There's a young kid that is about 45" tall that was looking for a very realistic Xenomorph head piece from the movie Aliens. We found out he's a huge fan of the movies and decided we would make him a head piece made out of EPS foam and using some state of the art techniques. What we did was take a model Xenomorph, 3D scanned the head, and then pulled into into 3ds Max to clean up the 3D model. From there, we took a big block of foam and cut the head piece out in 2 different halves that we will bond together using a polystyrene foam specific adhesive. Once it's put together, we'll prep is for paint, primer, paint and airbrush, and then give it a layer of clear coat. All of this will be cut on an automated 4-axis CNC foam router.
Here's a few pictures. I'll update this post as we move forward with the project.
3D Scanning of the Xenomorph action figure
3D model and comparison of the Xenomorph action figure
First block of foam being cut on the 4-axis CNC foam router
Both halves of the Xenomorph head piece put together
Here's something else we're doing that's different. We can add a hard coat to the foam to make the props VERY durable and last a very long time. This is a great option for people that need something that will last or possibly resell the cosplay in the future.
Video of us taking a hammer to the hard coated head piece. This might not be the most scientific or most official method but this will give you an idea of how impact resistant the coating is on EPS foam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZujjfxH7nE
