Homemade Iron Man Suit

Fans can do all kinds of things to show their love for their favorite superheroes. In the case of Archie Whitehead, a 17-year-old high school student from Welwyn Garden City, a town 20 miles outside of London, that means building an amazing, highly realistic costume of Iron Man. The homemade suit is so good that you can barely distinguish it from the one used in the movie.

In January 2013, Whitehead wanted to make an Iron Man suit. He saw that somebody in the United States had made a DIY Iron Man costume in fiberglass, but that wasn't going to be possible because it would be too expensive for a 17 year old. However, he saw that somebody else had made a Halo costume with foam, which is a much cheaper substance.

Once he decided on the material, he downloaded some 3D files from online prop and costumes forums and used "loads of reference images" to modify the downloaded templates. He then printed the templates and used them to trace the pattern on the foam, which he then cut with a knife. Once he polished all the corners, he glued everything together and used small bolts for the joints. He then sealed the foam with acrylic gel, which allowed him to keep the costume flexible while at the same time making it paintable. Finally, he colored everything with spray paint. Every part of the costume is made of foam, except for the helmet, which is made of resin fiberglass, which took him the most time to build.

The whole project took approximately four months. He put in a few hours of work every day during his spare time. The entire costume, counting all the materials, cost him about $500.

The suits featured in Iron Man 3 total $7 billion alone — previously they totaled $1.4 billion. Among the new bells and whistles are a hyper velocity shotgun and updated armor.