Bio Mask Wip - Currently Attempting Dry Brushing

[ASonOfZebedee]

So here is my 1st bio mask. Not my design. I started with a pep file, did a plastic slush cast, sanded the paper off, filled in the holes/imperfections with bondo, primed, matte acrylic black coat, matte acrylic silver coat, acrylic black wash, matte clear coat. It was a fun project and I plan on doing more after my move. Last pic shows the scratches better on the left cheek.

 

[made007]

Thats looking good bro
Your doing the whole suit?
Or just the helmet?

 

[ASonOfZebedee]

For the moment just a helm. I realize that it's missing the tube on the left side. This piece was mainly a learning experience for the whole process and this will likely be a wall mounted display only. The next one, however, will probably be the beginning of a full suit.

 

[Lflank]

So here is my 1st bio mask. Not my design. I started with a pep file, did a plastic slush cast, sanded the paper off, filled in the holes/imperfections with bondo, primed, matte acrylic black coat, matte acrylic silver coat, acrylic black wash, matte clear coat. It was a fun project and I plan on doing more after my move. Last pic shows the scratches better on the left cheek.

It turned out very nice.  

For a long time I avoided pepakura because I don't have the patience to glue all those little pieces together.  But now I've done several pep projects, and have changed my mind---it's a very nice way to make props, especially if I use foamie instead of cardstock.  Pep does have its limitations---it doesn't handle curved surfaces very well (without a lot of coating and sanding, which I try to avoid). It works best on flat, boxy or angular surfaces. But it's definitely a useful skill to have in the toolkit.  

 

[BonzRus]

Good job! Pep is not easy but you really did well. Will you do something similar for your next bio?

Steve

 

[ASonOfZebedee]

It turned out very nice.  

For a long time I avoided pepakura because I don't have the patience to glue all those little pieces together.  But now I've done several pep projects, and have changed my mind---it's a very nice way to make props, especially if I use foamie instead of cardstock.  Pep does have its limitations---it doesn't handle curved surfaces very well (without a lot of coating and sanding, which I try to avoid). It works best on flat, boxy or angular surfaces. But it's definitely a useful skill to have in the toolkit.  

Thanks. Yeah, pep is good for boxy stuff. It was a bit of an issue with all the sanding but I made sure to build up the underside of my slush cast with the intention of having to sand a lot to get a nice smooth, round surface. I haven't done any pep work with foamies but I have read a little about it. The only foamie stuff I have done was all free form stuff that I cut, heated to shape, cooled, then ModgePodged and went from there.

Good job! Pep is not easy but you really did well. Will you do something similar for your next bio?

Steve

Thanks Steve. Your 1st bio puts mine to shame but we all gotta start somewhere right? God just gave us vastly different levels of talent. Haha. My next bio will likely be similarly done because I can easily make just one for display/wearing, the costs are pretty low, and there is less mess. After reading about your mask building technique, I would totally love to try it but since I'm moving from my apartment to another apartment, I'll have to wait on that technique till I get a garage/workshop. Lord willing, I do plan on doing a custom bio sculpt from oil clay at some point but with the move and starting a new job my creation time is going to be halted for a while.



I decided my mask needed a little something-something so I made some lenses outta crafting wireform. Painted them and glued them in. Now I gotta design a wall mounting device.

Peace!

 

[BonzRus]

Nothing shameful about it, just different methods and directions. I would love to try my hand and clay sculpting sometime just to see how it would turn out but I may not have the opportunity. In any event, again, you did a really good job with this and I appreciate it because I tried pep and I know what is involved. 

Steve

 

[wonko]

Just throwin' this out there to show one of the ways I hang my bio's.  Sorry for the crappy pic!

Brian

 

[ASonOfZebedee]

Brian, did you make that mount or did you purchase it somewhere? Also, the lense in your bio, where'd it come from? That's more the style lens I was looking for but didn't have anything local so I made my own.

 

[wonko]

The wall "plaque" I made from 1/2" MDF.  The back of the plaque is routed to accept wall hangers, and the bio hangs off of the plaque by clear 40lb. test fishing line (the bio weighs almost 10 lbs).  A piece of 1" pvc pipe is cut to length and placed in the "snout" area to lift it off the plaque a little.  As far as lenses, I use expanded aluminum mesh with polished aluminium flashing behind it.  Obviously you can't see through the aluminum, but it's just a display piece so it really doesn't matter.  The mesh I use was salvaged from one of those old 6' satellite dishes years ago, and as you can imagine, I have more than enough of it make lenses.  I have one of Steve's (Bonzrus) L2 bios that I'm making a custom display stand for now, so watch for the finished bio and stand soon.

Brian

 

[ASonOfZebedee]

Guess I really shouldn't call my mask done since I keep working on it and changing things. Meh. I added some blaster scoring via dry brushing. Never dry brushed before so it was a good learning experience. I also changed the eyes for the 3rd time in as many days. I think I will keep them like they are now since it is only a display piece. I took two pieces of clear packaging material (a preformed cake pan in this case), cut and formed the pieces for each eye, then painted the back one with a mirroring spray-paint from Krylon. Pretty cool effect. Then I sandwiched some black netting I got from JoAnn's for 17 cents between the two and viola! I like the effect. I think it will be much more apparent when I repaint my mask, which will likely happen in about a month when I'm moved into my new place. Today was my real last day to work on this since it's now packing time. yay........

 

[wonko]

The blast marks turned out good, and the lenses are awesome.  Considering this is PEP, you did a really good job on it.  The thing that always bothered me about the PEP bio's was the way the "cheek" areas flair out so much.  I did one way back when I was first getting into prop building, and it didn't turn out anything like yours, so much props to you!

Brian

 

[ASonOfZebedee]

The blast marks turned out good, and the lenses are awesome.  Considering this is PEP, you did a really good job on it.  The thing that always bothered me about the PEP bio's was the way the "cheek" areas flair out so much.  I did one way back when I was first getting into prop building, and it didn't turn out anything like yours, so much props to you!
 
Brian

Thanks Brian!

When I first started on this bio I had no idea about the lair. After I assembled the pep file and had it sitting in my office gathering dust for 6 months I finally decided to begin the process of making it into a mask. Only after I had slush castes it with my SmoothOn did I join the lair and see how the cheeks go way too far back compaired to other bios. Oh well. Next time I'll do things differently. If I work off a pep file again I'll make sure to check the cheek positions to see how far out they stick and how far back they go. You can sorta see te right cheek sticks out a bit farther than the left does an that also bothers me but for a first attempt from a pep file I'm pretty stoked by the outcome.