Muscle suit idea - Crazy enough to work, or just crazy?

I have been thinking of getting a muscle suit for a mannequin, basically just getting one of those DELUXE SPIDERMAN SUPERHERO ones with the legs and chest and arms, and just duct taping the living hell out of it to compress it to "normal" big size and not "holy crap the steroids are gonna explode" size.

I thought about it for a few minutes, and had an idea... What if you (or me, or whoever) used foamies on either the mannequin (glue) or a bodysuit on the mannequin to "build up" normal looking muscles. That way when the costume goes over it, it looks somewhat more realistic than GIGANTIC BICEP MAN that most of those costumes have.

A few layers of foamies and maybe some fiberfill, some epoxy or glue or duct tape or something to make it stick, and boom, you have a muscled out hero.

Crazy enough to work, or just crazy? Granted this is just for a static display piece, but I think it might be doable....

Chris

I've wanted to do the same for some time and had given the same idea real consideration. The Superman display in the Movieum of London adapted a similar technique with little success but it seems the biggest problem is getting muscle-shaped foam to correspond with the mannequin. One tehnique would be to aquire a musclesuit and then once its on the mannequin pad out the areas with foam etc. between both surfaces to bulk out the areas you want to exagerrate. besides that there's little commercially available to solve the problem. I'll be interested to see if you conquer it...

There was a fellow (here I think) who was making a muscle suit for Cyborg Ninja / Gray Fox from Metal Gear Solid and used foamies over an all-in-one suit then covered in latex and paint for the defined yet sleek muscles. Though I do remember some catastrophe occurring the first time he did it, something about not sticking properly.

Though his was a wearable piece as opposed to static model, so you might have more luck.

Foamies, you mean like the craft foam that comes in thin sheets?

I would think that it would be extraordinarily time-consuming to build up layers of that. It's not especially easy to finish off cleanly, either.

I think you'd be better off using polyfoam, as in upholstery foam rubber. It's available in thicker pieces, and is easy to shape carving it with an electric carving knife or snipping with scissors. It can be smoothed down with an orbital sander, and top-coated with latex or any number of other things (including duct tape, if you wish!).

My two cents.

Rick

I was thinking of making the muscles with foamies and some polyfill, sort of a "sandwich" of it, and gluing that somehow to the body.

I thought about the polyfoam, but nixed it because I don't have an electric knife, or a place to buy the foam locally.

Since this would be just attached to the mannequin itself, rather than a bodysuit or a costume, it would theoretically be a little easier to make it look more "anatomical" rather than comic bookish.

At least, that's the idea heh.

I did break down and order a spiderman deluxe muscle costume though, to see what kind of hell I am opening up for myself

Chris

You can actually buy foam at a local store like Hobby Lobby or Michael's.

If you're looking for a non-sewing or sculpting alternative, you can cut the shapes you want and sew the edges and outlines of the muscle by hand.

What is this for? ...what kind of display I mean?

Yea, but none of those stores is entirely "local" for me. A good 45 min one way drive for either

Besides, like any good rpf'er I already have the foamies and polyfill

As far as the display goes, I am (thinking/trying/might be) going to attempt a life sized Bizarro. That's why I don't mind the anatomy being too "off", since he is a screwed up clone to begin with. I have the mannequin, just need to actually buff him up a bit. He is a little on the thin side, but then again, aren't they all?

Chris

You can try the foamie idea... but I don't think it will work. You'll need two flat sides at the edges of both foamies in order to join the two together. That won't give you the look of muscle that you're looking for.

Here's what I mean

...please excuse the crudity of this model, I didn't have time to build it to scale or to paint it... or the fact that joing should be joining.



You could sew the poly into cloth... if you can sew that is.

How about a basic craft foam/car mat musculature roughly stuck on and then heatshrink plastic?

not sure if anyone linked this, but someone on this forum recently created a Skeletor costume and built up his muscle suit: http://www.therpf.com/f24/planned-project-skeletor-masters-universe-30408/

he documented fairly well his steps. I know the first page showed what he started with, but I know he modified it near the end, not sure what page it was that talked about that. But the end result was pretty dang nice. So there's another approach for yah.