Radical! Creating a totally awesome 90's Donatello!
- Thread starter Grimwood
- Start date
wholesomejoe
Active Member
Grim, let's talk more about how you did your muscle suit. I'm about to start mine, and I want to fix your neck issue right off the bat.
wholesomejoe
I found a great set of instructions for creating a muscle suit. It consists of 2 compression shirts sewn together. It's a neat idea, but didn't work for me. I ended up using one compression shirt with the muscles made of foam I wanted glued directly to the shirt. You can buy some pretty strong spray adhesive. Let this stuff get tacky and for gods sake, don't wear the shirt and spray the stuff on you without a cotton t shirt or something underneath the compression shirt. I had some pretty serious skin tears from ripping the glued from my chest and inner thighs. (ouch)
Anyhow, once the muscles are applied, let them dry. Remember, you don't need to go much below the pectorals since this will be covered with the shell chest plate. Then take a large piece of 1/4" upholstery foam and put it on like a poncho. Determine the best coverage area, then make a hole that your head can fit through. I saw a tut on here that had pieces glued individually over the arms and chest and that seemed like a good way to do it, but I could never get the foam to lay the way I wanted to that way. Too much separation between muscles which left massive "cuts". So, I had an assistant who would spray a small area, on both me and the shirt and foam, wait a minute or two, then started pressing foam into place. Make sure you have plenty of slack for the creases between muscles and press and hold these into place. This never went as smoothly as I hoped it would but with patience and perseverance you should be able to get it to do what you want. I finished the chest first then went back and added foam to each arm individually. It was just too difficult to do it with one large piece. You can hide the seams pretty well on the inner aspect of the arms. also hiding seams in the creases worked well for areas like the shoulders. Take your time and you'll be able to make an awesome muscle suit. TIP: Watch your seams behind the shoulders, If you plan to move your arms, make sure you leave a bit of slack so that you can put it on and take if off without tearing the hell out of the foam each time.
For the pants, I used a pair of compression pants and followed the same process. This is almost impossible by yourself. I also created a duct tape dummy thinking I'd be able to work on it by myself, but the dummy was too mushy to get any kind of definition in those muscles. My son ended up helping me and it worked out well.
For the paint and latex I used RD407 Mask Latex from Monster makers and mixed it with a shade of green that I liked once the suit was foamed completely. Remember how much paint you add to the latex so you get consistent results. My arms are a bit lighter than the body and mask, but it seems to be fine. Then, start applying the paint latex mix liberally over the torso. Remember you don't need to make a muscled forearm since that will be hidden inside your gloves anyway. Mine just kind of ends with a bit of overlap that I stuff into the gloves.
I think I added a total of 3 coats of latex paint over the body. The great thing is it kind of has a lizardy skin texture because of the upholstery foam.
As far as the neck piece, I think I'm going to make a flap that will lay over my neck when I'm wearing the mask. This area isn't insanely visible anyway so as long as the paint matches, it should work well. I will post some pics when I get to that point.
Obviously, you'll want to wash the suit. I recommend spraying it with a soap and water mixture on the inside, let it sit for about 10 minutes then rinse the soap off. It's best to be freshly showered before donning the suit. If you don't, it'll get ripe quickly.
If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask! I plan to re-do certain parts of my suit eventually.
Good luck!
I found a great set of instructions for creating a muscle suit. It consists of 2 compression shirts sewn together. It's a neat idea, but didn't work for me. I ended up using one compression shirt with the muscles made of foam I wanted glued directly to the shirt. You can buy some pretty strong spray adhesive. Let this stuff get tacky and for gods sake, don't wear the shirt and spray the stuff on you without a cotton t shirt or something underneath the compression shirt. I had some pretty serious skin tears from ripping the glued from my chest and inner thighs. (ouch)
Anyhow, once the muscles are applied, let them dry. Remember, you don't need to go much below the pectorals since this will be covered with the shell chest plate. Then take a large piece of 1/4" upholstery foam and put it on like a poncho. Determine the best coverage area, then make a hole that your head can fit through. I saw a tut on here that had pieces glued individually over the arms and chest and that seemed like a good way to do it, but I could never get the foam to lay the way I wanted to that way. Too much separation between muscles which left massive "cuts". So, I had an assistant who would spray a small area, on both me and the shirt and foam, wait a minute or two, then started pressing foam into place. Make sure you have plenty of slack for the creases between muscles and press and hold these into place. This never went as smoothly as I hoped it would but with patience and perseverance you should be able to get it to do what you want. I finished the chest first then went back and added foam to each arm individually. It was just too difficult to do it with one large piece. You can hide the seams pretty well on the inner aspect of the arms. also hiding seams in the creases worked well for areas like the shoulders. Take your time and you'll be able to make an awesome muscle suit. TIP: Watch your seams behind the shoulders, If you plan to move your arms, make sure you leave a bit of slack so that you can put it on and take if off without tearing the hell out of the foam each time.
For the pants, I used a pair of compression pants and followed the same process. This is almost impossible by yourself. I also created a duct tape dummy thinking I'd be able to work on it by myself, but the dummy was too mushy to get any kind of definition in those muscles. My son ended up helping me and it worked out well.
For the paint and latex I used RD407 Mask Latex from Monster makers and mixed it with a shade of green that I liked once the suit was foamed completely. Remember how much paint you add to the latex so you get consistent results. My arms are a bit lighter than the body and mask, but it seems to be fine. Then, start applying the paint latex mix liberally over the torso. Remember you don't need to make a muscled forearm since that will be hidden inside your gloves anyway. Mine just kind of ends with a bit of overlap that I stuff into the gloves.
I think I added a total of 3 coats of latex paint over the body. The great thing is it kind of has a lizardy skin texture because of the upholstery foam.
As far as the neck piece, I think I'm going to make a flap that will lay over my neck when I'm wearing the mask. This area isn't insanely visible anyway so as long as the paint matches, it should work well. I will post some pics when I get to that point.
Obviously, you'll want to wash the suit. I recommend spraying it with a soap and water mixture on the inside, let it sit for about 10 minutes then rinse the soap off. It's best to be freshly showered before donning the suit. If you don't, it'll get ripe quickly.
If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask! I plan to re-do certain parts of my suit eventually.
Good luck!
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Elderscrollsfan
Jr Member
Pretty great that you use the suit to visit sick children. I know if I saw a Ninja Turtle when I was a kid, I would have freaked. Donatello is my favorite, too
