# 2019 follow along: Cadaver Tomb. Trevor 2.0



## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

Don't know if it will be so much a tutorial, but I've decided to revisit one of my old props and attack it with some lessons learned. 

Back in 2012 I created the original Trevor. 















It was meant to be a one-off, and sold after Halloween that year. I was unhappy with a couple little things, and have certainly improved on my building techniques in the last 7 years. 

Primary goals for Trevor 2.0:

Using apoxie clay to create something waterproof and extremely durable from the get go on the sculpt.

Pink foam, not the white beads. Again for durability. 

Fog dispersion comes out from the pluerants, not the crappy underneath, thus allowing a more cohesive base. 

Secondary goals: 

Collapsible? 
Efficiency in build
Other effects? slider lid? Shaker? 
Multiple???


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## Shadow Panther (Apr 4, 2013)

Woo hoo looking forward to Trevor 2.0


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## Grumpy64 (Nov 11, 2015)

Looking forward to following the rebuild


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## TomInSeattle (Nov 19, 2018)

UnOrthodOx said:


> Don't know if it will be so much a tutorial, but I've decided to revisit one of my old props and attack it with some lessons learned.
> 
> Back in 2012 I created the original Trevor.
> 
> ...


Well done! Looking forward to seeing your progress.


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## Brianaala (Oct 28, 2018)

Wow! That is really cool! I have several questions about Trevor 1.0: is there any framework or is it completely made of beadfoam? What is the body made of? Is there a fog cooler under there or is the fog low-lying because it's seeping out of the bottom? More importantly: how do you plan to make this collapsible for storage? I will absolutely follow this build!!
Awesome work!


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

Brianaala said:


> Wow! That is really cool! I have several questions about Trevor 1.0: is there any framework or is it completely made of beadfoam? What is the body made of? Is there a fog cooler under there or is the fog low-lying because it's seeping out of the bottom? More importantly: how do you plan to make this collapsible for storage? I will absolutely follow this build!!
> Awesome work!


Trevor 1.0's build can mostly be found in this thread. It's fairly detailed, but not as much as I'll be doing here: 

https://www.halloweenforum.com/hall...e-unorthodoxs-2012-theme-open-discussion.html


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

Mostly been getting the shop in order. It had mostly been used for storage since remodel. Finally clearing all that out. 

Built the custom table here for not only this project, but all future sculpting jobs. One of the things that would limit my ability to sculpt was pain, both in back and in my hands. This eliminates the former, finally a table at a working height. On casters, the shop door is extra wide so this can be rolled around anywhere in the basement if needed. 










Now, normally I'd go ahead and recommend following my skeleton tutorial to get started on this project. https://www.halloweenforum.com/tuto...9-b-y-o-b-updated-make-your-own-skeleton.html

That's what we did for Trevor 1.0

However, I'm planning several new creatures coming up, and as such have decided I need to make a mold...

Thus we see Fred here being prepped for a mold. For the uninitiated, Fred here is a 'Bucky' model from the anatomical Chart company. Purchased and corpsed back in 2008, he's been outside as a prop pretty much since then. Brought him in and have been de-corpsing him. In the process removed the arms (alread broken hardware, was being held by the latex corpsing) and legs.


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## stick (Apr 2, 2009)

Cannot see the pictures in your last post but i am looking forward to see the improvements you plan on making.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

Yeah... I think I have a fix for that pic thing now, just a sec...

If what I understand the problem to be was correct, they should work now?


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## Grumpy64 (Nov 11, 2015)

No problems seeing them now.


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## jdubbya (Oct 4, 2003)

We're making a similar piece for our Druid tomb next year. Will be following along. Still figuring out dimensions but want it to be no more than 6 ft in length and maybe 26-28" wide. plan to frame it with 2x3 then skin with 1" foam, add skulls, adornments, etc.. I'll be watching how you drape the body. This is he part that's vexing me right now. Using a Wally skelly but will likely replace the skull. Off to review the first edition.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

jdubbya said:


> We're making a similar piece for our Druid tomb next year. Will be following along. Still figuring out dimensions but want it to be no more than 6 ft in length and maybe 26-28" wide. plan to frame it with 2x3 then skin with 1" foam, add skulls, adornments, etc.. I'll be watching how you drape the body. This is he part that's vexing me right now. Using a Wally skelly but will likely replace the skull. Off to review the first edition.


So, you're going to going a shroud tomb? I know I saw a number of examples, some very 'druid' like back in 2012. This is the only one I saved though. (and it's supposed to be Christ in the tomb, so definitely NOT druid) 










I'm making this one smaller than last time as well. I'll do the effigy first then work the dimensions from there. If all the holiday things could quit getting in the way, I could get to work...


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

So, I started to get to work, but discovered my case of supplies is actually the wrong stuff. I might have a use for that later, but for now, I'm going to have to wait a week or two for more stuff.

Speaking of the supplies. 

I use this wrap here:










You can purchase "Rigid Wrap" brand at your local craft store, but the above is cheaper when you bulk purchase. For this project, I'll end up using about 5 rolls.

If you've never worked with it before, simply cut to size, dunk in water, and spread over your form. 

Measuring Fred here for size...










After a couple layers. (note I avoided the bolt in his chest) You don't want to wrap too much undercut as we're going to peel this off. 










I could have done the skull as well, but I'm going to elongate the neck a bit and use a different skull for artistic reasons. Once this dries, I'll peel it off and fill it with great stuff before determining if I need to do the back as well. We'll bring in details once I start going over this with clay later.


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## stick (Apr 2, 2009)

Cannot view the pictures in last post.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

stick said:


> Cannot view the pictures.


Really? What browser are you using?


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

Back to work after my order of wrap come in. 

For those having trouble with the pics, I've published the gallery here: https://www.anunorthodoxhalloween.com/blog/?page_id=2391 It should update with the pics. 

Today, working on the legs. You can see I've been filling the torso with great stuff. 










I'm doing the entire leg to get details on the knee a bit. Simply measure out the wrap down the leg and cut. We're covering the top of the leg, and peeling the bones out of the back later. You can see a little bit of 'one I prepared earlier here, where I filled the completed one with great stuff. 










Leg covered with the wrap, took 3 layers, with a few small pieces cut to reinforce all joints. 










Where I'm going for a mummified/decaying look, we don't want a lot of calf muscle, so I just took 2 strips of the wrap, (one for inside, one for outside of the leg) measured from heel to above the knee, and draped them around the leg, letting the back hang. When dry, this will be filled with great stuff for support. 










You need the calf and the hip to inform how to shape the thighs, however, so next step is attaching the leg.










Hope to get to finishing the thighs tomorrow.


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## partsman (Oct 18, 2007)

So the Orthowrap isn't a mold? It's the actual prop, sorry if I'm missing something here.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

partsman said:


> So the Orthowrap isn't a mold? It's the actual prop, sorry if I'm missing something here.


Yeah, I just used Fred as the mold. (though I'm going to make a fiberglass casting of him for other things later) 

I'm essentially corpsing with the plaster wrap (then peeling off the wrap and filling the hollow with foam), and I'll go back over THAT with clay for detail work later.


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## partsman (Oct 18, 2007)

Thanks Unorthodox, I always love your how-to's been following you here for years. I look forward to seeing this one come together. I remember following the original thread on your first tomb like this. It inspired me to come up with my sand casting process that I did the how-to on a few years back.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

For attaching the legs, do one side at time. Using the great stuff as in the pic above to attach at the hip. Once that dries, you want just a bit more meat to the upper leg, so spray a little bit of great stuff onto the femur...










And cover that while still wet with some of the plaster wrap. 










The wrap will help the great stuff expand smoothly. Roll the thing over and repeat on the back end. 










Trevor now has both legs. His right is a little uneven, I'm debating whether to leave that or try to 'fix' it. I tend to like the slight variations and 'mistakes', and most of that will be covered in cloth later. I'm waiting on my order for the clay to come in before going further. Getting the ribs sculpted and smoothed prior to adding the arms will save me trouble later. Might add the skull. There wasn't a real great reason not to do Fred's head at the same time as the rest of the body other than I don't particularly love Bucky model skulls.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

Went into the weekend with the goal of getting the head at least attached if not completed. 

Again, I don't really have a great reason not to have used the bucky skull other than I prefer this one. 

Plaster wrap on the front half of the face, allow dry. You'll notice I'm doing the mandible at the same time in the background. 










Repeat for the back half, and use a strip to put the two pieces together. While still wet, I start filling with great stuff. You don't want to overfill this or it'll break your skull, so just a thin layer.










Saturday afternoon, my clay come in, so while I was waiting for the great stuff to dry, I started a little work on the body to get a feel for the Apoxie sculpt. 

I hadn't used apoxie sculpt before, but have thus far been impressed. It's fairly soft and easy to work, and gets softer if you heat it in your hand for a bit. Smooths great with just a bit of water. 

Again, delaying adding arms to get all this done that will be 'under' the arms. 










Getting back to the head, balancing the skull to let the great stuff work. I want his head slightly tilted 'up', for a more open jaw. 










Once some great stuff at that joint is fully dried, used some wrapping for the plaster wrap to hold the jaw in place while a tiny dab of great stuff attached it to the skull. 



















Using a couple strips for plaster wrap, I corpse from the lower jaw down the neck to the body, and then begin on the clay. As we will for the entire body, just work in the details over your plaster form. 

I must say I really hate doing teeth, and if you've seen my other projects I usually avoid it. As I can only sculpt for about an hour at a time due to my tendonitis, and it really starting to act up, I didn't get the whole head done like I wanted, but you can see where we're going hopefully. 










More ribs so I could judge how much apoxie sculpt I might need for the project and because it was less painful after the teeth work...


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

Needing to catch up posting pics. I got laid up with a gallbladder attack and kind of fell behind on the posting. 

Just moving along the head, you don't want the neck too smooth. 


















With a lot of the rib work nearing completion, it's time to start thinking of the arms. So, posing the arms...










Plaster shell...Note, I'm not trying to get the wrist/hands. 










Filling the inside of the shell with great stuff. 










For the wrist/back of the hand, I cast my daughter's hands.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

Whoa, looks like my last post got eaten by the abyss of wherever lost internet posts go. 

Let me go back a few.


From above, I actually put clay on the arms before attaching them to the shoulders. 










The fingers just had to free-sculpt. But I had to do one at a time, waiting 24 hours for the clay to cure in between each, so it took a while. Clay was just too soft to do them all at once

The right arm here attached to the body at the shoulder and index finger. The left arm attached at the shoulder and the forearm at the waist. Purposely did not put a hand on the left arm due to whats coming. 










The Bed:

Soaked cloth in water, placed on top of 2" blue foam. Put Trevor on top of the cloth, sprayed great stuff underneath so the foam raised to form to Trevor's body. 

(On the original this was done via expanding foam carved, and using monster mud to attache the cloth to the foam and Trevor to the cloth. This worked quite well, but I'm wanting the entire lid covered in this polymer clay, so saw it as a waste of paint)


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## dane82 (Sep 24, 2012)

great work!


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

The 'modesty cloth'. I'm sure there's a technical name...

LET ME SAY THIS: In the original tomb, I did this with Monster Mud. THIS IS A MUCH EASIER METHOD. I just wanted the challenge and uniformity what I'm doing allows. 


Left hand just needs the first joint of all the fingers, and a thumb. Then, scrunch up cloth (again soaked and worked with great stuff to make a rigid base) under the fingers and from the thumb. Mind this for a good 10 minutes and squish down any areas that the great stuff is expanding too much. 










I'll go back and fill in this space at the wrist with clay later.










Now just a matter of filling in this form with clay...










Long, tedious prospect, but fun.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

Blending Trevor on down into the base so it will look like one solid piece. Slow going, but soon to pick up.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

I wasn't happy with how some of the areas on the feet were coming, so I broke out the knife and chopped some areas.










Yes, that's an electric carving knife. I've found it very adept at hacking great stuff and other foams. 










Foot prep, Plaster toe base:










Foot sculpt:










Toe sculpt:










Toes attached. 










Filling in the 'bed'


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## Frankie's Girl (Aug 27, 2007)

Man that looks amazing... and your girl is so grown up now! 

I hate that your hands hurt so bad you're unable to sculpt long because you have wicked good sculpting skills.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

Actually, the combination of the new clay and the custom table have really helped negate my pain problems. I'm still learning how far the clay can 'go', really. I was hit with a 2 month back order delay earlier when I had changed my mind to do the whole lid in the clay instead of monster mudding the cloth, and am JUST shy of having enough now, so am waiting for one last shipment. Would have finished this in March if not for the ordering issues. 

I've planned for BULK purchases in the future now that I've decided I love this stuff.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

Not much to really picture. Finished the 'bed', and wrapped the clay down around the edge of the foam to protect the corners.



















In another departure from Trevor 1.0, I'm using Drylok extreme on the lid this time. It's mostly the same, but does not have the sandy texture, so should retain more detail. I also embedded cheese cloth into the bottom here to help form a protective layer. 










I'll get into the process on this more later. Decided to do a simple inscription on the base this time instead of the pleurant. It is both more traditional to have a simple base, and will help with making this collapsible.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

Lots of sanding on the top prior to paint. I do want to make special note of the abrasive sponge attachment on my dremel here. Along with the power sander, it not only let me finish sanding in a day, but really saved my hands a lot of pain. 










The first of what would be 3 coats of the drylok extreme. If you look close you can see it's kinda streaky.




























The second coat was to cover any thin areas...the third coat I applied with a scrap T shirt to get rid of all brush strokes. 

Then, finally it come to the wash. I thin the paint 50% with water, slather all over Trevor, then co back and wipe it off again with a damp to wet sponge. This leaves the paint in the valleys and various levels of stain on the rest. It also makes a royal mess, thus outside.



















I do want to note, you'll notice I'm working in the SHADE. One of the things I wasn't happy on 1.0 was the wash job...I did it in full sun, and the paint would dry too fast. Shot of Trevor 1.0 at the same stage, note his head, hand, and part of the chest ended up pure grey because the paint dried almost instantly in the sun:


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

Trevor's base, as previously mentioned, one of the big goals was to make it collapsible. I'll get better pics of how that works later, but for now, the test run went well. The wood frames on top and bottom make slots for the foam board to go into. I'll have wood on the corners as well to hide the seam where the foam boards meet. 

I do not know if I'll be doing a fog chiller build in this year as my fog machine is presently broken, and I'd rather save up for a Chauvet Cumulus (or perhaps insert chinese knockoff here) next year than buy a regular one this year. 










Inscribing the tomb walls, I'm using the same alphabet from Trevor 1.0 so it will match existing "tombstones". Using ye olde dot matrix paper to sketch out the right size and spacing. 



















Once written, I cut shallow into the surface with an exacto knive, and then brush with some nail polish remover.


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## GeneralZod (Aug 30, 2016)

Are you building this as a Chiller as well? How will it be vented?


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

GeneralZod said:


> Are you building this as a Chiller as well? How will it be vented?


Unfortunately, my budget doesn't allow me to procure a replacement for my broken fog machine this year, so not this year. Trevor 1.0 was just placed on a 2x2" at each corner to raise it enough for the fog to seep out beneath. 

I am actually debating whether to add a Chauvet Cumulus or similar fogger for inside Trevor in the future instead of building it into a chiller inside. 

[video]


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

Since Trevor 2.0 is collapsible, I needed to hide the seams on the walls above. We thus cut 2x4s at the corners and attached them to the walls with great stuff. 










Primer Each panel got 2 coats of primer with the top coat being applied with a rag to hide the brush strokes. 










Wash coat 101. Watered down paint (50/50 paint to water) and a bowl of clean water with a rag. 










Slather the paint on.










Wipe it off with the rag. 



















Putting it all together to start some last touch ups. I've not labeled the walls and the and the wood top and bottom so they all will line up in the same place, I'll start getting some more age on this soon. 



















Just a gemmy projection light at ground level. At the very least, I'd likely add some height to it on Halloween to get the top of it lit better


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## Curlgoddess (Sep 23, 2008)

Holy cow! Amazing prop.


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## stick (Apr 2, 2009)

A killer looking prop you have made and true set up from the first one and that one was great.


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## deadpirates (Nov 22, 2019)

I'm curios, why didn't you just start with a plastic skeleton? Even a cheap blow molded one would have saved you a lot of time. If you were going to take a mold from him. A couple coats of liquid latex works quite nicely. Then you just wax the heck out of it (paste wood wax) or spray some partall & you're ready to go. I've been working with fiberglass for 40 years or so. For so much detail & looks like under cuts. A ridged fiberglass shell. Might not be the best to get it off & then the piece out of it. A flexible mold would be better. Made from liquid latex & cheese cloth. RTV silicon would be better but quite expensive for that big a mold. I use it a lot for smaller pieces. Then with a ridged shell on top of that. The trick to "break down" for storage would be. Door hinges at each corner that you can pull the pins out of. You can get them pretty cheap for inside doors at the local big box hardware stores. When you're done & ready to put away. Take the lid off & pull the pins & you've got 4 manageable panels. Or even into two parts. By pulling the pins on diagonal corners & letting the small panel fold flat against the back of the long panel. Using foam sheet saves a lot on weight for take down & set up. I built this pirate ship stern from 1" sheet foam & 1X3s the fancy scroll work are wooden furniture plant ons. It wasn't quite finished here. I have a large lantern type light that hangs from a bracket on the white rectangle above the middle window (which wasn't finished LOL)


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## deadpirates (Nov 22, 2019)

That tomb would look great (not that it doesn't now) With a sliding lid (pivoting at one corner). Just to one side opening one corner. With green & orange lights inside & a fog machine. Would be quite easy to do but add so much.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

deadpirates said:


> I'm curios, why didn't you just start with a plastic skeleton?


Mostly because I enjoy sculpting. I wouldn't blame anyone for just corpsing a wallie or a pose and stay for this kind of thing. 







> If you were going to take a mold from him. A couple coats of liquid latex works quite nicely. Then you just wax the heck out of it (paste wood wax) or spray some partall & you're ready to go. I've been working with fiberglass for 40 years or so. For so much detail & looks like under cuts. A ridged fiberglass shell. Might not be the best to get it off & then the piece out of it. A flexible mold would be better. Made from liquid latex & cheese cloth. RTV silicon would be better but quite expensive for that big a mold. I use it a lot for smaller pieces. Then with a ridged shell on top of that.


I have a bunch of materials, I'm meaning to make a mold of Fred, but there's a lot of challenges to doing an actual skeleton. 





> The trick to "break down" for storage would be. Door hinges at each corner that you can pull the pins out of. You can get them pretty cheap for inside doors at the local big box hardware stores. When you're done & ready to put away. Take the lid off & pull the pins & you've got 4 manageable panels. Or even into two parts. By pulling the pins on diagonal corners & letting the small panel fold flat against the back of the long panel. Using foam sheet saves a lot on weight for take down & set up. I built this pirate ship stern from 1" sheet foam & 1X3s the fancy scroll work are wooden furniture plant ons. It wasn't quite finished here. I have a large lantern type light that hangs from a bracket on the white rectangle above the middle window (which wasn't finished LOL)
> View attachment 727068


The wood acts as a buffer to prevent the foam from getting scraped up too much. I do like your idea as well, and it was one of the ones I looked into.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

deadpirates said:


> That tomb would look great (not that it doesn't now) With a sliding lid (pivoting at one corner). Just to one side opening one corner. With green & orange lights inside & a fog machine. Would be quite easy to do but add so much.


Yeah...it's EITHER getting a lid slider/opener OR a fog chiller in the future. This was year one of a 3 year project. I wanted Trevor down. Year 2 will be finishing all the 'setting' pieces. Year 3 will be adding in effects.


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