My P1 Themed Predator Costume with Electronics and Sounds. (Pic Heavy)

[MoeSizzlac]

My late 2019 project I decided to take on was a Predator Costume like the one from the 1987 movie Predator with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Updating for files I made/altered: Predator Armor - P1 Style - Hunter - from 1987 Movie Cut up for 8x10x8 Printer Bed. by moesizzlac

Non 3D printed parts:
1) Pleather Amazon.com
2) Cat 5 Cords
3) flash light Amazon.com
4) servos Amazon.com
5) arduina mega Amazon.com
6) mpu6050 Amazon.com
7) Battery Pack Amazon.com
8) momentary switches Amazon.com
9)various latching switches a) Amazon.com b) Amazon.com
10) adafruit audio FX board Adafruit Audio FX Sound Board - WAV/OGG Trigger with 2MB Flash
11) screen door mesh for the eyes
12) belts Amazon.com
13) wood and furniture pads for the feet Amazon.com
14) Net Amazon.com
15)wire 22 AWG Amazon.com
16) solder Amazon.com
17)velcro Amazon.com
18) leather sewing awl Amazon.com
19)bodysuit Amazon.com
20)zipper (for quick bathroom breaks) Amazon.com
21)Chicago screws Amazon.com
22) Snap Fasteners Amazon.com
23) Piano hinges Amazon.com
24) 8/32 nuts and bolts
25)Backer Rod 1" and 5/8" Amazon.com
26) Hard hat ratchet suspension Amazon.com
27) 22 gauge steel for hard hat ratchet system to attach to Simpson Strong-Tie LTB 19-1/2 in. 22-Gauge Galvanized Tension Bridging LTB20-R - The Home Depot
28) Strong magnets for the back plate ane sheet metal to make a hook so that it stays on
29) Vinyl stair tread to make the neck seal ROPPE Ribbed Profile Black 12-1/4 in. x 60 in. Square Nose Stair Tread Cover 60801P100 - The Home Depot
30) Rope Amazon.com
31)small speaker Amazon.com
32) Lasers Amazon.com
33) 85 ohm resistors for the lasers
34)Loom Tubing Amazon.com
36) Spring Amazon.com
36) I'm sure there is more but I don't know of any others off the top of my head

Well not a 1/6th scale costume but rather a full sized one.

I can't make the costume perfect movie accurate because 1) I am no where near the height of the original actor who played the predator and 2) picture perfect is time and cost consuming. This costume was put together for under 500 I believe.

This build will be my version of a similar styled P1 Predator with as many bells and whistles as I can put together.

Like all things, we start with the planning. I went to the resources to get a bunch of Pepakura files to start converting for my project. Then I went to Thingiverse to see what they had and grabbed Predator Shoulder Cannon by makerslabcz.

After I had all the files, it was time to get to work and make everything printable. It took about a month in spare time to digitally fix everything up and resize it all to my body.

The backpack:

This model was good for pepakura but not for a 3d print. I first ended up fixing the files and printing it out. This will be the shell to house most of electronics and power bank.

I only used half of this model from thingiverse and fitted it with a spot for a flashlight and a servo and an outlet for the wires to go out the lower back.

Both halves are held together with 8/32 screws and nuts.

Using this tutorial, I grabbed an Arduino Mega, an MPU6050, battery pack and wired everything up with 2 Cat 5 connections (One that goes to the helmet Where the mpu6050 will sit, and one to the left gauntlet for controls and sound)

This is a shot from underneath where the power switch is as well as the recharge port.



Left Gauntlet - Creation, sound and control.

Continuing with the planning, let's start with the pepakura file and add a hinge in the print so that it can flip up if I need it to. I also made a slot for my Phone below the flip plate.

Let's allow holes for momentary switches and latching switches, cat5 connection and audio out on the flip plate:

Now let's get it printed and loaded up:

I wired it up with an adafruit soundfx board and started wiring everything together. The sound out went to a 3.5mm headphone jack which will plug into an external speaker.

It's actually much cleaner inside now.

Final outside picture of the left gauntlet.

 

[MoeSizzlac]

Right Gauntlet:

Making retractable claws is not the easiest for me so I decided to go with gravity as the extension and retraction method.

Design:

Start with the pepakura file and make it printable.

I made some changes to the original pepakura file and incorporated a latch system to allow the redesigned blades to be locked in an extended or retracted mode. You can see the green piece acts as a pivot point in the gauntlet and the blue stick prevents the claws from sliding too far forward.

The plastic claws looked nice printed, but I wanted something a little stronger. I went with aluminum because it is easy to shape and dull so that it is not sharp.

And the final fit and test with a pull from a string.

 

[MoeSizzlac]

The Head:

5v lasers set up to go on when the servos turn on.

Inside of the helmet wired up with the MPU6050 and 3 freaking laser beams. Each laser has a resistor on it to prevent burnout from too much voltage. Even though they state that they are rated for 5 volts, I had 3 burn out already.

The back of the head was made to house a hard hat but eventually I adjusted it to house only the portion of the hard hat that goes around your head.

Airbrushed to match the undersuit.

Beads for the hair.

Body:

I didn't want to do a latex suit because I know how hot and uncomforatable those can be. Basically, this whole build began with the undersuit. If the undersuit was bad, nothing else was getting done. I got a preprinted suit with most of the details and I have to say, it looks great and breathes nicely. I sewed a zipper into the front for bathroom breaks.

Hands:

I still needed hands so I bought a pair of latex warewolf gloves, Painted them up with acrylic paint and glued the fingers to a pair of brown leather gloves.

Feet

Basically the same thing done with the hands. Ordered a pair of warewolf feet covers painted and glued them to an old pair of sneakers. I used brown gaffers tape on all seems to act as a leather wrap around the feet. Sorry I don't have pitcures at this time.

Shins:

Nothing different here. Made pepakura files printable and adjusted the knee caps to combine with the shins so that there is less things to attach when getting dressed.

 

[MoeSizzlac]

Thighs:

Same as the Shins:

The fishnet look:

I took an actual fishing net and cut it up and made a shirt and pants(used nylon string to sew). The fishnet pants along with thigh and cod armor get secured to the undersuit using a belt.

Neck Seal:

I used a vinyl stair tread and cut it up and used snap fittings to secure it:

Dry-fitting everything together

Painting up bone pieces.

Painting up and giving a weathered look to the armor.

Testing the equipment:


Video of Sound and Testing


So in conclusion, I went from this:

To this:

Final pictures to follow. Probably next Halloween.

Big thanks to everyone here for the treasure trove of information. I think I'm off to make the Mandalorian suit next.

 

[RacerMachX]

Great job!!

 

[ksj]

Do you have the 3-d files available for others to use? The leg armor pieces are the best units I have seen to date.

Also what did you use for the exact hinges on the leg armor and gauntlet?

 

[MoeSizzlac]

Do you have the 3-d files available for others to use? The leg armor pieces are the best units I have seen to date.

Also what did you use for the exact hinges on the leg armor and gauntlet?

I'll upload everything to thingiverse as soon as thingiverse stops sucking and allows me to upload.

The hinges are just piano hinges from homedepot or lowes. Nothing special. Just cut, round off the edges and install.

 

[ksj]

also see if you can upload the files here directly. We are trying to make sure any predator related files are also locally hosted as some sites like to disappear after 5-10 years of existence. Or think of how annoying photo bucket is now...

 

[MoeSizzlac]

Updating for files I made/altered: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4056653

 

[ksj]

how has the servo held up to abuse?

 

[MoeSizzlac]

how has the servo held up to abuse?

Though my use is somewhat limited (5-10 minutes at a clip for a total of 5 times wearing the accessory with helmet), the servos are fine. I used the heavier duty MG996R ones and they can handle much more weight than the Sg90's I usually use.

 

[ksj]

MOTION - Servos & Accessories - ServoCity®

Welcome to ServoCity where you can get the parts you need to bring your ideas to life! From servos to switches, from actuators to Actobotics, we work hard to bring you the best components backed by unparalleled technical support

www.servocity.com

I tend to use servo city. Any of the hitec large servos would work just as well then. I as concerned as to weight versus strain on the gearing for the head bending/breaking the shafts. I tend to wear my setup for about 5 hours at a time.

 

[MoeSizzlac]

I got to try on the full suit this weekend. I love it. Just need a head a black head seal to cover any exposed skin above the neck seal.

New Boots to get me above 6'5"

A look from top and bottom.

Shoe Secured:

Size Comparison:

Painted up:

Boot Coverings:

 

[MB Trooper]

WOW....just WOW!

 

[Z1z1t0p]

Updating for files I made/altered: Predator Armor - P1 Style - Hunter - from 1987 Movie Cut up for 8x10x8 Printer Bed. by moesizzlac

WOW awesome. I am currently working on that model, using your 3D files and other files from thingeverse. I am thinking of combination with Eva foam. I have a lot of work ahead me

 

[ksj]

OK, I have been trying to reassemble and redo my predator. The bomb gauntlet by Moe is one of the best ones for a self contained sound effects control unit and is better than my current setup.

Per Moe we believe these are the electronic parts pictured in his gauntlet.

The switches and ethernet dongles:

Cylewet 12Pcs 1A 250V AC 2 Pins SPST Momentary Mini Push Button Switch Normal Open (Pack of 12) CYT1078: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

Cylewet 12Pcs 1A 250V AC 2 Pins SPST Momentary Mini Push Button Switch Normal Open (Pack of 12) CYT1078: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

www.amazon.com

Cylewet 12Pcs 1A 250V AC 2 Pins SPST Momentary Mini Push Button Switch Normal Open (Pack of 12) CYT1078

Amazon.com: NulSom Inc. 2 Pcs RJ45 8-pin Connector (8P8C) and Breakout Board Kit for Ethernet DMX-512 RS-485 RS-422 RS-232 (Unassambled): Computers & Accessories

Buy NulSom Inc. 2 Pcs RJ45 8-pin Connector (8P8C) and Breakout Board Kit for Ethernet DMX-512 RS-485 RS-422 RS-232 (Unassambled): Connectors & Adapters - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

NulSom Inc. 2 Pcs RJ45 8-pin Connector (8P8C) and Breakout Board Kit for Ethernet DMX-512 RS-485 RS-422 RS-232 (Unassambled)

WMYCONGCONG 100 PCS 0. 5A 50V DC 3 Pin ON/Off 2 Position Panel Slide Switch: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

WMYCONGCONG 100 PCS 0. 5A 50V DC 3 Pin ON/Off 2 Position Panel Slide Switch: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

www.amazon.com

WMYCONGCONG 100 PCS 0. 5A 50V DC 3 Pin ON/Off 2 Position Panel Slide Switch

5Pcs On/Off Boat Rocker Switch 5Pcs 2 Pin Position Snap 12V 110V 250V QTEATAK: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

5Pcs On/Off Boat Rocker Switch 5Pcs 2 Pin Position Snap 12V 110V 250V QTEATAK: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

www.amazon.com

5Pcs On/Off Boat Rocker Switch 5Pcs 2 Pin Position Snap 12V 110V 250V QTEATAK

The FX SoundBoard is by adafruit. They are shuttered while they meet the needs of NYC.

 

[ksj]

I would also add that insulation backer rod is the best option for the locking latch on the blade gauntlet. I found removal and install easier if I drilled a tiny access hole. I also had to shave a little bit off of the housing to make things fit smoothly.

 

[StewYZF750]

Fantastic thread, and thank you for uploading your files. I made use of the shoulder and Gauntlet designs for my WIP Predator costume too.

 

[MoeSizzlac]

Fantastic thread, and thank you for uploading your files. I made use of the shoulder and Gauntlet designs for my WIP Predator costume too.

I'm glad you were able to get some use out of this thread. I'm also glad that KSJ helped with the clarifying of buttons and switches too. Sometimes, I start running to a finish line of a build that I forget to document all the little things involved.

 

[George]

Where was I when this build happened?! (Obviously not paying attention)
Thanks for sharing this project, Moe ! It's awesome