# Dilophosaurus JP Oldskool



## Mitch (May 6, 2011)

Well, wasn't planning on jumping straight in, but what the heck Halloween is soon approaching and I'm gonna need the head start.

Sorry, nothing really to show so far just some basic work. Reason for posting is to keep myself on track and hopefully get some much need input on the project.

When in year 4 at primary I once made a life size paper mache salt water croc for some assignment. Turned out the ace of spades if I remember correct. So how hard can it be right? A Dilophosaurus is just a bigger upright croc,with a frill isn't it?
Well kind of, the frill is a Spielberg interpretation, but for effect I'm going to work with it. 

So the plan is, big croc, frill, chicken wire, paper mache and a whole heap of work. Oh did I mention I'm going to be inside it? Yeah that's right WHoopachaaaa!!! Chase those lil' kiddies right down the road.... Sorry had one to many coffee's. 

This is what I'm going for.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdp9ib_baby-t-rex-snaps-at-children_news




So most would have seen the roaming dinosaur exhibits floating around, quite realistic human controlled, though general the occupants legs a exposed in black tights underneath. My hopes are to create a dilophosaurus, aka Jurassic park style including the mythical frill but with my legs enclosed inside the dino's not being visible.


Framed out a head, body and tail. I think I have worked out how the legs will pivot at the joints while walking also. I'll create a pvc/timber hip system to pin the legs to. 

I am still to add a cavity in the chest where my arms will reside to operate controls.
I intend to operate cables run down the neck from the head, for left right, up down and jaw movements. I will also be able to make the arms move and "pop" the frill from there hopefully. I am thinking the frill will be spring loaded for maximum effect. I just hope my engineering skills equal my imaginative ones. 


4m from snout to tip of tail atm the moment.

Here's what I have so far, not impressive yet, but need to get the frame right to bring this together well at the end.

I intend on updating this thread with progress.

Sorry for the attachments, I'll try and get a photo sharing account so I can link instead. Thanks for you patience and any advice/help would be appreciated muchly.


Off to build the chest/control housing. 

Cheers,

Mitch.


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## kittyvibe (Oct 27, 2008)

Was hoping someone would jump on making something like this. I posted the baby t rex video not long ago here and I know many many people will be interested in your progress as well as I. :3


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## Uruk-Hai (Aug 31, 2008)

Looking forward to seeing how this develops. I have to admit though I'd be a little worried about getting into a full body costume made with chicken wire - that stuff is sharp! The one time I used it for a prop I cut my fingers to pieces!


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## MHooch (Jun 15, 2007)

Niiiice! How heavy is that bad boy gonna be???


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## Mitch (May 6, 2011)

kittyvibe- It's a big complex job, which definitely has to potential to flop, both literally and as a main event.  Hopefully I can pull it off though as I am not bad with arts/crafts and my brother is an artist, so I believe the keys will be-

*Fluid* movements of appendages

A sound base structure

Realistic outer skin

With the grace of young minds the rest should fall into place. By the time (4pm) kids start coming around it will be starting to get dark, conveniently on my stretch of road, they seem to have forgotten to put a street light out front of mine and the adjacent houses. Oh and the abandoned federation house next door to me ads to the effect also. 

Uruk-Hai- Inside will be lined as well, with either thin sponge foam or another medium. The thought had crossed my mind also. 

MHooch- Time will tell. I have already made exceptions to design to reduce weight even at this stage. I would have preferred a double jointed tail system, where-in the tall sways on a pivot joint, where it attaches at the hip and also a secondary pivot mid way down the tall allowing the tip to sway as well. These joints have been scrubbed as after thoughts I do not feel them a necessity to the design.
One of the main objectives is to be able to fluently run at speed. I feel (though obviously am just guesstimating) anything over 10kg is going to bog it down and leave it as a walker. I want to chase the kiddies as fast as thouse lil' stumpy legs will carry them. 


Thanks for the comments. 







Managed to wire out the chest section where I will be operating upper controls.
Sorry about the shot, my DSLR is going nuts over the white background and the shadow the chicken wire is throwing, focus is on the wire, but the shadow makes it all look blurry.


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## Mitch (May 6, 2011)

Started paper claying the head. Still more details and skim coats to go before priming.


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## Mitch (May 6, 2011)

Wanted to know if I was on the right track, as was having some doubts how the head would come together.
Decided to Gimpout a shot of the paper clayed head/skull.
Added colouring, an eye, jaw set and crests. Not sure if I will run with the jaw set or colouring for that matter, just wanted to get something in there to see what it looked like.


Not bad hey?


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## kittyvibe (Oct 27, 2008)

looking good there! /thumbs up


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## Mitch (May 6, 2011)

*Applying Skim Coat*

Thanks KV, if I can get it looking half as good as the virtual then I will be a happy man indeed. 

Managed to drop the head half cured and lost about 4 hours work. One sides cheek bone and eye socket completely gone, basically one side of the head ruined. Patched it back together in half the time it took the first time though. PO'd to the extreme, but chillaxed and fixed it. 


Applied a fine skim coat to the base paper clay to fill out the cracks and give it a finer surface. The reason I went coarse then skimmed is to present a scale like finish.
Joyfully one would be looking to finish a paper clay project smooth which is very tedious, luckily for me the rough finish imitates the dino's skin to some degree with some finessing.

A long time ago I promised my significant other that I would not spend any money on my projects, as long as I can make as many as I want. She agreed and the deal was done. Hence my "paper clay" and "skim coats" are home made. I am current photographing my method of making paper coats as I go along, I hope at the end to present methods in the tut section on what I am applying here.

I feel over a short period I have had some significant breakthroughs in cellulose breakdown and re-constitution under different parameters. Many if I do say so, contradict some of the many online tutorials (not here, elsewhere). I am hoping my research now prevents the loss of copious hours later re-doing the job.
Really has been interesting work. 

That skim is silky smooth, holds peaks wonderfully and sets rock hard. Kind of like whipped cream but paper cellulose based.















*EDIT-* Didn't want to double post. I think I just received a sign. :s Well damn it, I am taking it as a sign because it can't get much clearer than this.

Granted I am in Australia, we do have a fantastic squad of dinosaur puppeteers here in AU already on an active tour. None the less though, the chances of me seeing it amongst the thousands of pages I am ripping up astounds me.

Check it out, I randomly saw a Raptor picture and stopped ripping for a sec. Not really too much description n the title for the section. I flipped to the page mainly to see if it had anymore picks of raptors as the head is similar, and would grab the page for visual benefit.
LO and behold, the article is on constructing life sized dinosaur puppets. That's a bit crazy hey!!?? What are the chances? An aritcle on puppet dinosaurs was going to be used in the making of a dinosaur puppet.... Well flipped me out anyway.... 



















Look at that detail she has put into the face/cheeks! I would appear they have pre-made animatronic eyes they place in then as the pic shows, work the details up over/to it. Interesting, I'll have to smack Google up for more pics of this squad. Nice stuff.


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## Mitch (May 6, 2011)

OK... That's it DB post, topic is still at the top, so i'm not atleast pushing others down.  Sorry anyway.

I think my whole game plan changed, as I just defecated my pants. 

Oh my .... Firstly, I can not believe, in my hundreds of hours of searching all things evil, I have never come across this vids, nor the others linked there in.



Please watch if you are interested in this build, as I feel an addition like this could make or break the project. When deceiving the eye of the young and easily deceived, one must attract attention to distract from the glaring obvious. In other words, if I add something like this that draws the eye, I can relax on other details.


http://youtu.be/AG1Nz2Fvrx0

The jaws alone make me want to look away.... Could I incorporate this into my dinosaur? I am at the correct stage, as I have not yet started the lower mandible. 


Thoughts anyone?


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## kittyvibe (Oct 27, 2008)

Thats guys Alien head was so cool, it does the drool and fog effects as well. Was there a tutorial on how he did it? if you are doing that with your dino head it would be so awesome!


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## Mitch (May 6, 2011)

*Lip Wire*

I intend to try and bring something like it to the dino KV. I want the movement and drippin' teeth. The fog I can live without as I am going to have a water spray nozzle in the mouth to spit at ppl. 

Knocked out a two point lip line to experiment before attempting it on the head . I had some braided stainless cable lying around and thought I could use its natural spring of the braid to help remove hand actuations.

The cable wants to return to its held original position like a spring mech. On a normal lip wire it seems from tuts on the web, that one must have at least a couple of lines to manipulate the lips up then back down. In these shots I have applied the cable to a 2x4. With one finger I can draw the lips back, whilst releasing the tension returns the lip to the original set.


Sorry if I am boring some, this must seem like a very basic lip system. All I can say is, my hands are going to be occupied with other motions like arms/eyes etc. so I want a simple control to draw the lips to a snarl posture. You'll notice also I have left the front of the lip stagnant, I feel drawing the side lips as pictured reveals the business end incisors. 




























































Classic lip line action. DP- Technology. http://youtu.be/YtdWHFwmd2o


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## Mitch (May 6, 2011)

Feel free anyone, to jump in and give some critique. I am really wandering in the dark here. :S


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## Screaming Demons (Sep 15, 2008)

Wow, this is amazing. I never really check out the costume section of the forum but noticed the thread title on the home page. It is a costume, but I think that it is just a collection of assorted props. You would probably get more advice if you posted in the Prop section, and I can't see how anyone would object to this elaborate costume being in there.


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## Mitch (May 6, 2011)

Thanks Screaming Demons! 

I placed it here as being new, didn't want to step on anyones toes. Perhaps it would be received better over there, either way I am just happy some are finding my meanderings of interest.


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## Mitch (May 6, 2011)

*Upper teeth gum set*

Started work on the upper gums, by knocking a rough base out of my medium mix.

I'll set this then work over it with a smoother mix.

The groove down the middle of the palate is to house 3mm tubing which will finish just behind the incisors and front teeth with a spray nozzle tip. Inside the chest cavity I will have a 2 liter garden spray canister, the type you pump to compress the air and water to allow you to spot spray around your yard. The nozzle adjusts from spritz to stream and the compression holds for several shots before having to re-pump it. Same as a super-soaker etc but the garden sprayer already has the tubing to plumb. 

If I can position the nozzle correctly, it should half hit the back of the front teeth causing them to drip (like the alien mandible I posted earlier) and half spray out the mouth to acid spit the children in the eyes.

Note- _No acid will be used, just green water....__._ Well maybe a hint of lemon in it.    That'll make 'em wince..... I'm evil... 

























Edit- Trying not to double post (not sure if that is allowed here or not :S I'm guessing not)

OK, half an hour later the cake is cooked. Quite easy to start treating crete mixs as cake mixs of sorts.
For the head construction I air/heater dried the crete, this was my first shot at oven drying a section. Got a bit toasty, the black was not near com-busting, think more so a burnt cake.
I was happy with the results, turned out harder than I expected and faster also.




















In case you are wondering what the hell I am using for the teeth roots/stems. It's actually a new product on the market, so you may have not seen it yet. Pretty good as far as I am concerned and well worth the dollar outlay.
I acquired it under the name Ligustrum vulgare from a local backyard supplier, I believe it is more commonly known as Privet.  :0 
Please refer to my initial posts and my "No cost" requirements for the build.
I can visibly see all the master casters and enthusiasts laughing at me now, I do understand my methods seem sub-standard, but hope I can utilize other skills to bring the end project together. I must admit I have indulged myself in the past with all things pretty, but am enjoying making my brain work to find household items to fulfill common prop needs.




Might as well add now (not that it has relevance to you personally, just to note to myself since I intend to continue this project to the end of my abilities), that both my parents are graphic designers, specializing in set design and prop construction . They never indulged me in the arts of their work, nor was I old enough to appreciate it when they were in their prime. Both worked as primary designers, on many Australian wide nationally broad cast shows and were more than well known within that community. 
I am particularly proud of them / their achievements, though they are not and have never been privy as we have been estranged for several years now.
The only reason I mention this, is that I think it is particularly funny how lives circumvent themselves and one can find themselves potentially in the same position/mindset of the generation before them. Perhaps I'll shoot them a link if I can pull this off.


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## darkpenguincowboy (Sep 28, 2008)

It looks like things are shapign up really well! I remember the first time I saw one of these suits I was blown away, but haven't been brave enough to attempt something like this. Can't wait to see how things as they progress!


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## Mitch (May 6, 2011)

Thanks darkpenguincowboy! I'm not brave enough either to try this, perhaps it's my stupidty that is over whelming me. 

I am struggling as every couple of days, I find something that I want to/should have already incorporated.
I found a very interesting article yesterday, on the foam core segments/overlay/skins the WWD exhibit uses.

They basically frame the body, then rib it out with soft foam sections. This allows compression of them to create a fluid bending torso/tail/neck. They then cover the whole dino with what looks similar to a quilting material. It is tacked onto the frame underneath, this is then topped with what seems to be latex, which has been scale stamped.

Quite an interesting idea.


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## Mitch (May 6, 2011)

Got started on the neck/ torso/tail.
Torso looks all out of whack, but should look better once the legs are attached.
Speaking of which I need to start framing them out today.








































It's been drying inside over night, but is still a bit damp. I'm going to hang it back outside now in the sun, by tonight I may have a paper mache dinosaur to roam around in...


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## Mitch (May 6, 2011)

*First test fitting*

Boo yeah!!

Wacked the skull on, minus the lower jaw as it is off atm.

Not bad hey!!? Not to good I know, but the shear fact that I fit comfortably inside it is a delight in itself! 

The angle of body as positioned, causes no aches at all and I could hold it for hours. Though mostly I will be hunched over bring the head lower to children. I would consider this stance the most vertical position.












Drunk dinosaur walking-
There is no view screen yet, so I am letting the support lines guide me.


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## Mitch (May 6, 2011)

Roughed out a lower jaw and carved some timber teeth.


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