How to Corpse a Bucky

**MokkNoir** · 11-03-2010,01:12 PM

Ok, so I found a Bucky on clearance from a medical supply company, needless to say, I had to have it. So, this is how I made it from boring anatomical skeleton, to a gross corpse. I decided that I wanted to have a burned at the stake look, so I set about getting Bucky prepped. BTW, I'm expanding on the Skull and Bone technique, just to give credit where it's due.

Here's my Bucky nice and fresh from the factory:

The only real way to work on this guy properly is to have 'em hanging around. First, and foremost, you need to go through every single inch of this guy and tighten EVERYTHING. None of the screw and bolts are tight, so you better go ahead and tighten everything so he doesn't fall apart once your done and start moving him around. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!

Next thing I did after that was to modify the head a little bit. I knew that I wanted my Bucky to have an open mouth like he died screaming. So, I took out the springs in the skull, along with the latches to his cranium, as you can see here:

I picked up some bolts to remount the jaw (#4 40x1-1/4 bolts):

Next, I removed the Atlas bone, or the C1 vertebrae, which is the first bone directly under the skull. I did this to give me a little extra length of the steel rod the everything in the spinal column is mounted on. I then used an axe blade that I slipped between a couple of cervical vertebrae in order to bend the steel bar back a little bit. This had the effect of tilting the head back a little bit in order to lend to the screaming to death effect.

After that, I used a pair of bolt cutters to remove the metal support bar that runs from the spinal column to the sternum (breastplate, or middle of the chest wall). Then I started to prep Bucky with black paint and a small brush. I just hit all of the silver parts to ensure they didn't have a chance to show once finished:

As you can see, I hit all of the joints and misc hardware with black paint. Once that is done, I started to throw the pantyhose onto him. I picked up several pairs of full pantyhose in XXL size from the dollar store. I removed the arms so I could slip them one at a time over the torso. I then replaced the arms and used knee-high stockings on the arms and legs, with each getting a double layer. Once in place, you can start working on tearing and cutting it up to get the look you want.

**MokkNoir** · 11-03-2010,01:13 PM

Once you have it the way you want, you can start covering him with latex. I picked up a gallon of ammonia free latex, but you don't need anywhere near that much for this project. I might have used a little more than a pint for this one project, so I have plenty left for more projects. I skipped the whole carpet latex thing and my latex was dry the next day!

After I was satisfied with the latex and let it dry overnight, I started in with the stain. My first coat was with Mini Wax Red Mahogany that I had left over from a kitchen cabinet project, it was all dried up on the top layer, etc. I just broke it up and mixed it with the liquid stain under the dried cake layer, and ended up with a thick red stain. I started with that did a coat, not a solid coat mind you, but I kinda did a highlight of areas while keeping anatomical structures in mind (by this I mean I would paint strokes in the direction that muscles would follow, and I would paint streaks on top of the ribs, which I would blend once the stain on my brush was mostly used up.)

After letting him sit for a few days to dry, I returned and I knew he was too red, so I hit him with some Mini Wax Red Chestnut stain, this one was fairly dried up too. After letting that dry, I came back and started using black spray paint to hit some areas like the joints, mouth, eye sockets, and hands, etc. I also sprayed the back of the throat area some (not completely!! I didn't want to over-power with the black spray paint). Finally, I came back and hit him with some Mini Wax Red Oak. This was fairly new stain, so it was very liquid and fresh. This really made him pop, and gave him that somewhat wet look. I took a small brush and hit all the little areas that were recessed and hard to reach.

After that, I came back and did some peeling, cutting and tearing away of the hose to expose some ribs which I very lightly stained to acheive a different look, as perhaps someone or something had been eating on him after the picnic. lol.

Here he is in all his glory!!!!

Ohhh....the horror!

I ran out of time to actually create the hot coals for the bar-b-que, but that's ok, because I have a new twist in mind to the hot coal effect that is going to be all the rage when I show everyone. Next year, baby!