I can't believe we are only 1 month and 6 days away from the premiere of IM3!!!

Luckily, I only have 2 small things left to do for the armour shell to be deemed complete! (YAY!)

There are a few more technical subsystems that need to be implimented, so if they are ready, Wonderbar! If not, it'll be more bells and whistles for Hal-Con! XD

As a pleasant distraction, I've been lined up for some CosPlay interviews which are always fun :-D

And I can unabashedly say that in the true essence of the Little Engine that Could, in regards to the IM3 Premiere, I have gone from "I think I can, I think I can" to I KNOW I CAN!

I can't wait to see the reactions from the IM fans on opening night!!!

I'll make sure I post more in-progress upgrades after the premiere

Final overall fitting for symmetry

A few final tweaks done to various ride heights. By jove, I think I've got it!
PS: Please excuse the mess :-S

Test fit

A little fun with the test fits...

• the ARC reactor was just tossed in there as a placeholder as I couldn't find the new UniBeam at the time...
• All gold pieces have been carefully brushed to closely imitate the metal grain of the screen-used suit
• Still need to raise the shoulder bells up an inch or so
• Need to fabricate the collar struts in aluminium

 

 

 

A few more pictorial Range of Movement studies to follow this weekend...

 

Ok... enough parts are fit that I am able to start laying the colours!

Also have started placing some of the tech... YAY!!!

Fitting the plates

Starting the test fit process...
The scale and symmetry are pretty much bang on so far.
That is one of the biggest nard-kicks about armour fabrication... you can have absolutely gorgeous individual pieces; but they can still look like pure unadulterated crap when put together as a unit!

This is an absolutely mandatory step prior to even considering laying the colours!

Also found that I can suit up to at least this stage without assistance :-)

Time to start tailoring it to yours truely

OK... the shells are about as finished as they are getting.
Need to start linking it all together now.
First order of business is to Duct tape the legs together to do a bit of tailoring for length at the ankles
After that comes the Integration of the new knee joints... all that sort of stuff :-D

 

One caveat I ran into is that Duct Tape is so strong that it actually tore up sections of the Bondo as I removed the tape! Don't be dopey like me, get a partner to hold the legs while you mark them :-p

Final BodyWork Phases

Well... getting allot closer to the point where I can start to articulate this beasty to my personal kinematics. Once this final prep work is done I will begin with integrating the mounting platforms for the soon-to-be integrated tech.

After that comes the installation and fine tuning of all joints as well as all other distal-trunk interconnects to allow this suit to work as a proper unit.

And let us not forget the PAN (Personal Area Network) that has to be installed to allow for the controllers to do their thing.

Heel plates all blended in...

Rocket Bay compartment all fabricated and integrated...



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Forearms and shins have been treated to a dual coloured primer sand test to reveal peaks and valleys not easily discernable to the naked eye.

Decided to reinforce the ankle sections with fiberglass as the Bondo'd seam transitions kept cracking from the flexion on that area.

The back is all ready to go now!  I will later seperate the lower flaps away from the structure so I can articulate/actuate them

 Helmet is damned near ready to install the control systems for servos, lights and voice modulation!

Next Year:

Already in R&D:

1. Voice control command system for hardware
2. Wireless PAN to replace most of the internal wiring harness
3. Custom built knee joints and locking systems to replace any velcro etc