[meltyface]

[SCROLL THROUGH THE POST FOR THE PROGRESSION OF THIS PROJECT. I WILL ATTEMPT TO JUST ADD UPDATES TO THE SECTIONS RELATING TO EACH PIECE. ]

I've been trying to do this for a few years now, and have finally gotten the time to hopefully finish him this year. I will post pictures as I go, if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. This guy is about 8.5' tall and will be holding a Scythe in one hand and a chain leading to some hellhounds in the other. I'm pretty much coming up the the specific dimensions as I go.

I have been having difficulties getting his horns to stay on (glues and screw are not working with this skull) **PROBLEM SOLVED BELOW**, and building a body/"clothing" that I can breakdown at the end of the season for storage. But I will be figuring out something this year (2017) so stay tuned.

Temporarily finished for 2017....will be improving on him more in the future:

 

[meltyface]

Body of prop

 

[meltyface]

Body of prop (but I am unable to get it to upload in the correct orientation :/ )
View attachment 418273

How the skull used to look, but the horns keep falling off

Demon Dogs I will be using chain leashes until I can build three LARGE ones

Scythe blade I'll be using with it shoved through a skull affixed to the pole. The pole will have the spine of the skull supporting it (similar to the picture)

 

[The Skeleton Crew]

If your trying to glue to molded plastic I haven't found many adhesives that will stick to it. Try using a two-part epoxy adhesive; I use Gorilla Glue brand but any will work. Apply the epoxy and then screw attach the horns, Let dry for a couple of hours and that should hold. You can cover the screw holes with air dry or epoxy clay and then paint over it. The clay can be sculpted to get some nice detail around the horn attachments.

 

[meltyface]

Thanks, I will definitely try the clay. I used 2 part epoxy a few years ago, and as you see that didn't last too long, they fell of a few days later.

EDIT: Got the horns secured to the skull, drilled a few small holes where they would mount added Gorilla Glue then 2 screws each. Will be finishing them up later.

 

[HauntedWyo]

For the adhesive, maybe try JB Weld for plastic. What are you doing for the wings? I saw some instructions for making wings for ComicCon type characters on YouTube that were pretty cool. Some even made them so they flapped. Looking forward to seeing this completed.

 

[meltyface]

For the Wings, I am thinking about using PVC pipe for the overall frame and shape, and then paper mache or paste for the additional details. The "webbing" of the wings I'm thinking of using a semi translucent black plastic shower curtain. Below are the ideas I've been using for the wings. The details on the demon's body I will eventually do, but I doubt I have time this year, so I'm just gonna figure out a robe to put on him.

Primary ideas for the wings and final body

2nd idea for the wing design

 

[HauntedWyo]

Wow!! You are braver than me in attempting either of those wings. But man will they look fantastic when you get them done.

 

[meltyface]

I hope they do, we shall see. I just added the rest of the ideas above that I'm working toward.

 

[meltyface]

So I bought a skeleton 24 Hours ago and corpsed the Torso and skull, shoved it onto some 1.5 " PVC pipe with a pool noodle wrapped around the lower part to add girth. Cut the skull so I could shove the blade through and have this so far. The "scythe" stands over 6.5' tall. My guy is going to be about 7.25' tall. I'll be adding better coloring to him, and giving his guts some better coloring as well to make it look like they have decade along with the body.

The blade was drawn onto a piece of cardboard to build a template, then once I got the shape I wanted I cut it out of 1/4" plywood and wrapped it in tape to help prevent separation in the future while adding wet paper mache paste.

Here I wrapped the shaft in paper mache clay and built a vine with the clay that wraps around the entire pool noodle.

I used expanding foam to give my torso guts (I now use the expanding foam gun because it allows you to do different sizes, and you can reuse one can multiple times) and painted them red. ***I don't like the look of these so I will am looking for ways to make the guts look decayed in order to match the time of death for the body. ***

Here I used a dark stain on the entire shaft to make it look wooden. I then went back over the vine with grey stain, wiped it off quickly, and added redoak stain (wiped off quickly as well) to give it contrast.

This is the blade before putting it through the skull. I put it through the skull by cutting a slot in the front and back of the head to the size needed for the blade to be pushed through.

I used Paper Mache clay to cover the blade, sanded down the rough edges, used joint compound to fill any big gouges, sanded smooth, then painted with a metallic silver acrylic paint. ***Still trying to figure out how to make the blade look like it's been used a lot to and stained with the blood of it's victims.****

So I decided to rip out the guts and start over. I sprayed expanding foam let it dry a little then pulled off parts to make it look more decayed. Put down a base layer of grey stain, then washed it with brown, red, green. Added a layer of plastic for the corpsing to give it flesh decaying from the stomache, and here is the finished scythe up to the torso. I'm still working on the head.

 

[meltyface]

Demon's Head Progression will be posted here:

I found this massive Vampire Skull a few years ago and messed around with it a little. We built the Horns by shaping aluminum foil into the shape we wanted, used wires to make the rings, and there is another wire that makes an edge along the top. We then paper mached over the top and attached them to the skull (which was an event). I found that the best way to attach items to these good quality skulls is by drill a hole for the glue to seep into, use gorilla glue, place the horn over the hole, then add 1 or 2 more screw at the base to secure it even better. I covered the screw with paper mache clay then painted.

Since I did not secure the horns like I explained above they fell off and got broken. While reattaching the horns my wife decided to beef up the eyes, cheeks, and nose features with masking tape, and repair the horns. You can also see here the red LED eyes I installed a few years ago that is hooked up to a solar battery. The other wires leading out of the head do not have a purpose yet, but I wanted the option to hook up this battery to multiple components. I installed the eyes by drill 1 hole in each eye slightly larger than the LED and hot glued them from the outside. I had to cut a hole in the base of the skull large enough to fit my hand through to push the lights in place. I then sealed them from the inside with great stuff, and closed the hole with it as well.

This time around I used paper mache clay to give this guy some more girth and character, also used the clay to cover the holes mentioned above, and to repair the horns. I used 80 grit sand paper and joint compound after the clay dried for a few days to smooth out the horns and other areas required. NOTE: This stuff is hard as a rock once dried, try to get the shape and texture you want prior to it being completely dry if possible.

Now I tossed down a base layer of black for the teeth and horns and red for the skull. The red was then dry brushed with 2 other darker shades of red. I'll be adding more red to the horns later. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the teeth to make them look better.

Finished the demon head, FINALLY!!

Also started the wings, ran into a few issues that I've posted HERE

Wingspan will be approximately 11 feet once I figure out some solutions. Here's a picture of the frame so far.

 

[hallowicked]

Wow. Looks great so far and the concept is killer.

 

[DarkhavenManor]

Scythe looks great so far! Can't wait to see the rest

 

[meltyface]

Covered the Blade in paper Mache Clay, sanded it smooth, filled in holes with compound joint, sanded again and then painted with Acyrlic paints.
I'm trying to figure out how to make it look like a well used blood stained blade, then I'll recorpse the head and put it back on the body.

For the Scythe I ended up using a PVC pipe covered with a pool noodle that I covered in paper mache clay. I used dark stains, plus green and red paints to give it texture.

For the blade I ended up painting it silver (spray paint), then got muddy greens and reds and flung them onto the blade from a distance, like I was an abstract artist or something lol. I also mixed some oatmeal in blood red and spread it all over the blade to add the "guts" texture.

I did have to attach a 1X2 piece of wood to the base of the skull pointing down and a "D" clamp around the neck so that I could detach the head for easier storage. I also added a bold at the base of the skull so that I could keep it aligned inside of the spine for correct alignment. These were secured by making the metal HOT so that it would melt the plastic, and once in place I poured cold water over them to cool and set quickly. I then put gorilla glue over these parts to keep them from detaching. I covered everything in plastic, then corpsed over it to blend in with the entire torso.

 

[meltyface]

Just finished the Demon's head and the Scythe's shaft and the Torso. Added the pictures and steps above. Now onto the rest..... I really hope I'm able to get to the wings this year, but the body is more important at this point. It would suck to have all of this and no body.

 

[cosplaycostumefun]

Wow! Totally awesome work! I really love the detail on the skull and body of the reaper!

 

[meltyface]

For his hands I built them out of Aluminum foil first, then covered them in masking tape so that the paper mache clay had something smoother to grip to. I then painted them with the same technique I used on the skull. I attached them to the "forearms" with screws. I did have to cut the thumb off of the right hand and add a screw to it's base and a nut to the hand. This was done so that I could take the Scythe out of is grip at will. I modeled the right had to hold the Scythe and the left to hold the dogs chains.

 

[meltyface]

So I am done with this guy for 2017, not exactly my "vision" but he'll do for now. I had to wrap his body with chicken wire and build a cloak out of some old sheets. I died them gray (was trying to go black) and built him a hoodie to complete the look as best I could. I little hot glue, black and red paints, then voila I have turned my demon into a reaper for 2017.....and here's the 2017 iteration fully completed, with dogs, weapon, lights and all.......I REALLY WISH I COULD UPLOAD PICTURES CORRECTLY

TO BE CONTINUED.........