Hello, I am a maker of a wide variety of genres. I have worked as a Architectural model maker, designer, tool maker and graphic designer.

To view my online Photo Portfolio of my Architectural model making please go here.

This blog is where I document my personal and commission projects with photos and write ups.

Please read my about me page for contact info and how to enquire about commissions or plan purchases.

Plans for sale : here

26 July 2012

Tony Starks Iron Man Arc reactor.






I have loved iron man (even before the movies came out)
but when the movies did come out i loved the Arc reactor prop they used. 
 especially the mark one version that pepper pots makes into a gift for Tony.

so i thought i would give making one for myself a go. 
This prop took me a long time to make (not because it was hard just that i got side tracked and forgot about it until i moved and found it in a box.)
I did the usual research thing and found two images that i liked best.
 

one of the mark one version and one of the prop that they were selling.





So i got to drawing up some plans and cutting out the parts.
i cut the main ring out of green glass acrylic as the mark one had a slight green tint to the glass.



The central rings were cut out of thin 2mm acrylic, they were clear because thats all i could get hold of.




The wire wrap sections were made to clip over the main ring, these will be painted and then placed on the ring and wrapped with copper wire.




Once i got all the parts cut and assembled put them together to get an idea what it would look like.



I gave all the parts that were to be painted a coat of white plastic primer.



Then i gave the wire wrap sections a coat of matte black and placed them on the green main ring.



then the oval hole ring was painted with the same black and the inner ring assembly was painted a gold/yellow/bronze colour.



once the paint had dried i ,placed it all together to get an idea of what its going to look like. 



I started wrapping the wire around the wire segments and
once i did all of them i put it all together.






I got some EL sheet and cut it to match the size of the arc reactor. i chose the white/light blue to give it that electric glow look.




in the reference images i liked the reactor had a heat sync style cage behind the main reactor.

so i made up some plans for the rear cage and cut them out and began construction.

i made two rings to hold the frame together.


Once i had built the frame i painted the whole thing matte black.




i added a white disc at the top support ring section.



I made a plug, i tried to make it look as close as possible to the one in the pictures. 



i glued some old electronics and wires and junk in the bottom of the cage to make it look more like its electronic piece of equipment.



i made a stand and cradle to hold the whole arc reactor , this was made out of acrylic and and a perspex tube. the box at the bottom of the stand holds the electronics that power the EL sheet and the battery. 



I painted this black too.






10 comments:

  1. Hello Aidan!!

    Here's the deal, I already wrote a comment to your instructable of the iron man arc reactor. I'm having trouble with the laser cut stuff, a friend of mine will cut it for me, but I'm not sure about all pieces you used, there's a lot of things there you didn't show... anyway, could you be the coolest and kindest person in the world and provide me with the drawings you used? I'm building the arc reactor to wear on a costume party, and I have less than a month to get it ready!!! So please, if you still have the drawings for the arc reactor laser cut here's my email address muringa182 @ gmail . com just take off the spaces... thanks man!!! =]

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello Aiden.

    I love your arc reactor, its realy nice.
    I will create one to, and how did you get the frame pieces?
    Every plastic pieces, can you send me the blueprint u use?
    Or the drawings for the laser cut.

    My mail is: citrustax@hotmail.com

    I hope you will help me with it, thanks man.

    Greetings Stefan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. you can buy the plans, i dont just give away my work for free. check out the "about me" page for more info.

      Delete
  3. Hi Aiden,
    This is a beautiful recreation! Just one question, what did you use to cut the acrylic? I find the stuff has a terrible habit of melting with power tools and splitting with hand tools. Was it just a matter of patience and an exacto knife?

    Thanks,
    Chris

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The parts were all cut out on a laser cutter.

      Delete
  4. hey Aiden
    love your creation, did you use blueprints?
    if yes, could you send dem to me?
    tpereira89@hotmail.com

    keep cool man

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. i dont give out my work for free. all my plans are for sale. check out the "about me" page http://backwardsprops.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page.html

      it will answer your questions.

      Delete
  5. Hello man! Very nice Arc reactor! Do you have the forms you used to cut the acrylic? The sizes and more? email: viniciuspkeller@hotmail.com
    Thank you for the help!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What do you mean by "the forms used to cut the acrylic?" i used a laser cutter.

      and i don't just give away my work, you can purchase all the plans which are to scale. check out the about me page.

      Delete