The Predators 2018, Building The Ultimate Xmass Grinches! WIP Hot Glue Blood/Gore Effects, New Blade Weapon For FP & Next WIP Reveal..

Just another day for me except no postman, a bit like Sundays then.. Decided to go with the light coloured male body as it will be all covered up anyway so I can keep the darker brown one for the Uruk-Hai build down the road, I removed the feet using boiling water as per usual (I never use a hair dryer) which was quite a feat, no pun intended, as you can see how long the posts are to the swivel stop at the top. Built him up a bit with soft foam and have been repeatedly tending to my farm of latex casts, run out of black finally so using grey latex now to build it up, it's on the inside so won't matter and any slight marbling might create a nice effect anyway; it'll also be painted too. Enjoy your festivities, food and presents! I'm stuck with crappy boring food from the convenience store as all the supermarket delivery slots have been booked up this week unsurprisingly.

Almost there casting wise, just thought I'd explain where I plan for the latex skin to go on the body's anatomy. Anything it can't cover I'll use cut-offs from the latex or bits of the Godzilla skin to fill in.



UPPER AND LOWER ARMS



LEGS



BACK, NECK AND CROTCH



SHOULDERS



CHEST AND ABDOMEN

Mayo anyone!?

Hope you had a good day.

CHEERS!

Rogerbee wrote:Mayo anyone!?

Hope you had a good day.

CHEERS!

SSDD...LOL! Felt like I was unwrapping presents today though as I finally got to carefully peal out the latex castings. All came out well and I spent most of today trimming them and working out how to place them over the figure of which I'll add a bit more foam to the legs and arms etc.. to get the righ proportions first but you'll see the planned layout below.

Interesting, I'm sure something magical will emerge!

CHEERS!

Rogerbee wrote:
Interesting, I'm sure something magical will emerge!

CHEERS!

Cheers Roger! Hopefully more menacing than magical! Started fitting and gluing the latex on over the added padding but have had to stop as I've run out of glue and put my back out by bending over which is daft! Should get more glue soon but can continue doing some dremell work to attach the hands and feet in the meantime.

I can see where you're going now. Looks good!

CHEERS!

I was a little confused, as apparently was Roger, where this was going. So many pieces... But now I see where it's heading, as well. Your ability to see form out of chaos is truly remarkable, my friend.

As long as Chop knows! LOL!

CHEERS!

Rogerbee wrote:I can see where you're going now. Looks good!

CHEERS!

Stryker2011 wrote:I was a little confused, as apparently was Roger, where this was going. So many pieces... But now I see where it's heading, as well. Your ability to see form out of chaos is truly remarkable, my friend.

Rogerbee wrote:As long as Chop knows! LOL!

CHEERS!

I'm fairly sure I know where I'm going but you know my builds, they sort of have a life of their own! Did some dremelling and super glued the ankle joints in place, a bit messy (can't lean forward very well right now ) but can fill in the gaps with hot glue as this area will all be covered up by skin and armour anyway.

I can see it. It's definitely progressing along quite nicely.

Exemplary use of clamps, too, by the way.

Bionic Pred!

CHEERS!

PureEnergy wrote:I can see it.  It's definitely progressing along quite nicely.  

Exemplary use of clamps, too, by the way.  

Thanks! Yes I pride myself in my clamping skills! Not really lol but they are very useful.

Rogerbee wrote:Bionic Pred!

CHEERS!

Not far off Roger (Spoiler Alert!) he's actually genetically enhanced for strength and size, also most notably he has built in biomechanical armour and weapons that can surface when needed! The idea is that the Predators only take the skull and spine of their prey, not only as trophies but to gather genetic material in the brain and spinal fluid of worthy opponents so they can modify and upgrade themselves!

My glue and Fugitive Predator just arrived YAY!
Definitely worth the money, not HT by any means but does have that 'new figure' smell I miss from their original Predator kit releases, I haven't noticed it on figures for years (was probably deemed toxic). His left bicep's a bit loose and his right shoulder pad popped off but both easily fixed, nothing was broken. Some parts are a bit stuck with paint or more likely gloss so need a bit of brute force, the armour is all separate and not glued or moulded in so you can turn the gauntlets (unlike the video reviewer's description, eh they're newbie collectors and will learn in time..). Plenty of accessories that do the job, some extra wrist pegs would have been nice and ditch the stand's crotch grabber bracket for a waist clamping one. The jaws need a bit of force to get out due to the gloss sticking there too. All in all a good figure for £60 brand new, 2nd hand HT 'Classic' Pred figures go for over £200 used if you can find them. The dredds are a nice soft rubber too all he really needs is a matte clear coat if you're not a customizer or builder. I think I might swap out the body for a thinner one to be more movie accurate, paint that, use real netting, adapt the armour to fit, make a smaller cannon, change the dreads with the Lost Predator's thinner ones so the HP can have the thick long ones instead etc..





















































THINNNEEERRR...

Not half bad for a KO,

You needn't worry about spoilers, I've no intention of seeing that movie, ever! Looking forward to seeing what you do though.

CHEERS!

Nice new acquisition. And your own is coming along nicely to go with it. I can relate to the new figure smell. Brings back memories of the little Kenner Star Wars action figures from my childhood.

Rogerbee wrote:Not half bad for a KO,

You needn't worry about spoilers, I've no intention of seeing that movie, ever! Looking forward to seeing what you do though.

CHEERS!

ahh well your loss, i don't take movies so seriously any more, probably thanks to meds! cheers for sticking with the build though. others might not want spoilers though.

GubernatorFan wrote:Nice new acquisition. And your own is coming along nicely to go with it. I can relate to the new figure smell. Brings back memories of the little Kenner Star Wars action figures from my childhood.

can't remember that far back!

i'll be building both together now to completely confuse you guys! stuck with the baby keyboard again usb extension cable's knackered i think..back's still playing up so difficult to swap it out.

Removed all the armour etc.. to compare bodies for you and replace it for the build, you'll see they just cloned the generation 1 HT Pred body from the City Pred. Armour came off fairly easily, had to pry the glue loose to separate the torso armour and cut the belt to remove the crotch armour although i'm sure heating it would work too.









Lost Pred, Gen 1 Cassic Pred, Clone Pred



Thin body I plan to use as a base




Parts for skin texture



Long dredds on HP





Short thin dredds with Fugitive Pred (FP) mask sort of, doesn't fit

Looking good!

I don't mind sequels or franchises if they stay true to the essence of the source material. The Iron Man movies were good, I liked them. However, the team-up movies just didn't appeal and they just looked like video games to me. Child's Play was good, but only thanks to the talents of Kevin Yagher, Tony Gardner and Brad Dourif when they brought Chucky to life. Sharknado cracks me up, they can keep them coming for as long as they want.

Aside from that there hasn't been much that has appealed. Even Star Wars has lost all the magic for me.

CHEERS!

been removing and swapping out the dredds, more work than it sounds but not a problem once I figured out the glueing system as it needs two types of glue per dredd. A few dredds short on this one but that's okay as i'll have extras to use from the next. Also working out textured thinner limbs but not too thin, (Spoiler Alert!) i think this pred was a scientist which is why he tries to bring the warning and awesome 'Super predator killer Suit' (SPKS) at the end off the movie; going to have to make that too!

Continually impressive, Chop...

Madman!

PureEnergy wrote:Continually impressive, Chop...

Madman!

Thanks!

Dredds done.

Nice dreds!

CHEERS!

Rogerbee wrote:Nice dreds!

CHEERS!

Thanks I'll ink them black later. building the FP body now, got to use my 'T' cutting joint tool for my Dremel more effectively this time. Black miliput will be used for minor sculpting fixes..


















viscious bugger, don't slip!!

Nice! Word of warning though, some of those Character bodies can go very floppy, had that happen to my Doc, so much so he became unusable.

CHEERS!

Wow... that's a really awesome build .
And as for OSW, been locked out since July, tech guys won't even reply to emails

You know, I am not especially fond of the Predator films, but that’s a non-issue here; all that is required to sincerely appreciate these builds is a sense for the creativity, quality, and resourcefulness that you’ve put into them.  

Fantastic artistry, brother.

Rogerbee wrote:
Nice! Word of warning though, some of those Character bodies can go very floppy, had that happen to my Doc, so much so he became unusable.

CHEERS!

I know, you tell me every time I use one and I've used at least fifty!! I'll stiffen the joints up with 'o' rings or nail polish if needed.

henchman21 wrote:Wow... that's a really awesome build .
And as for OSW, been locked out since July, tech guys won't even reply to emails

Thanks HM!
Yup the new owners are dicks! I've got 10 years of constant work on there .

PureEnergy wrote:You know, I am not especially fond of the Predator films, but that’s a non-issue here; all that is required to sincerely appreciate these builds is a sense for the creativity, quality, and resourcefulness that you’ve put into them.  

Fantastic artistry, brother.

Thank you very much PE! I do my best with what I have stored away which is quite a lot to be fair!

I guess, but, the joints on this one might be harder to get to under all that skin. The armour will add weight on them too. I'm sure you'll find a way to make things work though.

CHEERS!

Rogerbee wrote:I guess, but, the joints on this one might be harder to get to under all that skin. The armour will add weight on them too. I'm sure you'll find a way to make things work though.

CHEERS!

I understand what you mean and those are legitimate problems, the skin sections are replacing entire limbs not just covering them which makes them 'my' joints at the end of the day...eh.. screws and shims!!