Moebius Models

1/8 "Iron Man" Mark II

Kit Number: 910

Reviewed by  Rob Folden, IPMS# 45545

MSRP: $49.99 Website: www.moebiusmodels.com THE KIT Iron Man made his comic book debut in 1963. The creation of Tony Stark, the Marvel brand super hero flew onto the big screen in 2008 with Paramount Studios' "Iron Man". The live action movie featured three versions of the famous armor, MARK I through III. Each suit was a refined and upgraded version of the previous one. Moebius Models hit it big with two releases from the movie. First released as the well known red and gold MARK III suit [see Keith Pruitt's excellent build review here], the Moebius team went back and released a special edition MARK II suit. The kit comes in a modified version of the standard kit box, and features 34 chrome plated parts and one clear, serial numbered part for the base. Also included are decals for the rivets, eyes, and chest piece. A second set of instructions are included for decal placement. CONSTRUCTION Building the Iron man kit is fairly straight forward. The arms and legs are built as sub-assemblies and then joined to the torso. The kit is designed almost as snap-together. However for my build, I wanted to add that extra touch that brings the kit to life … LIGHTS! I began by carefully drilling out the eyes and chest piece. Mounting tabs for the arms and legs were then removed so that the kit could be assembled after painting was completed. The head, neck, and leg piece4s were then modified to allow for the wiring needed. I found a nice pre-made lighting circuit in a gift bag at Target. It featured a push button which turned on three LED lights for 10 seconds. The board runs on 3 watch sized batteries and fits perfectly in the base of the kit. The LED's were too small and were replaced with 5mm ones [two for the head and one for the chest]. An aluminum tube was fit to the inside of the chest, with cut and shaped acrylic rod for the lens. The LED was fit in place and secured with CA glue. For the head, I took the end of a length of clear sprue and applied heat until it began to mushroom. I then press fit it to the eye opening from the inside of the head. This not only created a nice lens for the eye, but it acts similar to a fiber optic by directing the LED light. After two of these were formed, they were carefully pried from the face mask, tinted with Tamiya clear blue and set aside. The two LED's for the head were arranged in a V, making sure that the angle of the lights matched that of the eyes.

Once all the wiring was run, all seams were filled with Combi Automotive spot putty and wet sanded up to 1000 grit. With all the lights wired, the suit was assembled and sprayed with Tamiya Gloss Black, followed by a light sanding with 2000 grit and a coat of Future. For the metal finish, I wanted a smooth brushed aluminum look similar to that of the movie. I opted for Alclad II Polished Aluminum. I've found that if you apply more than you would for a high polished look it takes on more of a matt or brushed look. Once I was happy, I applied future to seal and provide a high gloss. With the eyes and chest lens unmasked, I applied an acrylic black wash to the model and again sealed it in preparation for the decals. I was a little disappointed with the decals. I found them to be very thin, and had problems with them folding up when I tried to apply them. I also felt they lacked realism. I chose, instead, to apply the rivets by hand using Tamiya Chrome Silver. This created more of a ground rivet look, in my opinion. Pleased with the model, I finished off the base using Testor's Metalizers and shades of Tamiya browns [rust look]. The logo was painted with Tamiya flat yellow and flat black. I was so pleased with the model, that I picked up FOUR more Iron Man kits from Moebius at the IPMS Nationals in Columbus. My plan is to do the red and gold MARK III suit, as well as a couple of the other variants such as War Machine. I would like to extend my gratitude to Moebius Models and IPMS/USA for allowing me the opportunity to review this kit.