Here's a cool site I found while looking for an avatar-

http://www.tky.3web.ne.jp/~ghostman/apeman.html

The text is all in Japnaese, but it shows a pretty good step by step of what it takes to make a good mechanical ape head.



The clay sculpt.



Foam latex or silicone gel face, ready for the hair application.



Fiberglass underskull. Here you can see the black elastic that keeps the jaw closed until the actor opens it, the acrylic gums and teeth, and the "lip bars" that peel the lips back via a sort of "figure 8" cable arrangement, when the actor opens his mouth.



Underskull with mouth open. See how the lip bars pull back as the jaw opens wide.



Finished mask, with hair in place, fitted over the underskull w/ glass eyes inserted.



We won't talk about the bodysuit...



The suave hominid about the savannah.



"Cheeeeeeeeese"!


Enjoy!

-Sarge

The bodysuit looks pretty frumpy but that head is mighty slick!

-Sarge

Interesting !!
I could rip into this one, but what the hey. Frumpy? yes. Strange looing, yes. Head out of proportion. But not bad.

Which brings to mind a question ... would a hoaxer go thru all this trouble and expense to pull off a hoax or a prank? I dunno, some twisted people out there.

Rip into it? I'm not sure I'm on the same page?

Hoaxers? I know what you're saying. One of my secret daydreams is for someone to put up the money for me and my partner or someone else to make a BF suit that would exhibit ALL the stuff noted in the PG film, just so we could wave the reciepts under the skeptic's noses, and point out how the technology simply didn't exist back then!

-Sarge

Rip into it = point out all the flaws and how bad that body suit looks

Not a bad idea Sarge..... but i really doubt that ALL the things could be reproduced even with todays technology.

I think wearing that is a really good way to get yourself shot.

Yup, that's entirely possible, but DAMN it'd be fun trying!

-Sarge