I’ve been a long time lurker (first joined back in 2004 with another username) but havent posted yet! I’ve been a die hard fan of the Series, but havent had the means to do much collecting. I’d recently acquired a ToTs 78 mask and as most people say, I thought the sculpt of the mask was STUNNING however, the factory paint and hair left a little to be desired. I decided to pick up an airbrush kit from Amazon, and some latex mask paints from Nightmare Toys. Spent a lot of hours watching videos on operating an airbrush, which I’ve never done before, as well as Shelley Moth, and Nick Mulpagano’s extensive video on overhauling. Finally I was ready!
So far, I’ve cut the eyeholes to appear more accurate, then stripped off the top coat with some laquer thinner, removed the hair, and then applied a fleshy tone to the entire mask, followed by a ghostly white, then used regular acrylics and applied a few washes, and some additional dry brushing.
The hair that came on the mask was quite dark compared to some other photos of ToTs 78’s that I’ve seen, I did save it to reapply but I’d really like some opinions on other hair options as I almost feel I need to raise the quality of hair on this mask to match the effort I put into painting.
These are some before and after photos (sorry I didnt take much time to do proper staging and lighting) But if anyone has any feedback I’d love to hear it. I’m hoping to get a look that closely matches the moments in the film when he is watching laurie from across the street while she’s in class / behind the hedge. Again, I’ll mention I’ve never done this type of work before, and I’m new to airbrushing, but no stranger to criticism so I appreciate all feedback! Thanks for looking!
Thank you! Here’s to (hopefully) only getting better. I may try on some more ToTs masks and selling them while learning!
Thank you! I think I found some crepe hair on etsy that I’m going to try and order over the weekend so hopefully he’ll get some hair soon!
I appreciate it! I spent a lot of time gathering reference photos and watching other videos. I already know a few things I’d like to improve on but I will say, the paints from Mabry Monsters is Very easy to work with. I was a bit scared at the thought of mixing my own combination of latex and paints.
Thank you! What mask are you waiting on? a ToTs rehaul? Something else? I hope you get it soon!
Update, here’s one more shot of the mask with no lighting just the ambient lighting from the window being open on an overcast day
Use blonde hair and spray it with black streaks and tips, you should also put on flesh tones first, then as you spray the hair, use what comes off the hair, on your hands, on the mask for highlights, then spray it white, and when your hands get dirty from handling it, you get much better natural weathering
Ahh thank you! I did just order some ash blonde and medium brown crepe hair, just to see which color works better, but I was hoping for a blonde I could spray, I did add the flesh tones first, and then only applied the white in a downward spray to keep the underside of the nose and chin fleshy. Do you think I might need to reintroduce more fleshiness there? I’m not against repainting. For the flesh I used the Creeping flesh (Dark) with a little red. I do need to get some streaks and tips for the hair though/ I’d never thought about the natural weathering that could be done from the residue so that tip is gold for me! Thank you!
It’s also how the Hero got darkened spots, hell look at Tommy converting Colby’s Kirk from the video, all the black leaves marks on the flesh, then it’s covered by white, if it’s done right, it can have the flesh bleed through naturally, if you wore and pulled the mask a lot, you would also get the h2 look naturally after grabbing the hair, then pinching the nose and grabbing the eyes
Oh Wow! That makes so much more sense. I’d thought to do the flesh tones, then the white, then weathering, then the hair. But after your advice I realize now I should have done it slightly different. I think I’m going to re-do it now. The hair I ordered should arrive next week. So I think I’ll do a new flesh tone base, then hair it, and follow the process you just described! Much, much appreciated!
Just got the new Crepe Hair on him. I was terrified to do the hairline, I was also scared I’d mess up the face when I mist the hair black so I pre misted the hair for the hairline before gluing it, and then I can part it forward while I mist and spray the rest of the hair. I used a combination of Medium blonde and Medium brown because I felt there was a slight reddish tint to the hair that i dont know would be achieved from putting just black over ash blonde… but hey… I’m new at rehauls so what do I know hahaha. I was too excited to wait, so here’s some shots while the glue is drying, and it’ll just need to get finished off with the black spray on the back and some styling.
Side note, I hope to sell this to buy another, these 1978 masks are a bit too large for my head, does anyone know if the ToTs kirk is smaller? If so, I think i’ll try doing one of those next… Anyway, hope you enjoy, and again, any constructive criticism is much appreciated, I’m gonna use all of the info from Space Mage for my next one.
Looks great man love the subtle weathering. The kirk is probably a lot more your size cause the 78 is gigantic on me but the kirk fits perfectly. The kirk is also a more accurate sculpt since I believe it derives from either the shat or the psycho.
Thank you! I straight up have to put stuffing on top of my head to wear the 78 and then I look like a life size bobblehead. I’m excited to grab a kirk especially with how much more accurate the sculpt seems to be. I noticed the Kirk isn’t listed on the ToTs website as of right now, but I suppose that means I’ll just have to hunt a little harder for one.
I usually never buy from TOTS directly as shipping takes longer and it seems more expensive. You can find the kirks on Ebay along with most of their other masks.
