A life size 3D Ironman with light up eyes, arc reactor, and thrusters. I built him completely out of foam board and with LEDs for the lit up portions. My beginning details in black on the piece were all cut out of vinyl (which the Zing 16 Laser would've come in handy with...and I may have even been able to use it to have made this all out of PVC instead of foam board ;) PLEASE VOTE FOR ME in the GAME.LIFE 3 CONTEST and the EPILOG CHALLENGE V CONTEST!!!

Step 1: Creating Ol' Shellhead's Head

First I drew out the side pieces of the helmet onto foam board. Each side is a circular piece which is cut out with an Xacto, marked, scored and gently bent to give them their concave shape. I then drew out a slight hour glass shaped piece for the center/face piece. I marked, scored, and curved along the curve of the side pieces and fixed it into place as I went with a strong adhesive tape. Wallah...it's a head!

Step 2: Adding the Neck

As before...I drew out my shape on the foam board...this time a rectangle. I then cut my shape out of the foam board, scored it vertically, gently bent it into a cylinder and joined it together with the head piece.

Step 3: Building the Chest Piece, Waist, Arc Reactor and Adding LEDs

My next step was to create his chest piece. I drew out the shape I wanted for his chest and flipped it up and traced it for the back piece. I then cut it out as one piece cutting a hole in center for the neck to fall into place. I then scored and folded and joined it together at the sides which created the shoulder arm holes. Next, I drew out the shape of one of the shoulder plates and traced and copied for the other and cut out, scored, folded and fixed them into place. The last piece was a chest plate that the Arc Reactor rests in. Once again I drew out its shape, cut out, scored, folded and attached it to the chest piece. A final hole was cut into the center of the chest plate and the Arc Reactor was fixed into place. The Arc Reactor itself is nothing more than a gutted pumpkin light which I painted and added regular bright white LEDs to. His waist was created just like the neck piece. I drew out the rectangular shape for the waist, cut out, scored, folded, joined together and attached to the chest piece...Phew!

Step 4: Shoulder Armor and Upper Arms

The shoulder armor was then drawn, cut out, scored, folded and attached to the the shoulder plates. The upper arms were created in the same fashion as the neck and waist and attached to the shoulder armor. Really starting to come together...

Step 5: Elbows, Forearms and Wrists

The elbows circular patterns were drawn onto the foam board and cut out with the small rectangular pieces to attach them together to the upper arm and forearm when they're in place. The forearms and wrists are one piece... drawn, cut, scored, tapered and joined together to the upper arms. Also at this stage some metallic gold paint was applied to the helmet's face only because I was anxious to add a little color. :) He was beginning to look like a black and white comic... And a dramatic shot of old chrome dome in the dark... Creepy. Would not want to run into that at night...

Step 6: Building the Pelvic Area and Legs

The pelvic area is drawn out in the shape of a capital I (for Ironman...hehe) and cut out, scored, folded and joined together to form the leg holes and then it's attached to the waist. The legs consist of four pieces. First the thigh pieces which are created exactly like the upper arm only larger...The calves and ankles created exactly like the wrists and forearms...tapering down to the feet. The feet consist of three pieces...the top, sides and bottom. All pieces are drawn, cut out, scored, folded and attached together to form the completed feet. A hole is then cut into the center of each foot's sole for the LED thrusters to be set into place. The thighs, calves/ankles and feet are then attached together to form the completed legs and then attached to the pelvic area. One last touch is adding the knee armor which is created just like the shoulder and elbow pad armor.

Step 7: Finally the Hands

The hands consist of many pieces...the palms, and all of the pieces that make up the fingers and thumbs. The palms are a pentagon shape...drawn, cut out, scored, and folded with a hole cut at their center for the remaining LED thrusters. They are then attached to the wrists. The fingers and thumbs are made up of many tiny shapes consisting of rectangles and wedges. Finally the fingers and thumbs are built and attached to the palms.

Step 8: And Last But Most Important of All... the Paint Job!

Beginning with the head...I starting adding the red paint to the helmet and neck. Now he's coming to life!

Step 9: Painting the Chest Piece

Adding yet more red paint to the chest pieces and shoulder pieces while being careful not to paint over my details in black.

Step 10: Shoulder Pads, Waist, Pelvic Area Get Some Color!

I continued painting the town red along with his shoulder armor, waist and pelvic area. I then picked up the gold paint and added some detail color along with some silver details too.

Step 11: More Red, Gold and a Little Silver

I continued painting with the red and gold paints...painting the forearms, hands and elbow armor. I then applied some more silver and gold details to the upper arms, shoulders, thighs and knee armor. Whole lotta paintin' goin' on!

Step 12: Finishing Painting the Remaining Pieces

I continued painting the other arm, the rest of the legs and feet with the red and trimming out the details which remained in the silver and gold. Very satisfied with my finished hero I decided to take one more shot in the dark...ooooh now that's intimidating! Hope you enjoy!