Hey Everybody,

I have had this fascination with 80's movies for a long time maybe because I am an 80's baby. The Running Man has been one of my favorite movies because to some extent we kind of do live in a world that is controlled by TV and the flow of information that is being broadcasted is designed to scare and to sell us (i.e. Survivor, The Amazing Race, Big Brother). Not to mention the endless barrage of Arnold one liners that I plan to use all night while wearing this costume. (i.e. "Hey light bulb, hey there Christmas tree")

This movie was the predecessor to all these tv shows. I have decided to make a Ben Richards(Arnold Schwarzenegger) Running Man outfit for Halloween. Plus, I am making two of them since my friend plans to be Haddad (one of the winners from the previous Running Man season) I do not have much time less than 23 days left, but I know its possible.

Things needed:
(per costume, since the colors are different)

Yellow skin suit (around $34.99), and Green one for my friend.
Thin Foam Padding (arts and crafts store, or fabric store)
Sewing Machine (to stitch it all together, sewing machine skills required, can be done by hand but would take forever)
2 cans of spray paint ($3.99 for the , stencils, and accent colors on the suit)
Cardboard and box cutter or a sharp knife (for stencils)
Scissors
Painters tape, or duck tape
OPTIONAL: Arnold Mask ($24.99 I'm not getting one but this would complete the outfit)

If by any chance, you have not seen the movie, because your not a fan, or your too young to know what it is, here is a youtube link of the full film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKM98fYPVuo
I found it while looking for pictures to upload here.

Step 1: Skin Suit Prep

Now that you have all the necessary things lets begin:

First thing that you will need to do is to adjust the skin suit to look like the one in the movie. Buying the skin suit will save you lots of time and make it super simple to make.

1. Then you will have to cut off the head, hands, and feet to make it look like the movie (image 2 at the red line)

2. Sew around the already made stitches to make sure that the suit will not keep ripping around the neck and feet.

3. Start removing the stitching around the arm and fully remove both arms from the skin suit (will make your life easier). Then take out the thread along the arm sleeve (Image 3,4,5). This will allow you to sew the diamond pattern along the length of the arm and easier access to the shoulders to do the same. (image 6-10)

4. When finished turn the sleeve inside out and stitch up the arm and along the hand to make the costume look like it used to. Plus prevent it from coming apart double stitch along the wrist, neck, and feet, and this will also prevent it from being itchy if done properly.

Step 2: The Details and Stencils

Ok now you need to prepare all of the small stencils using thin cardboard.

1. The addidad logo, it really made the look complete and made me feel like Ben Richards.

2. The names of the characters you want to be. I was Richards, my friend was Haddad, but you could choose Whittman, Price, Weiss, or Caughlin.

3. The Running Man logo down the leg. I used 2"x3" size letters and they were slightly tilted, but save yourself the trouble and you can just leave them straight, you cant tell anyways.( sorry no picture of this stencil since it was done last minute before going out the door to party)

Step 3: Accent Colors

Now that the costume is pretty much done all you have to do is to add the stencils, and the second color.

1. Lay the outfit down on the flat surface and to your best artistic ability copy the pattern of the silver parts of the suit using masking tape to cover off the yellow area that you will not spraypaint.

2. Go outside or to a well ventilated area and start your spray painting process, I inserted cartbourd pieces in the sleeves the legs and torso to keep it stiff and also to prevent bleeding through to the other side of the suit. Start from the back so if you make mistakes you know what not to do on the front of the costume.

3. Flip it over and repeat the process.

4. Wait a little for the silver to dry, and then start adding your detail stencils

a. Name of Player on the right chest side
b. Adidas logo on both shoulders and I added one more on the calf for fun
c. The Running Man stencil down the leg on the silver covered side (left side)

So if you look at it from the front, and from the back the pattern should look the same.

Step 4: Last Detail

Your outfit is complete, congratulations!!! this is what it looks like in the movie and this is what me and my buddy looked like while waiting for the subway to take us to W4th street in NYC.

************ABOUT WEARING THE COSTUME***********************
1.Ok first things first, IT TAKES CONFIDENCE to wear this costume, since you are basically wearing spandex body suit. Our ride bailed last minute and since we both wanted to be drunk we ended up taking the subway. YOU WILL GET LOTS OF STRANGE LOOKS, who cares.

2. Nobody will know who you are unless your a fan of the movie, we were confused for bob sledders, power rangers, and green and yellow man. We went to the most populated area that we could think of W4th Street and only on the way home one person called out and knew who we were. Still it was totally worth it.

3. Be ready to be groped by the ladies. As soon as we left the subway my butt was pinched, slapped and rubbed by women, so im not complaining but again you need confidence to wear this, because people will stare, if you dont care like me, GO FOR IT. Random women were just stopping and talking to us, taking pictures and feeling us up. Worked better than expected.

4. During the night the silver spraypaint will flake and you will leave silver glitter everywhere and on your hands.

5. Bring a friend who has pockets since the outfit has none this way he can carry all your stuff like ID keys and money.

6. Its good to have a buddy to do this with since its more fun and theres 2 of you.

That is all I hope If you decide to make it, it will come out as awesome as ours did and that you have a blast the whole night.