Immortan Joe Build and Reference

[logan74k]

Hi all,
I'm sitting here fondly remembering the good old days when I could kick back and skim through the Joe threads here, chortling to myself as I thought, "You poor, poor bastards" for the degree of research, effort and complexity in reproducing this costume.



Now that I've finally been roped into building Joe myself, I've noticed that there are fantastic gems of hard researched information in Ahoudini and Ein's threads which you almost need a map to find again. I thought I'd start a fresh thread that would serve first as a pic and link heavy reference to those intent on accuracy, and later to document my progress over the next month or so in doing the best Joe I can muster!

I'll start with some minimally filled posts to placehold for information as we have it and the time to organize it. These first posts will be for hard factual information and/or best guess at that moment, with the idea to keep all the good information handy and accessible. I hope you will PM me when possible with corrections or new information, in an effort to keep the thread from becoming a chat room. Thanks, and I hope this will steadily become a useful resource!

I've tried to call out in bold any items that haven't been identified yet, in the hopes that folks just looking for 'the thrill of the hunt' might get some excitement and help with crowdsourcing information. It's all truly appreciated.

This is superfluous now, but will probably be handy eventually - the catalogue:

1: the mask
2: the bellows
3: the armor
4: the medals
5: left arm decor
6: grieves
7: boots
8: holster belt
9: ceremonial belt
10: the sceptre
11: underclothes

Again, please PM me with corrections, suggestions or ideas to add.

 

[logan74k]

1: The mask



Joe's mask is a completely custom sculpted piece, attached to two tan hoses from children's gas masks -often called 'Russian' masks. These are fitted via modified (to be male-male adapters) nose connectors from those same masks to black gas mask hoses, which terminate at the Bellows.

 

[logan74k]

2: The Bellows



The bellows are another custom fabricated item, seemingly sewn from leather or animal stomach perhaps over a steel or aluminum framework. They attach to his shoulders and a post in his upper back armor, and are operated in the film by mechanical means. 'intake' is via

- as yet unidentified pair of very small cone air filters, about 1.75" inches at their maximum diameter.

 

[logan74k]

3: The Armor



Joe's armor is clear with sculpted musculature and has been described as a "molded bulletproof riot shield" It consists of a breastplate, backplate, pauldrons, 2 part rerebrace and 2 piece vambraces. The armor is vacformed from most possibly PETG or lexan, and all edges are finished with a suede/moleskin trim. His chest and left arm armor are decorated.

 

[logan74k]

4: the medals and chest decor


The medals hanging on Joe's chest are some of the more labor intensive research done to date. A few of them have been sourced and the generously talented Ein has 3d modeled the remainder on his Joe progress thread:

LEFT SIDE!

* keypad - Nokia 7250i on leather backer

* pcb - Nokia 3100 on leather backer

* gold and silver eagle w/shield and anchors - US Navy Officer Cap Device - High Relief

* round laurel/scroll medal - 50mm Scroll Medal AM180 trophiesandmedals.com - hanging on layered cotton twill tape ribbon with gold - anchored with 2"+ jelly cabinet latch ... both also modeled by Ein

* hanging filagree - sideways keyhole plate hanging from cotton twill tape edged with gold trim ...modeled by Ein

* round offset laurel/bevel gear - Backing is extremely similar to: http://www.adtrophy.com/medals/colo...medals/0/30282/120:121:122:123:124:125/?sid=1
part no: IMJ-G 1-3/4" however is slightly small and the hanger loop differs.

The inner bevel gear layered on top is a traxxas 5379X differential gear.​

Hanging from mystery part ...both items modeled by Ein

* easyriders pewter eagle - easyriders magazine pewter pin ...modeled by Ein

* 500 on round star medal - miniature Ford Falcon '500' style badge on mystery medal backing - hanging from layered cotton twill ribbon twill tape, beige and red secured with 4 prong bent metal piece - modeled by Ein

RIGHT SIDE!

*(2x) fine thin heavy curb twist chain
*(1x) med thick Rolo Chain
*(2x) coarse thin cable chain - a good match was found by the foot at Home Depot as decorator's chain, in black only.

* spark plug - bosch platinum FR8DPP30X or similar http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007BLMWYI?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s01

* mini piston - mystery part, air compressor pistons are popular, but I haven't found any without the piston ring groove as the onscreen piston.

* lower chest chain attachment piece- unidentified mystery part, appears to be a turn handle of some very small variety. Modified cocktail strainers are a popular solution.


​

 

[logan74k]

5: Left Arm Decor

Joe's 'window arm' is decorated with various found items and patches.

PAULDRON



4x5 grid of 8-9mm hog ringed flattened bottlecaps, facing both ways variously. "Corona Extra" and "Badger" are two recognizable brands in the field.


"Namibia Skeleton Coast" patch - most likely available somewhere in Namibia, but not nailed down yet. Ein has an interest thread in the Junkyard for similar art done as a custom run.

"TEXAS" patch in Olde English font - possibly handwritten or hand embroidered

REREBRACE

1 full size and 1 cut down "Sheriff's Department" patch of unknown origin. Reasonably certain of the shape of texas with a red star over the Houston area - however a patch collector in Houston with 4000+ police patches has never seen one like it. Ein has an interest thread for similar art as a custom run of patches.

VAMBRACE



1 cut down "Sheriff's Department" patch as mentioned above.
(3) red mystery symbols at the wrists
(1) heraldic shield patch of unknown origin

 

[logan74k]

6: Greaves



Joe's shin protectors are custom cut leather with 4 buckle straps, decorated with Australian car emblems, unidentified metal pieces and chains.



Hamster has done a lot in modeling chains and some of these emblems, as they seem to be vintage and very difficult to source originals.


Multiple car emblems and chains on Joe's shin guards -

-'500' Emblem = 1969 Ford XW Falcon 500
-'XL' Emblem = 1971-73 Ford Cortina/Capri XL
-'GX' Emblem ~ unidentified
-'1100' Emblem ~ unidentified
- Grinder burr or gear, second row down in the center ~ unidentified
- flat disc with 8 holes and hub/spokes, top row in the center ~unidentified

 

[logan74k]

7: The Boots

Modified Harness boots with split pistons as toe protectors and a chain wrapped around the sole.



The base for Joe's boots are harness boots very similar to these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000K5PS9I?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00

The ring and 2 upper leather straps are removed, with the lower stubby strap folded down to cover the chain termination.

 

[logan74k]

8: Joe's Holster Belt/Codpiece

Heavy leather layered with castle nuts, car badges and 2 different guns, Joe's package is well protected. Details to come.

 

[logan74k]

9. ceremonial belt

A belt built to resemble the 'screaming skull' logo of the citadel. Custom sculpted skull over large gear and flame backing. Various sized chains hang down.



The belt is built of:
- a sculpted skull mounted to
- crossbar trim from the steering wheel of a 1959 Cadillac Deville, mounted to
- a sprocket with 44 teeth which is most likely a motorcycle rear sprocket, exact model as yet unidentified


laminated to
- a thin 'metal' cutout shape to complete the profile of the Citadel/Immortan screaming skull emblem, including a ring to match the sprocket, the lower teeth of the skull shape and the flames.

 

[logan74k]

10: the sceptre

Joe carries an intricately detailed sceptre with him everywhere he goes.




Scepter appears to be custom lathed wood with various emblems/coins/bottlecaps and a tiny portrait or two. There is currently no great close up refrence for this prop.

 

[logan74k]

11: underclothes



Joe's minimal clothing under his armor includes pants with built in chaps and knee reinforcement, a gauze cummerbund and 'scarf', and cotton scrim arm wraps up to his triceps. (probably some pretty sweet socks too) He also has a split linen 'skirt' meant to resemble 'funeral home curtains'


Whew - that's all for now! Much editing and adding to do, but the foundation is down!

 

[logan74k]

Well, I never found time during the build to post real time progress, but here are some highlights of the times I remembered to record!

It's been documented elsewhere that I've done the mask, had some fun at Dragon Con this year as "Immort-on Vacation Joe" with the girlfriend. Would've been nice but I wasn't able to rush the costume enough to be finished at that time, so, lazy mashup! Girlfriend has the Nux bobble strapped to her hat. Cute!



For my build, I was aiming for 100% accuracy - hoping to source every original part. As anyone building Joe knows, that turned out to be unrealistic... but we're getting close.

I started by acknowledging my limitations and getting as much outsourced as possible to people who specialize in the various fields required. I've got an eye for detail and I get by doing hand work, but definitely not comfortable in sewing or leatherwork. Unfortunately I didn't have vendors lined up, and getting things done in a rush can be very hit or miss as far as finding good people. In the end I had the pants and belt done by folks who regularly did that kind of stuff.

I made some art for the mystery "Sheriff's" patches and had those produced by one of the many internet patch companies. Having not using them before, I was nervous about ordering a minimum quantity, that I'd be stuck with a bunch of garbage and no time to remedy in the end. But they did a great job!



Ein and Hamsterstyle provided an amazing service to the community offering their 3d files for medals freely. After some minor modifications and some basic 3d work of my own, the files were off to the printer.



The prints that came a couple weeks later were primed and cleaned up, then lined up with sourced parts from the likes of the UK and Australia to be molded.



In the meantime, I convinced a weaver on Etsy to produce some custom strapping to match the 2 most obscure of Joe's chest medal ribbons. She also did some amazing work, weaving different types of yarn together to match the pattern as closely as her process would allow. I figured the woven technique was my closest option to getting a 'real' looking substitute, having had no luck with finding close matches for this ribbon elsewhere.



Matching the rest of the ribbons wasn't the easiest task either, though it probably should have been. I think I even had to order some of the herringbone ribbon from China, to find the correct widths and patterns. Joanne's got me all the gold bits though.

In the end, here's how the medals each turned out:



Because of the size problem between the correct 'traxxas' gear and the cheapie sourced medal, I went with a slight modification of Ein's 3d for the gear, and will eventually shrink the real gear to fit via molds/casting... unless the correct backer medal turns up somehow!

 

[logan74k]

The armor was always going to be the big showpiece of this costume, and also the hardest / potentially most expensive to produce. By producing the patterns in EPS, I saved a ton in both material cost and potential CNC or 3d print cost - however the patterns will need to be cast in a more durable material to get many pulls in the 1/8" material I'm using.

I started with some art, then the hotwire and a block:



Gradually arriving at a form. The pattern is designed so the plastic pulls will be cut twice through the middle, to achieve the 'split' - 2 parts in one pull.



Thanks to ahoudini's heads-up in his own thread - I made sure the bottlecap grid would fit comfortably on the pauldron pattern.



5 coats of Epsilon epoxy, sanded and smoothed after each coat - then some bodywork and a final coat and the patterns are ready to go:



The first pulls are surprisingly successful! I expected issues with webbing or really stuck patterns due to the shallow draft, but amazingly, no such trouble. I actually intentionally strayed a bit from total screen accuracy on the back, leaning towards anatomical accuracy as the movie costume's backside got a good helping of derision elsewhere in the forums! opcorn



The upper arms were nothing, basically tubes trimmed in a fancy curve, but Joe's forearms were a bear. I'd say that figuring out the curves and matching them to the scant reference took at least as much time as the actual sculpting! On top of that, they don't work out to be traditionally vac-formable pieces. Both sides return on themselves, essentially form more than half a circle, so IF you get a good pull, your pattern must be cut out of the (very tough) plastic. I'd love to hear from the people that made the actual costume how they went about it. It works, but it's not what you'd call 'production' forming.



- and how the armor turned out trimmed and assembled:

 

[Predatormv]

Your armor came out awesome. Looks just stellar.

For that custom made ribbon material do you have any extra or can you point me where you got it?

 

[eriksmask]

Logan, this is beyond fantastic! Perfect!!!!

 

[Hamsterstyle]

I'm amazed this has so few comments. I kept thinking about throwing together a how-to for this costume to simplify people asking me questions, but I think I'll just send them here for now.

 

[eriksmask]

I wanted to resurrect this thread to showcase Logan's fantastic armor. Here's my set. Paired with Ein's and RawrBomb's 3D prints, it is a sight to behold.

 

[Lawoman26]

The costume looks amazing!!! You don't by chance have any of the patches still available looks like you had a bunch at one time.

 

[Lawoman26]

Guess I should have put this comment here, I'm new to this. Anyways, do you happen to have anymore of those patches. The Sheriffs Dept. and the Namibia patches?