There are a bevy of good (some great), detailed, extensive Instructables showing you how to make a near-screen-accurate chest arc reactor for a Iron Man/Tony Stark costume.
I appreciate and enjoy all those but they can be a little time-consuming/expensive/requiring skills you may not have.
So I made this one for under $15 and in under 15 minutes. It's perfect if you need to throw together a costume but don't have a lot of time and/or money (or, in my case, craftsmanship skill).
Here's all you need:
1. A battery-powered, short string of blue LEDs (example: http://www.littlebrightlights.com/site/1435548/product/AC-100B). My string was Philips brand, 3 feet long (if I remember correctly) with 18 lights but really, any brand and any amount of lights under 20 would probably work just as well -- I got mine at Target for $8. Each of my individual lights are just about 1/2-inch long and 1/8th of an inch across. Try and find lights that are on a string of a shorter length, with as little space between bulbs as possible (this information should be on the box). The lights are the most important thing, not the length of the cord.
2. A hockey puck-shaped piece of white Styrofoam (1-inch thick, just under 3 inches in diameter). I got my piece by cutting the bottom off a conical piece of craft Styrofoam I already had. Packing Styrofoam will probably be too brittle to cut and it also has less opacity/reflectivity. I'd recommend using the lighter, craft Styrofoam that has the crystallized look and is made to be cut (Michaels is a good option).
3. A pen or marker.
4. A toothpick.
5. Tape (glue would work, too). I used 2-inch wide clear packing tape but any kind would probably work.
I appreciate and enjoy all those but they can be a little time-consuming/expensive/requiring skills you may not have.
So I made this one for under $15 and in under 15 minutes. It's perfect if you need to throw together a costume but don't have a lot of time and/or money (or, in my case, craftsmanship skill).
Here's all you need:
1. A battery-powered, short string of blue LEDs (example: http://www.littlebrightlights.com/site/1435548/product/AC-100B). My string was Philips brand, 3 feet long (if I remember correctly) with 18 lights but really, any brand and any amount of lights under 20 would probably work just as well -- I got mine at Target for $8. Each of my individual lights are just about 1/2-inch long and 1/8th of an inch across. Try and find lights that are on a string of a shorter length, with as little space between bulbs as possible (this information should be on the box). The lights are the most important thing, not the length of the cord.
2. A hockey puck-shaped piece of white Styrofoam (1-inch thick, just under 3 inches in diameter). I got my piece by cutting the bottom off a conical piece of craft Styrofoam I already had. Packing Styrofoam will probably be too brittle to cut and it also has less opacity/reflectivity. I'd recommend using the lighter, craft Styrofoam that has the crystallized look and is made to be cut (Michaels is a good option).
3. A pen or marker.
4. A toothpick.
5. Tape (glue would work, too). I used 2-inch wide clear packing tape but any kind would probably work.
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Signing UpStep 1: Mark dots on styrofoam piece.
However many lights are on your string, you should make that many marks on one (or both) sides of the Styrofoam piece (i.e., 18 lights = 18 marks). I used a Sharpie. It might help to practice on a piece of paper, first, to get the spacing down.
I made one in the center and then worked my way outwards. It doesn't need to be an exact science, just make it look presentable and in some semblance of a concentric circle or two. The lights will be so bright that most people generally won't want to stare at it long enough to count whether or not there are an equal amount of lights in each quadrant.
I made one in the center and then worked my way outwards. It doesn't need to be an exact science, just make it look presentable and in some semblance of a concentric circle or two. The lights will be so bright that most people generally won't want to stare at it long enough to count whether or not there are an equal amount of lights in each quadrant.
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reality good
you can develop it
think about!!!
ok?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/Helgaiden/goodshot.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/Helgaiden/DTR.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/Helgaiden/dakr2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/Helgaiden/dark.jpg
And finally, what color lights would be more noticeable under a suit?
I'm going to be Tony Stark :D
Those LittleBrightLights look good to me, you might just have a bit more slack wire, with a six foot string. I used blue lights and those seemed to work very well but I think white would generally be fine, too.
Thanks for the question.
I did it differently though. I used a plastic jar lid with holes poked in it, covered with clear plastic with wax paper behind it to diffuse the light some, and with electrical tape in a circular grid over that to make the light pattern more like what was in the movie. I used 12 lights -- 10 in a circle on the outside and 2 in the center. (I cut the others off. Turns out with the LED strings sold at Target you can cut off an even number of lights and have the rest still work -- if you cut off an odd number, the last remaining one won't light up.)
For clothes I wore an a-shirt, a brown military shirt, and a military style cap, all reasonable approximations to things Stark wore in the cave in Afghanistan in the movie though not in that particular combination. I hot glued string to the arc reactor to suspend it from my neck and secure it around my chest, with the batteries inside my waistband. Worked pretty well and was easy to put together.
The arc reactor is too low on my body in the picture, I know -- as soon as I saw it on the camera screen, I went and re-adjusted it higher!
JB
But they're just simple LED lights that you would put on a Christmas tree or to decorate your house around a holiday.
the others are prettier but couldn`t be done in the short time frame
i think it looks just fine for the application
Phooey.
I thought about making some of the other (more complex/accurate) ones, but I didn't want to spend the time. I might actually make this one! I just need to find some light...