mass effect omni blade

[HiddenxBlade]

hey, I'm new here so if this is in the wrong section or it's already been done, sorry XD

anyways, I'm trying to make a mass effect style costume (not exactly any character, just the theme from mass effect), and I saw the new footage of the omni tool blade that available in ME3. Does anyone know of a way to make one "pop out?" as if it were spring loaded? I plan to make a gauntlet that I could wear and then, once I push a button, the "omni tool blade" pops out to look as if I turned it on. Anyone have any tips ons tuff like that?

reference pics:

 

[aron42486]

An omni-tool alone would be an amazing prop. The blade is equally cool. I'm envisioning transparent acrylic that is colored or uses led's in a creative manner. Is there a type of clear material that can be vacformed and still remain transparent?

 

[Wicked]

If it were me I'd want to do it with transparent resin tinted orange, and then sanded to look frosted. It would take a fair amount of resin, but I think it's possible. If you make a glove with a bunch of magnets hidden in it and put a metal plate on the underside it would probably stay on pretty decent and you wouldn't have any buckles ruining the effect. It looks like the blade opens in an arc, so maybe the innards from a tape measure with a cord attached to a finger? That way you could pull the string to make it flip out, but when you let go it would automatically retract. The down side there being that whenever you want it out you'd have to keep the string taut.

I was thinking of something similar for an original gauntlet I'm about to do for my halloween costume, but mine will work more like a double action knife than one that opens in an arc like that.

I've also been eyeballing airsoft gun gearboxes, I've seen a couple for around $16 per piece and using two of those I bet you could wire a push/pull system with two buttons hidden in the fingertips of the glove. I have yet to figure out how to wire them though, and in your case they wouldn't work because they would kill the "omni" look.

As for lighting I'd go for EL sheets.

Edit: When I say transparent resin I mean molded into a shape that you would first have to sculpt and make a mold of. I don't think something this complicated would look right if you pieced it together from flat acrylic.

Edit Again: As for the circular portion I bet you could find a way to make this look orange
http://www.amazon.com/Can-You-Imagi...INNI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1311281049&sr=8-2

It would give you somewhere to hide the tape measure innards as well.

 

[HiddenxBlade]

oh, wow thanks! I was thinking about something like a tape measure or some kind of string to work like a hidden blade prop I've seen so much on youtube. I'm still a bit of a newbie, so sorry if this is easy but, how would one make a mold very cheaply? would it cost 10+ dollars?

 

[Aden_Bishop]

I can't even tell you how cool this would be. I think the tinted transparent resin recommendation would provide great results. Good luck with this!

 

[HiddenxBlade]

I've seen some work with that resin, it looks perfect! But, I'm a bit of a noobie XD where could you buy this resin? and is the molding just like regular box molds?

 

[Judge Spartan]

At the company I buy my styrene and ABS from, I've noticed they have translucent orange acrylic sheets they sell. I don't know how expensive it is but the company name is Midland Plastics.

 

[Wicked]

I haven't had to do any casting yet, so I don't have any contacts for that stuff, but if you look around at threads for transparent props I bet you could find a good source no problem. I think there's a thread around somewhere about making large jewels for treasure and such that has some stuff in it that's relevant. It'd definitely be way more than $10 though. For something that cheap you'd probably be looking at using the rubbermade heat bending method on some clear plastic containers and then painting the undersides with semi-transparent model paint used for turn signals and such, though I'm not sure you'd get the results you're looking for. For a good result I imagine you'd be looking at like $100-$200.

 

[HiddenxBlade]

It's lucky I've been saving up for this then

I was able to find that thread about casting, and ordered that styrene thanks to Judge Spartan's suggestion. Thanks man! So, right now I'm trying to figure out how I'll build the holster for the omni blade. I'm thinking I would mold a kind of easy plastic into a cuff with hollowed out areas where the omni tool's holographic panels would go. So I'm thinking of finishing a blueprint of the internals so I don't accidentally leave out something XD

 

[Wicked]

Ya with something this complex you'll probably want to do a blueprint. I've been trying to think of a way you could mount it so that when it's closed it stays close to your arm and looks like the omni tool, but when you raise it up it releases the blade.

 

[falconrh]

Hey, I am looking at doing this as well. Did a Male Shepard armor for our convention, and looking at doing the ME3 one in the pics. I have had the same thoughts, as to how to do this. The molding sounds like a sound idea, but like you, first time. I have been pointed at using Acrylic orange sheets, cutting them, and either use LE Wire or LED lights to get the glow effect.

As for the Swing action, I was leaning towards using something like this:

It's a piece for a Lazy Susan. Going out to take a look at them, sometime next month. Nice part as well, is the hole in the center to run potential wires. My plan is to do up a demo out of cheap Plexi from the $$ Store(picture frames, etc) to see how it's going to look.

 

[bdohazelnuts]

I am going to be building foam FemShep armor with/for my wife, and I was thinking about this same project... I was thinking more towards using clear acrylic, scuffing all of it to translucency with very fine grit sandpaper, and then cutting channels into it to insert EL wires. If you look at the actual picture, you can distinctly see what looks like glowing lines inside of it (which having it lit by EL would make it look even better).

As to the extension, I see the difficulty as being twofold... First, is making something that isn't plainly visible through the translucent acrylic... The second (and more important) is designing it in a way that it can't be considered an actual weapon and having to be peacebound at pretty much every con. The simple solution would be to have a catch on the upper part of the vambrace, probably running by a wire (or monofiliment thread) to some action from the hand (like clenching a fist and pushing it down), and then having a small leaf spring coiled in a cylinder to open it. The tough part with this is getting the width of acrylic just right so that you aren't having to use a heavy enough spring that it is going to fly with enough force to seriously injure someone.