thixo is an addiive you can add to silicone to thicken it up.
As always check the Flickr stream for more pictures.

Jonathan

-- Post From My iPhone

Rubber Time

2009-11-28T20:02:00.001Z

It's been two weeks since I finished Iron Man so the laquer's had good time to fully harden. So I thought why not begin the moulding work. Last night I had a bit of a play with the silicone rubber to make some keys for later. I had to check the the modelling clay I was going to use wouldn't stop the silicone from curing as some clays contain sulphur which does. Anyway all the keys set fine so today I began.
I started with prepping the helmet with clay and creating a skirt for the silicone to run onto.
I then start the moulding by mixing 200grams of silicone and painting it on. First dabbing the silicone in then using a circular motion to rub it in.

As always check the Flickr stream for more pictures.

Jonathan

-- Post From My iPhone

It's done!

2009-11-15T22:55:00.005Z

It's done! It's finally done!
Got a bit of a late start today because I crashed at a mates house last night. But things began well, sprayed a few final coats.
Then masked off the gold chin section, and wrapped a plastic bag over the rest so there was no accidents. I then spray red over the chin, to stop any gold bleeding. Once dried I spray the gold on top, again about 4 coats.
When those coats were drying I was cutting up some screws so I could glue the heads onto the face plate and helmet. I then used the dremel to make some dimples for the screw heads to sit in.
Once all the screw heads were glued in I then sprayed some more spray paint on top.
The last bit of painting was the black paint on the jaw. To do this I sprayed some black spray paint into it's lid and then used a paint brush to apply it.
Once all done I applied three coats of laquer to protect it.

Now for it's public reveal.
As usuall check my Flickr stream for more pictures. I'll take some more of different people wearing it and upload them soon.

Jonathan

Paint time

2009-11-14T18:56:00.002Z

Been a miserable cold wet week this week, so I haven't had much time to work on the helmet.

Today I finally got the chance to work on it and it's gotten on very well. Got it finally primed and ready for the paint. Starting with the faceplate I found using these car spray paints takes some patience. You have to spray from a good distance to get a nice even coat. It also looks strange going down as I think it has metallic pieces in it which look like they fizz when they touch the surface.

After a few nice even coats it's looking very close to being done. I still need to dremel some holes for the bolt details but then that should be it.

Check my Flickr photo stream for more photos.

Jonathan

-- Post From My iPhone

Details details details

2009-11-08T22:10:00.002Z

As the title says details was the job of the day. The eye is in the detail, and this is especially true of every piece of work I make. This meant that I didn't finish today, but I'd rather finish later and have it the way I want then rush it.
I bought a tube of car body scratch filler thinking it would be easier to use then the two part filler, boy was I wrong. This stuff doesn't harden like the two part filler, and it doesn't sand at all well. Unfortunatly this took up some time.

Jonathan

-- Post From My iPhone

Day off

2009-11-06T16:46:00.001Z

So I got some spare holiday days at work so I thought I'd take today off. So I got up kinda late, but got a good 4 hours ish of work done on the helmet. I was mainly focusing on the circular ear pieces to get the layered look around them. I found one side was shallower so I had to build up that side with filler, then sand and mold. After a decent amount of sanding and dremeling I sprayed another coat of primer.
Check out my Flickr photo stream for more photos.

Jonathan

-- Post From My iPhone

Jaw's almost done

2009-11-04T20:38:00.001Z

Continued on the jaw a bit today. Got the dremel out to grind down the inside of the thick side to balance them out.
Also worked on smoothing out the rest of the latest filling. Then a dust and wipe down before another primer coat.
Check my Flickr photo stream for more pictures.

Jonathan

-- Post From My iPhone

Jaw time

2009-11-03T12:40:00.002Z

I find sometimes that I can't be bothered to work in the evenings when i get home from work, yesterday was not one of those days.
I got some work done on shaping the eyes better, and fixing a gap on on side of the jaw. This gap happened because the jaw warped and I had to fix it to make it symmetrical.
Anywho check the updated pictures.

Jonathan

-- Post From My iPhone

Hello world

2009-11-01T16:38:00.003Z

My first ever blog post!

So after showing friends and collegues some of my previous projects they said I should keep a blog showing my progress. So here it is :D

To see some of my previous projects and see my natural progression check my Deviant Art page @ http://awaken-benihime.deviantart.com

I'm currently working on an Iron Man helmet, from the movie.
Here are the steps I've already done, followed by the steps I still have to do.

Find a Pepakura model of the helmet you want, print, cut and glue it together.
Once assembled resin the outside to help firm up the card.
Fiberglass the inside to give it strength.
Use car body filler to build up the detail on the outside, in layers.
Sand between layers.
Spray with primer, this helps bring out the imperfections and you can also draw on some of the details.

To be done:

Use body filler to build up the detail, using files and sand paper to shape.
Primer the whole thing, followed by further sanding with high grit sand paper.
Mask off and spray the colours.
Spray a protective coat of laquer.

Here are some pictures of it from yesterday.

So I got a lot of work done yesterday, but today the weather has taken a turn for the worst. When it's wet I can't get any sanding done :(
Let's hope for better weather.

Jonathan