Everybody knows what I'm on about :love
... and I've had my mind on this for quite a while. I've been looking around the net for years, and never found one that quite cut it. It was either $1700-$2300 for this (edit - gone up from $900) ... not ! .. or make one myself
Little did I know ........ :lol
To cut quite a few loooong stories short, this 'build' has been a total disaster from the start.
I'd finish something, look at it and say "What the HELL were you thinking !!" :lol
Never before have I had a 'build' go so wrong, so I not only share the good things with you, but also the terrible :lol
First, I put my big foot in it when I started off by getting this hat
When it arrived, it was so totally the wrong shape , and I tried to fix it by stuffing it with a cardboard shape to give it some form.
Not so bad I suppose
The idea was to use a real crocodile band with real teeth, so I got one of these from Australia
The idea was to increase the number of teeth on the band (they were supposed to be claws really), to make a band with many more 'claws'.
So I got me these.
WARNING :
TAXIDERMY AHEAD.
IF YOU GET :sick IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM, DO NOT CLICK THE SPOILER !
Therefore, I ended up just sticking the band I got on the hat
It looked terrible :cry
So finally, I grabbed myself by the scruff of the neck and told myself to CONCENTRATE and start all over.
Step one - I got me a better looking hat
The band on the Crocodile Dundee hat is in fact believed not have been Crocodile at all, but snake-skin.
So I got me a leather and real snake-skin hat band. I couldn't find one that was the right shades, so I proceeded to touch it up myself.
Since the Croc teeth on the band I had got looked cool, I got me some more real ones.
Since the animals are not killed just for their teeth, these just fall off and are collected, but they are therefore hollow.
No worries. Nothing some filling with resin won't fix :lol
An acrylic wash to make then look dirty, drilled holes in them, and used a leather cord. I also cheated a little by adding an extra cm of resin to the central 'claw' to make it bigger.
An improvised hat-stand using the leftover acrylic plates from the Star Trek 3D Chess build
And FINALLY, I had my Crocodile Dundee Hat !
And how it looks in the deco.
... and I've had my mind on this for quite a while. I've been looking around the net for years, and never found one that quite cut it. It was either $1700-$2300 for this (edit - gone up from $900) ... not ! .. or make one myself
Little did I know ........ :lol
To cut quite a few loooong stories short, this 'build' has been a total disaster from the start.
I'd finish something, look at it and say "What the HELL were you thinking !!" :lol
Never before have I had a 'build' go so wrong, so I not only share the good things with you, but also the terrible :lol
First, I put my big foot in it when I started off by getting this hat
When it arrived, it was so totally the wrong shape , and I tried to fix it by stuffing it with a cardboard shape to give it some form.
Not so bad I suppose
The idea was to use a real crocodile band with real teeth, so I got one of these from Australia
The idea was to increase the number of teeth on the band (they were supposed to be claws really), to make a band with many more 'claws'.
So I got me these.
WARNING :
TAXIDERMY AHEAD.
IF YOU GET :sick IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM, DO NOT CLICK THE SPOILER !
Gotta love eBay :lol
These are genuine alligator (croc / gator, who cares :lol) keychain paws.
I took off the metal key holders.
Cut them up into individual claws
And tried everything under the sun to 'rehydrate the skin. Here they are, amongst the various experiments, soaking in a mixture of water and spirit
NOTHING worked. There was too much varnish, and they were solid as a rock.
Only one thing for it
THAT worked :lol, and they rehydrated. So I proceeded to cut off the skin.
cry:cry
They shrunk !
Waaaay too small :thumbsdown
So then I looked into getting genuine gator toes (yes, they also exist on eBay :lol), but the seller I found was being a right old pain, and it took a couple of weeks of me corresponding with him to ensure I got the right sizes, and I was getting nowhere.
So that idea went out the window.
These are genuine alligator (croc / gator, who cares :lol) keychain paws.
I took off the metal key holders.
Cut them up into individual claws
And tried everything under the sun to 'rehydrate the skin. Here they are, amongst the various experiments, soaking in a mixture of water and spirit
NOTHING worked. There was too much varnish, and they were solid as a rock.
Only one thing for it
THAT worked :lol, and they rehydrated. So I proceeded to cut off the skin.
cry:cry
They shrunk !
Waaaay too small :thumbsdown
So then I looked into getting genuine gator toes (yes, they also exist on eBay :lol), but the seller I found was being a right old pain, and it took a couple of weeks of me corresponding with him to ensure I got the right sizes, and I was getting nowhere.
So that idea went out the window.
Therefore, I ended up just sticking the band I got on the hat
It looked terrible :cry
So finally, I grabbed myself by the scruff of the neck and told myself to CONCENTRATE and start all over.
Step one - I got me a better looking hat
The band on the Crocodile Dundee hat is in fact believed not have been Crocodile at all, but snake-skin.
So I got me a leather and real snake-skin hat band. I couldn't find one that was the right shades, so I proceeded to touch it up myself.
Since the Croc teeth on the band I had got looked cool, I got me some more real ones.
Since the animals are not killed just for their teeth, these just fall off and are collected, but they are therefore hollow.
No worries. Nothing some filling with resin won't fix :lol
An acrylic wash to make then look dirty, drilled holes in them, and used a leather cord. I also cheated a little by adding an extra cm of resin to the central 'claw' to make it bigger.
An improvised hat-stand using the leftover acrylic plates from the Star Trek 3D Chess build
And FINALLY, I had my Crocodile Dundee Hat !
And how it looks in the deco.
Last edited: