Full Scale TRI-KLOPS

[Vahn]

I've been very busy. This year for Halloween, my friend Phil wanted to be TRI-KLOPS, because he's so awesome. I told him I could make him the costume if he'd pay for it; he agreed to do so. Despite him being 9" taller than me, we are very close to the same thickness, so the costume actually fits me too. So after Halloween we wanted to do a proper photoshoot with the costume. Since I'm bigger proportionally to my height, we thought the costume might look better on me. So here's me in the TRI-KLOPS costume I built:



No doubt pondering some technical conundrum.



Fed up with SKELETOR's ludicrous plans.



Blasting some Eternian Guards.



If you didn't see my original post after Halloween, check out Phil in the costume here:

http://www.he-man.org/forums/boards/...d.php?t=164679

Okay, here it is, how I did it. I tried to be as detailed as possible, so I know it's long. If you don't want to read about how I made this, at least scroll down and check out the rest of the pictures. Input is always welcome.

RECIPE:
This is the cheapest way you can make this costume look this authentic. I bought almost everything at either a hardware store or a craft store. Much of this costume required smooth, green plastic with a slight curve. What I found was a green plastic garbage can, and it was perfect. The green is a little bit darker than the TRI-KLOPS figure wears, but it looks great, and I didn’t have to worry about painting it or the problems that would create.

HELMET:
For the cap I made a pattern and cut it out of a sheet of leather, stitched two lengths of clothesline into it for the cording, and stitched the lateral corrugation in the center of the cap. I added two buckles for it to fasten around the neck. For the visor, I started with a flower pot tray and cut out the center. I attached the top ring made from the center of the garbage can lid. I made the face of the visor with sections I cut from the garbage can attached by shelf hangers to the top ring and flower pot tray. I made the eye lenses from plastic fill-it-yourself Christmas tree ornaments that I scratched the lines into and spray painted with transparent glass paint. For the eyebrows I used Magic-Sculpt and painted it chrome. I got little metal elbows and corrugated chrome wire gathers for the side decorations. The visor rests atop a Masonite ring that sits just above the browline. The ring also has several cords and corrugated wire gathers that run down the back and tuck under the shoulder armor. An LED headlight fits under the visor. The chinstrap is a bunch of panels cut from the garbage can and two wooden beads painted black. It attaches by two shelf mounts to the ring around the head and by a Velcro strap around the neck. The neck armor is four slices of an aluminum stovepipe bent around and attached to a strip of leather. Unfortunately the aluminum strips are so thin that you can’t see the edges, so it looks like just one strip wrapped around my neck. Also it kept overlapping too much in the front. Some corrugated chrome wire gathers run up the sides to complete the neck.

BODY ARMOR:
The large pieces I cut from the garbage can and added car door edge moulding to the shoulders, and drilled holes and added little wooden beads for the chest. Two metal elbows attached to the conduit around the neck and pushed through two chrome flanges (which I had to cut the centers out of) and into the chest. The center strap is Naugahyde that I stitched the vertical corrugation into and painted (it was originally the same as the belt). Velcro holds it to the chest armor, and screws to the wooden plaque at the bottom. I sanded the symbol into the plaque and attached a plastic bottle cap and the top swoosh cut from the garbage can. I painted this assembly and the wooden toy wheel at the top of the strap copper. Through a loop I left in the bottom of the Naugahyde I slid a belt I bought from Goodwill with three floor savers (little square rubber feet for furniture) with wooden beads screwed into it on either side. I painted the belt assembly green to match the armor.

BELT and ARMORED KILT:
The belt itself doesn’t actually hold up or even attach to the kilt. The belt is made from Naugahyde with ½” rope stitched into cording around the top and bottom, wrapped around a slice of the garbage can for sturdiness. Wooden beads and a toy wheel painted gold make up the adornments. The buckle was considerably more difficult. I had to cut pieces of the garbage can and glue them together with a Naugahyde cover, plus the gold-painted beads and toy wheel in the center. It attaches to the belt by a shelf hanger. A leather work belt served as the frame for the kilt. I took a bunch of the little rubber floor savers, drilled holes in them and attached them together with links of chain I unbent and rebent to accommodate their new purpose. I made sure to have the same number as the TRI-KLOPS figure has, and attached the same way (the ones at the top are attached at all four sides, the lower ones only top to bottom, with some intermediary attached on three sides) I painted the squares and work belt with black shoe polish. I drilled holes in the belt and attached the kilt with the same method of chain links. The hip guards are more pieces of the garbage can with door edge moulding around them and wooden beads for the rivets. Underneath it all I wore a black Speedo.

BOOTS and KNEE PADS:
I bought a pair of ninja boots and a 2” black Ace bandage which I split with a razor to get two 1” wraps. I made sleeves of fake fur to be slid on and pulled down over the top of the boots. The shin guards are cut out of the omnipresent garbage can with door edge moulding wrapped around the edge, and wooden toy wheels for the decorations. Then I spray painted them copper. I started the knee pads with regular black knee pads and added slices of the garbage can with door edge moulding. The centers are Magic-Sculpt around a plastic sphere that I cut in half.

BRACERS:
I made a cardboard pattern, sculpted over it with Magic-Sculpt, added little wooden beads, and slices of PVC pipe for the sides. A coat of copper paint finished these off.

FINISHING TOUCHES:
The rest was all me! I worked out and got a bit of a tan. My face isn’t as gaunt as TRI-KLOPS’, so I sucked in my cheeks and scowled for most of the shots. My only other secret: baby oil. There’s a reason body builders always oil up; it really does make you look great.

Feel free to ask me any questions; I love to help people out with this kind of stuff.

[wolfsfang]

Heh, looks great and I am especially glad you (or perhaps your friend) chose the 2002 look for the costume as I think it is far better than his old one

[Vahn]

I made sure to recreate all of the details. The eye-lens colors are based on the Four Horsemen's original design, not the action figure.



Side view.


The back retains all of the detail as well.



I even sculpted the details around the inside of the visor.

[Vahn]

Some fighting poses:

[Vahn]

[wolfsfang]

so how do you see out of it? Are there discreetly hidden eyeholes or is the lens see through?

[sathomaso]

holy **** dude, that's INCREDIBLY well done!

[TOKYONEVER]

Total perfect work, you have the power Vahn, WOW

[Vahn]

so how do you see out of it? Are there discreetly hidden eyeholes or is the lens see through?

You don't. We decided that it was more important to look perfect than to be able to see. The bottom of the visor is open, so you can see the ground a couple of feet in front of you, but it's only enough so you can avoid tripping and running into things; you can't navigate without a guide.

Heh, looks great and I am especially glad you (or perhaps your friend) chose the 2002 look for the costume as I think it is far better than his old one

The modern revamp is the only costume that could be translated literally and look this good, so as soon as we started talking about it, we both knew it had to be the Horsemen's design.

[Patreek]

that is freaking amazing?!?!?! how much does something like this cost?

[Dr.Tod]

Tri-Klops became alive!
That's awesome work - really awesome!

[Orko-78]

Whoa! Cool costume !!!

[Alexx]

Geeze, man! That's amazing! I'm not sure there's anything I can say that hasn't already been said! All you need now is a sword, and you can start trashing the good guys!

[Son of Keldor]

dude you are the man! that triclops costume is sweet! you could also go the swordsman route where he wore the bandana around his eyes before he got the visor.

=)

[Lee-Man]

that is pretty incredible. you must have spent months on that thing, I can't even imagine the hours. It looks great, though.

[Neo]

Nice work.. Looks like a quality piece.

[Mike Bock]

Wow this is impressive! The details are perfect. great work dude.
Are you planning to make a sword too?

[SnakeMenPriest]

Can the visor be turned?


--Asp'r

[Leoghan]

that is AWESOME

[King Kahn]

ha i am a lil dude but if i was nearly that big i would love to have made one myself. it looks outstanding!!!

one nitpick is that the visor seems a bit too big but other than that it looks amazing!!!!

[Rain]

Just an idea for you. Anyway you can place mirrors inside of the helmet to reflect up and out through the clear glass dome eyepiece? Sort of like a periscope. The image would be reversed twice, so it should look normal.

Just an idea. Looks great though.

[Vahn]

First of all, I want to thank everyone for their input. It's great to see this much of a response to something I created, and I'm glad everyone likes it so much. Many of you have made some great points, and I'll try to address each of them. Also, I do plan on adding the recipe to the first post, so if you're interested, please check back!

that is freaking amazing?!?!?! how much does something like this cost?

The materials cost just about $200.00

... All you need now is a sword, and you can start trashing the good guys!

Wow this is impressive! The details are perfect. great work dude.
Are you planning to make a sword too?

I planned to make the sword before the photoshoot, but ran out of time. I may do another shoot with it when I can.

that is pretty incredible. you must have spent months on that thing, I can't even imagine the hours. It looks great, though.

Two months is all I had to get it done. Hours? Hmm...

Can the visor be turned?


--Asp'r

Yes I made it so that any of the three lenses can be turned to the front, however the LEDs in the headlight have a slight blue tint to them, making the red a bit magenta, and the green a bit aqua. So we shot with the blue lens forward because it looks the best.

... one nitpick is that the visor seems a bit too big but other than that it looks amazing!!!!

I appreciate your eye for detail! If you look at the figure, the visor actually cuts into the bridge of his nose, so the full scale visor had to be made slightly larger in order to fit around a human head.

Just an idea for you. Anyway you can place mirrors inside of the helmet to reflect up and out through the clear glass dome eyepiece? Sort of like a periscope. The image would be reversed twice, so it should look normal.

Just an idea. Looks great though.

Great idea! I actually wanted to do the mirror trick, but there is so little room inside the visor that the mirrors (as tiny as they would have to be) would have to magnify quite a bit to be useful. Even then, it might be a bit disorienting to try to rely on them. Ultimately it was just going to be too much trouble.

[DisneyBoy]

Wicked costume. Is that guy a model? And did he wax? And another gay-sounding question...the briefs...just normal underwear, or specially-chosen specifically for the costume?

EDIT: Oops...I put a trap-jaw smiley instead of a triclops. I'm such a Raver, lol!

DOUBLE EDIT: Aaaaand now I've reread the first post and realized it's YOU in the costume.

Awk. Ward.

[Alex The Kid]

Dude! Thats is some incedible work you've done here.
It is absolute perfection! Every single detail has been included from his design, you curtainly didn't take any short cuts with this guy.
I take my hat off to you sir! Bravo.

[Robert]

Wow!!! Talk about a real "master of the universe!!!"

I love it!!! That is just awesome!!!