TVsRobLowe
Active Member
Krang and his Android Body from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987)
Proof photo:
Additional photos:
Existing Build Thread: http://www.therpf.com/f24/tmnt-krang-android-body-full-suit-pg-160586/
Write up and in-progress shots:
Krang and his body as my costume choice came purely based on the limits of my body. I'm 6'2, wear glasses, and always near 300 pounds, and I know my limits for costuming. Last year I made a budget Darth Vader hoping to conceal my weight within the robes, and I was happy with the results but I looked like a fat guy dressed as Vader. Being my size, I don't have many options for actual characters - only really Doctor Octopus or Krang.
Krang and his Android Body has always been sort of a dream costume for me, and I've always tossed the idea around as a joke costume. The design is absolutely embarassing - a near nude fat, bald man with red underwear and booties and brain in his belly. I've tossed around the gamut of ideas over the years, but never committed - first it was sweats and a bald cap, and various canvas straps. Then the idea of a morphsuit with Krang's chamber made out of foam.
I started off a bit more ambitious than time and comfort would allow; a full body armor made of EVA foam and an animatronic Krang.
After doing the arms of the armor, I realized how uncomfortable the full suit would be in the Florida weather and chose instead to buy a spandex Morphsuit and use that for coverage on my limbs.
After deciding on a stable base, the costume was on it's way. I made the structure of the torso first. Additional details in the foam were etched in with a soldering iron. Then I sculpted Krang out of Crayola Model Magic and painted him with acrylic paints.
To protect Krang, he would eventually be sealed behind a window of acetate.
The helmet presented it's own difficulties. My initial plan was to pep a helmet, but I didn't want something so heavy to wear. I decided that vacuforming EVA foam over a buck was the best approach for comfort.
I sculpted the helmet buck out of layered insulation foam, making sure to make the cuts deeper than I wanted for the final product so as to compensate for loss of detail in the vacuform process.
This was my first time working with Vacuforming and after building an inexpensive table, I had my fair share of ruined foam sheets. After melting a few 3mm sheets and realizing that 6mm was too thick to work with, I made a decent front and back pull from 3mm foam.
In between foam fabrication, I went to modifying my Morphsuit by using puffy paint to create staples and fabric paint to highlight body panel seams.
LED Strip lights were installed in Krang's chamber to make him more visible in the dark and make him the visual focal point of the whole costume.
When I initially finished the project, the red shorts I had modified ended up looking large and ill-fitting when tried on with the rest of the product. I made new shorts out of fleece.
After that, it was just paint and small details to finish the costume.
Thanks for looking,
Rob
Proof photo:
Additional photos:
Existing Build Thread: http://www.therpf.com/f24/tmnt-krang-android-body-full-suit-pg-160586/
Write up and in-progress shots:
Krang and his body as my costume choice came purely based on the limits of my body. I'm 6'2, wear glasses, and always near 300 pounds, and I know my limits for costuming. Last year I made a budget Darth Vader hoping to conceal my weight within the robes, and I was happy with the results but I looked like a fat guy dressed as Vader. Being my size, I don't have many options for actual characters - only really Doctor Octopus or Krang.
Krang and his Android Body has always been sort of a dream costume for me, and I've always tossed the idea around as a joke costume. The design is absolutely embarassing - a near nude fat, bald man with red underwear and booties and brain in his belly. I've tossed around the gamut of ideas over the years, but never committed - first it was sweats and a bald cap, and various canvas straps. Then the idea of a morphsuit with Krang's chamber made out of foam.
I started off a bit more ambitious than time and comfort would allow; a full body armor made of EVA foam and an animatronic Krang.
After doing the arms of the armor, I realized how uncomfortable the full suit would be in the Florida weather and chose instead to buy a spandex Morphsuit and use that for coverage on my limbs.
After deciding on a stable base, the costume was on it's way. I made the structure of the torso first. Additional details in the foam were etched in with a soldering iron. Then I sculpted Krang out of Crayola Model Magic and painted him with acrylic paints.
To protect Krang, he would eventually be sealed behind a window of acetate.
The helmet presented it's own difficulties. My initial plan was to pep a helmet, but I didn't want something so heavy to wear. I decided that vacuforming EVA foam over a buck was the best approach for comfort.
I sculpted the helmet buck out of layered insulation foam, making sure to make the cuts deeper than I wanted for the final product so as to compensate for loss of detail in the vacuform process.
This was my first time working with Vacuforming and after building an inexpensive table, I had my fair share of ruined foam sheets. After melting a few 3mm sheets and realizing that 6mm was too thick to work with, I made a decent front and back pull from 3mm foam.
In between foam fabrication, I went to modifying my Morphsuit by using puffy paint to create staples and fabric paint to highlight body panel seams.
LED Strip lights were installed in Krang's chamber to make him more visible in the dark and make him the visual focal point of the whole costume.
When I initially finished the project, the red shorts I had modified ended up looking large and ill-fitting when tried on with the rest of the product. I made new shorts out of fleece.
After that, it was just paint and small details to finish the costume.
Thanks for looking,
Rob
Last edited: