Predator Bio Mask - Pepakura (updated)

Step 3: Sculpting

Once the fibreglass has fully cured and the mask is rock hard, it's time to iron out all the facets and make any corrections to the original sculpt. It's obvious that the laser sighting system(s) are missing and will be added in later. Also a good look over the movie original stills shows that the lower jowls are the wrong shape. They are too 'flat' and need to be more bulbous. All the flat surfaces need to be smoothed out and rounded.

I began by applying car body filler which is a polyester resin based putty. I use Isopon P38 Easy Sand because it's easy to get here in the UK. In the US 'Bondo' car body filler is the brand usually used for this.

Because the putty sets very quickly (5 or 6 minutes working time if you are lucky) I work in small areas at a time. the putty is applied, allowed to set, then rough sanded back using the Dremel. This allows me to see where I am and which bits need more putty or more sanding back.

Once 80% of the mask was covered, I noticed that the eyes were a little bigger and less menacing than the original. I altered their shape a little using some card inserts covered in putty. Once these have set they will be strong enough to support further sculpting and sanding.

This stage is critical to the final mask, but take your time and have patience. I keep on filling and shaping and sanding. Eventually you will be adding ever thinner and smoother layers of putty and the surface should be smoothed out with the Dremel and wet and dry paper.