Making a Planet of the Apes Chimp Prosthetic

In this Instructable I am making and applying a foam latex chimpanzee prosthetic based on Cornelius from the original 1968 Planet of the Apes.

Sculpting

I sculpted the prosthetic over an Ultra-Cal 30 lifecast using cheap oil based clay, dental carving tools, and a few loop tools.

Molding

I started molding by using the same clay I sculpted the prosthetic with, to make the over-flow area and mold wall, then I sealed the exposed Ultra-Cal with mold soap. Once that was dry I mixed up a slightly runny batch of Ultra-Cal 30 and brushed it into all of the detail. After about 45 minutes, I mixed a second batch and saturated some pieces of burlap in it, then I put the saturated burlap onto the chimp face. For the third and final layer, I mixed up a thicker than usual batch of Ultra-Cal 30 and brushed it on.

Casting

To cast the prosthetic, I started by lightly choosing the positive and molds with monster makers foam latex release. Then I mixed up a batch of foam latex, following the monster makers instructions. Then I carefully brushed the foam latex into all of the detail, poured the rest of the foam latex into the mold, closed the mold, and used a mold strap to hold the mold tightly together. Then after about 15 minutes, once the foam had gelled, I placed the mold into an oven that was preheated to 170 degrees farrenheit for 3 hours.

Pre Painting

I started by coating the prosthetic with pros-aid, to seal the foam latex. Then I used several different brown RMGP's, rubber mask grease paint's, to paint the prosthetic, starting with the lighter colors and working my way to the the darker ones.

Applying

For the application, I began by brushing Pros-Aid onto the inside of the prosthetic and my face. Then once the pros-aid was dry I carefully laid the prosthetic down on to my face, starting with my nose and working my way outwards. The next step was to coat the edges of the prosthetic with pros-aid, trying to hide where they end. When everything was dry I then used the same color RMGP, that I used to paint the prosthetic, to blend the prosthetic into my skin. Once everything was painted, all there was left to do was to hand lay the hair and cut it to length.