Manta Bio Build/Paint up PICS!!!

[JBReplicas]

Okay, Ive had this Manta bio helmet sitting around for the last 2 years or so, in fact I forgot I had it!! so with my re-joining the lair I thought it was about time to give it a good clean up and try and do something with it, here it is as I got it, it needed ALOT of clean up work and was seriously HEAVY! So I attacked it with my dremmel to try and make the lines a bit more smooth, also the mask is quite wide so I have trimmed a bit of material off the side egdes to bring it in a little and generally make it look a bit sleeker, as of now its all trimmed and sanded and ive just hit it with a coat of primer, I will get more pics up in the next week or so

 

[Wizard93]

interesting. cant wait to see some pics of it all painted up

 

[Bovine13]

Looks like you could put your head through a wall with that sucker. I like it.

 

[Mr Fett]

I remember that bio from years ago. It was from Ron from Ohio. Cool different kind of look.

 

[JBReplicas]

Yeah its quite a serious Bio!! Ive actually managed to get most of the painting done as Ive been off work, the only thing I need to get is a tri-laser and a mesh for the eyes, ive been wondering if it will actually attach to an undermask, as its so heavy! Ive taken more pictures but I cant upload them for a few days so bear with me, this is also the first Bio ive ever painted so I would really appreciate honest opinions once the pics are up

 

[Mr Fett]

If it's really heavy, it may take some work but you could probably just keep dremelling off resin from the backside until it thins out some.

If your undermask is supportive enough, it should still attach with good amounts of industrial sticky-back velcro.

 

[JBReplicas]

Well I didnt think I'd be able to get any pics up for a while but my brother turned up with his camera phone and managed to bluetooth a couple onto his computer so heres the helmet after the first round of paint and weathering, im going to go back with a finer detail brush and probably add some washes of brown to get a more grimy look, please let me know what you think good or bad

 

[Mr Fett]

I think it looks great! I love custom bios. It seems the majority of all Predator costumers use P1s on their suits, so the more custom ones I see, the better. It's a refreshing change.

 

[JBReplicas]

Thankyou, I tried my best, its all done by hand aswell, no airbrushing since I dont OWN an airbrush! My original thought was that I'd sell this once painted up but now I think I'll keep it and go from here, just need a decent tri-laser unit, Ive found some material perfect for the eye mesh so that will go in tommorow when I continue my work. Once im happy with the painting is it advisable to add a clear coat? Ive noticed a few of the bios around here have been clearcoated

 

[Mr Fett]

You can coat it with either Testors Dullcote or some kind of semi-gloss coat if you want a little bit of shine to it. You probably wouldn't want to use a normal gloss coat because it would look too shiny and the helmet is already weathered dirty as it is.

I also have painted my bios with spraypaints. No airbrushing.

 

[Bovine13]

I dig it.