How Obsession With Ironman Turned This Engineer Into One Himself!

Thursday May 16, 2013 , 3 min Read

IronMan certainly has many fans all over the world. But how many of them had enough mettle and indomitability to try being like their favourite superhero?

Well, Nadir Najumal Hussain had.

This young final year Civil Engineering Student of Cochin University (CUSAT)got the brainwave from his friend, Yadhu, who said he would love to have an Iron Man costume at his home. Not long after, as Nadir was just browsing through Iron Man costumes on the net, it struck him that he could actually make a suit if he tried. And try he did.

Taking therpf.com (a movie props making community) as his reference, along with tutorials on Youtube, Nadir started making the costume. “It took me four months to complete it. Some parts were hard to figure out and finding the material was really hard.”

Along with using foam building techniques and EVA foam sheets, he used Pepakura – a 3D modeling software to make the costume. The cutouts were stuck together using Fevicol; the detachable parts joined using Velcro and buckles from old bags. As the foam sheets were too soft and useless by itself, he strengthened them by coating them with rubber adhesive. The finished costume was coated with two coats of primer grey and finally painted with trademark red and gold spray paint. The final touch was given by adding a dummy arc reactor, made using LEDs.

After months of hard work and many sleepless nights tirelessly working in his locked room, Nadir finally found his moment of glory when he saw his friends’ faces as he unveiled the costume, with himself in it.

“At times, I got really fed up. But I had given some hype to my friends that something new and innovative was going to be launched. After all, my room was always locked when I worked on the suit. So I didn’t want to give up hope and stop working on it.”

The pride and excitement in Nadir’s eyes is beyond comprehension, as he talks about his work. “My friends used to ask me what it was that I was working on, all day. All I said was to wait for it. After a while they started making fun of me. But when I revealed the final costume, the look on everyone’s face was priceless. I felt glorious.”

This aspiring youth plans to motorize his costume in the near future. He would like to make more cosplays(costume plays) and hopes to make it a business. He has already gotten clients wanting to have a similar superhero costumes in their homes as well. Not only has he inspired many teens to attempt to realize their dreams, but has also proved that anything is possible once you have you set your mind to it. “More than Iron suit, it’s your resolve that matters. To be everything you want to be.”

As Iron Man said, “Always be yourself. Unless you can be Iron Man. Then be Iron Man.”