Fantastic Four "The Thing" Costume - suggestions? (expanding-foam experts welcome)

[MadMike]

Originally, my Karneval-group wanted to build a float for this year's Rosenmontag-parade with the topic "Superheroes". I thought about which costume to build/wear and ended up with the decision of The Thing from the Fantastic Four. Although we chose a different topic in the end, i quite liked the idea of the costume, so I think i'll do it anyway. And as I don't have the problem to finish the costume asap now, I wanted to gather some ideas before starting a trial-and-error build.

My first idea was to create a movie-like Thing-costume (as he wears normal jeans in the movies instead of the shorts in the comics, so i don't have to sculp or build the legs) with the comic-like face (as i like it more than the movie-verson).
For the torso, I planned to take a disposable overall (as you wear them for painting), cover it with cheap expanding foam straight out of the can and carve it so it looks like the rock-structure. The same thing should be done with gloves for the hands and elbow-protectors (instead of applying the foam directly on the overall, for better flexibility)

As I haven't started the build yet (and don't sven have a sketch of my idea), there are no pictures I can show you. But for this moment, I just wanna know: is it possible the way I'm thinking? Has anyone already applied foam o clothes (on purpose)? And if so, how was the flexability?

Or (and this is perhaps the most important point), are there any suggestions how to make it better?

I've seen two different Thing-costumes up to now, one made out of real rocks (which would be definitely too heavy to wear all day), and one built by an RPF-member (unfortunately, he didn't give any details about how he did it, nor does he answer to PMs), so there is not much base i could research or copy. And as said, I better ask in advance before starting something which is doomed to fail right from the beginning.

Thanks in advance!

 

[DaddyfromNaboo]

Re: Fantastic Four "The Thing" Costume - suggestions? (expanding-foam experts welcome

"Expanding foam" sounds like it´s going to be a very hot costume. I´d say you could apply the camping mat/foamies technique by building a basic underarmor and then apply slabs to create the surface. Not saying that this technique necessarily makes for a cooler costume

You could contact our member Vermithrax4 for tips on building such a costume, since he is a professional mascot maker. Mascot might be a good search term to find more members who build larger-than-life character costumes.

 

[Amish Trooper]

Re: Fantastic Four "The Thing" Costume - suggestions? (expanding-foam experts welcome

Yeah I would avoid expanding foam for reasons mentioned above. I would go with a substructure and add mats to that. It will breathe and you may have improved mobility.

 

[loganallenwolf]

Re: Fantastic Four "The Thing" Costume - suggestions? (expanding-foam experts welcome

Here's some more example Thing costumes:

The Thing in Fantastic Four Forum

Foam over a spandex suit is definitely one way to go as you'll see.

Since many principles also can apply, here's a great video on how to make a mascot too:

YouTube - How It's Made-Mascots

Hope that all helps!

Allen