razielhunterx
New Member
So I've been lurking in the shadows, emerging only when absolutely needed. Some of you may recall my daughter's suit which I submitted about a year or so ago. I also mentioned that I had been working on mine, but given time constraints, and a very very low budget, I was pressed for materials, and a lack of skills. I have been working on a few side projects from time to time, but always got discouraged as I was nearing completion of one part. Well I finally decided to bite the bullet and submit my first suit for all to see. Unfortunately I didn't have much in the ways of pictures, so I have scrounged what I could find, and will divulge a little background on some of this stuff. Keep in mind that I am a resource scavenger, so I did what I could with what I had, and made the best of what I could.
This was a custom broadsword I made, and sadly killed my first dremel with. It was unfortunately enough broken, right after I took those pictures. My loving wife sat on that beanbag chair without looking, and well... you can imagine. So I hot glued it for the time being to try to repair it later.... till my youngest daughter found it and decided to attempt to slay one of the cats I had at the time... needless to say the sword was retired after that, kept like the shards of Narsil, for use later. Little did I know that parts of it would prove critical later.
[
This lovely little beast was actually at one point a $3 walmart squirt gun, which I saw potential in. I cut off the handle and trigger housing, took one of those sanitary wipe canisters (which I salvaged the lid and bottom from, add some slots, and hot glue), glued on a few wire sleeves, and spray painted with silver hammered krylon, finished with a clear coat topping. The arm was actually an attachment from a vacuum cleaner, which I dremeled away on and POOF!, instant shoulder cannon.
ATTACH=full]13396[/ATTACH]
Sadly, this part of the costume never made it to the finalized process, as working with buckets proved not only frustrating, but also more expensive than I could afford. I submitted it to show that with time, and a bigger budget, I am hoping one day to make something more impressive.
So I continued to look for pieces and odds and ends to work on my suit, and came across many a huntorial on here, which helped me to aspire to build whatever I could. I went to a local costume store, and saw that they had released the Rubie's Berserker mask, with attached bio and dreads. I initially was impressed at first, but for some reason have a grudge against the mandible attached to his bio. That being said, I took off the dreads, and painted them black, repainting the dread rings the same color as the rest of my armor, (which was still somewhat in limbo). I then cut off the mandible, and cut open the eye slot to make sort of a "uni-lense". To make the actual lense, I dremeled out the shape from an old pair of ballistic goggles I had left over from my first deployment to Iraq, and then hot glued that into the bio. I started experimenting with the expanding foam "great stuff" which hardened nicely. Unfortunately for me.... it also caused bubbles to form in the latex of the bio, which made some humorous, but none the less discouraging features on the dome of the bio. None the less, I decided to improvise. I purchased some hardened plastic devil horns, and hot glued them to the dome of the bio, to detract attention away from the bumps which still make me feel ashamed to this day. I also found an interesting mask, made by the company Disguises, called the alien. the catching features were, one... it was one of those masks that when attached could allow you to open your mouth, thus causing the eyebrows and mouth to move, and two... IT HAD MANDIBLES!! The unfortunate thing was it had a clear plastic strap between the top mandibles, attaching them, and also between the bottom set as well. After much tinkering and a few trial and errors, I finally cut off the mandibles, re-attached them with hot glue and butterfly hair clips, and used some elastic bands to work as tendons. Unfortunately this was also only a half mask, so I needed more ideas. I wound up finding the salvation of that mask in the form of a $1 jack-o-lantern candy holder. I dremeled it to make the dome and back of the head, which then was covered in "great stuff", after attaching the dreadlocks I had saved from the original Berserker mask. Upon its drying, I used an ordinary serrated kitchen knife, and started carving away to make the shape I desired. I also hot glued pieces of an under armor shirt I had to make the membrane between the top and bottom of the mandibles. In this time I also purchased a "Captain America" muscle suit, which I intended to use in accordance with the "Mr I. huntorial". I went to hobby lobby and found some liquid latex, purchased two bottles, and was ready to go. Unfortunately for me (very fortunate for my daughter, Trinity) I took a break and quickly slapped together her suit made of mostly cardboard and paper mache, paired with some paint left over, and a black sharpie marker I had laying around. After finishing her suit, however, I started working with a hastened pace to finish mine. I realized that the bucket armor was out of the question with time and money being short, so I jumped on the foamies bandwagon. I cut and glued the shapes, covered them in some of the liquid latex to seal the pores and painted with the same silver hammered paint. I also used the same latex to cover the head I made, sealing the pores, allowing me to hand paint the head with acrylic paints I picked up at walmart. So in this time, I had completed the armor set, minus gauntlets and blades, and the actual skin. I was also missing hands, feet, and a neck ring. I also had four days remaining to finish something so I could participate in the costume contest I was supposed to be in. I started slathering on liquid latex over the entire suit, and when it dried I spray painted with normal spray paint some tans, and browns in an obscure pattern. I still didn't have hands, feet, or gauntlets, so I started brainstorming. Salvation came in the form of fingerless gloves for my hands, but sadly no feet, and the shards of my broadsword, paired with another wipe canister, (thank god for diapers and being a dad) plus a bottle of cran-apple ocean spray juice. I cut up the the canister, and the juice bottle, and made the gauntlets... and then attached the two blades on top of the sword to the right gauntlet. I also used some pleather fabric to make my belt and loin cloth. I also borrowed the staff/sword from my daughter's build, and attached that to my left hip. Sadly I reduced myself to wearing tan combat boots for my feet (though nobody noticed). Once I got to the bar, suited up, I found it impossible to see, so my loving wife was a handler, seeing eye trophy. Most of the night I just stood in one place and most people thought I was a statue till I moved, or gave them a little wave. Unfortunately, being at a bar in a college town, drunken idiots are prevelant, and one drunk girl stumbled into my path, and accidently tore off the horns on my bio. I entered the costume contest, and a lot of people were cheering for me... but sadly not enough. First place went to one of the bartenders, who hand crafted a female gremlin costume, and it was fairly impressive. Second place went to some drunk jerk who wore one of those $60 store bought wicked jester costumes, with the weird skull masks. I took third place, which bothered me greatly, and is probably a big reason why it's taken me almost a year to finally submit my pictures and this tragic tale of woe. A few weeks later, people told me that I should have taken first place. On the plus side, my third place prize was a free quarter barrel party, which I used back in June as a get together for some friends after I found out my 26 year old sister died in May. Anyway, I am not sure that I will be able to complete a suit this year, though I'm taking the pepakura route. So enough rambling, I submit to you, the members of the lair... my third place winning uber budget suit.
This was a custom broadsword I made, and sadly killed my first dremel with. It was unfortunately enough broken, right after I took those pictures. My loving wife sat on that beanbag chair without looking, and well... you can imagine. So I hot glued it for the time being to try to repair it later.... till my youngest daughter found it and decided to attempt to slay one of the cats I had at the time... needless to say the sword was retired after that, kept like the shards of Narsil, for use later. Little did I know that parts of it would prove critical later.
[
This lovely little beast was actually at one point a $3 walmart squirt gun, which I saw potential in. I cut off the handle and trigger housing, took one of those sanitary wipe canisters (which I salvaged the lid and bottom from, add some slots, and hot glue), glued on a few wire sleeves, and spray painted with silver hammered krylon, finished with a clear coat topping. The arm was actually an attachment from a vacuum cleaner, which I dremeled away on and POOF!, instant shoulder cannon.
ATTACH=full]13396[/ATTACH]
Sadly, this part of the costume never made it to the finalized process, as working with buckets proved not only frustrating, but also more expensive than I could afford. I submitted it to show that with time, and a bigger budget, I am hoping one day to make something more impressive.
So I continued to look for pieces and odds and ends to work on my suit, and came across many a huntorial on here, which helped me to aspire to build whatever I could. I went to a local costume store, and saw that they had released the Rubie's Berserker mask, with attached bio and dreads. I initially was impressed at first, but for some reason have a grudge against the mandible attached to his bio. That being said, I took off the dreads, and painted them black, repainting the dread rings the same color as the rest of my armor, (which was still somewhat in limbo). I then cut off the mandible, and cut open the eye slot to make sort of a "uni-lense". To make the actual lense, I dremeled out the shape from an old pair of ballistic goggles I had left over from my first deployment to Iraq, and then hot glued that into the bio. I started experimenting with the expanding foam "great stuff" which hardened nicely. Unfortunately for me.... it also caused bubbles to form in the latex of the bio, which made some humorous, but none the less discouraging features on the dome of the bio. None the less, I decided to improvise. I purchased some hardened plastic devil horns, and hot glued them to the dome of the bio, to detract attention away from the bumps which still make me feel ashamed to this day. I also found an interesting mask, made by the company Disguises, called the alien. the catching features were, one... it was one of those masks that when attached could allow you to open your mouth, thus causing the eyebrows and mouth to move, and two... IT HAD MANDIBLES!! The unfortunate thing was it had a clear plastic strap between the top mandibles, attaching them, and also between the bottom set as well. After much tinkering and a few trial and errors, I finally cut off the mandibles, re-attached them with hot glue and butterfly hair clips, and used some elastic bands to work as tendons. Unfortunately this was also only a half mask, so I needed more ideas. I wound up finding the salvation of that mask in the form of a $1 jack-o-lantern candy holder. I dremeled it to make the dome and back of the head, which then was covered in "great stuff", after attaching the dreadlocks I had saved from the original Berserker mask. Upon its drying, I used an ordinary serrated kitchen knife, and started carving away to make the shape I desired. I also hot glued pieces of an under armor shirt I had to make the membrane between the top and bottom of the mandibles. In this time I also purchased a "Captain America" muscle suit, which I intended to use in accordance with the "Mr I. huntorial". I went to hobby lobby and found some liquid latex, purchased two bottles, and was ready to go. Unfortunately for me (very fortunate for my daughter, Trinity) I took a break and quickly slapped together her suit made of mostly cardboard and paper mache, paired with some paint left over, and a black sharpie marker I had laying around. After finishing her suit, however, I started working with a hastened pace to finish mine. I realized that the bucket armor was out of the question with time and money being short, so I jumped on the foamies bandwagon. I cut and glued the shapes, covered them in some of the liquid latex to seal the pores and painted with the same silver hammered paint. I also used the same latex to cover the head I made, sealing the pores, allowing me to hand paint the head with acrylic paints I picked up at walmart. So in this time, I had completed the armor set, minus gauntlets and blades, and the actual skin. I was also missing hands, feet, and a neck ring. I also had four days remaining to finish something so I could participate in the costume contest I was supposed to be in. I started slathering on liquid latex over the entire suit, and when it dried I spray painted with normal spray paint some tans, and browns in an obscure pattern. I still didn't have hands, feet, or gauntlets, so I started brainstorming. Salvation came in the form of fingerless gloves for my hands, but sadly no feet, and the shards of my broadsword, paired with another wipe canister, (thank god for diapers and being a dad) plus a bottle of cran-apple ocean spray juice. I cut up the the canister, and the juice bottle, and made the gauntlets... and then attached the two blades on top of the sword to the right gauntlet. I also used some pleather fabric to make my belt and loin cloth. I also borrowed the staff/sword from my daughter's build, and attached that to my left hip. Sadly I reduced myself to wearing tan combat boots for my feet (though nobody noticed). Once I got to the bar, suited up, I found it impossible to see, so my loving wife was a handler, seeing eye trophy. Most of the night I just stood in one place and most people thought I was a statue till I moved, or gave them a little wave. Unfortunately, being at a bar in a college town, drunken idiots are prevelant, and one drunk girl stumbled into my path, and accidently tore off the horns on my bio. I entered the costume contest, and a lot of people were cheering for me... but sadly not enough. First place went to one of the bartenders, who hand crafted a female gremlin costume, and it was fairly impressive. Second place went to some drunk jerk who wore one of those $60 store bought wicked jester costumes, with the weird skull masks. I took third place, which bothered me greatly, and is probably a big reason why it's taken me almost a year to finally submit my pictures and this tragic tale of woe. A few weeks later, people told me that I should have taken first place. On the plus side, my third place prize was a free quarter barrel party, which I used back in June as a get together for some friends after I found out my 26 year old sister died in May. Anyway, I am not sure that I will be able to complete a suit this year, though I'm taking the pepakura route. So enough rambling, I submit to you, the members of the lair... my third place winning uber budget suit.
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