Ken Collins as Max
Ken Collins
as Max
"I started with a basic Motorcycle jacket, removed the epaulets and the belt. I work with leather, so I created my shoulder pad out of boiled 10 oz. leather; cut, shaped, and carved to resemble the movie. For the leg brace, I used 1 inch wide, 1/8 inch thick steet that I cut, shaped, and riveted to the 8 oz leather straps I had cut. I'm not sure of what the tool on the center of his back might be, but since the handle is the only thing that shows, I just used some 1 inch dowel, created the top metal portion out of sheet aluminum, and made sort of a spade type shape to fit the leather case I made. The other case looked like it might be for handcuffs, so that is what I sized my smaller case for. The Shotgun holster appeared to be much more flexible, so I used 2 layers of 2 oz leather to make it. This meant I was also able to keep a smooth surface to protect the shotgun model as well as for the outside appearance. The shotgun is the deluxe blank firing Hudson model with the wood grips (They also make a pellet firing version for the 6 mm airsoft pellets). The boot knife is a rubber blade from a toy knife that has been reshaped along the lines of a fighting knife, like the Sykes-Fairborne Commando Knife. The hilt is a piece of pine that was shaped, painted, then coated with a clear laquer. I think some of the other tools Max had were a curved frame saw of some type, missing the blade; and the small tool hanging from the front was a folding set of feeler gauges. I used the feeler gauges for mine, but the only thing I found close to the shape for the back was a "C" shaped, box end wrench. The final touch, of course, was to drag the whole setup in the dirt behind my pickup for about a 100 yds or so, for that realistic weathered look. I unleashed the Mad Max outfit at this year's big Chiller Theatre Horror Con, Oct 26-28. Ironically, one of the guests was Vernon "Wez" Wells. A very nice gentleman! He saw me dressed as Max, and my girlfriend has us on video, with him doing his famous line 'YOU! You can run, but you can't hide!'"