# Pirates 20104 - Mermaid first prop



## roadkill_be (Jun 14, 2012)

At last I started on my build.
this year will be a renewal of my pirate theme from last year but with a few additions.
a real drinking pirate, a talking pirate, a sea monster (aka Kraken) that will gard the cave entrance, and a haunted mermaid (this prop), oh and this year I plan to corpse all my skeletons!

I took a construction beam and distressed it a bit and places it in a angle as bow.

for the mermaid I am using a shop mannequin (top half) and i will rearrange the arms 
the tail is constructed out of chicken wire and I will heat shrink plastic over it and hopefully this will give a scale skin look.

at the rear I will construct some wooden ship planks from insulation board

the whole thing will be painted in strong black light sensitive paint



























what do you think? would it work?


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## bobzilla (Nov 13, 2008)

I love it!
The mannequin is perfect!


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

^What bob said. She's a perfect choice for a mermaid.


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## Headless (Sep 4, 2011)

Can't wait to see this finished - yes she is the perfect choice.


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## ATLfun (Oct 12, 2012)

Hmmm, maybe it is time for them to remake the 80's movie Mannequin with Kim Cattrall. I had no idea that companies but so much detail in mannequins.


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## justintfirefly (Aug 18, 2014)

Wow, this is going to be great! I've always wanted a "FeeJee Mermaid" but a full-sized one like this would be even better!!!


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## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

Keep us posted on your progress.


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## Hairazor (Mar 13, 2012)

What imagination! I can't wait to see this progress!


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## zoluf09 (Oct 24, 2011)

*Keep us posted!!*

Looks AWESOME! You might want to add plans to make it easy to dismantle for storage and display, as it looks like it'll be big. I made a big display that became so much of a pain to move and store that I ,after only 2 years, had to scrap it


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## roadkill_be (Jun 14, 2012)

Tnx, it is planned to be dismantled in 3 parts


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## Copchick (Apr 10, 2012)

I agree, she is a good choice, I like her facial features. Looking forward to seeing your/her progress!


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## spinwitch (Jun 14, 2009)

Don't know if you've started corpsing her tail yet, but melted bubble wrap makes an interesting scale texture.


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## roadkill_be (Jun 14, 2012)

Spinwith, tnx for the idea it worked out nice 
First I heat wrapped plastic sheet over my chicken wire frame to get a base 
Then I sprayed glue over this base and glued the bubble wrap over it 
After 15 min drying I used my heat gun over it and put a primer over it 
I personally like it


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## Headless (Sep 4, 2011)

Great finish!


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## roadkill_be (Jun 14, 2012)

Last update for today

My girl is ready for her basecoat 
Everything will be painted black and highlights will be added with blacklight paint


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

The bubble wrap was a genius suggestion from spinwitch - great texture!


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## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

Totally agree, an amazing job on the texture. 
I think that would work well for my dragon next year too. Thanks for sharing that.


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## yeloowtang (Aug 7, 2012)

looks great  the only suggestion i would give is about the tail fin, it should be flipped 90 deg so it's position like a daulphin, a mermaid swims by moving the tail fin up and down, not sideways like a shark..
buty then again, such a nice job , who will notice 

keep up the great work

Steph


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## roadkill_be (Jun 14, 2012)

It is a aggressive mermaid  :-D


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## roadkill_be (Jun 14, 2012)

Ok, here is the lady, painted and ready.

I will try to take some night pictures later, but I already know that I have to get a second blacklight, the one I have is not strong enough


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## roadkill_be (Jun 14, 2012)

Ok, here she is in the dark 
First thing I noticed, is that I definitely need a second blacklight and I need to highlight the tail more, oh well that is for tomorrow


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## Hairazor (Mar 13, 2012)

That is a work of art!!! Love it!


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

The whiting out of the eyes transforms her into something truly eerie. She's wonderful.


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## bobzilla (Nov 13, 2008)

WOW!
Really nice!!!


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## yeloowtang (Aug 7, 2012)

wow !! awesome 

are you using clear neon for paint or some other great product ??
the effect is amazing..


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## roadkill_be (Jun 14, 2012)

I am using colored blacklight painting and just dapped it on, for lighting I using two 15W blacklights 
On page 2 you can see here in daylight


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