I am trying to make the Green Ranger Dragon Dagger... but i am stuck at the Blade part... i am not really sure how to make it....
In the linkara green ranger dagger tutorial..
Green Ranger Dagger Tutorial
the women that explain what she did... said it so fast... and didn't really show step by step what she did ... so i can't tell what she did..
CAn someone explain to me step by step how to make the blade?
I am trying to make the green ranger dagger but i can't seem to find Styrene Sheet or Epoxy Putty anywhere.. i went to home depot, Lowes and Michaels.
Does anyone know where to find them? I have been following this video on how to make it... maybe i missed something in there?
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Calibri]Epoxy Put[/FONT][/COLOR]
Atop the Fourth Wall: Green Ranger Dragon Dagger Prop Tutorial
You can buy sheet styrene from the following:
Hobbylinc.com - Discount Hobbies up to 60% off
Evergreen Scale Models
Home | Plastic Tanks | Plastic Buckets | Plastic Bottles | Labware | Plastic Tubing | PVC Pipe | U.S. Plastic Corp.
Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs & more › ... › Materials › Plastics › Plastic Sheets
Hope this helps. There are LOTS more places to buy sheet styrene and styrene shapes.
Check local sign companies. They go through sheet plastic like crazy, and you may even get some scraps free
I am not 100% sure wut type of Styrene Sheet i need... they never clearly said in the video... and there are like alot of different ones (saw these sites when i was googleing around MrBugSlayer)
How do you work with it as well? Id love to know the kinds and tools needed as well. Can this thread be for styrine newbies? Lol
I have no idea how it works lol... hopfuly someone will say how
It's just thin plastic sheeting. You can get it in varying thicknesses. You can cut it with a hobby knife, bend and shape it with heat, and sand it with paper or a dremel...
none of the stores i went to say they have it... is there another name they go by?
Well, since this is my tutorial, I can help a little bit.
The bad news is that from what I've seen, styrene is not really something you find in craft stores or the like. There's a post above that explains some online places to get it.
As an alternative, while not made of plastic and therefore not quite as sturdy, posterboard would work as a covering for the dagger.
Linkara Do you think stencil sheet will work? ( when i was in craft store they said this is the closes thing they have)
... also... the video never said what glue u used to glue everything together? (like did she use hot glue to glue the blade stuff together) do you just use hot glue to glue everything?
and lastly did she use Marine Tex Epoxy Putty? The video never said which type of Epoxy Putty you used.. so that is my best guess?
Zoinco, the important thing to remember in making ANY prop is that there is never just one way to make anything. It should come down to what materials you are personally most comfortable with.
While Linkara and the Prop Lady may have used posterboard, foamcore, and styrene, personally, I would rather make a flat blade in the shape of the overall blade out of styrene and build Apoxie Sculpt up on top of it to get the shape and detailing of the blade right. Someone else might make the blade out of foam, others might make it out of paper and pour casting resin inside, still others might sculpt it separately out of clay and mold it and cast it to make a resin copy of it.
There are a million-and-one ways to make every prop, start playing around with techniques, and soon you'll see which ones work best for you...and THAT should be the method you use.
And if you want a cheap, easy source of styrene: go to Home Depot and buy some of their "for sale" signs usually put in car/house windows.
-Nick
PS: When in doubt, Gorilla Glue is always a good glue to try first. The stuff will stick just about anything to just about anything else.
Ok i finally found Styrene Sheet But i still don't know what type of Epoxy Putty was used? the only ones i can find in store are the stick ones and they don't look like the ones that were in the video at all... and the stick ones are alot of money..
Once again, don't feel like you have to follow the tutorial exactly. Find things that work for you!
Try using Apoxie Sculpt. It's a two part, air hardening clay, that can be shaped and sanded with wood-working tools when cured.
Just start experimenting. If you expect to get things perfect the first time around, you'll be disappointed. Every prop is a learning experience. We ALL mess up, it's about learning lessons so that you can keep improving as your progress.
-Nick
What the good Mr. Fox said. A lot of this stuff is just trial and error and experimenting around. I will say that a lot of hot glue was used for some parts of it, but hot glue is not always the best adhesive for some situations.
If you're dedicated to trying to make it the same way, I'm sorry to say I don't recall the name of the epoxy putty (mostly because it was the Prop Lady's stuff and not mine, never can get epoxy putty to work right for me), so it'd probably be best to go with NickFox's recommendation.
Just to jump off of this quickly, one of the more interesting applications of hot glue, is to run a bead of it over the surface of your prop and paint over it once cooled to create interesting surface effects like some of the small embellishments on the handle of the dagger.Linkara said:
One of these days, I've got to get around to attempting a Dragon Dagger of my own.
Zoicno, good luck with this project. The best advise anyone ever gave me was just to get started. If you run into issues once you start, it's that much easier to help you so we can see what you're good at and what you've already done. Consider it prop-making GPS. It's easier to tell you the next turn you should take, than trying to tell you all of the turns in the beginning and hope you remember them all.
Can't wait to see your progress!
-Nick
Hm.. well i made the blade part... but i realize i did it wrong -__-...
( i took it off of the pvc pipe part since i need to re do the whole thing anyways)
and i know it should look like this
I am not really sure what i did wrong... or i guess more like how i should make the blade part where the Styrene part will meet in the middle...
In the video is the first step to cut out just the body and not the edge of the blade and then glue poster board on it? or is it... cut the shap of the whole blade (including the edge?) ... i am so confused...
In the video, it appears that they used a piece of posterboard as a guide. (Linkara, feel free to correct this)
The posterboard was cut to shape and glued to the center of the main shaft. Then, thin strips of foam core board were glued on either side of the poster board, touching the shaft, in order to give some dimension to the center of the blade. A single piece of styrene was put on the top as well as the bottom, and the edges glued together, coming to a point. Because there was foam core board against the shaft, it lifted the center of it, creating the shape of the blade.
Then they just refined the shape from there.
I'm glad you took the leap though. Just getting out there and trying things out really is the best way to learn.
Keep going!
-Nick
So another mest up...
this hotglue thing and... guessing ... is not turning out very good...
and Fox ... this is the first time i done anything like this... and i am unemployed right now...
and i never used Apoxie Sculpt or any type of at less this level of sculpting/Putty before...
I don't really have that much money to be able to spend if i can't make it work after a few times... (thoguh from the blade thing it seems like i may have to end up trying it your way, cuss ... well i already did it twice and is to much guessing games for me...)
I have to say, that is definitely a leap forward from your first attempt! You can definitely see the blade start to emerge.
Let's see if we can salvage some of that build for you. Can I ask why the tip wouldn't stick together? It looks like theres some glue in there, but from that picture it's a little hard to tell why it pulled apart.
Every build, especially early ones have issue like this. It's a pain, but if you do what I call "debriefing" (Basically figuring out what didn't work and why) I don't see any reason why you shouldn't be able to get your final dagger on the next pass.
If you are still interested in looking at other ways of making this after debriefing, I'd be more than happy to help. And I'll do my best to help you work within your budget too. We've ALL been there. Half the fun of making props is trying to get creative with your materials.
I just hope Linkara doesn't mind me leading the charge here.
-Nick
um is not sticking cuss the tip is to far out from each other... i don't know a good way to make a good measurement ... to make the two pieces the same and be able to meet in the middle... ( i used a form board in the middle.... so that is why is hard..cuss i don't think using poster board in the middle is possible for it to be hard...) .i also put these 16 g wires on the tip of the blade inside (they did that in the video) ... i did take it off of one side of the blade so i was able to make most of the blade touch but.. i guess i should just not have any wires.. i am guessing they should touch then...
(i am guessing i may need to explain more...but yea..)
(slide note... as a kid i always wanted to make stuff... cuss my parents hardly bought me the toys i wanted.... but of course most of it ..was out of paper... spry painting... paper row stuff... ping pong balls ( made obi-wan epz 1-2 light saber from that) so in that since i did make stuff before but of course.. [ also made... a power ranger cheats piece before cutting it from clear plastic... spry painting it.. and putting wires to hold up the shoulder parts] (stuff like that before) but of course none of these stuff is really... i guess look good... or real... but now i kinda want to make stuff look more real... and not just .. u know stuff kids can make...
That's how I got my start here...in fact, I'd say a good number of the people here got their start in the same way. It's all about making our inner child proud of how cool we've become.zoicno said:
If you have a heat gun, you may want to see if you can use that to help you bend the styrene together at the tip. Wear gloves though, just to be safe. It's a heat-formable product so it may be just what the doctor ordered.
No heat gun? Turn on your stove (Medium-low heat should work) and hold it about 7-8 inches above the flame/element, then see if you can coax the two sides together that way. Again, wear gloves and don't set the dagger down on any materials or surfaces you can't afford to damage until it's totally cool. Do it in short bursts over the heat, building slowly until you become familiar with how the material handles under heat.
If that doesn't work, I'm ready and waiting to help you prep your Plan B.
Good luck! Let us know how it goes.
-Nick
I think the wires were making it uneven... on both sides... so i am gonna re make it.. with out the wires.. and hopefully make it so the two sheets can evenly touch...
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