Predator Costume

This was my first time ever building a costume and wow was it a lot of work. I think I have over 600 hrs invested and probably over $1k in costs. I’ve been working on it since August 2016 and just finished it September 2017. Everything you see was built by me except for the raw latex head and feet, although I did airbrush those latex portions. All suited up I’m about 6 foot 10 inches!

Here’s a breakdown of how the components were made:

Latex Suit, - The body suit was a Mr. Incredible costume which I added a gallon of latex to. I then airbrushed the whole suit with a mixture of liquid latex and paint. The gloves were purchased at a hardware store and latexed/painted the same way as the suit. Since latex shrinks as it dries I had to make a 1:1 model of myself for the suit to form around. I did some research online and constructed a “duct tape dummy” of myself and placed it into the Mr.I suit before applying the latex.

Armor – The armor was constructed from a mix of EVA foam, Sintra sheets, and 3D printed parts. I started out using Pepakura files but since they’re designed for paper and not thick EVA foam the folds came out incorrect. Thus, I made most of the pieces from scratch. I would sketch out the design on a piece of paper and pin it to the “duct tape dummy” just to get an idea on fit. I then traced the pattern onto the intended armor material and cut it out with an exacto-knife or hand saw. After the pieces were finalized and straps were installed I would paint using standard cans of spray paint. After painting was completed I started the weathering. All the small detailed markings on the armor was done with a soldering iron. It was a tedious process but the end result I think looks great! The bomb gauntlet was designed to accept my phone, that way I could use that as the countdown computer. I can activate a few buttons on the phone and they play the famous predator sounds through a Bluetooth speaker in the medpack. Also, I wired in a switch to turn on both the plasma caster (shoulder cannon) lights as well as the LED’s in the helmet.

Head – The head was made from a variety of materials, but the question I get the most is how the dreads were made? I took some foam rod (backer rod) which can be purchased at a hardware store, cut to specific lengths then heated the ends to points. I painted them with plasti-dip to get the rubberized look. The dread beads were cut from pvc pipe, 15ft in total, and painted with gold and silver paint. They were then glued to the latex mask, 60 total. As you can imagine the head weights a lot! The helmet was constructed from fiberglass, I wired in the LED lights and attached the visor with hot glue. I also mounted a fan inside which keeps me cool…..well kind of.


With everything suited up it’s comfortable for a while. I’ve added pockets internally which I place ice packs into to keep me as cool. So far, the longest I’ve had it the suit is approximately 6 hours, I’m not sure any longer than this is possible! I’ve had a lot of fun building this costume and have learned a lot over the past year. I can’t wait to start my next project!!!