As an ‘enthusiastic’ collector of movie memorabilia, I sometimes find myself being the proud owner of some strange shit….  You can check out my collection at www.yourprops.com/user/bigdaz

This particular story begins with the purchase of a life size Predator statue from America. Now you would’ve thought that with today’s technological advances... shipping something from the States to Canada... (baring in mind that we're on the same land mass!!) wouldn’t be an issue right??.... Wrong!
The courier used by the shipper (I won’t name names for legal reasons but it’s the opposite of DOWNS!!) managed to destroy the Predator in transit!!!!!! Even though they insisted on packing the statue themselves because of its value and because they had the "skill level needed", they still spent months arguing with me over liability?!?!

The legal shit storm that followed was eventually resolved to the satisfaction of Moi.... and left 'DOWNS' licking their infected, festering and severly bruised wounds!!!!

Anyway… The photographs on this page show the step by step stages of how this developed and where I am to date… Enjoy!

 


The Predator I bought started out it's journey looking like this........ However....





..... The box at the UPS depot didn't look quite right. Something about it caught
my eye immediately.... Was it the fact that it should really be square maybe????


Upon opening the 1st box I was greeted by a horrific site. The head had been knocked completely off the body and was smashed into about 20 pieces. What it took Arnold Schwarzenegger a small army to accomplish…. UPS had managed with some cardboard, brown tape and a total lack of imagination and skill..... I was pissed!!!!


The damage was pretty bad; Head shattered into about 20 pieces, Fangs and teeth nocked out, 1 leg broken in half and the entire body scratched and gouged! He really was a sorry sight to behold!

After the 'legal' arguments were resolved I decided to have a go at fixing the big guy
myself. I knew the statue would never be the same so I thought I'd make it unique.
The 1st problem was that some of the pieces of the head were missing. I had to re-sculpt entire sections and blend them in to the original resin detailing. I used air dry terrecotta because I knew from past experience that it didn't shrink as it cured.


The clay really added strength to the fractured head which was going to be important when it came to reattaching the dreds.

                        

With the final sculpt complete, it was time to apply the base color. As soon as there
was an even coating, the resin and sculpt repairs blended seamlessly. It was difficult
to tell where the original resin ended and the clay repairs began.... 


I really wanted to make sure that the color blending from the 2nd tone into the mouth
was done well. I didn't want a distinct line between the 'skin' tones and the darker
'meatier' tones of the cheeks and gums. I had also decided to uses glass eyes instead
of the painted in resin ones from the original. I cut these out with an exacto knife and
sanded the edges in preperation.


Once the 3rd color was applied, I was able to pick out the areas which would give the
texture of the skin more depth. Again this 3rd color helped with the fine blending into the mouth.


By the time I got to the final dark brown I had used Predator(s) screen shots and a
shit load of artistic licence as my points of reference. The final black highlights really 
gave the piece life and I was finally ready to start on the dreds, quills and teeth.... By now I was having so much fun I'd forgotten all about Satans Anus.... ahem.. sorry ... I meant UPS

 
Applying the rubber dreds and quills was a challenge in itself. I learned the hard way
that resin doesn't work well with regular glue and certain other types of glue actually
melted the materials used to make the dreds and quills. High on glue fumes and
frustrated as hell, I pushed on......


Once I got the dreds, quills, teeth and fangs in place... I really didn't like the eyes I'd picked out! I changed them out for darker, more menacing eyes.... these are actually taxidermist chimpanzee eyes.... You gotta love e-bay!!!!


The torso was more damaged than I'd originally thought....
The pieces  which  had been smashed off in transit had spent about 10 days scratching and gouging the body. I used the same method as with the head and then used a neutral base color to blend in the repairs.....

 
.....And this is where I am to date. The head is re-attached as are the hands. The
main problem I have now is working space. The statue stands at over 7 feet so even
the torso takes up a lot of room. I find this whole repair activity very theraputic and
such a release from my day job. Losing track of time doing something you love is
probably the best tonic there is....... I hope you enjoyed the story so far and I'll post
more progress as it happens!! If you have any comments or suggestions you can e-mail me at   me@dazbland.com Thanks

Darren