Scrap Sculptures Builds a Full Metal Terminator

I’ve seen plenty of Terminator replicas over the years, including many interpretations of the T-800 endoskeleton. However, I’ve never seen a T-800 that’s completely made from real metal and real mechanical parts … until now.

Meet Scrap Sculptures, a Los Angeles-based art company that specializes in making sculptures by using recycled metal. Scrap Sculptures has previously produced sculptures of characters from various sci-fi franchises, including Star Wars, Alien, Predator and Transformers, but its T-800 sculpture leaves me--a die-hard Terminator fan--completely floored. This menacing machine is 7.5 feet tall and it features a removable gun and a movable head, jaw and arms. It’s not an exact replica of a T-800 endoskeleton--Scrap Sculptures’ work is considered fan art and each sculpture is an interpretation of an iconic character, not a copy--yet it’s usage of real metal and real mechanical parts is very complementary of the original design’s usage of pistons, cables and hinges. Furthermore, because the sculpture is made from real mechanical parts such as bicycle chains, shocks, gears, nuts and bolts, this T-800 has a Steampunk feel to it, sort of a “Steampunk Terminator”.

Read on to see more pictures of this amazing sculpture, and to learn more about the process the Scrap Sculptures uses to bring classic movie characters to life in the form of recycled metal.

I recently contacted Scrap Sculptures about how its artists go about taking scrap metal pieces and reshaping them to fit the dimensions of Stormtroopers, Predators and Terminators. The way Scrap Sculptures see it, its artists engage in the “creative recycling” of scrap metal. Even though the artists produce sculptures of animals and other subject matter, they are also willing to sculpt movie characters that are most requested by their fan community.

The scrap metal sculpting process begins when artists gather ideas and draw concept art. After having a concept, the artists begin to collect spare scrap metal parts. The sculptures range from a few inches tall to life-sized. For bigger sculptures, bigger parts are needed and some are even cut into shape from sheet metal. If you take a close look at Scrap Sculptures’ larger pieces, you will find many things such as car parts, motorcycle parts, spark plugs, nuts and bolts, shocks, transmission parts, sheet metal, and much, much more. It should also be noted that Scrap Sculptures’ artists make each sculpture by hand and nothing is mass produced, which means that each sculpture--regardless of size--is a unique piece of art.

Here's a photo of the life-size Terminator sculpture in its early stages.

Note the life-size sculptures of the Alien Warrior and the Alien Newborn 

from Alien Resurrection in the background.

According to Scrap Sculptures, it has not received any direct feedback from anyone who has worked on the Terminator franchise, but the Terminator fan base has been very enthusiastic about the new T-800 sculpture. For fans who can’t afford the full-sized scrap metal Terminator, don’t worry--there is also a 14 inch Terminator sculpture, which includes a removable gun and a movable head and torso.

Of course, Scrap Sculptures offers much more than just Terminator sculptures. It has an impressive selection of Predator sculptures, and its life-size Alien sculpture and two glass top Alien tables--one with the Alien Warrior and one with the Alien Queen--are exquisite interpretations of H.G. Giger’s biomechanical artwork. The Spider-Man sculpture features a scale-accurate musculature that would amaze any fan of Marvel’s legendary web-slinger. Scrap Sculptures tries to work together with its fan community and it is always happy to receive suggestions for future projects. From what I’ve been told, recently fan requests have included King Kong and Godzilla; I think that these would be very cool to see, along with scrap metal sculptures of Mecha-Godzilla and Mecha-Kong.

Go to the Scrap Sculptures site for more information about their wide selection of art, as well as ordering and shipping details. See the YouTube video below for a closer look at the life-size Terminator sculpture.