3 Simple Ways to
Share What You Make

With Instructables you can share what you make with the world — and tap into an ever-growing community of creative experts.

PhotosPhotos

Share one or more photos of a project, recipe, or whatever you've made, quickly and easily.

Step by StepStep-By-Step

Share your step-by-step photos with text instructions of what you made so others can do it too!

VideoVideo

Share your how-to video. You'll need your embed code from a video site such as YouTube.

Iron Man 2008 helmet

Iron Man 2008 helmet
«
  • DSC00454.jpg
  • DSC00417.JPG
  • DSC00418.JPG
  • DSC00429.JPG
  • DSC00441.JPG
  • DSC00453.jpg
  • DSC00463.JPG
  • DSC00462.JPG
  • DSC00466.jpg
  • DSC00520.JPG
  • DSC00493.JPG
  • DSC00472.jpg
  • DSC00476.jpg
  • DSC00500.JPG
  • DSC00502.JPG
  • last photo ←
»
This is my as movie accurate Iron Man helmet from the 2008 movie. Lots of reference photos used to model the helmet on. Based on a Pepakura model to start with from card which needed some editing on the back end to get a better shape. Coated the whole shell in polyester resin, then fibreglass tissue and more resin. After it's hardened, then lots and lots of time, sanding and polyester car body filler to make a smooth shell and allow for the additional details to be sculpted in. The faceplate was also cut out to allow for a flip up system to reveal the wearer's face. Shell was then primed three times and then painted with three layers and two layers of lacquer.

The faceplate is attached to a rotary slider mechanism (similar to an engine conrod arrangement) which pushes the faceplate out and then lifts it up by rotating the left ear piece. Then six blue 3mm LEDs and a few resistors are attached to a 9V battery and a switch to light up the eyes which are covered with some blue lenses from an old pair of fashion sunglasses.

It's a shame I didn't take more photos during the making process but it essentially follows the same techniques used by many to make Master Chief helmets. A couple of lessons I've learnt from this are: To make a paper helmet to check scale and then make it 5-10% bigger with the cardstock as the fibreglass and body filler make the shell solid and much tighter, so much so that this helmet is really difficult to put on. At least with a bigger helmet, you can pad it out. When making the card shell, don't crease folds that don't need to be creased, otherwise you're just making more corners you need to smooth with body filler, and that's a real pain.

I also made a quick Mark II arc reactor from a used tape roll, some card, copper power wire and a ring of plastic tube. It was supposed to go together as a Zombie Iron Man, but unfortunately not many had read that series.

EDIT: Here's the link to the 405th forum where I found the pepakura file (which came from League Of Heroes). The link is also down in the comments.
http://405th.com/forums/index.php?s=7d9a7af8c3cadec9462a9ff41ab2bbc3&showtopic=11841
67 comments
1-40 of 67next »
Jul 13, 2011. 6:48 AMsuper knex builder says:
u should make a instructable of 1
Mar 18, 2011. 12:29 PMMurphyHarris says:
I like that. good work.
Feb 2, 2011. 10:07 AMironman22 says:
nice man could you tell me how did you get your helmet to look like it is from plastic.......and can you send me if you have facebook request to my facebook Patrik Ktbkzpmj
Aug 10, 2010. 2:32 PMlerickson says:
could i use hotglue to glue the pieces together?
Jun 15, 2010. 6:35 PMdarknessfalls says:
1) BEAUTIFUL HELMET 2) i dont know much about resin, but would it be possible to coat it with resin and not do the fiberglassing? or would that not work/be to fragile?
Jun 15, 2010. 10:25 PMdarknessfalls says:
better question: if you dont advise using fiberglassing, then what would you advise?
May 13, 2010. 11:32 AMxarlock667 says:
Ok, you have a helmet and it looks really really good. Now for the next step... Make a cast of the various parts, bake the plaster casts @400f for about 2 hours. Place them in a medium box and fill carefully with sand , raising and positioning the pieces as you go. Then once you have the box full, and just the tips of the parts showing, you gently break the tip of the mold and pour in molten aluminum. This will give a nice pretty cast of each part in turn and will make your whole helmet a better project.

For metal casting instructions try this link:
http://www.backyardmetalcasting.com/
Jul 1, 2009. 5:26 AMPereradk says:
listen, how did u reduce percentualy the size of your project? i'm trying to make the armor and it's just ti big. i saw that u sugested increase 10% the size of the helmet... is it some tool of pepakura, or print setting?? i just can't find it!!!! i know it sounds really sily, but it would help a lot thanks
May 11, 2010. 5:45 PMronchi84 says:
you should use the pepakura designer along with the viewer, it is freeware also but you have more options such as resizing and editing.
May 11, 2010. 5:25 PMronchi84 says:
bit of advice, make sure that if you have a file with color that you turn the color off, I just printed out a 17 page helmet and it burnt out a brand new color cartridge.  just figured I would try to help anyone else from making the same mistake.
Dec 26, 2009. 12:38 AMcatcit says:
 That's amazing! I'd love to make one of my own, but I can't open the PDO files and I have a Mac, so I can't download Pepakura Viewer... So I'm pretty much screwed. Does anyone have a PDF file of it or something?

Thanks,
m
Dec 26, 2009. 12:29 PMcatcit says:
 I just tried using the trial one, but it keeps wanting you to buy it so it doesn't really let you actually use it unfortunately. And I don't really want to pay 80 bucks for the full version.
Mar 27, 2010. 7:19 AMTFElite says:
If you can get the PDO files downloaded, then you can use www.primopdf.com/index.aspx
to convert is to a PDF file. It's completely free! I used it, and now I'm going to go to staples and get me my cardstock copy.
I hope this helps!

Dec 28, 2009. 10:24 PMwillrs2002 says:
Mar 15, 2010. 10:30 AMtm1987 says:
i want the plans for it , i have a dell with windows and it wont let me download the files. Any help would be appreciated. thanks! 10/10 helmet man!
Feb 25, 2010. 3:04 PMthescreamfx says:
What would be a good scale for someone who is about 13 years old
Oct 29, 2009. 1:51 PMcowscankill says:
Are the paper pieces taped together? Or are they glued together?
Oct 30, 2009. 1:07 PMcowscankill says:
Hmm... so should I use super glue?
Oct 8, 2009. 5:54 AMironmask says:
can make one for me please i will pay you.
Sep 15, 2009. 9:38 PMPyroMonger says:
you are a godsend man. I've been looking for the pdo file for this for a while...I even checked 405th but being a noob to the site it was very intimidating. Now that I have it, it's time to start printing and crafting....I will try to post progress pics but will definitely post a finished product pic
Aug 18, 2009. 8:50 PMcoolguy26 says:
uhh where did you get your flip up thing? is the ring metal? Did you make it?
Aug 26, 2009. 11:12 AMcoolguy26 says:
and... the red part between the faceplate, does it flip up too?
May 14, 2009. 7:17 AMIdeno says:
This is really great! Are you planning on making the rest of the Iron Man suit too?
Apr 11, 2009. 5:33 PMmastermakoko says:
yo man,i printed the pepakura,and....well i think its too small? did the ORIGINAL pepakura model really fit on your head? or it is because i printed it wrong. ps congrats on your achievment man!
Apr 5, 2009. 7:53 AMPereradk says:
hey man did u print all that directly on the cardstock or u glued normal paper already printed on the cardstock? and the resin u're talking about is that half-liquid one or some especial?, cos i think that the cardstock might not hold the weight of the resin thanks oh, and by the way this helmet is so fu@#$%¨great, man congratulations
Dec 27, 2008. 9:15 AMisioma maf says:
hay dude what site did u get the pepakura from? its amazing
Apr 9, 2009. 5:12 PMdoublexxcrossed says:
Dude thx for this i always wanted an iron man helmet.
Jan 6, 2009. 5:57 AMGameLover_97 says:
tell us where u got ur pepakura model plz !!!!!!!!!!! your helm rocks -Tony Stark
Jan 5, 2009. 4:20 PMGameLover_97 says:
fiber glass model looks like "the thing"!!!!!!! rock on !!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Tony Stark
Jan 5, 2009. 4:18 PMGameLover_97 says:
hey man put some on ebay (and 4 15$ or less on buy it now and if u made like enough to go around that would b gr8!!!!!!) i luv the mask u rock!!!! - Tony Stark
Nov 12, 2008. 1:35 AMReplay says:
thats amazing...some detail would be nice =]
1-40 of 67next »

Pro

Get More Out of Instructables

Already have an Account?

close

All Steps Viewing
View all steps of an Instructable on the same page when you're a Pro Member.

Upgrade to Pro today!
54
Followers
9
Author:chiok(Chiok Li Designs)
Completed a masters in mechanical engineering and then realised I didn't want to be an engineer. So I'm a freelance propmaker and costumier for film, theatre and music videos. Occasionally, I need t...
more »