Cool Homemade TMNT Raphael Movie Style Costume

Well where to start. Like most children of the 80’s and 90’s I grew up watching the Ninja Turtles in one form or another.  Also like most children I collected toys and played Ninja Turtles with friends.  So this Halloween I decided to try and accomplish a goal I’ve had for many years, build a Ninja Turtle costume. Armed with an arsenal of spandex, latex, foam and glue in started out on my journey for Halloween costume glory.  With only a month and a half on the clock I knew my time couldn’t be wasted and I had to make each time I worked on it count.

Oh hi there…. Didn’t see you come in.

Duct tape dummy

The first step I had to achieve in order to start construction was to build a duct tape dummy.  This step was important because using my body as a foundation would make the costume fit better in the end.  So I recruited various family members in the task of wrapping me head to toe in duct tape.  Not the most thing to go through.  Then we had to cut it off and stuff it full of newspaper.

Duct tape dummy

I still see foam and spandex when I shut my eyes

After the foundation was built I dressed the dummy in a green man suit.  I did this so I could  glue the foam to the suit and give it the muscular look as seen in the movies. Once all the foam was cut and shaped the whole suit was covered in spray glue and spandex.  This was done to add a skin that once covered in latex would add durability and realistic texture.

The foot, not the enemy in this case

Some definition on the arm

Green suit and start of muscle structure

Legs

Das boot

Shell shocked

No turtle would be complete without a shell so that was my next step.  I made some basic hexagon shapes to start and hot glued it all from there.  I made the detail from craft foamies and slathered the whole kitten kaboodle in a healthy coating of latex. Then armed with a trusty airbrush in hand I set forth painting the shell and rest of the body in the proper colors

Before

After

Go Ninja, go Ninja go!!

Finally! I was done. It felt so good being able to put this on for the first time. Hot as heck but really good. I learned a lot building this, from carving to latexing to painting.  It was all an amazing time.  I hope you enjoyed reading this. Thank you for your time.

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