Return to the BUILD
“In this issue, we continue assembling the abdomen for position B and complete the final elements for the lower body, legs and hips.”
This might be our longest assembly issue in the entire build. Give yourself plenty of time to complete it.
Contents
Parts
Materials: The Spring is metal, but the remaining parts are plastic in this issue.
Magazine
- The History of Iron Man – Infinity: Battling Thanos
- Step by Step – Model Instructions
- In the Comics – Iron Cameos: Where is Iron Man?
- The Armor – War Machine: Model 9
- The Armor – War Machine: How Many Models are There?
Build
Abdomen – Position B (3)
Stage 1 – Assembly of the Abdomen for Position B (2)
Step 1
Fit the Connection Button into the matching opening of the Lower Back Armor for Abdomen B, as shown:
Slide the Spring down onto this pin of the Connection Button:
Fit the pin of the Spring Base into the top of the Spring and align the two screw holes on either sides to the matching posts of the Lower Back Armor, as shown:
Secure the Spring Base to the Lower Back Armor with two (2) IP screws, capturing the Spring in place:
Step 2
Retrieve your Front Abdominal Armor B assembly from the previous issue. Fit the Lower Back Armor to this assembly, as shown:
Make sure the tabs of the Front Abdominal Armor B fit into the appropriate slots, seen here:
This is how the assembled section should look:
Secure these sections together with two (2) UP screws:
Step 3
Press the two pins of the Left Lower Back Plate and Right Lower Back Plate into the matching holes on either side of the Lower Back Armor, covering the screw holes as shown.
These should sit flush. However, I did not fully insert these Back Plates in case I needed to get back inside this assembly for my Central Lighting mod:
Lower Body
Stage 2 – Assembly of the Hips
Step 1
Retrieve both of your Hip Joint assemblies from Issue 71. These are marked ‘L’ and ‘R’ to determine which is which.
The right Hip Joint is also the one with more screw holes, as seen here:
Retrieve your Socket assemblies from Issue 33 and Issue 52.
To tell the difference between these two Socket assemblies, note the ‘R’ (circled below) marked on the right one:
Fit one of the Friction Rings down into the bowl of the left Socket, as shown.
At the same time, take note of this small alignment pin (circled below):
Using the left Hip Joint assembly, fit this Socket to the Bearing Ring, aligning the locating pin to the matching hole (arrow below) and capturing the ball joint in between as shown:
Secure the Socket to the Bearing Ring with four (4) KP screws.
Start all four screws, then gradually tighten them around in a circle. The tighter this joint is, the tighter the hip/connection will be, but take care not to damage the plastic. I tend to make important joints like this as tight as I can without damaging the plastic:
Step 2
Repeat this process using the right Bearing (Socket), the second Friction Ring, and the right Hip Joint assembly. Again, secure the Socket to the Bearing Ring with four (4) KP screws:
Step 3
Join the two Hip Joint assemblies together, matching the three tall posts to each other as shown:
Secure the Hip Joints into one assembly with three (3) LP screws.
The picture in the magazine for this step shows incorrect screw locations. These are the correct ones:
Retrieve your Lower Hip Armor from Issue 71. Slide the tabs of this Armor into the matching slots of the Hip Joints, as shown.
This Armor should simply snap into place. However, for a more secure connection, use two pieces of the Double-Sided Adhesive Tape. Remove the backing paper from the Tape and wrap them around the tabs and then install this Armor:
Step 4
Retrieve your two right Hip Joint Covers (marked ‘R’) from Issue 52:
Fit the rear (wider) tab of the right Bearing Ring into the matching slot of Hip Joint Cover 2, as shown:
Fit the Hip Joint Cover 1 to the Hip Joint Cover 2, enclosing the Bearing Ring, as shown:
Begin securing the Hip Joint Covers together from the outboard side with one (1) KP screw:
Continue securing the Hip Joint Covers from the inboard side with one (1) more KP screw.
For easier access to this screw, rotate the joint assemblies as needed:
Finish securing the Hip Joint Covers together at the bottom with one (1) GP screw:
Step 5
Retrieve your two left Hip Joint Covers (marked ‘L’) from Issue 33. Following the same process as in the previous step, fit the rear (wider) tab of the left Bearing Ring into the matching slot of Hip Joint Cover (33C – rear), as shown:
Again, fit the Hip Joint Cover (33A – front) to the Hip Joint Cover (rear), enclosing the Bearing Ring. Begin securing the Hip Joint Covers together from the outboard side with one (1) KP screw:
Continue securing the Hip Joint Covers from the inboard side with one (1) more KP screw:
Finish securing the Hip Joint Covers together at the bottom with one (1) GP screw:
Here is what our hip assembly should look like at this point – this is the front of the assembly:
Step 6
Retrieve your left Hip Joint Cover (marked ‘L’) from Issue 44. Press this Cover into the large round opening in the outboard side of the left Hip Joint Covers, as shown.
These Covers have two different sized tabs that match slots in the Hip Joint opening. On my model, I waited to install these in order to be able to access the interior of these Hip Joints for my Central Lighting mod. However, this is what they look like installed:
Retrieve your right Hip Joint Cover (marked ‘R’) from Issue 64. In the same way, press this Cover into the large round opening in the outboard side of the right Hip Joint Covers, as shown:
Step 7
Peel the backing paper from the two Sliding Adhesive Discs and adhere them to the bottom surface of both Hip Joint Covers, as shown.
Only press on these Adhesive Discs around the edges as the center is a hollow opening:
Stage 3 – Armor Plating for the Calves
Step 1
Retrieve your right Calf Plate assembly (marked ‘R’) from Issue 63 and your entire Right Leg assembly from Issue 64. Gently slide the tabs of the Calf Plate into the matching grooves at this location on the back of the Right Leg, as shown:
When posing our Iron Man armor, we can slide this Calf Plate away from the Leg and pivot it up, as shown:
Step 2
Retrieve your left Calf Plate assembly (marked ‘L’) from Issue 43 and your entire Left Leg assembly from Issue 44. In the same way, gently slide the tabs of the Calf Plate into the matching holes at this location on the back of the Left Leg, as shown:
The lower legs are now complete and ready to be attached to the hip assembly:
Stage 4 – Assembly of the Legs in the Hip Joint
As I started this stage of the issue, I quickly realized there is a potential weakness in the design at the upper knee joint inside the legs. While the long upper tab of the knee joint is metal, it hooks over this plastic post and plastic anchoring pin of the upper leg.
NOTE: The extra wiring you will see throughout the rest of this issue is part of my Central Lighting mod:
Due the to strong and stiff design of the geared knee joint, when I attempted to reposition the knee angle I noticed that it wants to bend the plastic anchoring pin in the thigh and move backwards before it wants to actually rotate:
Oddly enough, I had seen other builders run into a situation like this and found that many had created reinforcement parts that can be 3D-printed. I located one of them who listed their design on the Cults3D online warehouse for a couple of dollars. I purchase the files and printed a pair of these with my Anycubic Mono 4K Resin Printer. They do not need to be pretty, they just need to work:
After filing a bit of the base platform (the lip at the edge where it attached to the plate) from the two holes, these slid perfectly into my thigh. They vastly improve the strength of this connection and I feel much better about adjusting the knees:
Step 1
Insert the lower round lip part of the right Hip Joint Covers into this slot on the inside of the upper Right Leg, as shown.
Retrieve your Inner Thigh Structure assembly from Issue 57. Fit this Structure to the upper Right Leg, capturing the Hip Joint as shown:
Secure the Inner Thigh into place with four (4) GP screws:
Step 2
Retrieve your right Rear Thigh Plate and right Interior Thigh Plate from Issue 55. Press the tabs of the Rear Thigh Plate into the matching slots on the back of the upper Right Leg, as shown:
This Plate should simply snap into place. However, for a more secure connection, use two pieces of the Double-Sided Adhesive Tape. Remove the backing paper from the Tape and wrap them around the tabs and then install this Plate:
Step 3
Press the two pins of the Interior Thigh Plate into the matching holes at this location on the upper Right Leg:
Step 4
Retrieve your Front Thigh Plate and Outer Thigh Plate (both marked ‘R’) from Issue 56. Fit the Front Thigh Plate to the front of the upper Right Leg, as shown:
Secure this Front Thigh Plate into place with two (2) IP screws:
Press the two pins of the Outer Thigh Plate into the matching holes of the Front Thigh Plate, as shown:
From this point on, we will be repeating the same process in Steps 1-4 to attach the Left Leg.
Step 5
Insert the lower round lip part of the left Hip Joint Covers into this slot on the inside of the upper Left Leg, as shown:
As in my Mod Zone above, I added the other 3D-printed reinforcement part to this leg as well:
Retrieve your Inner Thigh Frame assembly from Issue 38. Fit this Frame to the upper Left Leg, capturing the Hip Joint as shown:
Secure the Inner Thigh into place with four (4) GP screws:
Step 6
Retrieve your left Rear Thigh Plate and left Inner Thigh Plate from Issue 36. Press the tabs of the Rear Thigh Plate into the matching slots on the back of the upper Left Leg, as shown:
This Plate should simply snap into place. However, for a more secure connection, use two pieces of the Double-Sided Adhesive Tape. Remove the backing paper from the Tape and wrap them around the tabs and then install this Plate:
Step 7
Press the two pins of the Inner Thigh Plate into the matching holes at this location on the upper Left Leg:
Step 8
Retrieve your Thigh Plate and Outer Thigh Plate (both marked ‘L’) from Issue 37. Fit the Thigh Plate to the front of the upper Left Leg, and secure it into place with two (2) IP screws:
Press the two pins of the Outer Thigh Plate into the matching holes of the Thigh Plate, as shown:
Thoughts
Wow, that was a crazy long issue! But, we now have both of our legs attached to our hip section. This issue completes the lower body of our Iron Man armor and it is becoming quite large in size!
Next Up
Issue 97 – Pelvis for Positions C & D