WIP: ANH Tusken Raider

[Darth_Knight1]

Hey all,

Although there's probably not much new here in terms of the "mechanics" of this build, wanted to post some work-in-progress pics for my ANH Tusken Raider costume. My goal is to have everything finished by early to mid-November. Feel free to leave comments/suggestions/recommendations, and enjoy the pics!

Mask Kit - Started with an unassembled "Godzilla" mask kit, purchased from a 3rd party seller

Used an Xacto knife to cut out the eye, nose and mouth

Horns added

Following kit maker's recommendations, used Amazing Goop to attach the eye pieces and cheek pieces

Added lambskin to mouth and eyes

Added aluminum nose/tooth piece, plus wrapped mouth opening with leather

Tea bath for belt sash and gloves

Completed sash

Strips of khaki duck cloth (washed and dryed). Will use these as the wrap coverings for the head, arms and feet.

An Old TK Neckseal Wrapped with Cloth

Long Sleeve T-Shirt w/ Arm Wraps Added

British Martini-Henry Rifle Bandolier Reproduction. Scuffed up and weathered it using a combination of sandpaper, oil and just bending and working the leather repeatedly.

Swedish Mauser Leather Bandolier (Using as a Belt Pouch)

Rubber Boots Purchased from WalMart w/ Wraps Added

Updated Mask Pic (Wraps Glued On, Screen Mesh Added to Mouth and Eyes)

Another Test Fit Pic (Who knew that Sandpeople used iPhones, LOL)

Still need to:
- Weather/dirty up all robes and wrappings -- Thinking about using mostly watered-down acrylic paints in a spray bottle for this process but welcome other thoughts/options?
- Scratch-build a Gaffi Stick (Note: Stick in the pic above is a wooden bo staff from my old martial arts days, lol). :ninja

 

[Darth_Knight1]

Here are a few more pics...

Finished up my respirator/breather this weekend and about to start on the gaffi stick next. Here's are some progress shots from the respirator/breather construction.

Leather and Leather Dye (Purchased from Tandy Leather)

Dyed the leather

2 Furniture Polish Cans, 2 Soda Bottle Caps, 2 Brass Flare Fittings

Emptied can contents, then cut and taped cans together. Next, epoxied soda caps and flare fittings, then placed soft copper tubing through each end.

Assembled breather/respirator, then bent copper tubing to desired shape.

Sprayed with metallic grey paint, then (once dry) attached the leather covering.

Additional pics of finished breather/respirator apparatus

 

[Jokerjack350]

what type of material did you use on the sash?

 

[propologist]

very cool process

 

[DL 44 Blaster]

It really looks great!

 

[.:MirrorminD:.]

Awesome progress pics. Looks great so far

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Looking good, nice job on the respirator.

 

[Darth_Knight1]

what type of material did you use on the sash?

Not sure honestly. It was extra material I had laying around and when I saw it I thought, "Wow, that'll go great with the Tusken sash". At any rate, out of curiosity I went to local fabric store and they gave several guesses about the type of fabric:

- Crinkle cloth
- Chambray fabric
- Gauze cloth

Hope this helps!

 

[jme3]

Very cool. :thumbsup

 

[MiDri]

Love it man, What kind of tea did you use for the bath? I'm really digging how well this came out.

 

[Darth_Knight1]

Love it man, What kind of tea did you use for the bath? I'm really digging how well this came out.

Thanks MiDri. Tea is 'Market Pantry' brand and was purchased from Target. Even though I bought a box of 100 bags, I only used 60 or so. Here's a pic of the box as well:

I'll be off work this Friday, so I'm hoping to get most if not all of my gaffi stick constructed then, along with some mild robe dyeing and weathering. Pics and updates coming soon...

 

[Doh2]

Excellent job -- I love the production pictures.

 

[Jokerjack350]

Not sure honestly. It was extra material I had laying around and when I saw it I thought, "Wow, that'll got great with the Tusken sash". At any rate, out of curiosity I went to local fabric store and they gave several guesses about the type of fabric:

- Crinkle cloth
- Chambray fabric
- Gauze cloth

Hope this helps!

Thank you so much

awsome tusken btw really nice

 

[Darth_Knight1]

Hi all,

Thanks for the kinds words. Even though this project isn't done yet, I have to make sure to give big kudos to TK-409 (Chris Bartlett), TK-1336 (Mike Gordon) and RPF Member 'Chewbaccadoll' (Kurt). All of them had (or have) tutorial pages and/or postings on various sites which have served as great resource and reference guides for this build. I started making some headway on constructing the gaffi stick earlier than expected, so wanted to share the interim progress pics...

Preliminary Materials (Pictured: Dowel Rods, Plastic Sprinkler Spike; Not Pictured: KwikWood Epoxy Putty, PVC Pipe Fittings, Sheets of ABS Plastic).

Wooden Chair Leg, used to create "neck" of gaffi stick)

Close-Up of Table Leg (15" Waddell Queen Anne, #2715)

Sawed off portions of table leg to create "neck" piece of gaffi stick

Resin Gaffi Head (Purchased from 'King Jawa' over at the 501st Legion Krayt Clan Detachment forum)

Drilled a hole inside both the wooden "neck" piece and the resin gaffi and inserted 7/8" dowel rod

Drilled hole inside bottom portion of "neck" piece, inserted dowel rod that will reinforce connection to main body of gaffi stick

All dowel rods epoxied in place

Full length pic of WIP gaffi stick taking shape

Used KwikWood Epoxy Putty to reinforce connection and create proper 'look'

Side view of gaffi head

That's all I was able to accomplish last night, but I'll post some more pics once I make more progress. Stay tuned!

 

[Darth_Knight1]

More progress pics from working on gaffi stick last night and today...

Main materials for constructing lower half of gaffi stick

Cut fins out of ABS plastic and added sprinkler spike

Dremeled slots to attach fins

Even though fins are held in place by epoxy, added hot glue to simulate the effect of welding "beads" on a metal (Note: This portion will eventually be painted a silver metallic color).

Close-up pic of area where the two dowel rods are attached

Finished primary construction, still need to paint it

 

[Bradleyfett]

One thing I will HIGHLY reccommend is building in some openings in the side of the mask for peripheral vision. I've had my Tusken completed for about a year and a half, worn it a few times, and found that the limited vision of the mask is really scary. I have just recently built in some holes that make a world of difference in being able to move around with much less danger of running into something or skewering somebody with your Gaffi!

I cut two squarish holes in each side of the cheek area, filled them with a very tight wire mesh cut from a kitchen strainer painted a similar khaki color as the head wraps. From the outside, the mesh looks like heavy-weave material. I'll get some pics up if that helps.

Mark

 

[Darth_Knight1]

Work week was super busy, but finally finished up the gaffi stick a fews days ago. Used techniques from the Panzer woodgraining tutorial (Panzer Corps Cheap Prop Painting for a War Film) to help make the stick look more authentic. Even though it took a while, I'm very pleased with the end result. Here are some of the progress pics I took along the way...

Taped off both the "pineapple"/club end and the bottom portion and painted remainder of the stick using Krylon Satin Black

Once original black paint coat was dry, went back and painted over it with ivory colored latex paint. This served as the base for achieving the woodgrain look.

Intentionally left gaps so some of the black areas from the original coat would show through. This helps the wood look more aged once we start adding more coats of finishing paint later on.

As recommended, used the Mohawk brand finishing paints

Sprayed on first coat: Mohawak Medium Brown Walnut

Sprayed on respective second and third coats: Mohawak Extra Dark Walnut and Mohawk Cherry. After both coats dried, sprayed more Krylon Satin Black to darken certain areas. Once that dried, sprayed everything with the Krylon Matte Finish to reduce the shine.

Taped off bottom portion and sprayed with coat of Rustoleum Silver Hammered paint

Close-up of area connecting "wood" portion with "metal" portion

Completed Gaffi Stick, First Pic

Completed Gaffi Stick, Second Pic

Next up: Dyeing and weathering the robes, boots and head wraps and then it's submission pic time. Oh yeah!

 

[Darth_Knight1]

Here are a few pics of the final stretch of mods. Nothing spectacular on this batch, mainly robe dyeing and some minor mods, but figured I'd post the progress pics nonetheless...

VISION/SAFETY MOD - Recommendation courtesy of Mark/Bradleyfett. Thanks! :thumbsup
Cut out side vision holes in mask and added porch screen mesh. Next, colored the mesh with gold-colored paint pen to help it blend with color of wraps. Although a minor mod, this makes a TON of difference in terms of safety because it adds some peripheral vision for the wearer. Without it, wearing the mask is like having two toilet paper tubes over your eyes and never being able to see beyond what's directly in front of you. As you can imagine, poor vision coupled with a gaffi stick and younglings at a troop or convention is not a good combo.

Peripheral Vision Mod - Side Right View

Peripheral Vision Mod - Side Left View

ROBE DYEING
Dyed the robes using RIT Dye. Found that a combination of tan and pearl gray works best for giving the tan/mustard/olive-ish color of the Tusken Raider robes we see in ANH.

Bucket for Dyeing Robes

Dyeing In Progress

Outer Robe, Dyed

Close Up of Outer Robe

Inner Robe, Dyed
Note: Used only tan dye for this one, no pearl gray added.

GLOVES
Dirtied Up the Gloves Using Good Ole' Fashioned Dirt

I'm currently trimming the robe length to make sure it isn't so long that I trip over it while walking. Once that's done, I'm just gonna give everything a spotty spraying of watered down acrylic paints (e.g., browns, blacks, dark greens, etc) to dirty things up, add some more fans to the bucket/mask and then call this one done.

 

[NAZGÛL]

Thats a great looking Tusken!

 

[WebChief]

Great Tusken costume! I love the progress pics!