Well I am still waiting on my costume so I thought I would spend some time building a mannequin (pvc) that I found some plans and pieces for from a company called Spiderhill Props which can be found at:
http://www.spiderhillpropworks.com/They have a specail pvc joint called a spider joint that allows pvc mannequins to semi-articulate. You can pretty much get everything you need to build your own for about $30 dollars. I ordered a pvc pipe cutter and am daggone glad I did, but they have free plans for said mannequin if you are interested found here:
http://www.spiderhillpropworks.com/store/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=7One item of note before I forget is that their spider joints now feature larger washers ( I bought the last of the old but he sent me new larger washers to replace the smaller ones and more bolts for free) so they can really hold the weight of the pipe and whatever they hold (like the hands I made and the plastic squirt gun). Now don't expect this to be a hulking rigid statue, but as you will see by my pics I do believe I am gonna be able to pose this the way I want it for a fraction of the cost of traditional articulated mannequins (lots of deniro).
The first thing I messed with was the hands as I want it to hold that new blaster Cal is working on for me. My problem is I have small hands so I wanted to make some small hands as the gloves I got already fit em like a proverbial glove and I don't want to stretch them. So I started with a wire version and duct tape. It would have worked, but I just didn't like the look. I then played with another idea and while not horribly eye pleasing gave me the hands I wanted to house the gloves, but would also articulate.
I took some latex gloves (smallest I could find) and inserted some romex wire (stripped into individual wires) and inserted a strand into each finger of the glove and then sprayed foam into the glove. I made sure to hit each finger hole first and then worked my way to the palm and the wrist. Once again don't expect to get a Greek Work of Art, but in about eight hours I was able to pull the glove off and work enough air out of the still setting foam and cut enough extra foam off to give it a hand look to fit the glove but still allow the hand to grip. The initial result looked something like this (still might trim one of em up a bit more):
And then I used a one and one quarter inch hole saw to get two wooden circles that I then was able to run all five romex wires through and used an electrical screw connecter (big one) to screw them against the wooden circle so they would hold tight and the wooden circle fit right into the end of the pvc pipe for the arms and as all five wires attached at the circle it still allows the wrist to articulate like this:
From there I used a modified form of the Spider Hill Plans to beef my mannequin up a bit as it will be holding the Driver Costume Armor. I ended up with a mannequin that articulates at the shoulders, mid-torso, elbows, top of the legs, and knees. I have to admit I was a bit hesitant at what a one inch pvc pipe mannequin would be as far as stable, but that double piped torso did the trick and the whole thing balances nicely for what it is (a quick pipe mannequin to make a Halloween Decoration). I ended up with this:
I couldn't find a toy gun any bigger, but do feel I could have balanced it even with that. Now I am not sure I could have a hugely dramatic action pose with this, but for a general standing pose holding a blaster (which was all I wanted) I think this is gonna rock and roll. I may shorten the front arms just a bit and at 6 foot high it is slightly taller than me so eventually five inches will go off the height, but I am gonna wait till I get everything in before I make anymore adjustments. I do believe once I get it dressed with boots on and the armor that it would hold a blaster rifle out at firing height and be ok. Those spider joints really do seem like they can hold a lot of weight. So, I am crossing the mannequin off the list. I think that if anyone needs a cheap costume mannequin and you don't desire much more than a standing (and it does sit if you want) then this is gonna save you a ton of money. Another item of note is that my little girl found this process amazing. She tried to not go to a swimming pool today so she could stay home to help me. Of course I didn't let her do that, but waited until she got home to finish. All in all, it only took me about an hour to build the pvc mannequin part.
