Cool! Thanks!

That  is SOOOOO cool! ...you must  have a pretty special wife.....

Looks really great!  I'm kind of with Shawn on the bottom line of the belly.  I think you could easily accomplish the same effect of the belly curving under by simply rounding the the under-side and air brushing a  dark shadow and then a highlight so it feels as though it curves under.  A little paint can go a long way to trick the eye.

I can't wait to see more pictures.  Keep up the good work!

I have a very tolerant wife.  Though with this, I think she is happy with ANYTHING that'll stop me from continuing to joust all the time!

Did a little more last night. 



The legs are just tying on with rope.  That allows them to be adjusted for the height of the wearer and taken off for transport.  Going to add a little Velcro to make it  little cleaner fit. Also going to put it inside the head so it is a bit more snug fitting and no kid just knocks the head off.

Added the wings.  Those stumped me.  The are just fun noodles and fleece, but are still so heavy they droop.  I put PVC in them to attach inside but first, it reduces my room inside so I can't reach the mouth to operate it.  Its an easy fix I was thinking bout doing anyway, but now its a must.  And second, I'm concerned about the rope eventually cutting through the fleece and foam.  Not sold on this part yet.

Big change is I cut off the right arm.  I m going to make this so the wearer's arm is in it and controls it.  That allows the dragon to wave, hug, signal, etc.  The arm has about 10 minutes of sewing machine work left on it.  Then back to stitching around the arms.

I also might have to put something in the tail to lift it so it doesnt drag and get damaged.

Looking good. Love the expression on his face!

For the tail you might be able to simply add some clear fishing line towards the end of it then run that up to about center back or maybe a little higher. To keep the line from cutting through the foam put a button on each side of the foam and run the fishing line through the holes. That may be helpful for your rope also although you would need something other then a button. Maybe a washer would do for that.

To make this "washer" set up really work you need to kind of tighten down the attachment. Your line goes in one of the button holes on the outside, through the foam, through one of the button holes on the inside. Then you reverse that and thread through the other button hole, through the foam and out through the other button hole on the outside. Know you make a knot with your fishing line on the outside here compressing down the foam between the two buttons.

If you where doing this with regular washers you would have a single line running through the washers and foam. Big knot on the inside and then you have to make a knot on the outside. A bit harder to do because the outside knot has to kind of slide down and tighten things up.  Sometimes when I am trying to get a tight knot like this I pull the rope or cord thight where I want it then put a small straight pin in to keep from releasing. Then I make my knot.

Like the button idea, thanks!  'd be too afraid of kids messing with it.  Just one less thing I'll have to repair!!

Yeah the string/cord can be tempting to kids.    I would say put a wire support in it but you can't just tie that to the back of your body into the foam because it would make the bottom of the body push in I think. You would almost have to some how tie that connection into your own body via a belt. I've seen a lot of costumes that the "tail" is on a belt that goes around the waist and the support kind of lays on  your own butt. Then the tail is thread through the body of the costume.  You can't really do that in this case but maybe the support wire it self can come in through the back of the costume and then to a belt rig. Still not sure that would work.

Now if the back of the body is already pushing against your butt you many just be able to go ahead and anchor the wire to the body. Gee maybe I should have said that up front. Oh well typing of the top of my head.

One big drawback of wire supports are that they always seem to eventually snap. I've had the best luck though with spring or piano wire. It seems to hold up the longest.

Looks great!