![]() The skull took an entire weekend to sculpt. Once satisfied with that, I covered the entire ribcage and frame in 3 – 4 coats of latex rubber making the entire ribcage durable enough to take years of abuse. I then used duct tape to secure the ribs to the PVC frame and to hold everything in place. Once I had the thickness of the ribs I wanted, I coated the back with one coat of latex to totally encase the Styrofoam in rubber. It would take more time but the extra material can be removed with rasps, wire brushes and utility knifes. I own one and it was perfect to make quick work with the foam. Next, using the hot knife, I removed the back of the Styrofoam until I got the depth of the ribs that I wanted. ![]() Using the template, I simply shaped the front of the ribs in the foam using a utility knife, rasp and sandpaper then covered the front with latex to hold it together. I decided to carve the actual ribs out of white Styrofoam and covered it with several layers of liquid latex so I would have something light and flexible. There’s probably better materials to use but this is what I had available. The ribcage was challenging because it had to be shaped around the frame, be flexible but also durable. So I’m pretty surprised at how well this came out but I just took my time and kept referring to reference images and constantly adjusting. I never attempted something like this before ![]() This is where you need to have some artistic abilities. Everything else will be based on this so take your time and make sure you can fit well in this before continuing. I carefully positioned the location for the shoulder joints using ringlets screwed into the PVC. I used several paper templates to establish the exact size of the ribs, arms, neck and skull to get the exact proportions I wanted for this. This is a trial and error process because you have to plan for how this will fit around you and how you will get in and out of the costume. I used the existing poles that have 1” extension settings so the shoulder height can be adjusted up or down by 1”.Īttached the PVC pipes to establish the shoulder width and use the flexible PVC pipes to build and shape a frame for the ribcage. Disassemble a pair of aluminum crutches and size up the aluminum poles to be used as extensions on the Alice pack to raise the shoulder level higher than your head. Mount the Alice pack frame on the stand so it is at the same height when it will be worn. Tools used: Dremel and various bits, Drill, rivet gun, hot knife, saws, utility knife, utility brushes, air brush, spray paints.īuild a PVC stand to build everything to size.led lights, battery packs and wiring to enhance this if you want.Several other black materials that you want to add to your costume.I used a mix of real images and some artist’s drawings that had that scary look I wanted to replicate. THIS is the key! Building something from the ground up is truly unique and you never have to worry about running into anyone wearing the same costume.ĭownload several images from the internet as reference for the ribcage, skull, arms and overall look that you want to achieve. Building something like this does take an investment and I budgeted about $500 for this costume and built everything from scratch. You need to determine how to do all of this with what you have lying around your house or plan on spending a lot of money to get the materials you need. I want to see FEAR!!! Have to be able to move quickly and quietly with good visibility so you can seemingly appear out of no where. Yelling and screaming does scare a few but mostly startles people. The Second Goal: Make Reaper 2.0 scare everyone else without ever having to make a sound. Height – 8 feet tall, 3.5 feet wide, exposed bones, accurate proportions (cannot look goofy, must look like a giant skeleton), make sure there is no human qualities visible. The First Goal: Make Reaper 2.0 extremely intimidating! Some people are just not afraid of the dark so this needs to either intimidate or highly impress the brave souls first. Last year I introduced my old reaper costume to the masses and it was a major hit at this park and I finally had the motivation I needed to build Grim Reaper 2.0. I’ve always wanted to improve on my Reaper but it was never worth it until I started working for a local haunt in Massachusetts last year. Even took 2nd place at a major Halloween party in Salem Massachusetts. Over the years I had constructed a customized Grim Reaper costume that lasted over 15 years. In 1998 we started having Halloween parties for our kids and
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