Nightmare - Torso

So this piece was kind of a monster (ha, ha). The original build idea had called for moldmaking and foam casting, but as deadlines loomed, I determined there just wasn’t time to learn the whole new process and also get it done before Gen Con. Enter low tech solution: build it around the body form!  

  

I started with my form, then wrapped plastic over it to keep the rest from sticking. Doodles mandatory.

Then I started adding padding and framework, primarily of 6mm craft foam and hot glue. This helps provide a profile and the geometry for later pieces and the final product. At the shoulders are wooden bases that will be used for anchoring the shoulder spikes. Around the back there is a wooden frame for holding the fog tank (more on that later).

Expanding foam has this tendency to sag as it cures, so I needed to build a fairly broad, robust frame. I also embedded a nylon strap around the chest with clips below the arm. I’m good at wiggling into weird costumes, but this fits snugly around my chest, which means I’ll need accommodation for my shoulders. 

It was at this point that Erin observed that I could have just bought football pads as a base. Nuts. 

So then I hit it with the spray foam. To contain the foam after spraying, I wrapped the thing in plastic wrap. This has the added benefit of reducing mess when you’re wrangling the foam. On the other hand, tampering with the foam *at all* while it cures can wreck the cells as they form, giving bigger and tougher air bubbles – which makes the substance much harder to deal with down the line. I hadn’t quite learned this yet.

From there, the fun part: Carving! I did this with a variety of nice, sharp instruments. Official directions suggest using a serrated knife, which works fine, but it can give extra bumps and particulate if you’re going for a smoother shape. Nightmare is not picky on this one, so I hacked away with gusto. Here’s a shot showing the partially carved chest. Notice how the foam on the interior picked up my doodles from the torso plastic..

And straight up the inside. 

The lower jaw/waist section of the torso started life as a heavy duty combat webbing belt. I taped in some support bands of 6mm EVA to give it a larger base...

and then sprayfoamed the crap out of it. The end result was essentially a lumpy spare tire (har har, it goes around the waist). I neglected to photograph it raw, but here it is after some preliminary cuts:

Then came more carving. This was where I discovered the issue with big air bubbles buried in the foam. At the center of the block of foam, the teeth were a decayed mess. Nightmare brushes regularly, so the external bases were wrapped with 3mm EVA for a uniform look. I also added the codpiece here - just a block of EVA to hide the spot where the belt separates.

Tragically, this is about where time became an issue, and I stopped recording my progress. Basically, I covered the upper teeth in a similar fashion, tacked an EVA 'skirt' onto the lower half, skinned over every inch of exposed expanding foam with flexible acrylic caulk.

Once the whole mess was finished, I base coated it in a 50/50 mix of matte black interior paint and PVA glue. This helped seal it, and matched the base color used on the rest of the armor. Then there was the base coat of shiny blue automotive spray paint for the armor, and an airbrush with grey, black, and orange for detail work. End results:

 Apologies for that image quality, the camera on my phone is 8 megapixels of blurry. Nice pearly whites though, right?

 Much less handsome from up the inside. I don't like my outfits to have such a messy interior, but it's something that happens when you're in a hurry to have something presentable.

And here's the bottom jaw. Silly looking, right? Throw a compression shirt in between them , though, and you get a pretty convincing, chompy mouth. I'll try and get a shot of them together once I get the rest of the pieces back (they're living in a trunk for a couple of days).

Next up: the Claw!