General Grievous Costume with Moving Mechanical Extra Set of Arms

 by creatrope
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Here's a General Grievous Costume I built with my son for Halloween '08.

The basic construction is a black pullover from an old cheap store-bought halloween costume, and foam-core assemblies attached with velcro. There's a PVC 'backpack' that has mechanical arms with elastic bands that can flip up giving the General an extra pair of arms.



 
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Step 1: Foam Core Assemblies

This costume was built by eye so you need a decent picture to start from.

The foam core assemblies are sized for a child, but of course could be made larger for an adult. They are cut from paper patterns and most are bilaterally symmetric. Some sections are pre-painted and 'weathered' with dilute black tempera paint to give shadowed 3D effect. I used hot-glue to assemble them, but other glues are fine. When dry, they are aligned onto the body-suit with velcro on the assembly and the suit. The suit velcro should be sewed on (or stapled if you're hasty).
juliemg says: Oct 26, 2011. 4:19 AM
Ok, I'm almost there with the back pack, but I can't quite figure out the arms spring thing. Can you give me a little more direction?? The guys at Ace Hardware are psyched and telling me I'll be the Mom of the Year if I can pull it off. Please.....
taci.odata1 says: Feb 21, 2011. 7:10 AM
are you happy ?
acidbass says: Jan 24, 2010. 1:02 PM
BAD ASSNESS extreme that is freakin awsome
tcluscious says: Sep 25, 2009. 12:22 PM
OMGosh!! This is awesome!! My son would be so excited if we could make this...we will definitely try. Thanks for sharing.
Liachu says: Sep 20, 2009. 9:35 AM
Excellent job, exactly what I was looking for.
UberGalacticEmpire says: May 5, 2009. 6:45 PM
That's a really cool project... I sure wish i could do that, congrats...
erikos kostarikos says: Feb 20, 2009. 8:09 AM
hmmm... i dont like it...
Skreetsha says: Nov 4, 2008. 6:34 AM
Sweet and i love the cute little laugh at the end by the kiddo in the costume :D 5 stars
metal-matt says: Nov 3, 2008. 5:51 PM
hmm....lol seeing all that pvc in there makes me think that haveing a inbuilt PNUEMATIC CANNON would be cool. "haha u may have a light sabre, BUT I have a light sabre AND A PNUEMATIC CANNON, touche' " hehehe
cowscankill says: Nov 3, 2008. 1:14 PM
Nice job! Still don't get the arm part :P
okctj says: Nov 2, 2008. 1:35 PM
woo dud.. great costume.
GorillazMiko says: Nov 1, 2008. 4:14 PM
That's incredible! I'm hoping you've made other costumes/ you're going to make more. I hope you can post them as Instructables! Thanks for sharing! +5/5 stars.
creatrope (author) in reply to GorillazMikoNov 1, 2008. 7:34 PM
Thanks GorillazMiko, it was fun to make. I've put some of my other work in instructables:

Godzilla / T-Rex
PVC Mannequin
General Grievous with Mechanical Arms

And also in my blog creatrope.
colorslam says: Oct 31, 2008. 12:15 PM
Super costume! My son was Darth Vader last year, and a clone trooper (or "chroopr" as he spells it) this year. I have a strong suspicion that this will be next year's costume. I don't dare show him these pictures until Nov. 1st, or he will want me to make it for him in the next hour and a half.
purduecer says: Oct 31, 2008. 7:02 AM
This is really really cool man, congratulations :-)
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