My borderlands psycho speed build (lots of pics)

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ohaple

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hey guys. Just had an idea after seeing an article a few days ago about a pepakura psycho mask. Ive used pepakura with fiberglassing and bondo and all that jazz before (for my halo 2 master chief helm), but figured that was too slow and messy for just a simple mask. I will post pics and methods used in this thread, should go fast, since start to finish will be like 4-5 days.
NOTE: this is not intended to be a super accurate cosplay model. It will be worn for halloween and then just hung on the wall. I just like the challenge to build something every once in a while

When its done, it should look similar to one of these
Example 1
Example 2

In order to build the mask I will do these steps (pictures coming soon)
-Purchase a pre-made plasic mask
-Modify the mask into the proper shape
-Use air-dry clay to sculpt the main parts of the face (brow lines and cheekbones and such.
-Use other parts (computer fan, sunglass lenses, and cord for goggle frames) to complete the shape/look of the mask
-Attach straps to the top and sides to keep it on my head
-Use enamel paints and sharpie to paint/decorate the mask as shown
-Using modified book lights, install lights behind the eyes, allowing for lights to shine through, but also be able to see out.

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So far I have sculpted most of the mask, and gathered the parts needed to finish the mask. I have already got the lighting solution done, and just need to install it once the lenses are fitted into the mask (tonight I hope). I have tested the lighting solution and it works great (will post pics) but it is far different from most lighting solutions I have seen around. Most go for a complete lit look like on iron man, but for mine, I only want the lit circles in the center. Seems like the main failing in this project may be my sculpting skills. I realize this isnt the best way to make it, but it surely is the fastest, and cleanest (I only have half a kitchen table to work at since I am in a small apartment)

The main question I have for you guys is, what solution is there to take out some of the texture from my shoddy sculpting? I have heard things like using wood glue over the whole mask, and I like that idea, but it needs to be able to stand up to painting.

UPDATE: Here is what I got done tonight

fist order of business is to build the section around the mouth up so it doesnt look sunk in. The psycho has a protruding mouthpeice a little.
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After that I needed to make the piece that would go behind the fan, so I can breathe through it, and so it is stable to mount the fan to. To do this I covered both sides of a metal vent cover from a PC with a loosely woven black fabric.
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This is the piece installed
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Next step was to round out the inside of the mouth hole, to make it nice and smooth, since it will be partially visible through the fan blades
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Next I design the piece that will be mounted in the mouth hole. To do this, I am going to use a length of bungie cord (just as something round an flexible), a small computer fan, and a few risers to mount the fan far enough out.
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After hot gluing the cord in a circle shape and cleaning up loose ends, this is kind of how it sits in the hole.
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From here I started doing some steps out of order. I plan on finishing this mask tomorrow morning/afternoon, and tonight it is too late to paint and use a dremel tool, so I did other steps first. Not ideal, but it shouldnt mess up the finished product, just require some masking tomorrow.
I take the modified book lights I bought, and glued them inside the cheeks, routing the wires around the top of the eyes, and down into the center of the eyeholes. I also took some belt material and hot glued it to the top of the mask (this will be the top of the straps).
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I havent seen this method done anywhere else when I looked, but I will describe the method I am using to light the eyes so that I will still be able to see, but there is a bright circle of light in the center of the lenses. this wouldnt work well on many models, but since the mask already looks like it is wearing goggles, and that only the centers of the eyes are lit up, it works well.
You must have a bright led, something to power it with, and something to turn it on. In this case, the book lights I bought at the dollar store have all three. It is also required that you have the domed mirrored piece found on most flashlights, and it must be SMALL or else it will poke you in the eyes. It is also important that you only have wire, the led, and the mirrored piece, in order to make the assembly as small as possible. To do this, I just took apart the enclosure around the led, since I took the cheap route with book lights. Glue/secure the front of the mirrored pieces flat to the lenses you are using. Done. In a model like this, where the lenses will be 1/2 inch to 1 inch away from my eyes, the 1/2 inch or so that the mirrored part sitcks into the mask still keeps it clear from touching me. the light does not bleed into the mask if you tape the back of the led, and so you only have a piece of the center of your vision taken away, but can otherwise see fine.
This is kinda what it looks like. I am tackling the eyes tomorrow, so I just laid the lenses on the mask for now. Since the leds arent stuck to the lenses, there is a little bleed here.
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Looks awesome so far, and I saw that mask on eBay awhile back and I think yours will look just as good.

Wood glue works wonders and holds paint well, I've had a few broken resin pieces and used wood glue to fix then painted and you could barely tell it was there. I could but only since I knew exactly where it was.

Good luck on the rest of the build!
 
I think it would look good either way, smoothed or textured like that. I'm real curious to see how the glowing eyes turn out on this!
 
Well I will post the days progress. Right now I'm just waiting for some clay to dry, it's painted but I still need to do the black lines in sharpie and finish the eys
 
Here is the rest

Taping up the parts I don't want paint on and painting the whole mask off-white.
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Here is the parts of the mouthpiece, painted up to look rough and worn
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Now it's time to Dremel the lenses to the proper shape, used painters tape as a guide for symmetry

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Painting up a single knee pad for the rest of the costume
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Penciled on the designs, and began painting dark brown
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Now using a sharpie to outline the bown in black
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Now painting an off-white stripe down the brown stripe everywhere to allow additional details to stand out
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White paint done, just sculpted the frames of the goggles
yva4u8aj.jpg


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Painted the goggles black
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Still need to glue the goggles in, properly attach the lights, finish the straps and call it a day.

EDIT:
Finished the mask. Here are a couple photos of the finished product. Took me 3 days start to finish.
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Hey, sorry for the double post, but i have reached the max number of photos..
This was just too fun not to post
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Looks so legit! and the photos of you wearing it really showcase it like no other.

Indeed the last photo is worth it!!
 
Thanks for the kind words. :)

EDIT: here is a pic of the rest of my costume. Couldn't find orange pants to save my life, and it is cold here so I wanted a jacket. Also, I've since painted the knee pad.
u5ugema7.jpg
 
If I get enough time in the coming days I am going to build a buzzaxe. anyone have any ideas on how to put one together fast? I was thinking about doing something similar to the quick build I did for a halo plasma pistol. just layered cardboard, but it turned out well. Sealed up the corrugations on the sides before painting.
pistol2-2.jpg

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Also, for pricing on the whole costume, the mask portion cost me about $15, since I already had everything but the lights, mask, clay, and sunglasses.
The jacket was a good find at ARC for $10 (real nice leather jacket, and plenty used and abused, perfect for this). The Shorts were $5 on sale at Target. I had the knee pads, and the cloth tape for my leg was $3. I figure all in all, I spent $40 or so, plus 15 hours time.
 
Looks good, and yeah being a psycho without a jacket in October isn't the warmest. Might be able to find orange pants in one of those prison jumpsuit costumes at halloween stores?
 
yeah, good idea. I might check just to have them around. But for halloween I think this will be what I wear. Only thing I would do if I did it again would be to wire the lights myself and not use the book lamps. They work great, but need batteries replaced after not too long, and I have to turn on 2 switches.

Also, here are some bonus photos I took with my gaming headset on.
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EDIT: The other thing I have planned for this costume: Wireless speakers hooked via bluetooth to my iphone. I can use the bluetooth module to play audio.... so using a track with game quotes, I will have the look, and the exact sounds and phrases that they make.
 
Yeah, unfortunately, doing this mask got me itching to do another build, but its highly impractical at my stage in life (poor college student in a small apartment) Can anyone think of something that won't take as much time or room or $$ as a full spartan build?
 
I know how that goes. I'm in my last semester at Kstate. But my apartment is scattered with projects.

Could do a borderlands gun build from a nerf one? What else do you like?
 
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