Three years of work is represented in this Iron Man suit by Barry Armstead. It all began with a precise cardboard prototype, and then Barry took that pattern and transferred it to steel. Yes, steel. He used 0.95mm cold-rolled mild sheet steel to bring his superhero costume to life. It’s not like EVA foam (obviously), so he couldn’t just glue the pieces together with something like contact cement. After cutting the steel and hammering the sections of armor into shape, he welded them together.
He shared some information about the suit in The Replica Prop Forum group on Facebook:
The suit has repulsors with light and sound, arc reactor, voice changer, mechanised faceplate activated by lip motion, wide angle camera between the eyes and video glasses under the faceplate.
The field of view is wide and I can see my toes with the slightest tilt of my head. Practice in the helmet helps with distortion and judging distance. It doesn’t take long to get used to it.
This is what the costume looked like before it was painted:
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