what should i use for a skin?

[backbone]

i am working on my costume and i was wondering if i should use a muscle suit or a spandex body suit

 

[midland hunter]

personally i'd use a muscle suit all u have to do to it is coat it in latex then paint it and maybe add a few bits off cotton here and there to bulk up the muscles its what im doin and its turning out pretty cool

 

[Atlantean]

Hi I have done a Spandex/lycra Unitard and I think the results were awesome!, It depends on what your going for, I personally dont think there is any need for a muscle suit unless your trying to look like Celtic who was a bit Beefy. I prefer my pred to be more athletic looking anyway the pics are on here somewher just use the search button

Benifits of a latexed muscle suit..... Nice skin texture, very durable.
Cons... HOT HOT HOT

Benifits of Spandex... Light, Breathable, cheap!
Cons... not quite so durable unless you coat it with permawet

 

[MEANGENE83]

I have run the gauntlet of every which method from the beginning of time.

And I can say without a shadow of a doubt that what you will want and what is the best (short of foam latex$$$) is a sculpted set of skins over a casting of your body via a duct tape dummy. Custom sculpted to your liking and casted out of latex, which is then foam backed for muscle structure support.
Finally painted with INKS, not acrylic crap.

I can elaborate if you decide this route. It is labor, time and $$ intensive. But nothing good comes cheap.

 

[ShawDizzle]

I used a Mr.Incredible suit when I made my first. Most of the work is done for you because its one piece and the muscles are there, just may require altering. Mr. I suits can be a nightmare to put on, can restrict movement and are hot as hell. But it looks the best I think. Spandex suits are with out a doubt for comfy and easier to put on/off. More movement. the downside is you are pretty much starting from scratch to include making your own muscle and body build. Since its 2 peice you may have some seems to hide as well. My first was a Mr.I and I was happy aside from taking it on and off...ha..that sucked. My buddy Rashaad is making me one his method which is the spandex suit, then foam to make the muscles, then latexing and painting from there. I hope this helps but in the end it all comes down to your own creativity of what you have to work with.

Good Luck
Brian

 

[Darth Pinhead]

Foam glued to lycra, like Jaded did it, covered in latex, all done on a duct tape dummy. That is, unless you have the money to go Gene's route...

 

[djjalles]

I like the muscle suit.Predator is supposed to look big a nd strong,not just lean and athletic!
But that's just my opinion.I myself use a muscle suit for my predator costume.

 

[munson]

I'm in the process of building my first suit, and I've spent a lot of time in this area. What to do for a skin. I've talked to MacGuyver, ptgreek, and predator666thepain666 about the "Mr. I Suit" and it's pros and cons. I've also read a lot on the forum about how it's difficult to get in and out of and how it's compared to a casted latex skin. It's main feature, to me, is that it can be produced for under $180 [unpainted]. It's also tailored to your size too.

I've looked at casted latex skins produced on the lair, and the range that I find is around $550-$600. All of them are exceptionally looking and have great detail, but are usually sculpted to fit the person who sculpts the skin. You may need to adjust the size of the skin to fit you or it may look a little big or a little too small.

I've looked into sculpting my own skin like meangene spoke of above. I've had an idea for making a hybrid skin combining the Berzerker reptilian look and the more smooth Predator 1/2 skin. From what I read following meangene's thread, I would need 250 lbs of WED clay [cheaper then oil based clay]. That may cost around $100 without shipping [if the supplier isn't local. From what I read on termokk's thread, I may need about 150 lbs of Ultra Cal 30 [which from monstermakes.com would cost me $180 for the supplies and an additional $124 for shipping. I would probably need other materials as well which could put the cost at doing the torso at around $404 [probably a little more for additional supplies]. It would also take me a considerable amount of time to do, plus learn how to mold in Ultra Cal 30 and somehow learn how to cast something that big too. But a large benefit would be that the skin is my own design and I made it. My deadline is the NYCC in October, so I'm not sure if I'd have the time to do it all.

My thoughts would really lay with the budget. If you're a bit tight, a Mr. I suit like jaded did [or macguyver, there's varies a little, MacGuyver used the Mr. I suit with muscles added and Jaded used a Mr. Flash suit without muscles] for around $200 unpainted. If you pocket book allows for more, then a casted latex skin could be your route too, or even sculpting your own. A lot depends on your pocket book.

Either way, don't forget the paint up. I've seen skins produced from lycra [with no muscle added, just painted over the lycra with maybe some latex added] look absolutely great because of a great paint up. I've seen impressive casted latex skins look not so great because of the paint up too. How you paint it really takes it up a notch or two.

Sorry for the story....good luck!

 

[carpe noctem]

has anyone done a skin with a muscle shirt?? i tried search but cant find any with or without pics!!! trying to do one for my daughter

 

[Double H]

Hi backbone,

I used a muscle suit costume and used fabric paints to add in details. Was thinking about revamping it and covering in latex and going from there.

 

[Robiwon]

This is a great thread. Being a new member and in the planning stages of putting a suit together, I too have been looking at the different methods of doing the suit. I have not done any sculpting really to speak of so I don't think I am going to go the the more elaborate route of scuplting over a DTD (duct tape dummy). I don't want to invest the money on something that big and then have it turn out looking like crap because I can't sculpt or mold. I will start with a MR. I suit to begin with. Then I will try my hand at sculpting small things to build up my skill level. Then, maybe if I do another suit I might try my hand at sculpting a body over a DTD. In the end, with a Mr. I suit, there's less cost involved, less chance of me screwing up the design, and I will have a decent suit on which to build the rest of the costume. As my skills improve then I can attempt something more complex in the future.

I just talked to a friend of mine who does 3D printing. He is going to look into printing out a set of guantlets and blades for me. It might be something that I can offer to other members here if there is interest. This is a few months down the road though as he has several large projects to finish first.

 

[vgfett]

This is a great thread. Being a new member and in the planning stages of putting a suit together, I too have been looking at the different methods of doing the suit. I have not done any sculpting really to speak of so I don't think I am going to go the the more elaborate route of scuplting over a DTD (duct tape dummy). I don't want to invest the money on something that big and then have it turn out looking like crap because I can't sculpt or mold. I will start with a MR. I suit to begin with. Then I will try my hand at sculpting small things to build up my skill level. Then, maybe if I do another suit I might try my hand at sculpting a body over a DTD. In the end, with a Mr. I suit, there's less cost involved, less chance of me screwing up the design, and I will have a decent suit on which to build the rest of the costume. As my skills improve then I can attempt something more complex in the future.

I just talked to a friend of mine who does 3D printing. He is going to look into printing out a set of guantlets and blades for me. It might be something that I can offer to other members here if there is interest. This is a few months down the road though as he has several large projects to finish first.

Hi all,

I have never worked with any kind of latex stuff before so I'm a bit hesitant to leap into working on a project like that with no experience. Right now I'm trying to come up with something that I can work with so that I can use my Rubies mask and walk around with my kids at Halloween. I wondered if the sleestak costume would be worth using as a start, and then adding Pred gloves feet boots etc, and obviously rework the paint on the existing costume?

Let me know what you think- definitely not dead-on to an orig pred but I think a good base for a beginner, plus I'm a full-grown adult so size isn't an issue there.

http://www.amazon.com/Land-Lost-Sleestak-C...0447&sr=8-3

 

[xdmray]

if you repaint that, you will not see the paint underneath, hence it doesn't matter what is underneath. find the cheapest unitard you can and paint that.

look up zentai suit, and get yourself a tan one and paint that. it will probably be the same price and you will have your base color already.

Atlantian painted one of those suits and they did a kickass job.
check it out

http://www.thehunterslair.com/index.php?sh...=spandex+zentai

 

[vgfett]

if you repaint that, you will not see the paint underneath, hence it doesn't matter what is underneath. find the cheapest unitard you can and paint that.

look up zentai suit, and get yourself a tan one and paint that. it will probably be the same price and you will have your base color already.

Atlantian painted one of those suits and they did a kickass job.
check it out

http://www.thehunterslair.com/index.php?sh...=spandex+zentai

Wow that looks incredible! I'd have to do a rattle can version though as I have no airbrush tools.

 

[PredatorPrincess]

You can use the Mr. I suit or just a Rambo top with the tan tights.

 

[serenity1]

I used a Mr.Incredible suit when I made my first. Most of the work is done for you because its one piece and the muscles are there, just may require altering. Mr. I suits can be a nightmare to put on, can restrict movement and are hot as hell. But it looks the best I think. Spandex suits are with out a doubt for comfy and easier to put on/off. More movement. the downside is you are pretty much starting from scratch to include making your own muscle and body build. Since its 2 peice you may have some seems to hide as well. My first was a Mr.I and I was happy aside from taking it on and off...ha..that sucked. My buddy Rashaad is making me one his method which is the spandex suit, then foam to make the muscles, then latexing and painting from there. I hope this helps but in the end it all comes down to your own creativity of what you have to work with.

Good Luck
Brian

rashaad santiago?? If so i've been waiting for him to make me stuff for a long time..

 

[ptgreek]

longer then responding to a post from 2011?

 

[Klwl]

err...... George?

 

[SwedePredator]

Here in Sweden a mr incredible suit with muscles costs about 600- 700 krona