THE 3 BROTHERS TOGETHER AT LAST! Turning a KO Scar Predator into a Chopper Predator using random and HT parts.

I'm doing this now as it's a project that has been overlooked for too long and I feel like a simpler project right now. It's still going to be a bit tricky here and there, the armour on the KO is all glued together and I want to swap bodies for a real HT one I have and use real fabric netting instead of the painted on netting of the KO. The dreads are also a mess, they made them out of some kind of inferior rubber which has caused them to rot and break into pieces I'm soaking them in silicone oil right now to help mitigate any future damage hopefully, I'll then have to super glue them back together and coat them with PVA or black latex etc.. Plenty of other problems to overcome as well that I can see, should keep me busy!

Reference pics:







What I'll be working  with, might give him an Alien's head on a spear too (sorry for the heavy pics, forgot to reset my camera aspect ratio for message boards!):

This should be an interesting project, and fun.

Like Mark, said, should be fun. And hardly simple, really. The photos don't seem too heavy, at least not yet. But even so, they accumulate over multiple postings. Usually all one has to do it leave the page to load for a bit.

Agree, that printed on net could really use an upgrade!

What are these predator dreads anyway, i mean Predator lore wise?

Stryker2011 wrote:This should be an interesting project, and fun.

Cheers, hope so!

GubernatorFan wrote:Like Mark, said, should be fun. And hardly simple, really. The photos don't seem too heavy, at least not yet. But even so, they accumulate over multiple postings. Usually all one has to do it leave the page to load for a bit.

Good to know, thanks!

Ovy wrote:Agree, that printed on net could really use an upgrade!

What are these predator dreads anyway, i mean Predator lore wise?

Yeah, I'll need to dye it black though and it's 'missing' an arm since it's from the Classic Predator set. As for lore on the dreads, no one can agree from what I've researched in the past lol, either they are soft horns which fits  with some of the other spikey bits that appear like thick hairs on their bodies, or they are tightly plaited hair which is supposedly quite painful and the symbol of status of adulthood or my favourite is they are like Twi'lek lekku containing sensory organs for hunting like a shark but then the decorative beads make no sense.

Just a quick note on Chopper's armour quoted from the Xenopedia website:

Chopper has unusual rusty-brown colored armor, whereas almost all other Yautja have grayish armor. It is unknown if this is an intentional design or just wear and tear from his days as a hunter. wrote:

Even though I can't see it myself in any reference pics since most are of other figures as the screenshots are very dark and unhelpful since there are about 3 in total!! it's good to know as I don't want the brothers to look like 'troop builder figures' and feel they need a subtle difference here and there aside from just the masks and the odd accessory.

More reference pics:





















Okay, got all the armour and pegs safely off with hot water, a flat bladed screwdriver or two and a couple of vice-grips! Also the head which was a stubborn bugger! I'll be giving my Celtic Predator's head (actually a City Pred head I think) to my Chopper as it's too big for the Celtic mask (that is a custom casting); the Chopper helmet is a custom I made myself. Not sure about the origin of the brown body, HT or KO? I think it's 1st generation HT city Hunter with the 2nd generation neck as I upgraded my City Hunter a few times or it could be the original body of the third party HC Toys  'Hunted Predator' from "The Predator" movie that I did a custom rebuild of making him a new thinner body.









TOO SMALL, JUTS OUT TOO MUCH.





MUCH BETTER.





GOOD FIT.











SAME MOULD, BLACK PAINT ON KO DOWN THE SIDES MAKES IT LOOK THINNER HERE, LIKE THOSE DRESSES WOMEN WORE A DECADE OR SO BACK..

Nice little project - will be following

Looks like all your ducks are in a row and you're ready to rumble. As always, impressive research, which is only fitting.

I have the KO of the Fugitive Predator (not sure how you make a KO of a figure Hot Toys never released, but...). I agree that they used the City Hunter body, and the material they used for the dreads is awful, but aside from a bad neck joint I wasn't disappointed with it. Never got around to re-homing it onto a new body, though.
Definitely interested to see what you do here - should be fun!

Valiarde wrote:Nice little project - will be following

Thank you! The more the merrier!

GubernatorFan wrote:Looks like all your ducks are in a row and you're ready to rumble. As always, impressive research, which is only fitting.

Cheers!

Nekk-ra wrote:I have the KO of the Fugitive Predator (not sure how you make a KO of a figure Hot Toys never released, but...). I agree that they used the City Hunter body, and the material they used for the dreads is awful, but aside from a bad neck joint I wasn't disappointed with it. Never got around to re-homing it onto a new body, though.
Definitely interested to see what you do here - should be fun!

Cool! You might be interested in these threads then:

Build of the two predators from "The Predator" movie
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t1048-the-predators-2018-building-the-ultimate-xmass-grinches-wip-hot-glue-blood-gore-effects-new-blade-weapon-for-fp-next-wip-reveal

And the finished pics of them
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t1242-my-finished-custom-2018-the-predator-fugitive-assassin-predators-outdoor-pics?highlight=shovelchop81+Predator

I've been cleaning off the surface silicone oil (takes a while) and then sorting out which dreads I want to use and painting the beads copper, gold and silver; nearly done now as I've repaired some with super glue but still have others to fix too.
I found two more predator bodies in my storage room, I was hoping to find an AVP version but don't think I have one left (saw it loose in my fugitive predator build pictures). I did find the KO body for the fugitive pred though so I now know the body I'm currently using is genuine HT. I swear I have a 1/6 submarine hidden in that room somewhere, just no idea where!



BITS I DON'T WANT USE



BITS I DO







EXAMPLE OF DAMAGE THAT NEEDS SUPER GLUE







BODIES FOUND



KO'S



HT AVP & LOST PREDATOR BODY (I THINK)

Great choice for a project and obviously totally up your alley! They will look magnificent for sure and I'm looking forward to tagging along.

I love the useful tools you have acquired for every contingency! And that is a lot of dreads. Impressive patience on your part.

Diana wrote:Great choice for a project and obviously totally up your alley! They will look magnificent for sure and I'm looking forward to tagging along.

Thank you!

GubernatorFan wrote:I love the useful tools you have acquired for every contingency! And that is a lot of dreads. Impressive patience on your part.

Cheers! It is indeed and after (and still) working on them further since 1am GMT till now 4pm GMT I can confirm this is a lot of bloody dreads and work!!

Gluing, trimming, painting, repainting them all etc.. then working out an attachment system for them, then how best to use it, discovering mods that need stuff to be redone etc.. The pics explain most of it aside from needing to trim the wires down further and trim the 'roots' at angles so they drape properly. You can see some mixed results below but I can pull off ones I don't like and redo them.





















Getting there...slowly....

Those spikes made me think of an entirely different horror character. Nice work on the dreads, they look excellent!

The actual fishnets over the body sure do look better than those painted/molded ones. Looking forward to how they turn out.

GubernatorFan wrote:Those spikes made me think of an entirely different horror character. Nice work on the dreads, they look excellent!

Thanks! And yes there was a temporary Hellraiser crossover there!

Theboo-bomb wrote:The actual fishnets over the body sure do look better than those painted/molded ones. Looking forward to how they turn out.

Yes it's weird since they are painted so nicely but they bug me more than visible joints! LOL I still need to dye mine black.

Finished the dreads at last! First series of pics are with out any touching up, second load of pics is with some black touch ups.

THIS IS ALL THAT WAS LEFT OVER! THOUGHT THERE WOULD BE MORE...

Looking good.

Stryker2011 wrote:Looking good.

Cheers! I think they need a black or sepia ink wash though.

I think they look great. I can see why you might want to give them a dark wash, but I hope they don't end up overdone... you know what I mean.

GubernatorFan wrote:I think they look great. I can see why you might want to give them a dark wash, but I hope they don't end up overdone... you know what I mean.

I'll still let the metal colours show, I didn't spend hours and hours on them just to paint over them but they're far from perfect especially under a flashlight and with a HD camera etc.. So the wash will help hide that and give the beads more 3D by getting in the details also making the black consistent across the dreads. After the black ink wash below. Oh and he has the faux mouth/jaw used for continuity with the helmet attached.

A bit of a mixed bag this time, as I'm finishing up the Celtic Predator so I can get on with the Chopper Predator as I swapped out parts like the head, left arm brace with scimitar blade for a regular arm brace etc.. not sure what to do about the helmet (modified that too) hoses since they are a bit short (I'm getting serious deja vu here! ) so might need to be mounted closer to the head on the power pack.Did some silver dry brushing on the armour and helmet, a lot of it is hand cast resin from latex moulds of the Scar armour made over ten years ago!

I tried dying the brown netting black for the Chopper Predator (CP) but that failed along with most of the other stuff I was dying too thanks to polyester I imagine. So I've just painted it with black ink whilst on a primered Predator body to get access to all the nooks and crannies of the netting, that's drying now. Sorted out the necklaces to be correct for each character and used hot glue to attach the heads onto the double ball socket neck joints, sorted out hands too.





POINTLESS DYING IT!!











MY TOWER OF SPIKINESS! PAINTED SCIMITAR BLADES AND SWAPPED OUT CLAW LENGTHS, LONG FOR CELTIC AND SHORT FOR CHOPPER.





NOW I'M WONDERING IF I GOT THE NECKLACES BACKWARDS! LOL.

I really don't know about the details on these, but I'm sure you're excellent in figuring them out. And they look very convincing so far.

GubernatorFan wrote:I really don't know about the details on these, but I'm sure you're excellent in figuring them out. And they look very convincing so far.

This. They always make most of the scenes with “monsters” so dark (probably so you can’t tell it’s a man in a rubber suit) that I can’t always see all the details.

Good point, Mark. Plus to dial up the creepiness effect if you can't see it too well.

Nice cooking tool, Vin Diesel would be proud! That net worked out well.

So ze chopper Predator is called that way because he forced Arnie to shout the famous choppa line?

And I think hiding the creatures in darkness is not just to hide the rubber suit, it's to create the most basic fear, fear of the unknown. I mean alien and predator were horror movies, everything that followed just action movies were you see the monsters a lot. Lot less impact on a scary level.