Now these photos may look a little on the raw side...perhaps a little amateur. But, take into account this is for a neighborhood hayride that happens at night. It will only go for 3 hours and if it rains then it's going to be useless, since nobody will want to go on the thing in the first place. I just wanted to see this happen and as cheaply as I could do it. $70.00 is all I could allow.

Garbage bags ended up being most of this guy's skin because of it being waterproof, lightweight, paintable, and shrinkable with a heatgun. And, of course, not to mention cheap and plentiful.

$6.50 for a latex mask that had to be repainted.

$26.00 for the 4' x 8' sheet of 2" insulating styrofoam.

$30.00 for two sheets of foam rubber and some faux fur.

I had the rest of the supplies: dryer vent hose, some 1" styrofoam, and some cable ties.

This was the original plan. Since then it had to evolve and I tried to do the best I could with the supplies I had, and with limited time and budget.

 

 

Basically a box was built out of the styrofoam and some hot glue.

This first picture is a little way into the project. It's suspended from the garage ceiling so I could work on it.

 

 

Holes were cut on the sides of the box for the dryer vent to feed through it, creating the skeletal system for the arms.

A profile was cut out of the Daz troll head - first drawing the profile on the garage floor in chalk, then onto the styrofoam, then cutting this profile, and mounting it on top of the box.

What you see here is the finished latex mask mounted to the profile. I Printed the eyes from a texture that I had done for a character.

I dry-brushed the mask after spraypainting it black to match the rest.

Foam rubber used to simulate muscle and tied off with string at the muscle ends to define them.

1" stryrofoam glued at 90 degrees to make the arms articulate right, and something to mount the rigging bar to (held on with cable ties).

 

 

Building the box downward after making shoulder pads and internal structure.

 

 

Hands almost completed. Two pieces of foam rubber sandwiching a wire framework and covered in the skin (garbage bag).

 

 

Forearm articulation and hands complete.

Tile border used for the handles to the forearm (lightweight aluminum and strong).

 

 

Here is a very silly looking picture of him in action. He still needs to be painted much better and I need to make some legs for it since this looks very, very funny!

The holes in the chest are where I can see out of (major tunnel-vision!!).

It's a long way from being the Daz troll now and a long way from perfect but it should work for this event.

 

 

Hope you enjoyed a look at the behind the scenes.