Predator 1:1 Display Wip

[Slave1]

Not much new except I just received my turtle skull and additionally ordered a garfish skull just tonight. Supposed to be 15 cm long. That might be just a bit big. Will see when it arrives.

This is the last skull I need. Eventually I'll need to get that human spinal column replica to go in back.

 

[Slave1]

And Bob's old gauntlet blades in the process of being remastered. The one on top is the old version. The primered one on the bottom is being sharpened up and tweaked. I don't know if he plans to add the rod that goes on the bottom, but if he doesn't, I'll add them to mine. He's only doing one master since obviously he'll only need the one to mold for copies.

 

[Slave1]

Not a huge amount of headway to report, but the garfish skull came. Unfortunately the jaws are glued in an open position, so I'll need to close those.

Meanwhile, Bob is continuing to fill and sculpt. Here is his Aves resculpt of the large gap in the knee area from where the right leg was reposed. I think it's a good job on blending the wrinkles with the rest of the leg.

Also thinking ahead to how I'll be doing the base and what I want it to look like.

Here is another inspiring sort of base, this one from Sideshow's Deathdealer statue. I flipped the image to give me a better idea of how it would look with the correct leg raised. Just toying with ideas at this point, and I would certainly modify this, but I could easily build it at 1:1 and I would love to include a cluster of skulls with my Pred display.

 

[PredatrHuntr]

Bob did great work with the Apoxie! Thats gonna be one helluva base dude...wowzers!

 

[Slave1]

He can definitely work the Aves, and I sure prefer it myself over what was available before it came along.

Luckily I have a really high ceiling in my family room, which will allow my to add some height in the base. Haven't settled on the exact design yet, but I have to say when I checked out that Deathdealer statue, I loved the idea of including skulls in mine.

I think I'd HAVE to include one with a burnt hole blown into the top, though.

 

[Slave1]

The building of this beast has taken a new turn and is going to be bumped another notch in terms of accuracy. I've been doing a ton of research on the backpack and cannon in an effort to make it more accurate, and found the some interesting discoveries:

http://www.thehunterslair.com/topic/27901-predator-1-backpack-found-part/

 

[Don Vito]

Wow, this is truly a terrifying piece Slave1

=]

 

[Slave1]

Thanks, DV.

Now there's been one thing wrong about the display that has bothered me that I couldn't quite put my finger on. I finally realized the transition from big thick legs to narrow muscular torso doesn't look natural.

There is no doubt of the origins of the casting, however, some subtle things didn't care over. On the original suit, there are some very slight belly bulges that hang over the belt line that aren't present in my casting. This may seem nitpicky, but I really want those subtle difference on my display because I think those small things are what will make the difference between a really good display and an excellent display. A little layer of Aves will easily pad that belly area properly.

Something else wonky happened in the molding process with the elbows, particularly his right arm. It's like the costume was pulled down and twisted out, making creases in the skin and the bicep muscle positioning look unnatural. This is kind of a dilemma because, unlike the padding on the belly area, which is pretty much smooth anyway, in this case the only way to make that bicep look natural would be a total resculpt of that area to correct it, destroying all integrity of the original sculpt.

 

[Slave1]

And here's me checking how it will look with a backpack and cannon, though I wasn't paying attention to the placement. The pack arms should be out further, floating out over the shoulder bell. I'll soon be adding the correct landing gear foot from the MPC Falcon kit between those pack forks also.

 

[PredatrHuntr]

The canon looks good...one more piece of the puzzle!

 

[Slave1]

Originally I didn't plan on having him with the cannon and pack because he takes it off and drops it before removing his mask. But while not totally film accurate to have an unmasked P1 with a cannon, he looks just too bad ass with it.

If I do add servo motors to the cannon, I'll most likely hide a motion sensor inside the barrel.

 

[Kithunter]

that's just excellent....

the fact that you switched up the pose adds so much more to the piece.

 

[Slave1]

Thanks, Kithunter. That's what I was going for.

Modest progress shot . . . the area above the codpiece has been Avesed up--is that the correct terminology?

This area now perfectly mates up to the torso. Not too crazy accurate there since it will be largely covered with loincloth.

The right hand is also now correctly plugged in. Previously, it was just tacked on.

And while Bob is busy filling and shaping with foam and Aves, I'll keep busy with accurizing the gauntlets and doing more research on the little details I will be adding later. Hope he hurries. The factory paint on those legs is just killing me.

 

[Slave1]

Another messy progress shot of the legs being filled and shaped in the back. The hard part's done, and it's all downhill from here on out. Some sculpting of details in Aves once the foam is refined and general blending all around and we'll call it done.

Target date for dropping off to Joe for painting: 5/5/12. The clock is ticking . . .

 

[Slave1]

More updates of the sculpting, filling, filling, and shaping process.

And some pics from my other research thread on some of the found part greeblies from the pack and gauntlet.

 

[SkyBlazeHunter]

This to me looks like a movie quality pred suit! Awesome!

 

[DragonShadow]

speechless..........can't wait to see the Final~~~~~~~~

 

[PredatorX98]

Thats incredible Cant wait to see more updates!!

 

[Slave1]

Thanks, guys. Here's a shot from a few days ago of more general shaping, filing, sanding, and sealing of the foam on the back. Bob's using a product called Shellshock for this step. As you can see, he's using his own untouched 1:1 display kit that came out back in the day as a guide for how things should look back there.

Two more days until we drop off at Joe's for painting

 

[Slave1]

One day late, but we have drop off for paint.

I came up to Columbus yesterday and spent the day to help in cleaning up and tweaking the body and gauntlets. Joe has already hit the torso with some primer. Bob took the feet back with him to do some additional cleanp on those while Joe is busy painting. I had tentative plans to start on the base, but I think I'm going to need the body back to get the positioning correct.

Looking forward to detailing the finished product.