MrBibou's Amazing Spider-man, with McLean's print - 01/21 shoes finished !

Hi guys !

I'm about to start a new project that I always wanted to tackle and I'm obviously talking about making an Amazing Spider-man suit !
A bit of a boring story from a 20yo french fanboy first though

I've been a fan of the character since I was able to walk and always dreamed about owning my own suit.
Looking for comic Spider-man suits on Google actually brought me to this marvelous place for the first time around a year ago.
Back at the time, I didn't have a lot of money and buying a print for hundreds of dollars was out of the question, especially considering I would probably only wear it in front of my mirror.
Indeed, I live in France and, here, people don't have the same passion we all share for props and costuming, as much as you guys do in the US.

I then decided to start my first build ever with an Iron Man foam suit thanks to STEALTH files and this is when I caught the building fever. Spending hours and nights building a suit brought me so much fun I knew I had to do the best I could to achieve my first goal : building my own Spider-man suit.

I got a partial time job on my non-school time to afford few founds for my Iron Man build and enough to start my Spider-man after that.

Following McLean's/ElFett's and Redtogusa's thread was such a huge inspiration and brought so much sparkles in the child's eyes in me I knew had to jump for it so I could have the suit of my dreams.

And here I am today.
I decided to start a thread following my progression on the suit so I could maybe inspire others to get on projects just as a lot of you guys did for me.
Posting here will probably help me to keep my motivation on and could be a first great experience for me too.

Anyway, after the boring story (told you), here come's the real deal.

I wanted to wait for my McLean print to arrive to start this thread but it's been a month now and I'm still waiting for the mail man to bring me my surprise so, guess you'll have to share my wait and excitement with me.

Although I just received my pair of Asics so I think it would be a good starting point.



As you can see, I went with the black/yellow vers. Got them for 50$ instead of the 100$ red/silver accurate version.
These are way cheaper and at least, I could choose the size I needed.
I wear a size 9 and I read that it was better to take a smaller size as the sole would be bigger once the whole thing is gutted out so I went with a size 7.5.
Hope it would not be to small in the end..

Starting the cutting and painting process tonight, wish me luck for my journey guys :thumbsup

Re: MrBibou's Amazing Spider-man, with McLean's print - 01/16 starting with the shoes

Best of luck on the build.

Re: MrBibou's Amazing Spider-man, with McLean's print - 01/16 starting with the shoes

This is awesome, I'm in almost the same situation where I've made a few costumes by collecting pre-made pieces and now I'm tackling the ASM suit. I've got my shoes, and my print should be arriving any time now.

I'm sure you and I will have some of the same questions as we build so I'd love to share questions, ideas, solutions on the topic. I'll be watching!

Re: MrBibou's Amazing Spider-man, with McLean's print - 01/16 starting with the shoes

LastMinute said:

This is awesome, I'm in almost the same situation where I've made a few costumes by collecting pre-made pieces and now I'm tackling the ASM suit. I've got my shoes, and my print should be arriving any time now.

I'm sure you and I will have some of the same questions as we build so I'd love to share questions, ideas, solutions on the topic. I'll be watching!

Click to expand...

Sure mate, no problems
It took some days to trim and paint those but I'm almost done, I still need to apply one or two coats of paint before I'm entirely satisfy with those. Pics to come later

Re: MrBibou's Amazing Spider-man, with McLean's print - 01/16 starting with the shoes

Okay guys, just finished my shoes and I really like how they turned out.
Here's how I did it :

First step was to cut the top part of the shoe that will not be use in the end. It's actually really easy to do with a hobby knife, just make sure you take your time and don't rush it.



Then, I had to remove all the foam padding inside (mostly on the back) so I could fit my foot in. You can see on the pic below that after everything's been removed, you gain around an inch.
That's why everybody recommends to take a smaller size



Then, the painting.
When I saw the shoes on pics, I thought the yellow part was some sort of rubbery material.
In fact, it's more similar to velcro. That's why a lot of people used a red sharpie to color these parts.
I didn't have a sharpie but I used acrylic paint instead. It worked really well as the paint kinda soaked into the material.



You can see on the back that I used a pic for reference that is IMO, pretty interesting.
I didn't see anybody paint the two lines in blue, as we can see on these pics :





These are caps from a behind the scenes video showing how they made the suit.

It's a cool detail and I understand that it could be left out as it's under the shoe and won't be seen in the end. But if I sticked to that idea, I wouldn't bother painting the whole thing in red and leave it yellow as it's under the shoe too.
So I did it afterall and I don't regret it, looks way cooler than all red

Then I painted the top part in metallic silver and red with a custom acrylic mix.
The first attempt was too light for my taste so I had to darken the mix a bit to get a proper color.
Got rid of the brush marks after several coats. I wanted to clear coat the whole thing but I like it better with a matte finish





Looks pretty good and accurate for a cheaper price

Now I just have to wait for my print to get here to start the REAL deal.
Let's hope it won't take too long :unsure

You did an outstanding job on the shoes!!! I see you painted the yellow part in the middle red, how is it holding up? i want to use a super permanent red paint on that if any. I feel hopeless not getting a red/silver pair my size but you just gave me some confidence! I got the MLC34N pattern so im not gonna let the shoes be my suits biggest fault lol

On point! Excelsior!

Shoes look great!

I'm wondering if you've given much thought/research yet to painting the suit? It seems to be the most amount of searching and questions I have revolve around this.

I've been scouring Redtogusa's, Propazoid's, SimmCity, quovadis0920, and others for as much info as I can, but there are still a few things I'm unclear on and would love some more opinions.

Painting the suit sewn vs. unsewn:
The consensus seems to be that painting the suit before sewing is easiest and gets the best results and several threads have mentioned needing to stretch the fabric before you paint it whereas if you sew the suit first and paint on a mannequin the fabric will be stretched at the correct size. SO, if painting before sewing, how do you correctly stretch the fabric? Stretch the fabric a bit in each direction and then letting it lay flat and unstretched to paint, or pinning/clipping (to maintain the stretch) the fabric on a painting surface stretched to a correct size to paint? And if so, how do you determine how much stretch is correct?

Paint types and colours:
The standard seems to be Tulip brand puffy paint in red, black, and navy. Most people have not seen many problems with stretching or cracking, and the product recommends heat treating, but from what I gather for these Spidey suits most people don't heat the paint. Another option is dylon paint (for the correct shade of blue with Dylon Redtogusa recommends a 70/30 blue/black mixture). Quovadis0920 used a "Rubberized Opaque Textile Paint", which after some googling I think is this stuff: TULCO Opaque Rubberized Textile Ink
So I'm not sure if there is a pointed question here, just hoping some people weigh in with their experiences, opinions, what choices they made and why.

Another tip I remember reading (but I can't remember where) is to take the cap off the paint bottle to let any air bubbles escape as they can cause problems when painting.

Some makers also use special bottles with fine tips or even syringes to finely apply the paint, but plenty others apply straight from the bottle. I have a feeling I'll get the fine metal tips like these: GUTTA APPLICATOR BOTTLES WITH METAL TIPS

What are your thoughts for faceshell, with or without? Mask attached or detached?

CWillis13 said:

You did an outstanding job on the shoes!!! I see you painted the yellow part in the middle red, how is it holding up? i want to use a super permanent red paint on that if any. I feel hopeless not getting a red/silver pair my size but you just gave me some confidence! I got the MLC34N pattern so im not gonna let the shoes be my suits biggest fault lol

Click to expand...

It holds pretty well but if you scratch it hard with your nail, it will come out :confused I'm sure your shoes will look great

El Fett said:

On point! Excelsior!

Click to expand...

I followed your progression with such envy, I hope I'll make you feel the same with my build mate, you're still the first owner of a McLean suit and definitely inspired a lot of people with that mark 1 suit.

LastMinute said:

Shoes look great!

I'm wondering if you've given much thought/research yet to painting the suit? It seems to be the most amount of searching and questions I have revolve around this.

I've been scouring Redtogusa's, Propazoid's, SimmCity, quovadis0920, and others for as much info as I can, but there are still a few things I'm unclear on and would love some more opinions.

Painting the suit sewn vs. unsewn:
The consensus seems to be that painting the suit before sewing is easiest and gets the best results and several threads have mentioned needing to stretch the fabric before you paint it whereas if you sew the suit first and paint on a mannequin the fabric will be stretched at the correct size. SO, if painting before sewing, how do you correctly stretch the fabric? Stretch the fabric a bit in each direction and then letting it lay flat and unstretched to paint, or pinning/clipping (to maintain the stretch) the fabric on a painting surface stretched to a correct size to paint? And if so, how do you determine how much stretch is correct?

Paint types and colours:
The standard seems to be Tulip brand puffy paint in red, black, and navy. Most people have not seen many problems with stretching or cracking, and the product recommends heat treating, but from what I gather for these Spidey suits most people don't heat the paint. Another option is dylon paint (for the correct shade of blue with Dylon Redtogusa recommends a 70/30 blue/black mixture). Quovadis0920 used a "Rubberized Opaque Textile Paint", which after some googling I think is this stuff: TULCO Opaque Rubberized Textile Ink
So I'm not sure if there is a pointed question here, just hoping some people weigh in with their experiences, opinions, what choices they made and why.

Another tip I remember reading (but I can't remember where) is to take the cap off the paint bottle to let any air bubbles escape as they can cause problems when painting.

Some makers also use special bottles with fine tips or even syringes to finely apply the paint, but plenty others apply straight from the bottle. I have a feeling I'll get the fine metal tips like these: GUTTA APPLICATOR BOTTLES WITH METAL TIPS

What are your thoughts for faceshell, with or without? Mask attached or detached?

Click to expand...

Hi mate, I went with the same amount of reserch and reading as you before I decided to tackle my own build so I would give my dream suit justice.

Concerning the painting process, I think it's better to paint with the suit laying flat on some cardboard or foam using some pins.
I don't think we need to over stretch the fabric, just enough to keep some flexibility once the paint is dried so it won't break under pressure.
Painting this way also allows to maintain the same amount of tension on all the fabric and definitely helps to keep a steady hand and paint with more precision.

Regarding the paint, I bought some Tulip deep red and Tulip true red. I went with Navy Blue and Tulip black as people use them and I know they work pretty well. I don't want to try other kind of paint and risk to ruin my print testing it :lol

I bought a metal tip to gain more precision but I don't think it's really necessary (at least when I practice on paper). It definitely helps but it's not vital.

I think I'll use a faceshell just to keep a good Spidey face shape. Using magnets to attach the lenses also permits easy repair/replacing. Cleaning thesuit would be easier with removable lenses instead of having them glued on the mask.

Finally, I think the suit would look way better with a mask attached to the body, keeping the web continuity. I'm not to found of overlaping mask just for the purpose of easy removal. The best way to associate pratical aspect and visual effect would be to put a zipper behind the neck or on the back shoulder, having then, a drop mask.

I can't wait to see and follow your progress !

Now I must be patient a keep hoping to see a box with my print waiting for me when I got home. I'll make sure to let you guys know and share my joy once this day will come

Nice job on the dirt dogs, they look very accurate

Very nice job some points in there that will help with mine like the sole blue lines thanks for posting

That moment you decide to become a hero. (Eeeeeee!)

Awesome man! I know that feeling, I had it when I got my DGP suit I can only imagine the feeling with a MCLE4N print!

Damn man, my heart just stopped for a second..
You just killed me as I'm still waiting for mine after almost 2 month.. ****g postale service, you guys don't realise your chance.
It's a very nice pic though, Keep posting your progress here so we can all be jaleous :lol

LastMinute said:

That moment you decide to become a hero. (Eeeeeee!)

Click to expand...

lol, im looking at my McLean suit behind me right now. Its a damn good feeling.

Also, what paint did you use on the bottom of the shoe that didnt chip off on the yellow part? Im using spray paint and acrylic for everything.

I'm so envious of you guys..
I used acrylic paint to but as I said, it tends to come off when you scratch it. But as it's under I doesn't bother me that much

I've gone cross eyed and now all I see are hexagons....

Shoes are done and puff painting has begun. I'm using Tulip Slick in Black, Deep Red and Navy, no colour mixing. Bottle tips seem to be doing the trick just fine, although the blue seems to be really watery out of the bottle so I'm shaking a lot and going to do that last when I'm confident it won't run.

With regard to stretching I think you only need to stretch very little as you paint or even not at all. On my test patches I didn't stretch at all and after the paint dried I was able to stretch the fabric a LOT (far more than it would on my body) without the paint cracking and with it still returning to its original shape. On the flip side, if you stretch too far as you paint it will seep through the fibers.

I'll post new pictures soon!

This is looking promising, can't wait to see some pics !
The stretching point you talk about is actually pretty interesting.. I read often that 2 layers were needed as the first one soaks into the fabric.
Do you think one layer is enough or would you still recommand to do two for precaution ?

You should still stretch the fabric before puff painting for multiple reasons. First the puff paint does have a lot of stretch, but as you fill larger areas of the suit with it the necessary force to stretch it increases. This results in the suit being too tight in certain areas. Also when you stretch the fabric the honeycomb thins and flattens out. If you stretch it while applying, you'll get more dimensional results. As for two layers of puff paint, I've never done this myself, but I have had the puff paint soak into the fabric and go flat before. You just need to make sure you REALLY lay the puff paint on thick while you apply it. It will always flatten out a bit while drying.

Thanks for the tips MCL34N, I'll make sure to stretch the fabric correctly
Honestly I don't see myself painting the whole thing twice.
I can't even imagine how El Fett Can do all these suits, he and his wife must be machines to get this level of perfection :lol