OVERBROOK, Kan. (AP) - Clay Hielscher’s home looks like a costume and prop shop for a motion picture studio.
On his kitchen counter is the partially finished chest armor of Marvel Comics superhero Iron Man. On a stand in his living room is the battlesuit for Master Chief, the main protagonist of the Halo universe.
On the floor is what he considers his masterpiece: a version of the Iron Man battlesuit painted blue and gold and bearing the Kansas City Royals logo, The Topeka Capital-Journal (https://bit.ly/1Irz0l8 ) reported.
“I’ve made 45 different suits,” said Hielscher, 40, a former law enforcement officer who now works as a communications specialist for Life Star of Kansas.
A few years ago, Hielscher was hand-building a 17-foot-long kayak as a stress reliever when one of his friends suggested he try to construct an Iron Man battlesuit.
“I heard about a guy in Great Britain who built one from card stock and coated with fiberglass,” he said.
Hielscher decided to give it a try by fashioning a helmet from the materials.
“It took 30 hours to build and then it collapsed,” he said, explaining how the fiberglass resin failed to work.
But he wasn’t ready to throw in the Iron Man towel.
After reading about how floor mats were being used to make medieval armor, he bought dish drying mats and sheets of 5mm-EVA foam to add to the fiberglass and epoxy resin for his next attempts: armored battlesuits worn by Iron Man and War Machine in “Iron Man 2.”
Because of a lack of storage space, Hielscher ended up selling the Iron Man battlesuit. As a result of his eBay posting, he was contacted by several people across the country who wanted him to build superhero battlesuits for them.
He began posting about his hobby on Facebook and started hearing from other people interested in the suits’ construction.
“I was spending two to three hours a day answering questions on Facebook,” he said.
Hielscher uses a template to fashion his battlesuits but adds new and improved details: boots with 3-inch lifts rather than shoe covers; hinged arms that allow full movement; helmets with fans and air-circulation systems; magnets strategically placed to allow the attachment of weapons.
He uses a 3-D printer to create the multi-piece fingers for his gloves. He spray paints and then hand-paints details on the suits.
“Everything must pass the 8-foot rule. It has to look real from 8 feet away,” he said, adding the suits can take up to 400 hours to make.
While he enjoys building the battlesuits, Hielscher said the real reason he is so passionate about his pastime is his 11-year-old daughter, Kyrianna. They design and construct the suits together.
“She is probably my biggest critic,” he said. “She will tell me what looks good and what doesn’t.”
They also have dressed up in battlesuits to attend area Comic-Con events. Hielscher said he enjoys seeing his daughter, who is typically shy, interact as her Halo character with people of all ages and pose for photographs requested by attendees.
Recently, Hielscher put on his battlesuit to visit sick children at Children’s Mercy Hospital as part of a superhero team.
“I could be sitting on my butt doing nothing,” he said, “or I could be doing something creative to make a kid smile.”
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Information from: The Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal, https://www.cjonline.com
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