First Predator Suit Build From Scratch *painted*

[Rmyers]

Just over a week left and i'm feeling the pressure to get this thing finished! At the moment I still need to make the chest armour, pants, backpack (maybe) and feet, + painting.

I cast the hands in plaster and am currently waiting for the latex to dry, should be able to pull em out tomorrow

For the suit detail I decided to go a different path. I made sheet of clay skin (I made a small section first, cast with alginate and then repeated to save time)

Next I cast the skin out of plaster and brushed latex on, peeled it after a day and repeated until I had enough sections for the suit.

I cut sections out and superglued them to the suit, then added some more styrofoam balls and sealed with a few more layers of latex.

I also cast another mask, although this time I used some soft expanding foam inside to support the weight of the dreads.

Tonight I will be starting the chest armour and hopefully sealing the gauntlets in PVA. I've taken a few days off of work to concentrate on painting.

So little time, wish me luck!

 

[CalgaryBound]

Wow this is one bada$$ build and awesome sculpting skills everything looks great.

 

[Eaglewood]

im curious about the alginate casting-- never had good luck casting non human stuff with alginate--   can you give a little more info on that?

 

[Rmyers]

No trick to it, but you have limitations to what you can cast I suppose. All the stuff I cast is a 1 sided design with no edges to snag into the alginate, so basically used a shallow container as a tray, mixed it up and pressed in whatever I wanted to cast, removed and poured in clay as nomal. If you tried to cast a solid 3D object I cant imagine you could get it out without destoying the alginate.

 

[ThePriest]

Very good ideas i like the way you were thinking out of the box i think i will try some of the stuff you are doing i am sure this suit is going to look killer.

 

[Rmyers]

Thanks all, starting to come together but still alot of work ahead of me

Made the chest armour, decided to go AVP style but with more techinal junk on it. Started by wrapping my latex suit (still on the dummy) with glad wrap and duct tape to protect it, put an old singlet over it and added a few layers of fibreglass to the basic shape I wanted, this way it ensures a perfect fit over the suit. Next I cut it off and went to town with the foamies. I still need to trim the excess fibreglass off the edges but you get the idea

Back of the suit, the wooden bit are the ancors for magnets, to which a back plate is then attached over the top (either a blanking plate or a backpack). This will also keep the armour together. I kinda just made up my own back detail.

Also gave the gauntlets a lick of paint, came up great! Cant wait to age them up a bit
Cheers

 

[hannay07]

I love the chestbuster logo on the armor, very cool.  Its a very unique take on the avp armor and it works great.

 

[AlphaTech686]

Dude, you are doing some really really good work here. I would suggest a fiberglass underskull it would be much more versatile than foam.

 

[Bronson]

How did I miss this ??? Amazing skills and some great ideas you have put to good use,this suit will be great and at the speed your going is just mind blowing.. keep up the good work mate .

 

[Rmyers]

Thanks all,

Well I managed to get this thing done on time, only just..

By the end it became a mad rush to get the last peices done in time, alot of it was rushed and slapped together at the last minute so a lot of detail/quality that I wanted to put into it was skipped, as well as a few items such as trophies, backpack and other bits that werent finished in time.

I also didn't get time to take alot of progress shots either, but now that I dont have a deadline I can go back and rework/remake alot of the items, so this thing is far from finished

Mask airbrushed and sealed in permawet. Metal wire was fed through the mandibles to keep there shape and have a solid mount for the teeth.

Dreads and teeth attached. Did not have time to paint the teeth, so this is a version that regularly cleans his teeth lol. Also had some suede strips, small lengths of beads and quills that I was going to attach but again not enough time. Will redo shortly.

The suit freshly airbrushed, didnt turn out too bad for a rush job so i'm happy for now.

Permawet applied, hasn't dried in this pic

First time wearing the head and suit together, this was taken about an hour prior to the party.

First time the entire costume was worn all together was 30 seconds prior to walking into the party venue, at this point I had no idea what I looked like. I was stil waiting for the paint to dry on the loin, thigh and chin armour while driving to the party, hoping that the heater in the car would help. Thankfully it was dry enough by the end, and 5 minutes before I walked in I was hot glueing the peices to the belt lol

Hot and uncomfortable but happy

Predator, Padme, Warmachine and the Marshmallow man!

So now it just a case of fixing a redoing some parts. Will continue to post progress pics

 

[hannay07]

Great work man, the suit looks awesome!  I really enjoyed seeing it all come together.  

 

[Rmyers]

Thanks dude

 

[sulaco1967]

Yay...it's finished well done bud, skin turned out fantastic and I'm glad it fits this time.

so what were the reactions you got when you arrived?...

If I were you I would blacken round your eye area the next time your suited up, would create a better effect meethinks..

cheers

Sean

 

[Rmyers]

Thank sean, when I rocked up the room went silent haha kinda put me on the spot lol

I had black face paint and contacts to put on but in the haste I forgot to bring them with me oh well next time

 

[Goonsack Steve]

Really good for a first time suit. Would love to do one myself one day but just don't have the time and skill. The only thing I think that let's your suit down is the dreds not falling to well but other then that awesome job buddy!