Jurrasic Park raptor build

[Breaker1Crazy]

Hey guys, I've been building costume for a few years now. Like a BumbleBee (from Transformers that actually transformed) costume, Master Chief (from Halo) and last year I made a Dalek costume (Doctor Who) However I've always set myself tight deadlines and low budget (in order, $25, $200, $150) and although I get a lot of positive comments I've never been happy with the quality. (Which is why I won't post those pictures). No more, money is although not unlimited it's not set in stone. No time deadlines either, if it takes 2+ years for life-like results then that's fine.
So I'm going all out on a project I've wanted to do since I first heard they used practical effects in Jurassic Park. Yep, a Raptor costume.

So here is why I'm here, there seem to be two main camps on how to do this. Either sculpt the entire thing out of clay, make a mold, and then cast the raptor with latex foam or sculpt it from soft foam and then coat it in a sealant and fabric. (Videos for methods below) Does anyone have/know where I can find precise information on how they made the ones for the movies, Stan Winston Schools has some videos up on there design process but never goes into specifics, like the neck contraption that allowed great maneuverability or how they made the frame and controlled everything.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4avrsuc0PIg (Not quite what I'm aiming for since the legs are exposed but the principle seems solid)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAzQr3Ml0UI (Good start but like I said no specifics on anything so I'd have to re-engineer the whole thing)
Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

[JediMichael]

Don't know too much about how to do it, but I'm sure you will figure something out and I'd love to see what you make.
I always liked this video. The raptor looks good, but the persons legs is the only real problem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul26r2rbhE4

 

[Breaker1Crazy]

Yep, These dino's are made using the sculpting from soft foam method. All of the dinos you see with this design are made from the same company and retail for between $5k-$6k. They look good but they aren't life-like and like you pointed out the legs are a dead give away. When you compare them to the JP raptors it's not even close. That's why I'm leaning toward the clay method, however its hard for me to give up on my cheapskate ways because I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars for all the clay I'd need to sculpt it. Even if I made a wood frame, wrapped it in chicken wire and then attached the clay onto that (hollow center basically unless I fill it with some type of filler) it would still weight a few hundred pounds and cost $4-500 in clay. I could just do small sections with 50-100 pounds of clay but I'm not sure how after I made the mold and foam latex body how to attach the foam latex together without any visible seams.

However foam I work at an auto shop and we get huge shipments of parts coming in all filled with the soft foam I need to sculpt the raptor. I'd just have to glue the pieces together and get carving...

Should I bite the bullet and buy a bunch of clay, try using small amounts or just use what is available (foam) and see if I can make it look as good as the JP raptors? Do you guys think it's even possible?