# Raptor Tail..?



## FredlyFatchet (Jun 11, 2010)

Hey, let me start off by saying uh...first post here~ How are yalls? =D

And uh...See, I'm basically stocking up on tutorials and sources, things of that nature...because I'd like to make a suit one day, see how it'll work. I've seen many tutorials on tails...but they weren't the correct sort I'm looking for. They were dog/cat/ferret/etc tails, and they went down; gravity affected it normally so they sort of dangle.

I'm looking for a raptor...dino...sort of inspired tail.

I don't mean just a normal tail with scale attachments...(anyway, my fursona is lÃ³ng dragon inspired with fur) I mean that it has a sort of horizontal effect. 





NOPLZ.



YESPLZ.​
...No, I couldn't find a better example than that. <0< lolsrry. And, if at all possible...does anyone know how to make it move realistically? As in, it moves from side to side?

Perhaps I can just get a link to prosthetic tails and try to manipulate the technology to my benefit...

Any and ALL help is super-appreciated~! Thanks guys...


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## Jesie (Jun 11, 2010)

Well.. As I said in another thread, you can make one out of foam. It wont sway ultra realistic, but it's light weight and holds it's shape up and outward so it wont drag ass on the ground. My alligator tail's nice and firm. It wont bend on it's own but when I take a corner it will move accordingly.

Plus I can sit on it without it breaking which is handy because it's a huge ass tail.

LIKE DIS.


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## FredlyFatchet (Jun 11, 2010)

That's a pretty sweet idea! I may try that one. Thanks, man~


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## Jesie (Jun 11, 2010)

It's what I do... *sunglasses*


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## Bir (Jun 11, 2010)

Wait. Do you mean you want a furry tail that swings realistically and doesn't just slump? Or a raptor tail? xD


For a raptor tail, you can use a pool noodle by sculpting it into the shape. Once I was in Walmart and acting stupid, and I tied a pool noodle to my belt and walked around with it. In my opinion, if it was covered with scaley-looking fabric it'd look pretty damn realistic and awesome.

As for floofy tails, couldn't you just cut the shape of the fabric to being permanently curved upward? As for moving realistically... I make tails that move realistically. They're made of yarn, though. And Cloudy/Skahlly makes pose-able yarn tails. They move pretty awesome like.


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## FredlyFatchet (Jun 11, 2010)

Nah, I mean a raptor tail that will swing if you swing. Or just a raptor tail.

But...now that you mention it...a pool noodle seems like a really good idea, since it will move with you~ =D Thanks, dude! I just need to find a way to a: attach it to a belt and b: keep it light enough with the fabric and things to still move.

Thank you, dear~


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## Jesie (Jun 11, 2010)

That would work. But yer gonna have to find something to bulk up the base of the tail or it'll look skinny... And goofy...


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## Deo (Jun 11, 2010)

http://community.livejournal.com/rarsuit/44876.html


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## Moonfall The Fox (Jun 12, 2010)

Deovacuus said:


> http://community.livejournal.com/rarsuit/44876.html



Scary giant text


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## Jesie (Jun 12, 2010)

Deovacuus, No reason to be a douche bag. And that is a overly complex tail tutorial when a simple foam or swimming noddle will do just fine in this case.

Plus, that kind of tail would bee to heavy for what this person wants. He needs a light tail that will hold it's weight upward. A build-in-spine tail would be too heavy and sag downward.



Why are you giving him a bazooka to kill a fly?


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## FredlyFatchet (Jun 12, 2010)

Dear sir:

I love you =|

This is like EXACTLY what I need.

Man, I want to hug you right now. Can I hug you? I'm gonna hug you.

*e-hugs*


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## FredlyFatchet (Jun 12, 2010)

Well, it MAY work. It doesn't hang as much as the other tails that I've seen. I'm not sure, I'll have to try it out. But it LOOKS like I may be able to manipulate it to be more horizontal. 

At least, I hope I'll be able to...


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## Jesie (Jun 12, 2010)

I don't know sonny. unless it's your own tail it'll just be too damn heavy! And you wont get the length you want. Plus this is a very complex tail. If you can't make it it'll find yerself very unable to find someone who can.


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## Deo (Jun 12, 2010)

Jesie said:


> Deovacuus, No reason to be a douche bag. And that is a overly complex tail tutorial when a simple foam or swimming noddle will do just fine in this case.
> 
> Plus, that kind of tail would bee to heavy for what this person wants. He needs a light tail that will hold it's weight upward. A build-in-spine tail would be too heavy and sag downward.
> Why are you giving him a bazooka to kill a fly?


 
Sorry, I thought it would be perfect and got overly excited (thus why it;s so big. I thought I was being helpful, I sincerely didn't mean to be a douche. I thought it was a good link. It wasn't? I mean they said they wanted it to wiggle, and you can take that idea and simplify it, ...? I don't know what I did wrong to qualify for douchebaggery.

The plastic can just be cut from sheets (light weight) and glued to a fabric or thing rubber and thus joints. Add a bit of metal like a bolt on the end for a weight. Or just use the foam. There are some nice pictures of scaly tails in-foam work stages there.


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## Jesie (Jun 12, 2010)

Everything qualifies as douche baggery in my book.

And no it's not a bad tutorial, it's just overly complex if you ask me. Gluing bits of plastic to fabric voids the entire point of a spine as it will just dangle like a limp noodle. Let's do a test shall we?

Grab a string and a straw, now to the string tie a small rock every quarter of a inch, same with the straw. Now, hold the straw horizontal to the ground by one end. Holds itself don't it? Now let's do the same with the string.  Whats that? It wont hold itself up? WELL DURP.

You need a ridged spine to hold the plastic vertebra in place so it wont droop but will sway from side to side. Gluing wont work, they'll just pop right off when you bend the tail, you need to rivet them in place to the ridged spine. You need to design a spine that can hold the vertebra in place, you need to design the vertebra so that they will glide side by side to one another smoothly, you need to cut these out of  and sand them down from a hard material like PVC which is toxic to breath in so you can have something that will hold this shape, and a rivet gun to pin everything down so it works like a proper spine.

All of this for a tail no longer then a man's leg. Damn thats's alot of work!

You want a long ass tail that stretches from here to eons and holds it's shape all the way? 

Pisst, I gots a secret for ya. You know what you do with foam? You cut the shit out. DONE.


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## FredlyFatchet (Jun 13, 2010)

Well, I do think, after some more thought, that the noodle just will be the most efficient (cost-wise, look wise, and in the long run, for washing.) But the problem is, the tail is thick sort of at the bottom. 

I think that maybe I can make a sock-ish sort of pattern and basically slip the noodle in for the spine for the thing, then stuff the rest with something. Would that work..?


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## Jesie (Jun 13, 2010)

Or bulk it up the base with another noodle or foam in a pyramid pattern till the base is at the thickness you want.

LIKE DAT.

Now just do that on all for sides and keep cuttin' till you have a nice round shape and yer done!


Or, with foam, you just cut a rounded shape out four times and glue... DONE.


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## Ozriel (Jun 13, 2010)

To get it whippy like a raptor tail, a swim noddle and some foam will do. But just in case, make the "Sheath" portion first before making the "spine". 

In order to get it to e straight, you can't make it like a conventional belt loop attachment.


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