Ghost Rider WIP - 2014

[BinaryJungle]

Hi Everyone

Seen a couple of these on here but thought I would add my own into the mix

I went as Ghost Rider to the Bristol Comic Expo in 2012 but wanted to spruce up my effort for meeting the great man himself ... Stan Lee in London in July this year. As you can probably see from my early effort it wasn't too bad but there was a lot I didn't like about it Jacket, Flames, Skull Mask, etc. So I have started from scratch this time.

So I also wanted to look at possible light up flames, some sort of penance stare and a voice modulator ... not much of a challenge then! So the sourced materials began:

Jacket
Topman in the UK = £70

Boots
eBay = £15 (Second hand)

Trousers
Primark = £3

Spikes / Cones
eBay = £3 - £9

Mask
Some online shop = £30

Gloves
Primark = £5

Chain
B & Q = £5

So I put all of that together and got this far (apologies a bit dark):

Pretty happy so far

Penance Stare
Also made some progress with the Penance Stare prototype. Thank goodness my wife has a lot more patience with a soldering iron than I do!



I'll keep you all posted!

P.S. Anyone who can help me find some bigger spikes for my shoulders would be greatly appreciated!
P.P.S. Anyone who can suggest some better flame effects would also be greatly appreciated.

 

[BinaryJungle]

Penance Stare Undermask

So I have been looking at developing an undermask that I can wear under the main skull mask in order to darken my eyes to look like an empty skull and to also be able to provide the fabled PENANCE STARE effect.

I took some cheap sunglasses from Primark and drilled holes into the lenses using a handrill, this is so that the light doesn't have to try and shine through the lense itself. The only problem is what then to affix the lenses to, I used a cardboard eye mask to try this out but it doesn't seem to hold up very well when putting on and taking off the mask.

The actual effect isn't that bad but the eyes are white (from a night light kit in Maplin) instead of red and it is a bit flimsey, plus I need a decent switch to turn it on and off.

Next steps with this are to look at a more durable frame and to get the eyes to glow red rather than white ...

 

[BinaryJungle]

Jacket

Ahh the iconic jacket, I watched the film at the weekend and noticed that the spikes on the shoulders are quite large and my current effort doesn't really make them stand out.

Next step for the jacket is to examine bigger spikes (already ordered) and too look at some decent chains ...

 

[BinaryJungle]

Skull & Flames

Trying to find a decent mask for this is quite a challenge, many are from the states those that I have found won't post to the U.K. I found a decent looking one that is full face and made of rubber and is easy to breathe and talk in.

and then we come to the important flames for the skull, I have seen many examples on the internet and like these the best.

It looks like spray painted craft foam or plastic so next steps are to start looking for decent flame templates and to start mass producing them....

 

[BinaryJungle]

Flames

So tonight I have been busy mass producing the flames for the skull. A quick google finds a nice vector shape.

Many minutes later I have 16 of these beauties to add to the other 8 red ones that I did quickly last night.

Now the next stage is cut out and prototype a painted flame as they are a bit flimsy...

 

[BinaryJungle]

Jacket

So my giant tree spikes finally arrived and I decided to exchange the smaller ones I had been using. For comparison purposes here are the two side by side.

So when removing the old ones and adding these bad boys the jacket looks a lot more striking, however the downside is that they are very heavy and do not stand up on their own.

As you can see I have tried propping them up with some strips of rubber but think I might need something a bit sturdier in order to keep them looking menacing. Next step for these is to look at a more solid mount so that they stay in place...

 

[BinaryJungle]

Boots & Trousers

I'm going to leave these as I think they look okay at the moment

Thank god for eBay or I would never have found these boots!

 

[razorsharp192]

re: the spikes being too heavy, have you thought about moulding them and casting them in resin? you could use Alumilite metallic powders (or cold cast the pieces) to get the metal effect on them, and that way they'd be lighter so "should" stand up on their own

 

[BinaryJungle]

Thanks for the tip about casting Never done that before so may look into it!


Penance Stare
Had a revelation over the weekend while shopping for costume bits regarding my penance stare undermask, I picked up a cheap pair of sunglasses that had a solid frame to see if I could wear them under the mask.

It is a little tight but it does fit and does a good job at covering the eyes.

I also managed to find some red LED's on eBay similar to the white ones I used in my prototype, they are high power LED's, I haven't been able to find anything safety related on the milliamps / nm values so may need to diffuse the output light.

As you can see they are very flat unlike traditional LED's, this makes the gluing into the lenses a bit easier.

When drilling into a lens I have found a slow hand drill to be most effective, don't rush it and slowly drill through.

I used a drill bit large enough to fit the bulb but not the base through.

Then comes my favourite bit whith is the soldering ... luckily my wife did this for me and then glued the LED's into the lenses using super glue.

A bit more wiring later and version 2.0 is ready to test out, definetely a marked improvement on the initial prototype.

Need to look at a suitable control mechanism to activate the stare and to also consider the safety of the light as looking at it straight on is very debilitating!

 

[Roswellianism]

Wooooow. I really dig the Penance Stare look in the last pic. Part of me wants to tell you to not diffuse it, as something that bright would throw people off, much like the actual Penance Stare. Buuuut, safety is a big concern in propmaking, especially safety to others.

Maybe a removable coating? That way, when you're out on the floor, you can leave them coated and it'd be safe for people to look at, then if you get up onstage for, like, a contest or something, you can take the coating off so the audience can get the full effect when you're standing quite a ways away from them.

 

[BinaryJungle]

Something removable would be preferred, I'll try think of some ideas ... anyone else welcome to contribute!

Taking a break for a couple of days from the costume as been working on it every night. Think I might scrap the voice modulator idea and the light up flames for practical purposes.

Seen on some pictures that Ghost Rider has some form of gauntlet / bracer with spikes so will think about this as well.

 

[BinaryJungle]

Flames

Okay so have made some further progress with the foam flames. Managed to spray a bunch of them with a red base coat before beginning a stencilling of orange and yellow.

As you can see the stencilling looked okayish but thought real flames are far from the same so should try a more random approach.

The hands free spraying of yellow and then orange I think works a lot better for the flames The base plate (which I intend to attach to the jacket) looks pretty good as well.

Can't wait for these to try to dry so I can start building the flame effect

 

[Il Princerino]

Something removable would be preferred, I'll try think of some ideas ... anyone else welcome to contribute!

Taking a break for a couple of days from the costume as been working on it every night. Think I might scrap the voice modulator idea and the light up flames for practical purposes.

Seen on some pictures that Ghost Rider has some form of gauntlet / bracer with spikes so will think about this as well.

I don't know how much room you have in your mask, but maybe slide in another set of lenses from sunglasses in front of them.

 

[BinaryJungle]

I don't know how much room you have in your mask, but maybe slide in another set of lenses from sunglasses in front of them.

Thanks for the suggestion I tried this last night but not quite enough room in there think i might try and find some thinner material, maybe that film motorcycle riders put on their visors?

 

[BinaryJungle]

Flames

I spent a little while tonight formulating my plan for the flames, essentially I'm going to have a collar that is attached to the jacket that can be removed using metal popper attachments. I bought some tools and popper fastners from a local shop and proceeded to attach them to both the flame collar and the jacket.

The collar is pretty small for the flames but this layer is only going to serve as the foundation layer which other flames will be mounted on. Upon trying it on it is relatively stable.

So it doesn't look too bad but eager to try on the first stage of the flames once the glue has dried.

Think I'm going to need some more flames!

 

[BinaryJungle]

Flames


So the glue dried and I think it looks pretty good.

Will build on this when I have made some more flames!

 

[BinaryJungle]

UPDATE

So have taken a couple of nights off of the project to evaluate what is left to complete.

FLAMES - Still need a couple more spray painted flames for the collar to increase the overall size of the flame.
MASK - I have made some changes to the mask and penance stare under mask which I will hopefully post in a couple of days to see if it has been successful.
VOICE - So I didn't go for a voice modulator in the end but think I have come up with something else a bit cooler ... eagerly awaiting a package in the post.
GLOVES - Need to track down so more gauntlet like motorcycle gloves so I can connect the penance stare mechanism to make it easy to activate.

Then I think I'm done!

 

[BinaryJungle]

Update

So have been working on and off on the costume recently and able to post an updated pic.

 

[Peek73]

Update

So have been working on and off on the costume recently and able to post an updated pic.

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3858/14505169561_c8bc2d0bd3.jpg

Dude that freakin ROCKS!! Always been a rider fan, and I love your interpretation..

 

[Fly4v]

Lower the lights and give a penance stare, people won't sleep for a week.