My "quick" Halloween Bumble costume

[laellee]

I've wanted to build the Bumble for a couple of years now, finally bit the bullet and decided to knock it out this year. My own halloween costumes are usually 'quick' (less than 25 hours of work) so they don't interfere with my regular work, and I try to keep it fairly affordable So, I got off my butt last week, and after a couple of sketches and a couple of clicks on the internet got the ball rolling. First off, for anybody that doesn't know who the Bumble is, he's the giant abominable snow creature from the TV movie Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.

THIS GUY:

So, my preliminary plan was to go with a full-fur suit, fur-covered foam head, and possibly foam hands and feet. I worked up the general suit dimensions using images from google, and then modeled up a rough 3d model that I could refine shapes and scales from:

I would use Pepakura Designer to take these models and make my patterns for the fur suit. Speaking of the fur, I knew that this would be the most cost-prohibitive part of this project, so I spent a good amount of time looking at was I could get locally and online. After doing quite a bit of research, I went with a pretty large company, Fabric.com, and ordered a Mongolian off-white fur with about a 2 1/2" pile. 8 yards showed up 4 days later, at a cost of about $140:

I gotta say, I love this fur.

 

[laellee]

So while I was waiting for my fur, I decided that the face would come out a lot better if I 3d printed up the components. I want this guy to be expressive, so I modeled up separate movable eyes and also a working jaw assembly.

I modeled the eyes as half-spheres with posts on each end, and then added brackets to the back of the face so the eyes could just snap right in. I also added a simple hinge on each jaw-end so that the mouth could move, sliced everything up and ran it out on my Robo R1+. A little glue and a first coat of acrlyic paint told me that the features were starting to look how they're supposed to:

I haven't been thinking too far ahead on this project, but I did at least engineer the teeth to overlap nicely so he can close his mouth all the way. :lol I'm not going to sweat controlling the eyes or mouth yet, I haven't even built a head yet.

 

[Wimismith]

It's looking really good.


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[laellee]

By the time my fur had showed up on Friday, I had already printed out and cut my fabric patterns to make the fur suit itself. I spent the better part of yesterday morning cutting, pinning and sewing fur, and about 5 hours later I had a HUGE (and heavy) fur suit with about a yard and a half of fabric to spare. Sorry, no pictures of the suit in a pile on the floor, I was too busy vacuuming up fur strands off of two rooms.

Having the suit itself together really gave me a better idea of how big it is, and how much it needed a skeleton of some sort to hold the shape. I went to the local home improvement store late last night and picked up 100 feet of 1/2" PEX and fittings to go with it. I've used this stuff inside space marine costumes and it works really well so I thought what the heck. The PEX runs about $25 which is cheap, but I didn't want to spend a boatload on fittings so I only bought a few that I could just quickly model and 3d print. I set the printer on it's way to run PEX Tees and 4-ways for me before going to bed last night.

This morning I awoke to a batch of 3d printed PEX fittings (100% infill), and went to work building a skeleton. I just worked off of my original 3d model to get measurements and started cutting and assembling rings. All of the frame has to fit through a small access slit in the back of the suit, so I assembled my skeleton with a combination of fittings with screws and also just hitch-pins made out of bobby pins.

Here's the skeleton upper, upside-down. I used a section of a foam pool noodle cut and popped onto the head opening for padding:

the idea was for the upper skeleton to sit on my shoulders and work like an umbrella of sorts, and then I would add a couple of lower rings that would just hang from flexible lines and give the bottom half some shape. That way, the weight of the fur hanging off of the main frame will keep it pretty steady and level, and the bottom sections will also be able to move about while I walk. Here's what I ended up with after a couple of hours of tinkering:

 

[laellee]

So, the last progress this afternoon was actually seeing if the frame and the suit would work together. I was pretty apprehensive, as these two sections came to be in very different ways and in different locations even. Anyways, after the costume-building equivalent of stuffing a turkey, I'm pretty satisfied with the results thus far

...and a quick check of the face and mouth for proportion. I've gotta lighten the blue, but now he looks like a character from the Simpsons :lol

 

[usajdm]

OH man this is so Awsome.
Memories my man.
If I may ask, are you thinking of adding something around the largest ring to smooth out the belly region?
Maybe some thin Eva?
Good luck, this is so great.
Robert

 

[Nismo]

Nice! A fellow Bumble Build!

looks good man - wish I had the 3D printing option, I had to go more organic - did all of mine out of 3/4" L200 but it really worked out cause he is soft and padded so when I get little kids running up to hug they feel like they are running into a giant pillow!

look forward to the moving parts aspect of it.

Just finished mine Sunday so good luck with yours!

 

[George]

I don't know the character,but every time an 'unconventional' or less known project is launched,I cannot help being curious and enthusiastic.
Will there be electronics involved? Or some kind of mechanism for the jaw?
Anyway,I hope this build will become a success :cool

 

[laellee]

OH man this is so Awsome.
Memories my man.
If I may ask, are you thinking of adding something around the largest ring to smooth out the belly region?
Maybe some thin Eva?
Good luck, this is so great.
Robert

Haha that belly bump bugs you too, huh?

I modeled the Bumble with actual 'pecs', and then even sewed in the extra pieces for this that you can see in the 3d model, but I haven't added any structure to it yet to define the shape. So, he literally has a roll of fur-fat across the front that needs some filling

I'm thinking either left over eva as you suggested from after I do the head, and/or some batting as well so he actually has the big chest I want him to. Fingers crossed, but htat ripple/seam should just about dis appear then

I don't know the character,but every time an 'unconventional' or less known project is launched,I cannot help being curious and enthusiastic.
Will there be electronics involved? Or some kind of mechanism for the jaw?
Anyway,I hope this build will become a success :cool

Thanks! The eyes and the jaw are both made to be functional, but I'm waiting on getting the head roughed out before committing to anything else up there.... My best guess is that I will be looking out of the mouth, once I can get a line of sight then I can try and get things moving. I am thinking I will just cannibalize one of the remote control toys I have around here and rig up a simple controller to pan the eyes and open/close the mouth. It'd be fine if it was all static, but I really prefer to have those extra little details that add so much.

Nice! A fellow Bumble Build!

looks good man - wish I had the 3D printing option, I had to go more organic - did all of mine out of 3/4" L200 but it really worked out cause he is soft and padded so when I get little kids running up to hug they feel like they are running into a giant pillow!

look forward to the moving parts aspect of it.

Just finished mine Sunday so good luck with yours!

Awesome, post pics! I have wanted to get some experience with fur, so this was a good opportunity, but I originally had considered going foam just for the structure (and I've worked with foam for years)... Gotta love the Bumble!

 

[Nismo]

Awesome, post pics! I have wanted to get some experience with fur, so this was a good opportunity, but I originally had considered going foam just for the structure (and I've worked with foam for years)... Gotta love the Bumble!

here is my build thread with pics
http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=268410

 

[laellee]

here is my build thread with pics
http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=268410

Great work, and he looks huge! I tried to talk the girlfriend into being my Yukon Cornelius, but no luck

 

[laellee]

Progress.....

So, my original plan yesterday was to make some pepkaura templates up from my 3d model, dig into my stash of 6mm EVA, and knock out the head...BUT, turns out I'm out of EVA and I don't have time to order more in. I could have run to Menards and bought some floor squares, but I was already at Walmart and they had some 10mm yoga mats. for $15. I'd never used these before, they were smooth on one side and big enough to build a head from, and I figured I'm covering it with hair anyways, so why not? UGH. Sorry, not too many pictures, I was expecting to just have to scrap this head for a while. :unsure

The mats, even at 10mm, were super-flexible, and of course heavier as well. I wasn't confident, but I cut out my pepakura patterns, transfer them to foam, and then start building. An hour and change later, I had a head, but HOLY WOBBLY AND UNSTABLE! This was especially going to be a problem considering there's a mouth and face that have to get attached as well. I considered just scrapping it and just using some cardboard, but instead I tried to polish the turd.... I pinned in a piece of foamboard into the roof of the mouth for a shaper, and then slathered on a couple of layers of PVA glue to stiffen it up:

After two coats and a LOT of runs (I don't care, it all gets furred), I left it to dry. Low and behold, in the morning it was dry, and STILL just too floppy, so I tried another tack. Using some of my leftover PEX tube from the skeleton, I built a frame for the head that could slip in and reinforce my foam. After the frame was measured and slipped into place, I then fastened it in with expanding foam. I've used this to bond frames to foam in the past, it works great as long as you don't go crazy on it, and it also makes for great light rigid support. The expansion can affect the shape of things a bit if you go too crazy, so I went ahead and fastened in the face section too before adding the foam to the inside seams. Here's a shot up into the head now, you can see the pex frame held in with the foam, and the back of the face... Still haven't worked out eye controls yet, but that's OK:

Once everything has cured up a little more, I will add another PEX tubing ring to the base of the head frame so it can stand upright on it's own when sitting on the body. Then I can glue the jaws in, and can also start furring the head. The 'neck' portion will have hanging fur that will then wrap around along the lower jaw, so it should fill out and blend into the body nicely, then I can also add the jaw springs once I see how much force is needed to keep the mouth closed. Here are the hinged jaws as they sit now:

...And here's the head in its rough-and-tumble state. I set the jaws in place to check the fit:

I'll glue the jaw tonight, then hopefully he'll get furred tomorrow. Thanks for looking!

 

[glitch451]

Very cool build!! That face is going to be spot on. Any chance for removable teeth for pre/post dental work?

I love seeing how different people approach similar builds. Did you see Adam Savages build of Totoro for NYC ComiCon? Similar, but different.

 

[George]

Very cool thusfar.I like the need for creative solutions to overcome certain challenges.

 

[laellee]

Hectic afternoon, but got quite a bit more done. Head is furred!

 

[George]

Any progress on your Bumble build?

 

[laellee]

I had to push through on the last parts, didn't get too many pictures

For the feet, I just traced out some giant feet outlines on foamboard and cut the shapes out so they were 'monster-foot-like'. Lifts were not really needed with the Bumble (with me in him) standing at over 7 feet tall in bare feet, but I wanted a decent foot shape anyways. Once I got the shapes traced out, I just used aerosol expanding insulation foam to build the shape:

Pretty cut-and-dry, I just spray a level, sprayed with water to accelerate the cure, let it sit for a few hours, and then add another layer. After a couple of layers were added, I then sprayed globs to make 4 toes on each foot and let those cure before painting them up in blue. From there it was a matter of strapping on a pair of tennis shoes with velcro banding and then hot-gluing fur to cover everything. I also printed up a full set of claws, but decided against them as I just didn't like how they looked. I also decided against the hand claws, they were actually somewhat sharp and I didn't want to risk scratching anybody. Big fur suit + limited vision + plushy hands on the ends of PVC sticks is fine, but sharp claws too sounded like a bad combination.

Two layers of cured foam got me about 3" of total lift, with shoes strapped on to the top this made almost 4 inches of total height. In a perfect world I would have also glued on some eva to the bottom as a tread, but I didn't have any on hand so I skipped it (he was only being worn one place indoors for a couple of hours, so not too worried). If I were to do the feet again I would refine the toes more, get rid of the fur under the toes, and then add soft claws... It worked out pretty well otherwise.

Here's a pic test-fitted, the chest foam has not been popped in here:






... and a vid from Saturday night while waiting for the show.... I'm actually drinking a beer in the suit here :lol
[video]https://www.facebook.com/kodyklink/videos/10153919744306611/[/video]

 

[Leylander]

You'll give plenty of people a scare in that

I do believe some kids might want to cuddle

 

[Wimismith]

Looks awesome, great vid.


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[Doh2]

That's really quite wonderful!