Predator 2 Body Skins

[MeanGene]

My Predator 2 Body Skins Project.
Completed sometime 2009-2010

Part of this topic if the sculpture itself. But seeing as the major part of the work is in fact the molding process. Figured I would plant it in this section.

What I learned from this process:
Body skins are a huge undertaking. 
Duct tape dummies work OK. A proper mannequin would be better.
* Sculpt the body skins significantly larger to account for latex shrinkage.
Don't make ultracl30 gypsum molds again. Ridiculously heavy.
WED clay is perfect for this type of larger sculpt.
Sculpt muscles and definition much more pronounced and exaggerated, the forms gets lost in latex rubber. 

The process.
Make a duct tape dummy of your body. Then fill it with expanding foam to get a rigid model to sculpt on.
Get a lot of clay. Probably used 250lbs of clay for the sculpt. Another 50 or so lbs of White clay for the mold diving wall.
I budgeted quite a bit of time to devote to this. The clay will dry out over time. It can be wrapped and saved.
All said and done I think I had it sculpted - molded and finished inside of 2 weeks.

 

 

By the time it came to make these molds I had made probably a dozen smaller molds.
Of heads, hands, single body arm pieces. 
I had a lot of trial and error experience to get to this point.
I would highly suggest you try your hand at smaller items before tackling such a large project.

Petroleum jelly - I've heard it isnt the best release agent when it comes to separating the two halves. Worked ok for me for years.
Basically you make the first half of the mold, then coat the dividing line with a release agent. 
Allows you to separate the two halves.

Paper stock dividing wall. I was inspired by the batman dead end sculpture picture here to make a similar dividing wall.
I ended up bailing on the paper stock, worrying it would not be strong enough.
Instead White clay was used as a dividing wall. 

Success! Two halves separated. Notice the rounded registration keys.
I also sculpted in channels to the dividing wall which snake down the length of the sculpt.
This channel was to prevent latex from seeping out the sides.

 

I won't detail how to mix ultracal here. There are lots of tutorials out there to follow.
Just follow the proper mixing ratios and use a drill to mix it. 

 

 

 

 

Finished product.
 

 

 

Samurai Shinto Suit

Will detail out this suit build at a later date.

[OzzyHuntress]

Excellent work on the skin. The builds are awesome in detail, design, colour and patterns. 

[Usurper]

Great write up Gene. 

[Lwoff0677]

wow looks good 

[Roninpred]

You have improved by leaps and bounds on your skills Gene. Any other sculpts on the horizon? Maybe a P1?

[MeanGene]

Whats next?
You are gonna think I am crazy. Because I am crazy.

But this has been on my mind since I made these skins way back...

I desperately want a head for display.
And seeing that walk around as a costume would off the hook.

 

[YautjaGuardian]

Fantastic Job Gene

[Pdisc]

Awesome play by play of the process Gene

[Lwoff0677]

i wood love to see it

[Lwoff0677]

really surprised that no one's done it yet I would definitely buy one

[Ptgreek]

Man, this was a lot of fun to revisit. 
looking back I’m impressed how you just dove into the large scale molds! And yes.. stone molds of that size suck 

such a great build bro 

[Bovine13]

I love these posts! Answers in pictures!

[MeanGene]

Thanks gentlemen. When I took this pics I had every intention of making a hard core tutorial.

But at the end of the day, seeing the process explains so much by itself. So no need to drone on.

I think all said and done I would some type of epoxy,resin,fiberglass mold and make castings that way. 

The weight of those molds is ultimately why I no longer have them.

Got tired of moving them around. Wish I still had them though...