The Flash TV show Suit

Ok so I dug up the old Starlog copy that had info and pics of this suit! Here it is. I have the whole article scanned if u want it.
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He also told me that it cost about $75,000.00 to make that costume!

Eh, my interpretation is that 75k is what they BILLED Warner to build the thing.

Even a full crew working non stop for a couple weeks wouldn't cost you that much. I dunno, I can't see how that would be the case in nineties bucks, even at union wages.

But point taken.
 
Also people got to know that silicon moulds for a helmet cost arround 500 USD and it got limited lifetime for casting.
Imagine a whole suit with silicon moulds. And i dont dare to say how much we spent on the Ironman project.

The molds for the flash muscle parts would have been stone, allowing them to cook the foam in the oven. Depending on what type they were using, it's still orders of magnitude cheaper than silicone.

I recall seeing a documentary on the making of the costume. Might have been a segment on entertainment tonight or something. Many years ago. They interviewed the dude pictured in that starlog article. I recall him speaking about the introduction of the cool-suit into the costume, and how much JWShipp loved it. I may have that on VHS somewhere, but I have no idea where.
 
if i remember that doc was shown before an episode maybe even the pilot. I think they were trying to get some ratings for the show!
 
75,000.000 for THIS suit? I gotta go with Matt on this one. Even 25,000.00 is a stretch, though more plausible.
 
I could see it costing that much cash, with all the R&D that they put in to repurpose the electro static flocking process. That must have been a huge amount of trial and error.
 
I could see it costing that much cash, with all the R&D that they put in to repurpose the electro static flocking process. That must have been a huge amount of trial and error.

I have to agree. Back then there wasn't the resources as readily available for this kind of thing, and some things cost alot more because of that. And yes, they also are in business to make money! Let's see...rent on the space they have, people on the clock, materials, inventing and designing something never done to this degree before. Sure!
 
This was a great thread, thanks for sharing the photos and that GREAT email by the man himself.

I loved that show when I was younger, and I confess. My parents bought me red sweat pants and a red sweat shirt and I taped a paper logo on my chest. I was the Flash when I was about 11 year old!


What a fun thread! I am going to have to buy the DVD now!
 
minus two points for not reading the thread before posting!!! :lol

Agreed! :lol
But I still say give the guy +3 points because, well.........just because.:thumbsup

Dave took some heat for that suit but remember, it was done in 3 days...from beginning to end.:wacko

Rimma:cool
 
There's also a long discussion of this suit inside the Flash Companion available at Amazon.

To be honest, you can buy a muscle suit, put a spandex suit over it...then coat it with latex and get something every similar to this. The flocking doesnt even cost that much.

You could make this suit for less than $600 including the molded belt and chest symbol.
 
I would say that 75K, for the first suit would not be outrageous. In fact, working in L.A. might even be on the low end. You got shop rental, utility bills, a crew to pay. Real estate in Cali, aint like the midwest. I know of one guy who worked on the fast and furious cars, and it takes 80K a month just to keep that buisiness from going under.
I'd say that most of it comes from general overhead and labor. Also not mentioned is that the actor was bodycasted, and then you have to make a bunch of copies for everything from running foam latex, to sculpting, to finish work on the suit, and storage. then there's the foam, you run foam constantly. On a suit like this it's not ness. to use silicone, because seams will not show. but things can be much cheaper if say, I did a suit like this with no real deadline, and outa my home, and hired no help, which I never do, It would be fairly inexpensive, mostly just the time.(2-3K for one suit)
Great thing I like about this suit, is it's forgiving. unlike the later batsuits which I have ran in foam, uber pristiness is not an issue. That's another thing that can keep costs down, not having a suit that requires uber uber pristiness. sculpting is quicker, flawed foam pieces can be fixed, seams aren't an issue, even rips can be repaired to some extent.
Durabilty comes from a lot of different points of view when it comes to foam. I've been running foam suits for over 15yrs. In many ways softer foam can see more wear, because it gives into stress easier, whereas foam ran dense, will not give as easy, hence it could rip apart quicker. you can also do a number of tricks to make foam much more durable than the foam just by itself. you can also seal it from U.V. a lotta stuff can be done. but ya, it's a trip into itself, that's for sure.
 
There's also a long discussion of this suit inside the Flash Companion available at Amazon.

To be honest, you can buy a muscle suit, put a spandex suit over it...then coat it with latex and get something every similar to this. The flocking doesnt even cost that much.

You could make this suit for less than $600 including the molded belt and chest symbol.

Full respect intended, but I have to completely disagree. Unless of course you mean that you could get something that looked a little bit like the Flash, but not a whole lot like the suits used in the show.

First up, there aren't any good commercially available muscle suits. There are some on ebay, that appear to be high quality, but the proportions are more comical than accurate. There's a few low end pieces also, but they are more like padded t-shirts.

I guess the reason I know so much about why your suggestion would NOT work is because I tried it :) latex does not brush onto fabric very well, it gets clumpy. a fabric suit over a muscle suit is going to get you mixed results, usually on the poor side. And while flocking material is inexpensive, applying it is a punchy process, as I'm sure David will attest to.

I think that DESPITE the three days, the suit UD put together is the best fan made one that has been seen. It may not be bang on accurate to the tv show suit, but it's the closest anyone has come :)
 
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