Lemming
New Member
When my thirteen year old firstborn decided they wanted to make a Predator costume I knew I was raising them right. I didn't leave myself long, so only three pieces were made in time for Halloween.
We used Xieng Prod's pattern for the mask. My kid did most of the foam cutting for the bio-mask. The rest was a panicked rush on the family room floor. Even included a few rounds of caulking to fill the seam on the top.
Priming and dreads were done in Plasti Dip. (Does backer rod come in black?? Local didn't have it, and making it black was a pain!) Gauntlets were lightly dusted with chrome spray.
The mask was painted flat chrome then I decanted some gold Plasti Dip metalizer and put it through the airbrush to weather, shading with some black acrylic.
It's the first time I've used the airbrush (and I'm sure it shows!) but I'm amazed how much it transforms everything it touches!
Fun fact: When you put Plasti Dip through an airbrush, it makes cobwebs! Oh well, Halloween appropriate.
Hair beads are a copper pipe I cut down and deburred while bingeing The Expanse. There may now be calluses and bruising on my hands. The weight of the copper made the mask tilt backwards, so I glued in a baseball cap with the peak cut off.
A friend gave me a few laser diodes, which I mounted in a piece of mdf and wired up to a micro switch over which I added a greebly to make it easier to find. When worn properly, the reticle is centred for both eyes.
The underside of the EVA floor mats I used is visible in the wrist computer, but I can live with that... The blades, however, I could not, and without easy access to proper craft foam, I resorted to plywood. ("Be careful. This could hurt someone, but it will break in the process.") Used Vinman's blades pattern (only) and improvised the rest referring to photos of the replica props. They can be manually extended by yanking on them.
All in all this was lots of fun (even at crunch time) and the reaction when it was unveiled was well worth it.
Thanks for the patterns and knowledge I picked up here there and everywhere. I've learned a bunch through the mistakes and challenges, and it's the most fun I've had with my pants on during this pandemic.
-Lemming
We used Xieng Prod's pattern for the mask. My kid did most of the foam cutting for the bio-mask. The rest was a panicked rush on the family room floor. Even included a few rounds of caulking to fill the seam on the top.
Priming and dreads were done in Plasti Dip. (Does backer rod come in black?? Local didn't have it, and making it black was a pain!) Gauntlets were lightly dusted with chrome spray.
The mask was painted flat chrome then I decanted some gold Plasti Dip metalizer and put it through the airbrush to weather, shading with some black acrylic.
It's the first time I've used the airbrush (and I'm sure it shows!) but I'm amazed how much it transforms everything it touches!
Fun fact: When you put Plasti Dip through an airbrush, it makes cobwebs! Oh well, Halloween appropriate.
Hair beads are a copper pipe I cut down and deburred while bingeing The Expanse. There may now be calluses and bruising on my hands. The weight of the copper made the mask tilt backwards, so I glued in a baseball cap with the peak cut off.
A friend gave me a few laser diodes, which I mounted in a piece of mdf and wired up to a micro switch over which I added a greebly to make it easier to find. When worn properly, the reticle is centred for both eyes.
The underside of the EVA floor mats I used is visible in the wrist computer, but I can live with that... The blades, however, I could not, and without easy access to proper craft foam, I resorted to plywood. ("Be careful. This could hurt someone, but it will break in the process.") Used Vinman's blades pattern (only) and improvised the rest referring to photos of the replica props. They can be manually extended by yanking on them.
All in all this was lots of fun (even at crunch time) and the reaction when it was unveiled was well worth it.
Thanks for the patterns and knowledge I picked up here there and everywhere. I've learned a bunch through the mistakes and challenges, and it's the most fun I've had with my pants on during this pandemic.
-Lemming
