Costume test-fit

[youngbat]

 

[BatScot]

^ Hey, your fly's open.

 

[batmaluco]

^ Yes, it is.
This costume is ****ing great though.

 

[Dark Guardian]

That Owns. With a capital O!

 

[Soundwave88]

wow thats pretty sweet!

 

[Proximo]

For those who dont know, Bob Dullam, (Youngbat) Made everything from scratch, Even the undersuit.
All the armor is done in Foam Latex, Like the suit's have been in all Batman Movies.

Best is yet to come though, Belt and goodies with it, Badass Cape. And his scratch Built Tumbler

Like i've said before Bob, Your work is so beyond movie quality.t:

 

[Spidey 2007]

perfection to the highest degree, i always love looking at your work.

 

[tzar]

That's some awesome stuff,great work.

 

[thedarks0ldier]

For those who dont know, Bob Dullam, (Youngbat) Made everything from scratch, Even the undersuit.
All the armor is done in Foam Latex, Like the suit's have been in all Batman Movies.

Best is yet to come though, Belt and goodies with it, Badass Cape. And his scratch Built Tumbler

Like i've said before Bob, Your work is so beyond movie quality.t:

How thick is the undersuit?
Is it neoprene?
What kind? (vegi/ rubber based?)
How flamable is the suit?
I know it is durable and flexible but how dense is the foam latex?
Why am I asking you? (Should I be asking youngbat?)
Well, regardless, can you (Proximo) answer any of these questions?
Thank You

 

[youngbat]

answers:
I forget exactly how thick it is. I wanna say 1.3 mm. It's about skin dive suit thick. What I do is take the raw material, and pull it over my bodycast. then pin it up. I barely use any pattern because this thing has to fit tight, but the key is evenly tight. Having a really good head-to-toe bodycast is key. I let it sit for a few days, then go back and tighten it up if necessary. even tension is so important. Not neoprene, but a smooth skinned sheet rubber backed with spandex. I also have to treat the rubber before I use it otherwise glue will not hold. I use a diluted type of rubber cement for glue. I can also position the seams exactly where I want them. The seams on this suit are more like where they placed the seams on Batman forever. the next copy I do, I will place the seams where they did. But I have that control because I am doing it from scratch, and the bodycast is invaluable.
I read the interview where Day Murch talks about vegi based neoprene. I actually asked some manufacture about that, and they pretty much scratched their heads. Sometimes you gotta take some of what they say in interviews with a grain of salt. I met Day at the batshop in 94'. If I ever talk to him again I'll have to ask him about that. He recommended a glue that I tried, and I could not get it to hold anything in place. dunno.

flammability: usually the stunt guys get the foam latex reject pieces. Foam latex is very light - depending upon how the foam was ran. I'll get into that in a minute. In the scene where the stunt guy jumps off a building in flames, he wore a silicone suit. Reason. both urethane and foam latex are highly flamable. Foam latex uses sulphur as a curing agent, and as you can imagine, it would burn very rapidly. Urethane has petroleum by-products. So the least flamable is silicone. Downside with silicone: the weight. roughly the weight of water. Now about the weight of foam latex: In the procedure there is what is called a whipping cycle. How fast, and how long determines the "rise" of the foam, and the softness, and elasticity. I could actually not whip it, and it would be as dense as a hard urethane, or silicone. but I prefer to make it as soft and as light as possible. Looks better, feels better, moves easily. What you are doing is whipping more air into the rubber mixture, but the cell structure is still very fine, and even. Foam latex is an art into itself. Having the choice of making these out of any material I want, there is no question about using foam. Hands down the best for these type of costumes. Foam really reinforces well with fabrics like 4 way power net. which makes it almost unrippable. There are also more chemical, and mechanical techniques that will increase the durability of the material structurally. My suit looks dense mostly because of the highly mechanical/pristine sculpture. It is not very dense at all. startup costs on foam latex suits of this nature is very expensive. You need some fairly large industrial mixers, injection guns, and ovens.
The whole process simplified, is: Make a bodycast of yourself. a darn good one from head to toe. then you will need a master mold of it to crank out several copies for various reasons(fitting, injection, storing). Now crank out a copy from just above the knees up. this will be the armature/core for the torso. Do the sculpture. make the mold, remove the clay. Now add the powernet to the core. place the mold back on the core. Mix the foam and inject inbetween the core, and the mold. Now bake the foam in a very large oven. Take off the mold, wash, dry, trim, and glue onto the undersuit which is on a bodycast. done. Now note that I am simplifying the whole process here tremendously, this is just a rough overview.
As proximo said, everything I do I build from scratch. even the boots. I will have it done soon, with gloves, belt, and cape/cape clips. Massive project these suits are if done like this. But if you're really into this, well worth it.

One other thing. there are fire-proof materials you can add to foam latex. Not sure why they did not research that, or if they were even aware of it.
Many more pictures to come. Keep checking the boards. this is the suit sitting on the bodycast just after I wore it for the pictures.

 

[damianpadden]

i am speechless.

 

[thedarks0ldier]

Thank you so much, I cannot even begin to tell you how inspired by your work I am. I'll ask my art teacher for some help, she should be able to help me with the mechanical techniques and chemical additive to the piece. What kind of chemicals do you use and what kind of techniques do you use. I can do the fiber glass and the clay sculpting parts, its the foam latex parts I will definatly need help with. We have just about everything you would need in order to make anything but steel at my school's art warehouse, so I should be set with equipment... I just need to know what I use and when.

One more thought, where can I find a giant injector; can I order one or do I have to make it? Where did/do you get all your stuff from?

You are truely amazing. Thanks Bob.

 

[youngbat]

yer too kind. actually it takes one ton of hard work, and an intense obsession with this stuff. One really key thing I think is that you want to pick just one theme, or bat-movie, or character and really stay with that. I plan on making this possibly one of the last bat-replica things I do, BUT I will take what I have done and constantly improve on it, rather than making many different costumes. i.e. specialize.
equipment wise, I had my injection gun made by a machinist years ago. they have to be very precisely made, otherwise half your foam will end up not in the mold where it should be. Foam leeks out of the tiniest cracks. everything has to fit razor sharp.
Here is a pic(s) of my new room devoted to the art of BB. The wall is made up of 4 colors, so in total it looks exactly like the movie logo color scheme.

 

[Cobblepot]

Amazing stuff man, even better than the real thing.

 

[fettster]

amazing stuff there bob

 

[Cobblepot]

I don't remember seeing that knive in the movie.

 

[Soundwave88]

Are going to add a cape,belt and gloves?

I think the knife is for show Cobb

 

[Proximo]

....

 

[The Man Of 16]

I wanna know what Bob used to make this? He had to have had some kind of blueprint to start out with. I just would like to know what it was because this is damn cool.

 

[Rorschach2012]

Wow!

 

[Proximo]

I wanna know what Bob used to make this? He had to have had some kind of blueprint to start out with. I just would like to know what it was because this is damn cool.

Picture Refference only, And what i know of. Bob made his OWN blue prints for the tumbler.

 

[thedarks0ldier]

Amazing stuff. I do plan on only sticking with Bat only products, morew specifically Begins stuff. That ninja suit is awesome. What is the Armor made of and how did you make it? Man, I just need to go to your house and enjoy all the great stuff you have made.

 

[Van Petrol]

WOW!!!

 

[youngbat]

Some belt shots:

each joint of the belt is hinged with steel rods. Same as in the scene where he snips the wires holding the shoulder harness on the belt. you can see there how it is hinged, like an old watch band. The center piece will spin, and be removable. fully functional belt.

 

[Super Kal]

holy crap dude... that costume is kickass!