Sculpted, Painted & Attached Wolf Skull:The Feral Predator From The Movie "PREY" Build WIP

Valiarde wrote:That is a cool head nonetheless. Can't wait to see it painted

Cheers Valiarde! It was this comparison and portrayal of the head that really messed things up, I realised it was concept art but had no idea just how totally different it is/was in size and shape!!



VERSUS THIS LATER DISCOVERY

Well, Predators always had big noggins. I'd say gear and footwear can compensate for the effect, but this guy is relatively exposed. Still, if the body is a lighter color in the end, it would help. I posted without seeing the latest post -- wow that is quite a difference between predators; however, as you point out, your version is very faithful to the statue version, and that is arguably more artistic and striking.

Interesting how different this latest Predator looks compared to previous. Why the different head shape?

GubernatorFan wrote:Well, Predators always had big noggins. I'd say gear and footwear can compensate for the effect, but this guy is relatively exposed. Still, if the body is a lighter color in the end, it would help. I posted without seeing the latest post -- wow that is quite a difference between predators; however, as you point out, your version is very faithful to the statue version, and that is arguably more artistic and striking.

Cheers GTF! Right now it is what it is LOL.

Stryker2011 wrote:Interesting how different this latest Predator looks compared to previous. Why the different head shape?

As far as I know so far, the lore is that he's from a different part of their planet, so a different race like we have on Earth which affects bone structure in the face a lot and also in the skeleton just like here.

Primered him up (not the dreads obviously) and his big head is actually growing on me, not literally!  that would a disaster (remember my Boba Fett custom from the TV series?LOL) but figuratively (no the figure's not growing either ) anyway, pics below.

















It's weird looking at this picture again after having seen the statues, it's like the studio filming head on the left has been digitally tweaked in editing or adding CGI shown by the pic on the right especially when you compare that pic to the CGI model in the pic below those pics.

Primed like this, he is almost reminiscent of the Aliens. I like that the head is growing on you, figuratively, and delight in your maneuvering around the language. One thing that might (might!) help, if doable: shorten the neck a tiny bit?

GubernatorFan wrote:Primed like this, he is almost reminiscent of the Aliens. I like that the head is growing on you, figuratively, and delight in your maneuvering around the language. One thing that might (might!) help, if doable: shorten the neck a tiny bit?

Good idea! Thanks GTF! I hadn't even thought of that! Tunnel vision....

Good to see him coming along.

BAMComix wrote:Good to see him coming along.

Cheers BAMC! It's sort of a drunken walk home from the pub rate of progress right now, two steps forward and one step back

Done the neck mod as you suggested GTF, was bit more work than I had realised but nothing special. Not sure I can really tell the difference tbh, he has more articulation which is good, I've been looking at it constantly while working on it so it's hard for me to judge; does it look improved to you? Got the dread ends to sort out next, might thin out the base layers too and swap the removed thinner ones with the fatter ones at the top that I don't like so much as they are hard to control.





THE HUMP NEEDED CONSIDERABLE DREMEL WORK AND FILING TO FIT THE SHORTER NECK.















RESULT ANY GOOD?









GOING TO NEED TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS TO A LOT OF DREADS TO HIDE THE COPPER WIRE FROM THE TIPS.









THAT ONE DIDN'T COME OUT RIGHT AS I NEED TO CHANGE THE SCALPEL BLADE BUT YOU SHOULD GET THE IDEA.

Ouch, I didn't quite realize it would be that much trouble and require modification to both neck and "hump". But I do think it is an improvement. And, remember, he is an alien, so technically human proportions could be slightly off for him.

GubernatorFan wrote:Ouch, I didn't quite realize it would be that much trouble and require modification to both neck and "hump". But I do think it is an improvement. And, remember, he is an alien, so technically human proportions could be slightly off for him.

Cheers! I get to use that excuse for 90% of my builds nowadays as they're mostly all aliens and monsters!

Well, you don't need much of an excuse, by the looks of it, he's awesome already.

GubernatorFan wrote:Well, you don't need much of an excuse, by the looks of it, he's awesome already.

Thank you as always GTF!

I made a mould and did some casting this morning as well as some base colour paint for the body and head. The casts aren't brilliant but I can work with them which is all I need, fingers can be added etc.. plus some modding needed to be done anyway which is why I didn't want to use the original parts. You'll notice I popped off the sandals before I cast the feet which will save a lot of sculpting, I'd actually never noticed they were even seperate parts and the soles of the feet are sculpted, I'll need to remove any trace of the sandals left on the sculpt/casting (he's barefoot with just 'gators' in the movie) and the hands need the armour plates turned into scaly skin etc.. I just liked the size and gestures of these hands, larger than many of the other Pred hands (they come from the Super Predators from 'Predators' the movie) and should be able to hold the 'boltgun'.



























I should get 2 pairs of feet, a pair of hands and a head and a half lol, oh and a bonus skull out of this lot.

Totally forgot, I've removed all the larger wire dreads from the top of the head and replaced them with thinner wires from the lower neck section (to thin out the dreads a bit) and more wire from another charger. No pics of the results yet sorry but it does look better.

So I take it you have more Predators in mind for the future.

GubernatorFan wrote:So I take it you have more Predators in mind for the future.

Well I've got all the extra bodies and parts etc.. would be a shame to waste them, might do a royal guard or a ninja version, something different anyay

Boring and repetitive stuff update, shrink wrapped the tips of nearly all the wires to hide the damn copper core that kept blinking at me! Paint and markers didn't work nor did trying to hide them inside the insulation itself. Took ages, not a perfect solution but all I could think of tbh. I used every scrap of black shrink wrap I had in the shortest configuration I could get away with and it still wasn't enough...it'll do.



















Next build/modify hands and feet.

Hmm, couldn’t you have used that plasti-dip stuff you’ve used before to cover the ends of the wires? (Just a suggestion, sorry; no need to do this now).

Stryker2011 wrote:Hmm, couldn’t you have used that plasti-dip stuff you’ve used before to cover the ends of the wires? (Just a suggestion, sorry; no need to do this now).

Interesting idea, might have worked too but would make them thicker and it tears easily, so on sharp wires you can imagine the problem. The main reason I didn't do that is because 1) I didn't think of it 2) It's expensive stuff 3) I'm flat broke...

I didn't realize how much of a problem these would be. But if it was bugging you, I understand why you decided to fix them.

GubernatorFan wrote:I didn't realize how much of a problem these would be. But if it was bugging you, I understand why you decided to fix them.

Far from a perfect solution but it'll do for now.

Been working on the hands and feet as planed, the modified one is on the left in the first pic. I've been replacing fingers as well as resculpting the whole hands. I extended the feet to fit in better with his proportions, the modded areas will be covered by his gators; I was hoping to use shrink wrap for those but even the widest bits I have are to narrow so I guess I'll use something else. Did some sculpt work on the feet too but they and the hands, still need milliput to fill in gaps etc..

















THEY'VE BEEN CLEANED UP SINCE THIS PIC BUT STILL NEED SOME MILLIPUT





NEED TO ADD A CLAW HERE...



BLOODY SUPER GLUE BURNT ANOTHER HOLE IN MY SOCK! I'LL SEW IT UP LOL.

Superglue burns holes in socks? Thanks for the warning! And good luck with the repair.


The hands and feet are coming along very nicely.

Nice work extending the hands and feet. Pretty ingenious how you did the feet. You are the master at modification.

GubernatorFan wrote:Superglue burns holes in socks? Thanks for the warning! And good luck with the repair.


The hands and feet are coming along very nicely.

Cheers! Yeah burns through most clothing or makes the area rock hard so you end up picking at it so it makes a hole' most of my clothing that I work in are/is full of holes that look like blim burns but I don't smoke pot!

Stryker2011 wrote:Nice work extending the hands and feet. Pretty ingenious how you did the feet. You are the master at modification.

Thank you Stryker! To be honest modifying parts is much easier for me than sculpting from scratch so I take that approach as often as I can!

Feet and hand mods finished, compared to Super Predator hands, painted then attached to the body with head.

All this chocolatey goodness, just in time for Easter! Nice job on those hands and feet.

GubernatorFan wrote:All this chocolatey goodness, just in time for Easter! Nice job on those hands and feet.

Thanks for that laugh.


Those improved appendages look great, Alex. When you finally get the final paint work done he’s going to look epic.

Stryker2011 wrote:

GubernatorFan wrote:All this chocolatey goodness, just in time for Easter! Nice job on those hands and feet.

Thanks for that laugh.

I'm in town all week!

A bit off topic, but I finally had the opportunity to watch The Predator earlier this week (the one with the autistic kid and Olivia Munn). Yikes! They really should have stopped at the first 3 Predator movies (and don't even get me started on those godawful PVA movies which never should have been made AT ALL).

I confess I have a soft spot for the first PVA movie. But yes, sometimes sequels just don't live up to expectation.

Stryker2011 wrote:A bit off topic, but I finally had the opportunity to watch The Predator earlier this week (the one with the autistic kid and Olivia Munn). Yikes! They really should have stopped at the first 3 Predator movies (and don't even get me started on those godawful PVA movies which never should have been made AT ALL).

Great thread to start hating on Predator flicks. I have a friend we call Salty Tom, mostly because he used to work on fishing boats and rent jet skis down a Mumbles Pier but he is also called Salty Tom because every movie night he would just bitch through every movie chosen to watch... must have been great fun on those long fishing trips where movies are all you have as a distraction, I guess they started reading a lot.... Salty Stryker sort of has a ring to it don't you think?

Done some paint, got the more complicated speckling patterns to do tomorrow in dark brown, might add that electric blue but not sure yet as it doesn't seem to have made it to the movie but is quite striking.