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.

Bioshock Little sister's ADAM syringe.

I love the game bioshock and have always been terrified of the little sister character and her weapon. 

when i found a vintage petrol pump in one of my strolls around the internet and electronic bay i thought it would be fun to try and make a ADAM syringe. 

so i set about trying to get some screen grabs of the syringe....  Google provided me with a good selection.

so to start i got the petrol pump in the post. this is how it came. nice and dirty.

N.B there will be doubles of some of the things in the photos as i got two pumps and i was making these in parallel.

i cleaned it up. 

First i took the top cap off the pump and drilled a hole so i could fit a pipe coupler through it, this will be how the jar is held to the top of the pump and how the wires get to the LEDs in the jar. 

 I then screwed the top cap back onto the pump and added the LED housing made from clear acrylic tube. this is to keep the LEDs away from the red goo that will be in the jar. 

i drilled a hole in the jam jar lid and used the coupler to clamp a washer either side of the lid and i sealed the whole thing with silicone, to make it water tight.

i took some 1inch pvc pipe and cut it to the same length as the original nozzle of the pump.

i then screwed it into the nozzle opening.

I sharpened a 10mm dowel into a point to make it look like a needle.

two plastic rings cut to the size of the pvc front pipe are put on the dowel and then glued inside the pvc pipe.

In the reference photos i found i could see that the top jar was meant to look like a baby bottle, the little sisters drink out of it after they have stolen the ADAM. so i made a mount for the baby bottle nipple. this was done by making a plastic ring and sanded down the top edge to make it rounded and then i glued the rin to the top of the jar.

I drilled through the handle to make a hole to place a micro switch where the handle of the pump meets the pump so that it can be turned on and off when you squeeze the trigger.

i wired up three LEDs inside the housing and ran all the cables through the body of the pump and the battery will be housed in the rear of the pump.

The LEDs inside the base of the jar will light up the red goo inside the jar.

i glued a drain pipe collar round the bottom of the jar to cover the lid of the jam jar.

once filled with red bubble bath the LEDs light it up real good.

all the excess wires and the battery are housed in a pear pvc pipe coupler. 

Test fitting of all the parts so far. 

Rear end cap was needed to hold the batter in, so i made a hexagon and sanded it down to look like a pipe end bolt of some kind. 

I masked off all the delicate parts and threaded areas and sprayed everything with hammerite silver to get a hammered texture and to cover up marks etc. 

then i masked off the top of the jar(the nipple holder) and sprayed everything gold.

leaving the needle assembly silver. not gold.

once it was all dry i removed all the tape and this is what i got. 

I then weathered all the parts. using browns, blacks and reds. layering up starting with lighter browns and getting darker. then on the needle and some points on the body i used dark red for dried blood then light red to make it look fresh and bloody.

once its all dry i screwed the front needle assembly into the pump.

Now to fill the jar with the red goo (ADAM) (bubble bath)

i didnt fill it all the way up, i wanted it to look like it was mid use so not completely full. 

i turned the whole thing upside down and screwed the pump into the jar and then it is complete.

This is a short video of the light turning on and off. (sorry for the bad sound)

N.B i have two of these. if you would like one please contact me and we can discuss prices :)