LeMarchand
Sr Member
Over the past years i have worked on and off on several props, a lot of them still unfinished because i just don't have enough time. Since last year i try to work on these projects whenever i have some time to spare, like when i am electroetching, plating, beading ra necklaces, soldering rings etc.
Last week i finished a prop i have wanted to do for a long time. I am a huge Tim Burton fan and although not my favourite, i really like Mars Attacks.
I had several good reference pics of the small raygun the female assassin uses, even a couple with a ruler next to it. This helped scale the size a lot. Only problem was, that all pictures of screenused one, were all stuntversions, which were slightly different than the Hero. Watching the bluray disc helped nailing those differences and incorporate them in my replica. The hero version had a grip that could be folded, but since it would take a lot of work to incorporate this non-standard hinge and i just wanted to make a nice replica, i decided not to do that.
The 2 largest balls used were acrylic balls and easy to find. The smallest ball was more difficult to find as i couldn't find an acrylic ball 33 in diameter. Pingpong balls were too large (40mm). Turns out.....those plastic balls used in tablefootball games, are exactly 33mm
I drilled holes in the balls and put a strong plastic rod through it and cleaned everything up, esecially the football as it had a rough surface.
I made the disc using my minimill and was done in 2 layers of styrene. A smaller disc that it fits onto was also done this way. The small disc was attached to the large ball, so the larger disc could be fitted on it.
The grip was made out of a block of resin. I cut out the pattern using a jigsaw and then usef files and sandingpaper to finalise the shape and round curves etc.
the clear tip is a clear resin casting. I just made a mold of a plastic rod with the end rounded off.
Once everything was done, i made molds of all the pieces (i never do buildups of my masterpatterns, so i can make new molds if needed) and cast a set.
After cleanup i used primer on the pieces and painted them. The balls were painted red, the disc silver and the grip a light green (which i had to mix myself as i could find an acrylic color close enough in my town)
Below are some pics, a screenshot from the movie, a pic i found online years ago of a stunt and a couple of shots from my finished replica, hope you like it.
I will probably do a run of these soon, when it happens i'll post about it here.
Last week i finished a prop i have wanted to do for a long time. I am a huge Tim Burton fan and although not my favourite, i really like Mars Attacks.
I had several good reference pics of the small raygun the female assassin uses, even a couple with a ruler next to it. This helped scale the size a lot. Only problem was, that all pictures of screenused one, were all stuntversions, which were slightly different than the Hero. Watching the bluray disc helped nailing those differences and incorporate them in my replica. The hero version had a grip that could be folded, but since it would take a lot of work to incorporate this non-standard hinge and i just wanted to make a nice replica, i decided not to do that.
The 2 largest balls used were acrylic balls and easy to find. The smallest ball was more difficult to find as i couldn't find an acrylic ball 33 in diameter. Pingpong balls were too large (40mm). Turns out.....those plastic balls used in tablefootball games, are exactly 33mm
I drilled holes in the balls and put a strong plastic rod through it and cleaned everything up, esecially the football as it had a rough surface.
I made the disc using my minimill and was done in 2 layers of styrene. A smaller disc that it fits onto was also done this way. The small disc was attached to the large ball, so the larger disc could be fitted on it.
The grip was made out of a block of resin. I cut out the pattern using a jigsaw and then usef files and sandingpaper to finalise the shape and round curves etc.
the clear tip is a clear resin casting. I just made a mold of a plastic rod with the end rounded off.
Once everything was done, i made molds of all the pieces (i never do buildups of my masterpatterns, so i can make new molds if needed) and cast a set.
After cleanup i used primer on the pieces and painted them. The balls were painted red, the disc silver and the grip a light green (which i had to mix myself as i could find an acrylic color close enough in my town)
Below are some pics, a screenshot from the movie, a pic i found online years ago of a stunt and a couple of shots from my finished replica, hope you like it.
I will probably do a run of these soon, when it happens i'll post about it here.
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