I'm glad to see this thread come alive again too! I made a T-Rex costume a few years ago and it was daunting! I wish I had seen this thread to use as a resource then. It probably would have saved me a number of mistakes. Mine turned out pretty decent for what it was and considering my constraints with materials and skills. I'd really like to give version 2.0 a try sometime in the not too distant future and apply the knowledge I have gained from a few more years of experience and soaking up wisdom from these forums.
Here's a picture of mine in the finished state:
I'm not actually wearing it in the picture, as you can tell, but you can kind of see where my legs would stick out of the belly, same as most of these types. Notice the size in comparison to my garage door. It turned out way bigger than I was planning. Notice also that I had to build a frame out of PVC to hold it up so I could get inside. That nicely doubled for display purposes. Overall, even though not everything worked out as I hoped and I definitely learned what not to do, I did learn a ton, and I was proud of myself for some of my creative solutions.
Here's a quick pro/con list based on my experience:
PROS
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1. Scale - It was huge! I've learned that people tend to look past the flaws when they're impressed by the size.
2. Paint job - I was pretty happy with the results I got from just a few cans of simple spray paint. I think I pat myself on the back most for that.
3. Mechanics - They weren't perfect, but I was very happy with my solutions for the movement of the head and mouth (which involved alot of bungee chords.)
4. Sound effects - I had a bluetooth speaker in the head connected to my phone, which had a soundboard app with roaring and growling sounds. I had some trouble with the volume and carrying the phone was a challenge but when it worked it was pretty cool!
5. Skin - It actually has 3 kinds of skin, 1 of which turned out really great and I would use it again. Unfortunately, it was in the smallest area: the neck. I was trying to figure out how to get the right flexibility in the neck for movement but still look like actual skin. I ended up using a tan gauze fabric from Jo-Anns, which I hoped might also be transparent enough to give me some extra visibility. I used papier mache glue to apply the fabric to the back of the head and velcro to attach it to the torso, which was covered in textured vinyl as skin (too heavy!) The papier mache turned out to be a genius move because it gave a really skin-like texture. Also, once it was painted, it looked very realistic and moved exactly how I was imagining. Unfortunately, the visibility didn't turn out as good as I hoped.
6. Shape - I'm cheating and putting this in both categories because some parts look really great to me and others look awkward. I carved the head from foam and made a wireframe of the body and tail by hand.
CONS
============
1. Weight - The bugger was heavy!!! Not so heavy that I couldn't wear it, but it gave me a workout. It was clear that the materials I used (PVC, heavy gauge wire, vinyl fabric, chicken wire, spray foam) combined with the size were not ideal.
2. Durability - The most disappointing aspect was the brittleness of the PVC joints. They popped off alot. They didn't break, they just didn't hold together terribly well. That meant frequent stops to fix things. Especially the legs and arms.
3. Mobility - The weight and lack of durability combined to negatively affect mobility quite a bit. I couldn't move very quickly or very far without running the risk of breaking something.
4. Visibility - I had some holes cut in the chest to see, which I wasn't pleased with but time allowed me no other options. Even with the holes, I could really only see downward directly in front of me about 45 degrees. I needed a handler at all times.
5. $$$ - All told, this was a pretty expensive project by my standards. Mostly that was due to correctable mistakes though.
6. Shape - See PRO #6. The arms were an afterthought. The legs are too skinny; he looks like a chicken! Some aspects of the head were goofy.
A lot of lessons learned! Now on to dino V2.0! (someday)
