Jaffa Staff Weapon - Completed Build

[SciFiPropFreak]

Hello there!

I'd like to share some pics and info about this commission I did for a friend of mine early this year:
The Ma'Tok staff, or Goa'uld Staff Weapon from the SG-1 series.

I'm a huge Stargate fan myself, so I couldn't really say no to this...:rolleyes

Planning and scaling: My friend is a little shorter in comparison with Mr. Christopher Judge (imdb says he's 6' 2" (1,88 m)). From my research I got that the actual prop was/is 2,13m long in total.
Scaled to my friends size its pretty much exactly 2m (I have also been told that there are sometimes restrictions at - german - events limiting the maximum length of objects/props you can bring in to 2m, so I'm on the safe side there, too :behave)

From that info and the obvious web search for reference pics, I photoshopped a 3 side view and modeled a rough 3d version in Maya.


Then I exported it as 3 STL files and used 123D Make to slice it in 3.85mm increments (the average thickness I measured from regular 4mm poplar plywood...not absolutely correct, as it turned out later...)

 

[SciFiPropFreak]

Did I mention, that I have access to a Lasercutter? :rolleyes
So I used it to cut some slices....well around 400+ slices in total...


sorting out...


aaaaand stacking (I made only half of the head-piece, because I planned on moulding them)



The 2 left over pieces are a tribute to the material-thickness-tolerance gods :wacko
I actually did the Head first as a test in 2,8mm slices and after realising the variation, sliced the other parts in 2,85mm
The 3d models for the parts which I stacked on the aluminium tubes already had a cylinder subtrackted, so the slices had holes in the right place.

 

[SciFiPropFreak]

little collage anyone? Luckily someone invented DVDs... for the extended evenings...

 

[SciFiPropFreak]

Obviously the surface needed a little refinement... For that I got some water based air drying clay ("FIMO air basic", formerly known as Efaplast) and, after roughly sanding down the most severe edges, started with applying a thin coat first to get better grip on the wood.


TIPP: Next time I'd seal the wood to protect it from water. My thought with not sealing it was, that I assumed the clay would have better grip to a rough surface. What really happend - appearently - was that the water got drained from the clay as soon as it touched the wood and dryed somewhat...enough to make it harder to stick to the wood. I compensated this - I thought - by adding more water (making slurry) and applying the first layer verry thin. But I had to pay for this mistake later on...

...the wood cracked. Not where I glued it, but in the mittle of the sheets


Wasn't pretty, but not that hard to fix.
To get a uniform thickness on the second layer of clay, I used this contraption


The fact that the newspaper and cardboard tube absorbed water kept the clay from sticking to it very much, which - in this case - is very helpful.
This way I could roll out the clay to a thickness of 1.5mm or thinner.

 

[SciFiPropFreak]

covering the pieces in several sections, one after the other. Wetting the underside made the difference for better adhesion.
I then used a simple sculpting tool to carve in the markings (I tried to match them to reference pics as much as possible, but some areas needed some artistic freedom :rolleyes)


Again I got some cracks - this time in the clay - which needed some fixing


You don't have to worry to much about these bulgings, left behind by the sculpting tool, since they get sanded down later...
...which leaves us with this:

 

[SciFiPropFreak]

After the first rough pass of sanding, I inspected the hole thing for areas that needed more fixing and marked them for additional filling (also with the air drying clay) and sanding.


Then there are some "tech-areas" on the weapon. I used one of my favorite building materials - cardboard from frozen Pizza boxes - and some timing belts from old printers and other small plastic parts, to create some structure. All the carboard got fixed and sealed with superglue :cool

ok ok I did cut some cardboard parts on the lasercutter, too... this machine is making me a little lazy, I guess :facepalm

 

[Daniel Nelms]

Dude you rock!

 

[Sean]

Looking fantastic to me. your last links are not working tho In post 6. would like to see those also..

 

[SciFiPropFreak]

Thanks guys!

Looking fantastic to me. your last links are not working tho In post 6. would like to see those also..

...working on it... I can see the pics as thumbs when editing and - for me - the links work...trying re-upload. Is there a limit to the number of pics upladed at a time??

 

[Sean]

Thanks guys!


...working on it... I can see the pics as thumbs when editing and - for me - the links work...trying re-upload. Is there a limit to the number of pics upladed at a time??

Not that I know of...

 

[SciFiPropFreak]

Pics should be working now, as far as I can tell...

getting late here in Germany... I will continue tomorrow! :sleep

 

[xenophanatik]

Wow. I am in awe of the details. Especially the tech areas. The only way this could be better is if you added electronics or a switch to make the staff tip open/activate like in the show (I'm sure you've considered this!) But great work nonetheless.

 

[Broilermaker]

Nice! Really nice!

 

[SG Merc]

Nice work on the staff weapon.

 

[SciFiPropFreak]

time for molding!
I covered the head piece with two thin layers of white acrylic paint to seal it and build a frame around it. The nuts in the first picture are just for estimating the reqired space (I didn't want to waste to much silicone :eek)


To get rid of trapped air in the silicone, I converted a small vacuforming plate in combination with a stainless steel champagne cooler :cheers


After pouring the silicone, I pushed the nuts into it, removed them after the silicone had cured and poured acrylic-resin as mother mould. Notice the 3(!) pieces of wood. This way I didn't have to fill the frame up to a unified level...again saving material

 

[SciFiPropFreak]

I used the acrylic resin again to mold the actual pieces. It's easy to work with, cheap and quite rigid (somewhere between hard plaster and porcelain).
It may not be as impact resistant as PU resin, but - did I mention this? - this is a "quick and dirty" build, done in about 2-3 Weeks, working in the afternoon, and had to be done for FedCon 2014 (end of May in Germany).


Some sanding, leveling and gluing later...some filling was necessary.


For the purpose of transport, the staff had to be in 3 parts. To connect them I glued M8 screws in on one side and extension M8 nuts (basically a normal nut, just 30mm long). Epoxy putty made a strong bond (I also roughened the inside of the aluminium tubes and the outside of the extension nuts).
Lasercut discs helped in centering the screws, nuts and aluminium tube to each other.


Since the entire staff has to have a kind of organic look, I covered the entire aluminium tubes with epoxy putty. Luckily this stuff was on discount in a local convenience store

 

[SciFiPropFreak]

The painting is pretty straight forward: first two layer of purple acrylic paint brushed on. Two layer to get a more uniform coverage.


masking with tape. The key is to get the ouline nice and clean.


The copper color is not quite as trivial, since metallic spray paint is often EITHER looking good/high glossy OR wear resistant...
The best compromise I found is this little rattle can from MARABUs Do-It bronze series 087 copper.
A 150ml can costs about 7,50€ (~10$), but is well worth the money! One can was just enough for the staff weapon. The best thing is the drying time:
Go outside, spray, go inside, dry! (and thin layers have good coverage)


I've done a lot of weathering on pieces which are supposed to look like old iron and found that the ideal color for rust is called "burnt-sienna".
This weapon however is supposed to be made from something looking like copper, hence the oxide needs to have a different color. I went to a local hobby/arts shop and found several acrylic "green turquoise" paints, but only one of them seemed to be the exact color I was looking for (I'd have to look up the exact brand and Nr)

My usual technique is quickly covering an area comletely with paint, then, even more quickly, wiping off most of it with some cloth or paper towel. Tapping with some cloth helps to create more irragular patterns.
After the green-turqouise, I followed with some black acrylic and several arylic and tinting paints to create the illusion of an item which had been in use for generations

(btw. this thing is impossible to photograph in one picture if assembled... :facepalm :lol)

- - - Updated - - -

The only way this could be better is if you added electronics or a switch to make the staff tip open/activate like in the show (I'm sure you've considered this!) But great work nonetheless.

Well.....lets just say: I'm studying mechatronics (so mechanics and electronics are kinf of my thing :cool) and I'm having some ideas... **evil laugh** :ninja

 

[Sean]

Absolutely fantastic work.:thumbsup and the paint job Is awesome.

 

[Gatemaster]

I can only say WOW [emoji4]

 

[Harada357]

Incredible build. Attention to detail beyond words. How long time wise have you spent building the prop? Man hours?

WOW.

Gordon