I've been wanting to try this build for a couple years and finally pulled the trigger. I followed along with Groot - foam build - WIP - Pic Heavy and made a few minor adjustments.
I started on Oct. 4 and finished it on Oct. 26. So 3 weeks later and $230 on material, here is my Groot build. I am planning to do some more work on the face but am pretty happy with it overall.
After wearing it at a costume party, I have 3 questions that I was hoping I could get answers to:
1. I used a glue gun to attach the foam to the clothes and found that it is coming off in some places. Is there a better adhesive that I should be using on the repairs?
2. The paint is falling off the pipe insulation in some places and seems to just be cracking off where the foam flexed. I used Rust-oleum 2x spray paint and don't mind doing touchups but is that paint my best option?
3. I haven't put anything inside the mask to get it to fit my head better? What is the best option? I read that a hard hat suspension may work.
I started with a couple thin sheets of hobby foam but I could only find the puzzle mat foam in black so I redid the face with the same black puzzle mat.
The puzzle mat foam is black although it looks brown in the photos.
Start of forearms
Right forearm before dremel
Left forearm before dremel
Laying out the chest and stomach pieces before gluing them
Front pieces dremeled and then glued
Trying on the shirt with the mask. Later in the build, I ended up taking a heat gun to the mask to pull in the cheeks and make the face more narrow.
A little more work on the face, still prior to heat gun and pulling in the cheeks.
Completed front
Completed back
Here is one place that I deviated from the original build that I was following. My stilts are drywall stilts and I have to be able to reach them to lace up my boots and pull the stilt straps tight. So I left the kneed area empty on the pants and created knee brace types that I could velcro on after the pants and stilts are on.
Knee brace #1
Base coat of brown spray paint
2nd coat of paint with light brown and then elmer's spray glue and moss
Narrower face after heat gun
Another modification I made was to leave the fly area open so I could use a urinal if needed. I created a velcro patch that I can put on and remove.
Here is the completed build, hanging from bungee cords.
I bought a wood pattern balaclava and compression shirt. The balaclava definitely came in handy as the back of my neck would have been showing otherwise.
I started on Oct. 4 and finished it on Oct. 26. So 3 weeks later and $230 on material, here is my Groot build. I am planning to do some more work on the face but am pretty happy with it overall.
After wearing it at a costume party, I have 3 questions that I was hoping I could get answers to:
1. I used a glue gun to attach the foam to the clothes and found that it is coming off in some places. Is there a better adhesive that I should be using on the repairs?
2. The paint is falling off the pipe insulation in some places and seems to just be cracking off where the foam flexed. I used Rust-oleum 2x spray paint and don't mind doing touchups but is that paint my best option?
3. I haven't put anything inside the mask to get it to fit my head better? What is the best option? I read that a hard hat suspension may work.
I started with a couple thin sheets of hobby foam but I could only find the puzzle mat foam in black so I redid the face with the same black puzzle mat.
The puzzle mat foam is black although it looks brown in the photos.
Start of forearms
Right forearm before dremel
Left forearm before dremel
Laying out the chest and stomach pieces before gluing them
Front pieces dremeled and then glued
Trying on the shirt with the mask. Later in the build, I ended up taking a heat gun to the mask to pull in the cheeks and make the face more narrow.
A little more work on the face, still prior to heat gun and pulling in the cheeks.
Completed front
Completed back
Here is one place that I deviated from the original build that I was following. My stilts are drywall stilts and I have to be able to reach them to lace up my boots and pull the stilt straps tight. So I left the kneed area empty on the pants and created knee brace types that I could velcro on after the pants and stilts are on.
Knee brace #1
Base coat of brown spray paint
2nd coat of paint with light brown and then elmer's spray glue and moss
Narrower face after heat gun
Another modification I made was to leave the fly area open so I could use a urinal if needed. I created a velcro patch that I can put on and remove.
Here is the completed build, hanging from bungee cords.
I bought a wood pattern balaclava and compression shirt. The balaclava definitely came in handy as the back of my neck would have been showing otherwise.
