After much searching, I cannot find a thorough walk through for the antenna topper for Bill and Ted's phone booth. Needing it for a cosplay, I am dropping my antenna construction here. Add any links, comments or corrections you have. I have seen photos of finished full phone booths (only one that looked correct) but no how-to on the antenna. Seems simple enough but as it turns out, my sacrifice umbrella was upside down.....
First a garbage photo of the antenna from the film:
A close inspection shows the short connector bar is on the top, connecting to the midpoint of the longer bar underneath.
My umbrella does not do this but is, instead, upside down.
All of the reproductions I have seen, with only one exception, has built the antenna differently, either with a naked but unaltered umbrella or just no where near the original. The one that got it right was:
But the end tips seemed a bit short. This build can be found at:
I will try to put my deconstruction pics in an understandable order here:
First, I clipped off the attached cloth.
Then, I removed the little retainer pin, at the very top.
Yes, I hit my thumb with a hammer.....thanks for noticing....
Then I trimmed off the last length of each leg, to match the movie prop. This requires two cuts.
And pulled out the extra length of wire.
Then, turning this newly trimmed beauty upside down, we get the beginnings of the correct antenna. I am sure that not all umbrellas are built the same but this is what I had to do to mine to get to this:
To match this:
So, next is adding the red paint job to this part and then adding the new, unpainted, chrome center rod.
I intend to make two sets. One will be a daytime version and the second will be a, far more involved, nightime version (big hopes and dreams on this second one).
That is all I have for day one. But in the event that I get abducted by aliens, just paint, add center rod and a weighted base. This gives us a portable topper to temporarily place on any existing booths we come across. I will also make a separate hooked retriever handle to easily place and remove the topper on the go. We can all see the travel photo possibilities here.....
First a garbage photo of the antenna from the film:
A close inspection shows the short connector bar is on the top, connecting to the midpoint of the longer bar underneath.
My umbrella does not do this but is, instead, upside down.
All of the reproductions I have seen, with only one exception, has built the antenna differently, either with a naked but unaltered umbrella or just no where near the original. The one that got it right was:
But the end tips seemed a bit short. This build can be found at:
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Phone Booth at Retro Con!
We’ve been working on a special treat for retro fans all summer long, and it’s now finally ready to go for our show in September: A replica of the Bill & Ted phone booth time…
retrocons.com
I will try to put my deconstruction pics in an understandable order here:
First, I clipped off the attached cloth.
Then, I removed the little retainer pin, at the very top.
Yes, I hit my thumb with a hammer.....thanks for noticing....
Then I trimmed off the last length of each leg, to match the movie prop. This requires two cuts.
And pulled out the extra length of wire.
Then, turning this newly trimmed beauty upside down, we get the beginnings of the correct antenna. I am sure that not all umbrellas are built the same but this is what I had to do to mine to get to this:
To match this:
So, next is adding the red paint job to this part and then adding the new, unpainted, chrome center rod.
I intend to make two sets. One will be a daytime version and the second will be a, far more involved, nightime version (big hopes and dreams on this second one).
That is all I have for day one. But in the event that I get abducted by aliens, just paint, add center rod and a weighted base. This gives us a portable topper to temporarily place on any existing booths we come across. I will also make a separate hooked retriever handle to easily place and remove the topper on the go. We can all see the travel photo possibilities here.....
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