New Member -1St Predator Suit Buildup

Fantastic! So love that armor. Congrats on a job well done! Please make sure you post your Con debut pictures. I'd love to see you suit in a tion!
 
With my suit basically complete, I started to work on some accessories. I got the closed shuriken all complete and painted in the color scheme of my suit. I will probably repaint this after Megacon as a display item.
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I don't plan on bringing the full size shuriken to the con so I need a centerpiece weapon that I can pose with. I started on a spear this weekend. PVC tube construction. I cut out round shims the fit tight on the inside of the tube so they do not flop around and extend smooth. Blades and details cut from wood. I just a bit more sanding and a few more details then ready for paint.
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Also working on a few trophies to hang from belt or ???
Juvenile Xeno skull
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Xeno pandant.
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I will post more updates as I get thing more complete.
 
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Spear is made from 3 different diameters of pvc. 1-1/2 inch , 1 inch and 1/2. These diameters fit together pretty well with roughly a 1/8 gap between. I laser cut "bushings" from 1\2 wood that fit snug on the inside diameter and tight on the outside. These bushings take up the gap between the diameters. The bushings are glued to the tube that goes inside the bigger diameter. The bushing slides on the inside diameter of the larger tube. This allows the inside tube to be painted or finished without is scraping off as the tube extends. I made end caps that fit on the ends of the larger diameter with foam bushings to clean up the ends. These caps also stop the smaller tube from being pulled out when full extended. The foam in the end caps allows the tube to slide without harming the finish. The end spikes and blades are cut from 1/2 wood. You might be able to accomplish this spear without a laser by using foam in different thicknesses to fill the gap and slide. The laser allows me to get a precision fit with the bushing for a smooth slop free extension. Not to mention I can cut and engrave the blades and details with great precision.

I hope this helps.
 
That spear is the ****** nutz fella. You should do a tutorial from start to finish. I'd deffo make one but using sintra and tubing.
 
Here is a quick update on the spear progress.

I got the tips and 2nd pole blades all finished and applied the 1st coat of silver. I never have good luck with the chrome silver paint. It does not look to great on these either but after i add the details and some wearing, you'll never be able to tell.
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The 1st (smallest) and 2nd tubes will be just silver.
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(I always like to see what I can pick out from other people build photos. In this photo you can see my other 2 projects a battle axe and draenei tail plus a bunch of workbench stuff. How many items do you recognize ?)

The main tube does not have to slide so I applied some details with craft foam. The tips and blades are designed after the AVP spear but for the main tube I used the same patterns I used on my dagger handles and as details on my gauntlets.
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I started the first coat of Modge Podge. This stuff is great, nice and thick and easy to apply. I use a thick coat on all the edges. This makes a really nice blend fillet and glues the edge down so they will not lift.
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I've got the spear all painted. The black and gold combination worked out really cool. I made the tubes silver fading to gold on the end. They just did not look good all gold. Just a few coats of clear on the main tube and I can assemble it. I got some swivels that will work for a strap and also hold the mainntube endcaps on. Here are some updated pics.

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Ok, time for an update.

The revel of the suit at Megacon 2015 was a big success. Every thing performed flawless. With the exception of a buckle breaking at the very beginning and a quick zip tie from Maniak's con-emergence pack. With 2 Predators in house as Magacon we stole the show. It was an all day event just posing for pics. That is all we did on Saturday. For more info on the event check out the Megacon 2015 posting.

The week before the con was spent tweaking and reworking. With the spear finished.
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I turned my attention to my bio. After reading the rules of the Megacon I got worried that my lasers would not be allowed. I spent the next few days completely remaking the laser housing and wiring everything up. I add red/blue leds along with the lasers.
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The switching of the leds and laser was accomplished with switches in my computer gauntlet. I ran the wire up my arm under the morph suit. I used phone plugs. These were the smallest wire and connector combo I could find locally to make all the connections. The bio laser/led housing was 1 connector and the 2nd was for the led I installed in my Plasma caster.

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I was not able to find a small enough connector to fit thru the side of the Bio so I had to sheath the wire and make some plugs. This is were things got complicated. To put the bio on I had 1 foot of wire I had to feed thru the holes then push the outside sheathing down the wire and then put the plug is to close up the big hole and make everything look good. The was a problem when I wanted to take the Bio off. I had less the 1 foot of wire to lift it off my head and hold it close to me. Needless to say I did not take it off to often. I have to think that there are smaller connectors I could use to just plug directly into the bio. The overall effect was work it. I could switch between red led, blue led and laser with my computer gauntlet.
Here is a pick of the final wiring with the caps installed.
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Now lets talk netting. The queen size fishnet body suit and leggings I purchased worked great. Although they did not have quite the same thickness I was looking for they looked great and the net size and spacing was perfect. They also held up extremely well. I was concerned with them getting torn up with my armor or something but they were perfectly intact at the end of the day.

Here are the link the to ebay items I used and highly recommend
Fishnet Diamond Fence Net Footless Tights Capri Lycra Black Reg Leg Avenue 7881
( 330927459844 )

Body Stocking Fishnet Diamond Fence Net Black Reg or XL Queen Be Wicked! B11
( 330886415541 )

The painted morph suit was also a great. It was like viagra - I was able to last the whole day while lesser men had to call it quits.
I do have to say that there is no comparison to the looks of a painted morph suit to a latex muscle suit. I'm thinking there has to be a compromise. I was really lacking in the muscle area. My 1st improvement will be adding muscles to arms and legs, so it does not look like in standing on sticks holding my spear with noodles.

I will update this thread when I get a really good look and my suit and how it held up. I'm planning of doing some reworks and bringing this one back soon.
 
Here is a thought... You know how the predator removes tubes from the side of the bio before removing the bio... How about do that. Put the wire through a thin flexible tube with a connector at the end. when you want to remove the bio you can unplug the tube then remove the bio. Dunno if you can make that work, but would look amazing when you remove your bio all Kevin Peter Hall ish
 
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