Real Ghostbusters Samhain headsculpt/costume

Thanks!

As messy as it is, I love how cheap it is, how ast I can shape it, and now that I know I can surface it cheaply, I want to do more with it.
 
Amazing costume! I love the Samhain character, he's one of my favorite villains from cartoons growing up. Someday I'll have to try and make my own Samhain costume.
 
It's awesome to see one of the greatest villains in The Real Ghostbusters done up, and wonderfully so I might add!
 
i can't say i watched the show when i was younger, im a big GB fan though.

just a a build, regardless of the subject topic, it looks incredible to say the least, shall be waiting to see it finished in all its ghoulish/ghostlyness
 
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The cats really seem to be liking him, and they make great additional base weight for stability.. LOL!

This is actually PVC figure Armature Mark II. (The advise on the web for making one used too flimsy pvc pipe which wouldn't hold a pose and was too unstable. This version uses thicker pvc pipe, holds its poses fine, and has rebar running through the base pvc for stability. The top can also be removed from the base, and that same rebar can be put in ground for an even more stable display.

I'm still tweaking the dimensions, and odds are the shoulders will be slimmer before I add foam padding to give it some thickness.
 
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Here you can hopefully see where I'm going with the paint ops, adding detail that wasn't sculpted in.

Since there is already a tough skin on him, additional sculpting isn't an option, unless I add to the sculpt, so instead I'm opting to see what I can get away with on the paint.

I've darkened the gums per a suggestion on the base colors, though I think I might still darken the teeth some, yellowing them slightly, and possibly adding some green color interest to the gums. I'm considering adding some additional green in the darker details on the main skin, since they are looking too "dark brown" to me.

I'll work on the cowl next, and then revisit the paint to see if Im happy with it, or if I want to control it more. (I'm trying to stay loose with it, fighting my urges to make it do what I want, not what it wants to.. LOL!)
 
sand/fill/sand/fill/sand........I know your pain, the head on my life size Jack was the same way. This is turning out really great!
 
sand/fill/sand/fill/sand........I know your pain, the head on my life size Jack was the same way. This is turning out really great!

Thanks. Once I get the outfit done for Sam, I might turn attention to a Jack, since I can also dress him for Christmas.
 
Sam gets prop lighting in his eyes, nose, and mouth. Polyfill gives him that smoking look, like what I did with our traps. (I might swap in the dayglow green on the sides of his mouth.)

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I revised his pvc frame again so he has rounded shoulders, and lighter arms. I also adding padding to his pvc frame for arm thickness, and we did more costume adjustments, like adding length to the sleeves to get that folded look, making the ends of the sleeves droop down more, and bringing in the arm pits.

We also started work on Foam collar made from that harbor freight foam matt thats waterproof, and it looks amazing so far. I can dremel sand or carve into it, so it'll be quite similar to the original sculpey flex collar. I still need to read up on shaping it with a heat gun, and then glueing it to a shoulde rharness kind of deal so it'll stay in place and upright.

Plans were to cover it with the same fabric (and I stilll might), but to reduce weight, I might see if I can match the fabric color and just paint it .
 
The batting is just polyfill, available from Walmart. I saw a godzilla diorama a year or so ago that used it for replicating fire and smoke effects combined with leds. When we built our ghostbuster traps, I built that effect into those as well.

When I put Sam's lights in, (They are those $1 harbor freight 9 led flashlights in his eyes.), they were too bright to look at directly, but the polyfill diffuses that, and also adds that cool "smoke" effect as well.

I also used that in some tealights we have hanging over our fireplace. I added micro leds to them, and they run here 24/7, and have done so for about a year and a half now.
 
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Here's the rough cut of the cowl, from two panels of that same foam floor matts people use to make cosplay armor and glued with DAP contact cement.

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Here I'm bevelling all the edges, using a dremel sander bit you can see some are just rough, while others have already been smoothed. I'l also carve some radial fold type lines with it as well.

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Here's the finished cowl before paint, and attachement to the foam harness. Its about 40" wide, by about 40" tall. Once curved, it'll be about 18" tall in the back.

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Here's a test of the head on the cowl, with the fronts curled in and glued down.

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Here's the harness/cowl assembly. The front edges of the cowl are attached with contact cemented strips. The back is connected with folder coat hanger wire, attached to the cowl with contact cement and a fabric contact cement soaked strip. Its attached to the harness with another foam cut over L bent ends, to make it stronger, and support the cowl weight. (Granted it isn't much, but it catches wind!)

The first attempt I made at attaching it failed, because there just wasn't enough support in the back. I tore that down before the contact cement completely cured, and rebuilt it today, this time using a folded over coat hanger for support.

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Here's the cowl with a final working attachement to the harness.

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There! The cowl is mostly done!

Because its bendable, it can be posed on the mannikin, or on the costume while being worn.

Only real things to do now are a back cloth bit to cover the harness, rag up the fabric at the bottom and the sleeves, and the ragged shoulder drape (Like what you see on a duster coat.) WHEW! I thought that cowl would be the death of me!
 
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Another long update. I might take a break and finish off the details tomorrow, and just enjoy the fruits of my labor today. ;)
 
Well, he's mostly done now. I still have some minor clothing issues to address, and some final paint ops to apply, but this is pretty much how he looks for a prop.

Once we take him somewhere where I'm wearing him, we'll take some pics as a costume.

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