Need ideas for bionic man prop!

[zappbranigan]

Hello SMDM fans! I have decided this Halloween to attempt as "true-to-life" as I can, a Steve Austin costume. It's been on my wishlist for several Halloweens now.

The costume is the one as seen during the opening t.v. show footage where he is running in the red tracksuit. I want to build the white "monitors" that are strapped, or somehow attached to the jacket.



Is there anybody who has some background on what these devices are, or suppose to be? I could of course just slap something together that would mimic these devices, but if I knew that they were actually real devices of some sort, that would help me recreate them accurately.

My ultimate plan is to build these and then connect them all together with greeting card sound modules installed inside that have the "bionic sound" recorded on them. With a push of a button, all those too young to remember this awesome piece of 70's action-wear, will recognize who I am!

Any guidance or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Grimwood]

Their placement is simar to EKG leads, can't tell if there is one attached to each leg or not. Certainly a monitoring device of some kind. If that's what they truly are, they would monitor changes in cardiac rhythm. I would imagine these would measure all of his vital signs

I'm a paramedic of 24 years.


This is a great idea for a suit! Good luck

 

[zappbranigan]

Thanks Grimwood! I'll start there and see if anything similar looking pops up. I can't believe this costume hasn't been tried already!

 

[dbuck]

Always wanted to do this one. Looking forward to seeing this one.

 

[zappbranigan]

For anyone else looking to follow this thread, I thought I would now bring this project up to speed and show my progress as I approach the final touch with the "EKG" prop.

I just purchased from eBay the track suit...



It's from Korea or somewhere's thereabout. So the size is a bit of a guess based on the listing agent's size chart. I'm 6'0, 210 lb athletic build, so I went with their largest size. That's a XXL tag in Korea. I wont' know how well it fits till it arrives. The jacket was $20 + $10 shipping. The pants were $18 + $10 shipping.

THE BIG PROBLEM will be to remove the white stripe with seam rippers in my wife's sewing kit. It feels like that will be labor intensive endeavor if I don't want to tear the material.

I'm looking at these shoes...also on eBay:



They're Adidas obviously and are currently $56 with $13 shipping.



Pretty close I'd say. I didn't want to go with the Adidas brand because the Adidas logo would've been obviously wrong.

I'll complete my "EKG" research that Grimwood suggested and post any luck with that.

 

[zappbranigan]

Well, my research hasn't turned up any clues to these devices. Looks like I'll be working from scratch on these. More to come...

 

[zappbranigan]

Just checking back. No one has any suggestions?

 

[Grimwood]

As far as props, I remember an engine block that Steve could lift with his bionic grip. You could build something like that out of paper mâché. Also, remember the Sasquatch episode? And don't forget the bionic woman! Although referring to the bionic woman as a prop is a good way to get your butt kicked. . Having the sound effect whenever you do something bionic will bring it all together.

Good luck!

 

[nomuse]

Those monitors look very ad-hoc, like a creation from the props department. Medical telemetry is a real thing today, but that's because we have lots of options in small low-power radios. My guess is the actual prop would have been as little as a block of wood painted Heathkit gray and stuffed in a muslin bag.

But as for the simulated reality; Steve was an astronaut, and that was very much a part of his background and his activities with OSI. The series would have been in development near the end of the Apollo missions, and was shot during the Skylab era. So astronaut-worn medical telemetry would have been something they were strongly referencing; and something they expected their audiences to pick up on. This might give you some ideas for the look of the things that goes deeper than what may have been visible on screen.

 

[zappbranigan]

Thanks guys. I work with an EMT and came to the conclusion the "EKG" monitors are not factual instruments but a fictional prop here. I am thinking resigning myself to a woodworking project is the final option. I'm going to do my best to estimate the size and dimension of these monitors this week.

I received my "sound modules" yesterday from eBay (4) and will update this thread with photos. My plan is to insert these sound modules into the "EKG" monitors with the bionic sound effect.

Grimwood: I've actually contemplated building the engine block or the orange steel girder that came with the toy action figure. I figured no one would get the "connection" unless they were our vintage and appreciated that prop.

 

[nomuse]

Aww. I got the engine block reference! I think you might be surprised how many people remember that toy.

That's very clever -- using the "telemetry" boxes to hold the electronics. Hrm. Drat. I'm geeking out for a moment here...I've experimented with accelerometer to trigger sound effects --

This thing here is an accelerometer and XBee radio transciever attached to a AAA battery pack, all of which went in the hand-stiched wrist bag there. I could "hurl a spell" with that arm and it would play a sound remotely from my laptop.

Anyhow, accelerometers and stuffs are around now and not that hard to work with, and with all that space inside the "telemetry" boxes seems a shame not to put some sensor and computing power at the task of playing the appropriate sound effects!

 

[Mordrun]

You should make a big foot arm with wires coming out of it to carry around:

 

[zappbranigan]

@ nomuse Wow. My wife always accuses me of going "overboard" on things like this project. The accelerometer project is very cool. I'm having problems figuring out just what to use as the white "monitor" boxes though. I played with wood this weekend and it didn't work. I wanted some kind of 3-dimensional angle to it and couldn't get the right look. Plus, I would have to router out the back side to allow/conceal the sound module speaker. Then there's the issue of sound traveling through wood.

I had another idea of using a smart phone case and have been perusing eBay for something that doesn't look like a cell phone case/protector. The actual size of the "monitors" looks to be about the size of an iPhone 4. No luck so far.

Right now, I'm just Googling random search words like "plastic-case-cover" to see if an image search would reveal some unknown object or tool that would have a workable part to match this. At this point, I'm not so much looking for screen accuracy as something that would be functional (and cheap). And I still would like to have some angles to it. The trick is to use something that doesn't look like what it is....like a smartphone cover.
Mordrun, the big foot arm prop is hilarious! If I could nail down this monitor prop, I'd love to see if I could do that. My other geeky buddies would love it!

 

[zappbranigan]

I'm now working up a sculpted master "monitor" since I cannot find a suitable likeness of the original. I'm experimenting with clay and will post pics of my results as soon as I can. My goal is to make a mold and cast resin copies.

 

[zappbranigan]

Well, here's the progression of the clay cast I'm making. I basically sized it to match an iPhone 4 since that looked approximate to the pictures of the opening sequence. Nothing larger would have fit two "monitors" across one side of the chest with enough spacing in between. I'll sand down the final product and try to even out the rough angles. Shooting for razor sharp corners so it comes out looking professional. Right now I'm boning up on how to cast a mold and then pour resin. Probably going to use the Smooth-On products since I've seen that in a lot of the how-to videos.

 

[SSgt Burton]

Well by coincidence I'm making my own SMDM tracksuit (with chest sensors) as well!

I know you've already started scratch building them (great work by the way) but I'm betting those sensors were originally vintage transistor radios similar to this:

It would have the earphone jack (which doubled as a lead for the EKG pad on Steve's chest)--- this is the route I'll be going down if I can find a close to accurate model (and not break the bank buying six of them! :lol).

Also while the shoes you are going to get are close- the originals are Adidas brand Gazelles (unfortunately the correct model with eight lace holes runs about $125-150 on ebay):

(From "The Bionic Criminal")


Best of success!

PS- I got my hands on a red track jacket that had the double white stripes on the sleeves as well. It took a couple of nights with the stitch-ripper, but the stripes did come off without "too" much hassle.

Another thing- the stripes are sewn "into" the seam of the cuff and the collar. Since I didn't want to take the cuff and collar apart (my sewing skills aren't 'that" great) I cut the stripe as close as I could to the seam. So this left a little white stripe of material at the seam. I camouflaged it by taking a red magic marker and dyeing the white material. While it isn't perfect, you wouldn't notice it without me pointing it out.


Kevin

 

[zappbranigan]

SSgt Burton:

I feel ya on the stitch ripping~! I gave it a thought or two and gave up on the idea because I was running out of time for a big Halloween party. I haven't posted my results (sorry I got lazy) but here's some final shots of the whole ensemble. BTW; Nice catch on the authentic Adidas! If I would of known that, I would've sprung for the more expensive pair! I was too obsessed with figuring out the EKG monitor thingy to notice!!

Just to explain what I did, I read up on casting plastic resin and bought some. Then after sculpting the guesswork on the "EKG heart monitor" I made a silicone mold of it using a homemade recipe of 100% silicone from tubes of silicone bought at Home Depot and a small amount of Dawn dish soap. Anyone can google that and find the recipe. It actually worked out really well.

Then I cast six molds of the "monitor". After they dried, I drilled a small hole on top of them and superglued a few plastic pieces of tubing (very small, don't know the exact size) and inserted white speaker/electrical wire. I cut the wires to size and ran them into my jacket with enough left over length to tape together and leave hanging inside the jacket. I ran out of time with letting the white appliance spray paint dry and out of necessity had to wrap cellophane around them really tight so I could mount them on the jacket. For that, I just put some duct tape on the inside of the jacket and drilled a few small screws to hold them securely in place. Not pretty, but got the job done just hours before the party.

Everyone LOVED the costume at the party. I combed my hair (luckily I still have it) ala' Lee Majors style and worked on keeping my left eyebrow up all night :behave. Chicks old enough to remember Lee really dug the outfit!

One last note: I know the original screen authentic jacket didn't have the quintessential Bionic Man Action Figure emblem on it, but I wanted to give a subtle hint to the Halloween party-goers on who I was. The emblem was just a dark T-shirt iron-on transfer made with specialty paper just for that purpose.











And finally the finished product.Some say I bare a close resemblance to the Colonel himself. I don't see it frankly....:confused

 

[PHArchivist]

Great outfit. Your monitors work just fine.

You've got me curious though...

I know that the producers did source actual medical products for some of the bionic limb parts (the arm seen in the credits was an actual electric prosthetic limb available at the time). So I'm curious if these sensors were indeed real-world items...

 

[SSgt Burton]

Hey Zapp the tracksuit turned out great! While I'm not adding the SMDM patch myself, I agree with the reason for doing it. Frankly I might actually wear mine to the gym so the chest EKG/sensors will have to be easily removable. :lol

I'm going to use velcro myself.

PS you look just like a young Lee Majors! It's uncanny!

Once again great work!


Kevin

 

[spydrwebz]

Great job so far! If I had to hazard a guess on the "mystery EKG devices" Id say they were old calculators turned around so the screen faces Lee Major's body.
Ive seen some old TSR calculators that look very similar to this.Your solution looks both elegant and much more cost effective.

As far as props go, how about this piece of "iron railroad track".......or maybe a large paper mache rock?