How It Works
Time: 1 Month
Cost: $4,000+
WEAPONRY
Le built a replica of the machine gun on the suit’s shoulder out of PVC pipes and other materials. He added a small motor and belt drive to make the cylindrical gun spin like the real thing. To activate it, he presses a button in the palm of the suit’s glove. He says the gun could also be converted into a paintball shooter.
POWER
Le built an LED-based replica of Iron Man alter ego Tony Stark’s arc reactor for the chest, but unlike the movie version, it doesn’t actually power the suit. Instead, all the LEDs and the motors that drive the gun and the faceplate have their own batteries hidden within the suit’s large frame.
CONTROLS
Inside the chestplate, Le added a hands-free button that activates the helmet. When the faceplate is open, he just stands up and points his arm forward, causing his chest to press against the button, triggering the servo motors in the helmet to close the mask. This, in turn, switches on the red LEDs set inside the eye openings, which are large enough for him to also see out of. To open the mask up again, he presses another button.
BACKUP
Le says he focused on the War Machine suit, donned by Stark’s buddy Jim Rhodes in Iron Man 2, in part because “it just looks more hardcore.” But he also built a new-and-improved replica of the suit that Iron Man himself wears in the film, the Mark VI. That version also has the LEDs and motorized faceplate but, alas, no cannon.
