Building Big Daddy from BioShock

Big Daddy drill

Have seven weeks? Then you have one part of what you’ll need to build a detailed Big Daddy costume from BioShock. Volpin Props built this impressive costume a few years ago, and it even has a working drill. He started with blueprints he made in Adobe Illustrator and built the costume in sections: the main body, the dome, the drill arm, the dome cage, and the paint. The main body (pictured below) was made from cross sections of insulation foam that were glued into place. He used cardboard to fill the empty areas between sections. Any empty cavities in the skeleton were filled with expanding foam and carved into shape. That shape was covered with stretchy fabric. Then:

Accent areas around the arms, legs, and top of the body were made out of insulation foam, then glued to the body. Before coating with paint or fiberglass resin, these were covered with Ureshell to prevent the poly foam from dissolving. Certain areas on the body itself were also given a coat of Ureshell so they would not disintegrate. After this was dry, the entire body piece was given several applications of fiberglass resin.

big daddy wip 1

big daddy wip 2

big daddy wip 3

The drill in action:

Read more at Volpin Props.


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