Tristan Domay's Godzilla V1

Apart from the hands, feet and head, the entire suit (including the tail) was a single piece body suit. I used a jumpsuit pattern intended for gorilla Halloween costume that I purchased at a fabric store and traced the templates onto 1 inch thick mattress foam. The pieces were then cut out and sewn together by hand, since the foam was too thick to run through a sewing machine. The seams were also reinforced with contact cement. It was an older, runnier brand of glue that took 24 hours to completely dry. The tail was made a similar way but with ½ inch foam. Since I made it last, I was able to stuff it with leftover foam scraps from the rest of the costume.

On top of this body suit, I eventually sewed/glued on the muscles and dorsal fins which were all cut from 2-4inch foam depending on how thick they had to be. I used a wood burning tool to carve the scales in. These can be acquired at most craft or hobby shops. However, be warned, the fumes are toxic since you are essentially drawing the scales on the foam with a hot metal pencil. The foam is literally melting, so it’s best to do this outside on a clear day and wear a face mask.

For these I used simple custom pattern designs in very much the same way as the bodysuit. The only difference is the foam was a lot thinner. About ½ inch, just like to tail. The claws and toes were sewn and glued on in a fashion similar to the muscles and dorsal plates.

For the final paint job I used latex based house paint. I split it with water and sprayed it on using a cheap paint sprayer from the hardware store. Unlike most regular spray paints, it helped preserve the suit better rather than eating away at the foam. I’d also recommend doing this on a hot, sunny day. Most foam will just soak paint up and take hours to dry. Working in the dry sun however, a coat can finish drying in 20 minutes.

The only pieces that were painted by hand were the teeth and claws. Since the foam toes and fingers already had a coat of black paint on them from when I did the rest of the costume, I was able to add the ivory at my leisure and not worry about needing the sun to dry anything.