ELECTRONICS

  • FANS - The first time you put on your helmet, you'll quickly see how hot it gets. Small battery-operated 12-volt CPU fans can help keep you cool, but they can also impair your hearing inside the mask.
  • FRS RADIO - FRS radios are a way for you to communicate privately with other costumed folks who also have FRS radios. You will probably not have room to install the radio into your mask, so hide the bulk of it beneath your robes and run a microphone/headset up into your mask.
  • SOUND BOARD - This is an electronic board that you wire to your voice amp to modify your speech or play a sound like the Tusken cry. I am still researching the best method.
  • VOICE AMP - People will have a hard time hearing your muffled voice from inside your mask. Consider a voice amplifier and unidirectional microphone from Radio Shack if you feel it's important to be understood with your mask on. In most cases, you'll need this in addition to the voice changer. There's a good tutorial here.

FOREARMS - You will want to wrap your forearms with bandages so your skin doesn't show if your robe sleeves get pulled back. Instead of wrapping your arms each time you put on your costume, try making a wrist wrap that can be opened and closed with hidden velcro.

RESPIRATOR - Add a small diameter rubber tube to secure the ends of the copper tubing together to ensure that your Moisture Trap doesn't fall off. Click here to see how I made my respirator.

TOOTH - The Godzilla kit comes with a small sheet of adhesive silver leaf foil to acheive a metallic look on the resin cast tooth. Like most people, I had a difficult time getting the foil to lay smooth and not tear into pieces as I was applying it. After seeing the unconvincing results, I opted for the spraypaint method. Luckily, the foil peeled right off. The paint color I used was called "aluminum" and is pretty shiny. Although you don't get quite the same smooth metal look as with the foil (if you look closely, you can see the porous texture of the resin piece), it was still much easier to apply and eliminated any obvious overlays and wrinkles. Click here for a foil vs. spraypaint comparison.

VENTILATION - The Tusken mask is somewhat sealed around your neck when worn prohibiting much-needed airflow from breezes. While the mouth and eyes might give you some ventilation, it is advised that you find another method of letting the heat escape from the thick latex shell. During construction, I drilled several 1/4 inch holes into the top of the latex shell to allow heat to rise up through the bandages. As the latex is very thick, this had no adverse affects on the shape or integrity of the mask. I have also heard that some people cut a hole at the top and install a battery operated CPU fan to suck the hot air out of the mask. If you use either of these methods, remember to keep the bandages loose where the air needs to pass.

VISION - As the eyepieces are just hollow aluminum tubes, your eyes are sometimes still visible from the outside of the mask---particularly in flash photography. Dark tinted lenses are one solution, but remember that your vision in this mask is pretty bad to begin with so don't get anything too dark. Another idea is to use thin black gauze material or even pantyhose which will still allow some airflow (another crucial concern with this mask!). Whichever solution you choose, simply hot glue into place from inside the mask. Another modification is to add peripheral vision by cutting holes on each side of mask, then cover them with thin gauze. Remember you might have to make some screen-accuracy sacrifices for the sake of wearability.

WEATHERING - Sandpeople are desert nomads, so a clean costume just doesn't look right. Weathering can be achieved though a number of methods. The most common technique is probably the tea-stain method. Also try some diluted Rit Dye and mist the costume with a spray bottle. Maybe get some real dirt and toss it on top of areas pre-treated with spraymount aerosol adhesive. Boiled chewing tobacco and coffee can also produce some convincing and permanent stains. Whichever method you choose, make sure your weathering technique is uneven...dirt never goes on in even coats!