This Iron Man helmet features a solid aluminum face plate as part of a YouTube video exploring this method of cosplay creation. I have always had great interest in finding the best method in creating the most realistic and accurate Iron Man suit, even done to the textures and colors of the armor. The painted parts have been relatively easy to get down since all they really need are spray cans to get pretty close to accuracy. However, the most difficult part to get down has been the metallic parts since replicating metal using paint is an extremely hard thing to do to get it right. In this particular project, I decided to experiment with using actual solid metal and explore this process.

The model itself was not changed drastically since it all can be printed on a regular FDM printer and the rest of the helmet was unmodified. The face plate and lip are slightly different given that the inner thickness of the models were reduced to reduce aluminum usage as well as the fact the aluminum has a stronger durability than PLA, giving it the ability to hold itself at a smaller thickness. Both the cheek and forehead bolts also remained unchanged due to their sizes

I sent the faceplate, lip, and both bolts to be printed via SLM on PCBWay and the result came out beautifully as the shape was perfect and there were no visible print errors. I loosely assembled the helmet to check the fit and everything fit together perfectly. From there, it was on to the tedious, yet rewarding post processing stage. I sanded the metal parts down using 150, 220, and 320 grit sand paper. I recommend starting at a lower grit since 150 is pretty high but I was using the sheets that I had at the time. I then polished the plates using Grade #0000 Steel Wool and thenMothers Mag Aluminum Polish and an old sock to bring it to a shine. Then, I used a Scotch Brite scour pad to create a brushed metal look, going in different directions depending on the location of the area.

With that I assembled the helmet and the completed look was nothing short of AMAZING, the look of the metal parts was exactly what I was looking for, obviously since it's actual solid metal. Although the process to get here was extremely back breaking, it was one of the most rewarding projects I had done to date and it was quite fun.

Below I have also included the YouTube video I created to feature this helmet, which goes more in depth in the entire process of making this helmet so feel free to check it out! With that I hope you learned something new! Have a good night everyone!