Help skinning a large snake

Hi, guys and gals!

I'm currently enjoying the feasibility study of a costume like this.


Since the engineering is going to be hairy, to say the least, that has received the most attention so far on the drawing board. But sooner or later, I'll have a finished concept and actually start building this thing.

But I really have only one prior experience of skinning a large costume and that ended up with me making 1000+ individual handprinted foam scales for half a dragon puppet. While the movement of the skin, it's flexing and folding looked absolutely amazing, it wasn't the most durable and looked best at a distance. For this project, I'd rather have something with higher surface quality.

One of my main references is the Titanoboa, a prehistoric snake size XXXL.

If I could get a flexible skin of that quality, I'd be very satisfied. But how, though?

The plan right now is to build a flexible skeleton that will move, extend and contract much like the ribs of a real-life snake. This I plan to cover with spandex, for a low-friction under-skin that the top layer skin can slide naturally on. The question is how to make this outer skin with enough flexibility, durability and surface quality and who better to ask than you? ;-)

Options I've been looking into include:

• Covering textured mattress foam with liquid latex, much like dinosaur puppet skin; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTJdywROmZ8
• Making a scaly skin mould and painting layers of latex into it, like mermaid tails are made; http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-Latex-Mermaid-Tail/?ALLSTEPS

• Sewing up a stretchy skin for it from fabric and attaching a gazillion plastic scales to it, much like Puff the mechanical dragon. https://www.facebook.com/OCDcreatio...0.1439278434./462943197204122/?type=3&theater

What would you suggest?

 

What about a couple layers of plastidip over scales? That might be sturdy enough to work and would certainly be flexible.