Painting a scuba suit

I'm planning on building myself a predator costume for next halloween and I need a body suit but don't wanna shell out alot of money for a foam latex body suit which I will just outgrow. Is it possible to paint a scuba suit? If so what type of paint should I use?

Im a diver and i have a few friends that are divers. One of these friends USE to keep his gear in the garage where his father spilled paint on his wet suit. This totally ruined the suit the material which is made to keep water in just holds the paint in and ruined the material, poor guy lost a 600 dollar suit. I would not recommend it from what i have seen

Hope this helps a bit

You could paint on a thin layer of latex rubber & the latex could be tinted prior to painting. Some of the fine Batman costumes over at Brotherhood of the Bat are made like this.

Thanks for the info guys. I'd take your advice bkbt but I need the suit to be painted with a skin like scheme. I wanna make it into a predator body suit. So I guess that's out of the question. What if I used your advice bkbt and did multiple layers of latex, would the latex stick to itself after one layer was dry? If not anyone have any suggestions as a cheap alternative to a full foam rubber suit? Thanks all.

I wouldn't use a scuba suit either. It would be very HOT! Do you need dimensional muscles? If not, I would go with a dance unitard. They have them in "flesh" or "nude" colors. You can also get some that are almost "full-bodied", including attached gloves and hood. The only thing open is the face. (Don't know if they come in nude though.)

My wife owns a dance studio and I design and airbrush costumes for her. The best fabric to use that holds the paint best is cotton, but nylon will work also.

PM me if you want more info.

Geo

Geo is right. The wetsuits would be way too hot for Predator suits. I've seen some really nice nude leotards that can look very much like the Predator bodies with the proper airbrushing. That's the key to those. Find someone who can do the right kind of musculature shading and it will give the illusion of the muscles. Also, people have added foam muscles onto the outside of these leotards and then brushed latex over them, essentially turning them into latex muscle suits. Either way works well, and it usually cheaper than the latex muscle skins.

Let us know how this project progresses, I've entertained the idea of making a predator costume in the past, but had no idea where to begin. I too would need a bodysuit, or I would be one tattooed predator.

I think the only problem with the cotton would be that it wouldnt have the sort of glistening-slime-like texture the predator has. Latex would be the best material as far as texture is concerned, but I have no idea how easy it would be to paint a latex body suit. I had a friend who designed fetish "clothing" and had made many full-body latex suits. I havent seen the guy in a long time, but if I get ahold of him, I'll ask how difficult and expensive making and painting a latex suit like this would be.

Sweet. I did'nt even think about how hot a scuba suit would be, good call.Tthe unitard sounds like a good idea except I'm pretty skinny so I'm gonna have to build it up with foam on the outside. Thanks guys. Any idea on the price of a unitard? And while I'm at it does anyone know of a predator forum similar to TDH? Thanks again everyone.

You could sculpt foam and put it under the unitard. My son has a spiderman costume where the chest was muscular foam shaped and just slipped in under the fabric.

Price of a full-body unitard varies. PM me with your email and I'll get a price out of a couple of dance catalogs that I have here.

Geo