Mannequin Tutorial (Tutorial is WIP)

[Deleted]

Here is my mannequin tutorial page...I can get everything I can think of now up, but I might have forgotten some things (and probably did), so I may have to edit whenever I remember them...

One thing that you might want to start with is YOUR height. This is what I started with and if anyone decides to follow my idea (or do the exact style of mannequin I did) this will be crucial. Basically what I did when designing it, was, after figuring out what shape the mannequin was to be, I measured EVERYTHING on me (well, pretty much everything ). I measured from the ground to my waist, ground to my shoulders, etc. If you decide to do a similiar mannequin, you will be able to SKIP that step. You WILL have to measure your overall height though.

This is how that will work: My mannequin is roughly (possibly not exact because of cutting the PVC) my height, 5'4". So if one of you guys DO make this make this mannequin and is (for example) 5'8", there are 4" that you will have to add to your mannequin. I would suggest adding to the pipes (legs and torso) evenly. It sounds almost TOO simple, but it will work...You might also have to extend the arms, too, but that's your preference...

These first few pics are just general overview pics...One has my fedora on it!
Without Jedi robe

With robe

With robe, closeup and with fedora...I love that hat...





This is a closeup of the pelvic area. The only "T-fitting" I could find was one that has threads on the T-side (instead of the straight side). You should be able to see the threads going UP (to the torso area)...Coming off of the right and the left of the T are street 90's going to the legs. The legs, the 90's and the T are all 3" PVC



This is the neck area. The head sits right on top of that top 3/4" pipe piece in this pic. This is one of the joints (neck to head) that I will NOT glue, so I can change from the head to post/pipe with an end cap (for helmets) and vice versa...The pipe sizes from top to bottom are as follows: 3/4" straight pipe, 1.5"-3/4" reducer bushing (piece with the octagon "head") and 1.5"-2" reducer coupling (the coupling tapers VISUALLY, whereas the bushing reduces the size inside the piece and is the same diameter on the outside)...To connect to the top of the chest area (offset cross (double T) I used a 2" pipe piece cut just long enough to fit inside the neck assembly and the top of the cross piece (very little actually seen).



Before I put pics of the head up (or the actual sizes and dimensions of the body) I want to mention this now. I mentioned in one of the pics about a neat modification to be able to display your helmets on this mannequin WITH your armor...I think, personally, that the head is cool, but if you are doing ONLY armor, unless you really want to, I would NOT recommend making the head.

These next 2 pics show what coupling/attachments you would use if you make the head. !!!!If you do not make the head DO NOT MAKE THE COUPLINGS IN THESE NEXT 2 PICS!!!!!! One of the next few pics after these next two will have the specifications of the pieces I used for the head couplings (AKA the neck area)...INSTEAD of doing those, for a helmet to be displayed on the mannequin with your armor do this instead: (the reducer coupling is the piece that visually tapers and the reducer bushing is the piece that is one diameter on the outside with the octagon piece at the one end; they both work the same way, but I like the look of the coupling (taper) better) use a 2" piece of pipe, 2"-1.5" reducer coupling, a 1.5" piece of pipe, and a 1.5"-1.25" reducer (for this, you can use either a coupling OR a bushing, it does not matter).

The 2" piece of pipe goes into the top of the cross/double offset T (chest area). Put the 2"-1.5" reducer coupling on top of that and then the 1.5" piece of pipe into the top of that. Then put the 1.5"-1.25" reducer (coupling or bushing) into the top of that. Next, get a length of 1.25" pipe and a 1.25" end cap. What you will want to do is measure from the top of the 1.5"-1.25" reducer to the inside of your helmet (or you can just eyeball where you would like the helmet to rest (height above the mannequin) and measure the pipe accordingly). Make sure to cut the 1.25" pipe to the desired length WITH THE END CAP ON (since the end cap will add about 1/4"). Then attach the pipe and end cap to the neck area. Rest helmet on end cap. NOTE: you MAY want to put some sort of cloth or rubber or something over the end cap if you care about the look (scratches) of the inside of your helmet. I don't know if it WILL scratch or not, but better safe than sorry...

Here is the 3/4" connector pipe and the 3/4"-1.5" reducer bushing (one in my hand) taken off of the reducer coupling and the rest of the body.

Here is a piece of the 3/4" connector pipe detached from the 3/4"-1.5" reducer bushing (both removed from head and rest of body in this pic)
From here to the end are pretty much head only pics:

This a top/left view of JUST the head. All the pieces are 3/4" PVC. I used as many street pieces as I could. You can see this at the corners: the 90's are street with the street side going towards the middle of the head. I took standard 3/4" PVC pipe and cut them like 1"-1.5" long and used them for coupling between non-street pieces...

This is a comparison of the PVC head and my ugly mug. See how close it is to a real "human" head shape and size?

If anyone really wants the designs (pieces used and dimensions) for the head, I will post them, but for now, I am not going to add them...Just say something if you do. And that's pretty much it.

I have not glued (PVC glue) my mannequin together yet, and since I do not have armor yet, I would be careful to what you do glue...From having the mannequin "hanging" around my room for a couple months since I have built it, I would say that it DOES need some glue...It IS freestanding, but the pelvic area moves VERY easily (especially with a heavy-a** Jedi robe on it's "back").

Hopefully before the end of the night, I will have my original drawings with pieces that I used (sizes, cutting lengths, etc) up here...

[mandoman]

Awesome tutorial! This looks like a great mannequin to make. Cheap and gets the job done. I forsee a mannequin building day in my future.

[Deleted]

I have to say...I enjoyed building the mannequin when I built it...But then again, I very much enjoy building stuff and working with my hands...and...power tools...yeah...

But it turned out really great...As I said in the tutorial, it is pretty much freestanding, although I WOULD recommend if you do one, screw the flange piece (the "feet") down to something...I have a 24" round piece of wood for a base...And make sure to glue a few things...The gluing is one thing that I will draw up a diagram for in the next few days, just to show, after having worked with the mannequin for this long now, what you ARE going to have troubles with (specific areas on the mannequin) if you don't glue them and what things you SHOULD NOT glue...I have two diagrams for sizes and parts and specific measurements (of ME and the actual mannequin measurements) done right now, but my scanner won't work, so I will have to try something else tomorrow...

[youngling]

Hey so I would like to help you think of a way to make the duct tape so it has some form to it is you want me to. I really like your tutorial and I will be using this once I actually make my armor. As far as the duct tape that is something I am going to add so If you want me to help you come up with ideas for that I can.

[Deleted]

I would be VERY willing to help you out, but I am not sure I know what you mean by "duct tape"...I mean, I know what duct tape is, but I don't know what you are intending to do with it...I don't think I mentioned anything about duct tape in the tutorial, did I?

Don't forget, I have TWO drawings with SPECIFIC sizes for the mannequin and a VERY OFFICIAL parts lists, both which would be VERY helpful (maybe even necessary) to someone who plans on building this...

By the way, I want to make sure that you guys are understanding what I am talking about when I mentioned about the gluing and how you may want to leave some joints UNGLUED for now...Like the legs...If you look at the first picture, do you kind of see what I am talking about...This is my first tutorial that I have EVER done, and I would definitely appreciate feedback on the tutorial itself...

[youngling]

I mean by sovering the PVC pipe with duct tape and other materials so that when you put the cloth parts on it fills them out so it looks more real. I know that some people don't like this but this is what I am going to do I was just making a suggestion so by all means if you don't want to don't do it.

[Deleted]

oh I know what you are talking about now! Thanks for reminding me, I was going to put that into the tutorial...What I am going to do is use bubblewrap (for packing/shipping things)...You can go to Office DEPOT (NOT office max) and get like a 12" X 25' roll of bubblewrap for like either $12 or $25...I'm not sure, but I know that the last time I checked, it was NOT more than $25...What you do is cut it the WIDTH of whatever piece you are "beefing up" and then tape one end down to the piece and wrap it up until you find a thickness that looks like YOU...

For example, let's say that the height of the torso PVC pipe piece (below the double-Y/cross and above the pelvic area) is 8" (It's NOT, but just for an example). What you do is cut off bubblewrap until it is 8" wide total. Then you would tape it down to the PVC piece and wrap it around the pipe until it looks like YOU (thickness of course)...And Then I would tape it down with some heavier tape (duct tape or whatever) once you are done wrapping it. After that, I am probably going to go ALL-OUT with my mannequin and probably put an old t-shirt of mine over top of the bubblewrap just because...

Also, youngling, because you have said that you are thin, you may want to use smaller PVC for the arms (I used 2" diameter, and you will see that on one of those 2 sheets that I still have to scan onto my computer) and NOT wrap those...I have fairly big biceps, but my forearms are not huge, so I may even have to take the arms one step further: instead of ONE PVC pipe piece for the arms, I may have to reduce it a little smaller so my forearm armor will fit on it...Something to consider...

Also, for the legs (3" PVC pipe) you might want to beef up the THIGH area a little with bubblewrap...MOST people's thighs are bigger than their calves (unless you have cankles... ...j/k)...

!!NOTE!!! All of the bubblewrap suggestions are for LOOKS/AESTHETICS/COSMETICS ONLY! If you can fit your armor or whatever you intend to display on the mannequin WITHOUT the bubblewrap, and do not want to put bubblewrap on the mannequin, than don't...Same goes for the other way...If you want it, but don't NEED it, then go ahead...Again it's only for LOOKS!

[youngling]

Wow can't wait until I have the armor done so I can make the mannequin. Hey Wait I was just thinking this would be great for taking pics of your armor when no one else is around to take them. I might just start to work on one as soon as possible.

Hey also do you think sprinkler pipe would sork for this project? I have an almost unlimited suply of sprinkler pipe just lying around. It is 1 and 1/4 inch i believe.

[Deleted]

You probably COULD use the sprinkler pipe for SOME pieces on the mannequin...But that was something I considered and I am very glad that I went with the sizes that I did...Basically, the head/neck area are all kind of random, but the chest area, chest, torso pipe piece, arms and all of the connectors between those, are 2" PVC and the pelvic area down to the floor is all 3" PVC pipe...I took 2 years of drafting and design, architecture and engineering classes in high school, and with the laws of basic physics, I am SO glad I chose these PVC pipe sizes...

Basically, the MAIN reason that the mannequin is freestanding is because the pipe is WIDE at the bottom. If you made a mannequin ENTIRELY out of 1.25" pipe, it would NOT stand on it's own (freestanding)...The legs are planted fairly firmly on the ground, but with the head (if you do one) and the arms would make it TOP-HEAVY...THAT is why I chose to make the pipes LARGER the closer to the ground they were...Like I said, you could use the pipe you have for SOMETHINGS, but I would not personally recommend using it for all of it...Unless of course, you decided to bolt the mannequin down afterwards...But it would have to be on flat ground...Plus, one thing that you might want to consider, it that the pipe you are talking about (I think) is metal...That might not be so good with the plastic...I am not an expert, but I personally would not spend time and money investing in the armor and time building it and then go and mount it on metal...

[youngling]

No this sprinkler pipe is what we used for our garden sprinkler system. It is plastic and you buy it in big rolls. and I understand what you are saying. The only parts I could even think about useing it for are the arms and maybe if I wanted to make my own extensions. Say the shoulders and the hips and such.

[Deleted]

Garden sprinkler hose? PVC pipe (that I used) is very stiff/hard...I wouldn't see how using hose like that would work...You could use it for the arms though...But for the body, I would still recommend PVC...It's not too expensive and it is VERY sturdy...

[youngling]

Yes I am going to use the sprinkler for my arms and I am going to use it to make my extensions on the shoulders and my hips. But you should know for future information that sprinkler pipe is very sturdy it is as sturdy as PVC pipe when it is less than 3 feet long when you get long peices it is easy to bend.

[Deleted]

oh that's cool...I would say that that would work fine for parts that are 1.25" in diameter...I don't want you to mess anything up (not that you would), so don't get started on it just yet...Wait another day or two so I can put up the full parts list and sizing charts...It will be VERY handy...

[youngling]

No problem I can't start right away anyways I gotta work on molds.

[Deleted]

Cool...You guys just don't realize how much research and mathematics and stuff like (calculations) that went into my design for my mannequin...It seriously took like a month straight to get my measurements (and cutting) correct...I just want to make sure that someone else will be able to use that to their advantage and be able to skip all the REALLY hard stuff, you know?