Recently i have been re working my first iron man Arc reactor to stream line the production time etc. i decided to take a look at making the Arc reactor from the second film. so this is how i went about making my Iron man 2 arc reactor.

Step 1: Tools and Materials.

Tools:

- sand paper
- files
- small saw and coping saw (fret saw)
~these tools are if you dont have access to a laser cutter
-knife, craft knife, scalpel (something to cut thin materials with)
-ruler.

Materials:

- 3mm acrylic (any colour as it will be painted)
- 2mm acrylic (any colour but you will need some clear, i used all clear for all of it to make it easier)
- thin blue plastic. the type that they make document folders from.
- liquid solvent glue
- Spray paint. plastic primer, silver paint, clear coat.

Step 2: Planning.

I sketched out a little plan to help me work out how the layers of the arc would work.

once i had an idea of how many layers i needed i could work out how thick and what materials to make the arc from.

i worked out i could make the arc out of 6 layers and if they were 2mm each it would give the arc a nice slim line depth of 12mm. (although nearer the end of the build i realised i needed another 2mm layer on the rear to aid with the mounting in the stand)

after the sketching i drew up some plans in Illustrator using some source photos i got from goolge.

Step 3: Cutting and Pre Assembly

cut the plans out on a laser cutter, all the main parts were cut from 2mm extruded acrylic. (the blue colour is the protective plastic.)

you can cut these parts by hand if you dont have access to a laser cutter, just be careful on the delicate parts.

Glue the parts together in groups of two. leaving out the parts that would be clear.

layer 1 and 2, layer 3 and 4 and 5 and 6.

Step 4: Priming.

Spray the three layer groups with plastic primer.

plastic primer creates a good base for any other paint that you put on top, meaning it wont rub off so easily.

once the paint has dried you can really see how it will look once the arc is complete.

here is where the thin blue plastic comes in. (i forgot to take a photo of it)

cut a round disc of the blue to fit inside the rear section, layers 5 and 6. this will give the arc a nice blue glow when lit.

Step 5: Stand.

i used a screen grab to design the stand for the arc, using google image search i found loads of images of the prop that marvel has licensed and that showed me what the stand would look like.

so i drew up some Illustrator files and cut them out on the laser cutter.

i glued together the bits of the cradle and then gave them a coat of plastic primer. the parts that were going to be black could have been cut out of black plastic but i didn't have any. so i painted the two parts black.

Its always useful to put all your parts together so you get an idea of how it will look and also to make sure that it will go together.

Step 6: Painting.

Give all the parts that are to be silver a coat of metallic silver paint. leave this type of paint for a long time (longer than it says on the tin as it takes a very long time to dry and it will save you having to paint and sand multiple times due to finger prints testing if its dry.

each type of plastic will have different drying times.

once all the paint dried i assembled the parts.

Step 7: Assembly

once you have all the parts finished and glued its time to assemble them.

the white box its sitting on is a base from another project but it houses the same power unit that this arc uses.

Step 8: Display Your Arc.

once you have finished admire your Arc and pretend you are Tony stark.

thank you for look at my instructables.

any questions please ask and i will try to answer.