semajarab
Member
I recently completed a full build Xeno costume after about 3 months of poking at it off and on when I'm home from traveling. I wanted to post my build, pics, and some lessons learned for anything attempting to undertake one of these amazing costumes! This costume is now COMPLETE but this is probably going to be a series of posts so I can walk everyone through the build here as sharing this with you is bringing a new joy to making Ajax. J. Alien.
Also, right now pics are being hosted on DropBox. Hopefully no issus arise, but PM me if things break and I will change image hosts.
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I started off ordering a full xeno kit from a friend who had an extra unfinished... I have been told these guys where initially cast from parts of the movie costume, and then modified over time. There are very few if any left to my knowledge unfinished, so finding a kit like this is EXCEPTIONALLY rare. $900 to start right here for one unfinished and this is a good deal from what I'm told by other xeno costumers.
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It was really my first costume needed a mannequin as I had managed to survive using myself as a model. A quick shot of my workshop on day one.
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Probably the hardest part of the build was putting together the torso harness in a way that was not going to weigh me down, but was also easy enough to take on and off. I didn't end up taking picture of the process but I used pvc pipe embedded in the back spines and attached them to a backpack I installed attached the the main back plate. Don't let the picture fool you there, there are about 20 coats of latex holding the seams together and making it look smooth. The attachments were rough to start with, but ended up great with some patience and liquid latex. I highly suggest investing in a good backpack or harness if you are going to build anything that has this much weight riding on your back at all times.
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I was anxious to get the parts painted and started plasti-dipping the parts in the first week; You would not believe how many cans of this stuff I end up going through; (I think in total I used 14 cans for the whole build). Here are a few paint shots. Even with the ventilator, I had to take frequent breaks and open my shop doors as I was spraying liquid plastic.
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There are so many of us running around now, we wear collars so that people can tell us apart; While the builds are all different, when you pack 10 of us together it's not only terrifying, but also you tend to lose track of who you are looking for. I went a 46" bright pink spiked collar. Here is a quick pick of a handful of Aliens @ the 2011 Aliens Convention. The picture is off the Stan Winston feed on Facebook and credit to Gareth Ellner (the one with the red collar) who I believe posted it first.
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I will post part II of the build later this week and cover the jumpsuit and attaching all the components to it with contact cement which I now know is very unforgiving if you decide to "I will just glue this one component in place when I have the suit on".
Here is a quick teaser pic of the start of the process:
Also, right now pics are being hosted on DropBox. Hopefully no issus arise, but PM me if things break and I will change image hosts.
------------
I started off ordering a full xeno kit from a friend who had an extra unfinished... I have been told these guys where initially cast from parts of the movie costume, and then modified over time. There are very few if any left to my knowledge unfinished, so finding a kit like this is EXCEPTIONALLY rare. $900 to start right here for one unfinished and this is a good deal from what I'm told by other xeno costumers.
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It was really my first costume needed a mannequin as I had managed to survive using myself as a model. A quick shot of my workshop on day one.
------------
Probably the hardest part of the build was putting together the torso harness in a way that was not going to weigh me down, but was also easy enough to take on and off. I didn't end up taking picture of the process but I used pvc pipe embedded in the back spines and attached them to a backpack I installed attached the the main back plate. Don't let the picture fool you there, there are about 20 coats of latex holding the seams together and making it look smooth. The attachments were rough to start with, but ended up great with some patience and liquid latex. I highly suggest investing in a good backpack or harness if you are going to build anything that has this much weight riding on your back at all times.
------------
I was anxious to get the parts painted and started plasti-dipping the parts in the first week; You would not believe how many cans of this stuff I end up going through; (I think in total I used 14 cans for the whole build). Here are a few paint shots. Even with the ventilator, I had to take frequent breaks and open my shop doors as I was spraying liquid plastic.
------------
There are so many of us running around now, we wear collars so that people can tell us apart; While the builds are all different, when you pack 10 of us together it's not only terrifying, but also you tend to lose track of who you are looking for. I went a 46" bright pink spiked collar. Here is a quick pick of a handful of Aliens @ the 2011 Aliens Convention. The picture is off the Stan Winston feed on Facebook and credit to Gareth Ellner (the one with the red collar) who I believe posted it first.
------------
I will post part II of the build later this week and cover the jumpsuit and attaching all the components to it with contact cement which I now know is very unforgiving if you decide to "I will just glue this one component in place when I have the suit on".
Here is a quick teaser pic of the start of the process:
I will be sharing part III - head and harness build and part IV - finalizing + final pictures hopefully sometime this week.
