Immortan Joe Mask Replica

[logan74k]

Hi yall,
Long time lurker first time poster -

Thought I'd share my work on a replica of Immortan Joe's respirator mask. Sculpted in Zbrush, printed, cleaned up, mold, cast in urethane, painted. I spent a lot of time trying to get the details and proportions correct to the actual prop, as much as was possible using trailer screengrabs. Hope you enjoy!



WIP Zbrush and reference


As printed for cost savings - also, openable jaw!


Paint in progress - a little.. too shiny and chrome


Final paint detail


Full paint


Painted & assembled


Thanks for checking it out!

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

Finally, someone makes one of these with the opening mouth! I appreciate this much more for that! Just wish I coulda seen more the work!

 

[Abelugo]

awesome, great detail! nice chrome, even though you dont mean it to be so shiny!

 

[logan74k]

Poopapapapalps, thanks - you're right, I suppose the purpose of this forum is process... I figured there wasn't much to show since it was a digital sculpt and the process was mostly boring finishing work, but I found a few shots that somebody might be interested in.


Here's the mask sculpt in Zbrush - connectors were later revised (wrong size hoses)


The raw prints in SLS. Extremely thin for cost savings, I brushed in 5 coats of quick set epoxy to thicken for molding.


'Baking' the master - I also added some epoxy putty to strengthen specific areas to reinforce the hose connectors and mask strap. There are brass inserts in the castings for 8-32 screws to hold the strap.


Adding real hardware - didn't make much sense to sculpt pins and screws and deal with cleaning up the prints. It was a chore to get all the right sizes and profiles for each piece, especially with low res and/or highly compressed source images.


Master fully assembled, just needs primer and to be broken back down for molds.

Abelugo, the chrome I used was Spaz Stix mirror chrome from a spray can. I got lucky as I've heard what a nightmare it can be to find a good chrome effect, from a can or otherwise. For this particular project I might have gotten away with any silver. Sometimes it looks like sandblasted aluminum, but there are some shots in the film where it almost looks mirror polished. Some continuity fun going on there. I 'tarnished' it with dark silver acrylic scumbling, and the chrome tolerated buffing extraordinarily well. Time will tell how it holds up looks-wise.

 

[BlackKaos]

This is awesome!

 

[Patattack]

I gotta say, I've been looking at a lot of people's sculpts of this mask, and yours is the first one I've seen where the teeth look right. In the movie, it looks to me like the teeth are glued on top of a flat surface - whereas most sculpts I've seen look like the teeth are carved down into the jaw. What I mean is, most of them look like a static one-piece sculpt, while this one looks more cobbled-together and "real" to me. Really fantastic!

 

[logan74k]

most of them look like a static one-piece sculpt, while this one looks more cobbled-together and "real" to me. Really fantastic!

Much appreciated man - I worked intentionally to try and avoid the 'lines in clay' trap that's easy to fall in with teeth. Making gaps and overlaps as sharp as possible and constantly redefining edges after each paint coat. It helps that I was using just about every still I could grab from the different trailers, which had a surprising amount of coverage. Keeping molds in mind, there's a limit to how deep and sharp things could be, but I'm generally satisfied with the balance. A dark wash can really make things pop.

After the overall form and feel, it's the details that make or break a thing. Take the hose connectors... I think out of all the fan sculpts I've seen, and there are at least 11 online as of this writing, only two made a serious effort on the connectors. There seem to be two extremes of cosplayers; those with a lot of passion and happy to resemble a character, and those who won't be happy unless they could be mistaken for the character.

 

[Patattack]

Much appreciated man - I worked intentionally to try and avoid the 'lines in clay' trap that's easy to fall in with teeth. Making gaps and overlaps as sharp as possible and constantly redefining edges after each paint coat. It helps that I was using just about every still I could grab from the different trailers, which had a surprising amount of coverage. Keeping molds in mind, there's a limit to how deep and sharp things could be, but I'm generally satisfied with the balance. A dark wash can really make things pop.

After the overall form and feel, it's the details that make or break a thing. Take the hose connectors... I think out of all the fan sculpts I've seen, and there are at least 11 online as of this writing, only one made a serious effort on the connectors.

"Lines in clay" - that's a much better way to phrase what I was thinking of! And you're right about the connectors, some of the fan-made ones I've seen don't have connectors at all, just holes for the hoses. In any case, you did a great job, both with the sculpt and the paintjob. If you ever happen to make more from that mold, let me know.

 

[LORDXBLACKWOOD]

Amazing. Hands down best one ive seen yet. All the ones ive looked at don't have the teeth bulging out like its supposed to. Again top notch!

 

[aeonpulse]

This is absolutely fantastic. You did an amazing job and really nailed the look, this is impressively accurate!

 

[cpperry]

This is beautiful. This is the first Joe mask that has made me consider buying instead of building. Put me on the list of people you notify if you end up doing a run.

 

[jacksadventures]

Amazing !

 

[Abelugo]

Abelugo, the chrome I used was Spaz Stix mirror chrome from a spray can. I got lucky as I've heard what a nightmare it can be to find a good chrome effect, from a can or otherwise. For this particular project I might have gotten away with any silver. Sometimes it looks like sandblasted aluminum, but there are some shots in the film where it almost looks mirror polished. Some continuity fun going on there. I 'tarnished' it with dark silver acrylic scumbling, and the chrome tolerated buffing extraordinarily well. Time will tell how it holds up looks-wise.

Thanks for the info, at a few feet no one will know the better. Another thread came up about the voice on Joe,it also brought up the question if anyone is completing the bellow-breathing thing on the back of his head?

I may try this chrome for other little projects.

 

[logan74k]

brought up the question if anyone is completing the bellow-breathing thing on the back of his head?

I haven't got plans myself for it, but I guess it's a good thing to have done to complete a bust. Would be a lot easier as a solid piece, IE doesn't actually bellow. Could probably sew it from fabric and coat it with some kind of gel, or sculpt it and cast it in silicone or flex urethane... looks like some kind of animal hide or organ in the film.

 

[the Squeeesh]

...really nailed the look, this is impressively accurate!

Agreed. :thumbsup This one is the most accurate I've seen. I think this is the only one I've seen that has the ability to open the mouth too, even though that was only one scene in the movie, it was pretty cool.

I'm impressed it looks like you found the right color hoses from the movie. The other masks I've seen usually have black hoses. Did you paint yours? Can you breath through the hoses?

Finally, a costume for fat guys like me can get on board with! I saw another thread where someone was trying to gather all the greeblies on his vest. You guys should all get together to make the ultimate Joe cosplay!

 

[logan74k]

The other masks I've seen usually have black hoses. Did you paint yours? Can you breath through the hoses?

I don't know what kind of paint would hold up on rubber hoses, maybe somebody who does can chime in. I initially did plan on the black hoses and convinced myself that they were somehow recolored for the movie, even getting as far as to print out connectors sized for them. Slowly I came out of my delusion to the accept that the standard black gas mask hose was too long and definitely not the ones they used in the film. With some searching I lucked into some childrens gas mask hose at a local military surplus store. The difference is stark:



The nice thing about them (besides being accurate) is they are thinner rubber and floppier and impose less stress on the mask. Which is good, since the mask is only hanging by two points by your ears. Can I breathe through them? No, not unless I drilled out my resin adapters, but the openings between the teeth are plenty to breathe through. Wouldn't really want to anyway, they smell strongly of old rubber.

I saw another thread where someone was trying to gather all the greeblies on his vest. You guys should all get together to make the ultimate Joe cosplay!

It's cool to see people here working together to source all the random stuff an outfit or prop is made out of. One of the coolest aspects of the RPF in my opinion. I'd love to see somebody put together a screen-accurate complete Joe costume, whether using my sculpt or not. I'm guessing we'll see a bunch more maybe at Comic con and definitely closer to halloween. If anybody finishes the bellows and is making copies, I hope they let me know so I can complete my bust display!

 

[Abelugo]

some bellows ref

 

[MaskMaker]

SO awesome, I bought one at Wonderfest!

 

[logan74k]

Thanks MaskMaker! Did you get to building it up yet? I also unloaded my main paint up there, unfortunately before I had a chance to get really nice photos. Working on another now so I'm looking forward to that delayed shoot soon.

I do have a couple new (better) pics of the primed mask:





And why not, the really cool pic of the screen used at a press conference... :thumbsup

 

[Patattack]

View attachment 488029

I hadn't noticed the copper piping attached to the hose connectors until this picture - did you bend it yourself from a copper rod, or is it recycled from some other device?

Actually, one other question - what was your technique for connecting the separate pieces so seamlessly? How did you manage to maintain the "hammered" texture on the nose piece while doing so? I'm still kind of new to anything other than "sand and paint" in terms of assembling kits...