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[Gadgeteer]

Hi all. I'm a physics student with an interest in props (obviously), especially ones with animatronics. I am a relative beginner, and am in the middle of working on my first real project: an Audrey 2 Plant, from the Little Shop of Horrors. I'm about to make a post about it in the relevant forum, partly because I am looking for a little bit of advice/reassurance in some areas, and partly because I like to show off. Hope to see you there! In the future, I would really like to build a full-size K9 from Doctor Who - but that's a long way off, I think.

Doesn't anyone post here in discussion? It's really fun to read posts here, and try to imagine where each person is. Clearly we all enjoy a participation (vicariously) in movies or times. I do own some Star Trek props, LOTR props, etcetera.

Gyro :wave: , the physics-thing makes for more realistic props, doesn't it? I've always wanted a "light saber" (have three of the Hasbro toys), but haven't figured out how to do a "projected mirror". (Laser power INSIDE of a resonant cavity is many times higher than emitted.) I do have a laser pointer in the 1000mW range, easily lights matches and burns paper (and really messes up houseflies' wings!). Would love to figure out how to make a non-contact "stun device" like the SG1's "zat gun". Perhaps an actual antigravity device. Do you know about the Alcubierre drive?

RE "animatronics" to you and everyone else, as I said in a previous post, there is an approaching season that lends itself to "experimentation" -- Halloween comes with many animated displays, motorized, talking, lighted. These things go half-price November 1st, and often 75% off if they've not sold. You could easily "repurpose" an animatronic framework, all of the hard work of creating a structure and placing motors is done. There's not much you can do with the voice modules, they're always "COBS" (chip-on-board dedicated circuits with digitized sound). But one could always get a sound module from Radio Shack or Amazon, and record anything he/she wants. If you're good at programming PICS or ARDUINO boards, you can activate various sounds in response to specific sensors and make your character interactive; you can also do that with simple gates (4000 series CMOS works on any voltage from 3 to 15). The Halloween devices usually have a CDS cell "motion detector".

I replaced the COB board in a "Cookie Hut" jar, it played a knockoff version of "The Ballad of Gilligan", but only 10 seconds; now it plays the whole 20-second opening (the ORIGINAL, not a poor knockoff), the 30-second closing, and (eventually) will have ten seconds of an episode ("Skipper! Skiiiiipeeerrrrr!" "GILLIGAN!") That sound chip comes in at least 30-second and 60-second versions, and will play recordings in SEQUENCE (every time I open the cookie-jar a different clip plays).

Keep us posted!

 

[Withers]

Hi guys, I'm Jason.

I stumbled onto this forum when looking for 3d models of Destiny weapons but I've been interested in props and cosplay for forever. I'm really into virtually any sci-fi / fantasy series in existence (except for original Trek and Doctor Who, I can't get into them no matter how hard I try). There's a special place in my heart for Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Jurassic Park and BTTF. I'm looking at building a Starkiller costume for TFA this winter and a Destiny Hunter costume for Comic Con next year!

 

[aimoto]

Hello everyone,

I've actually been on this forum for some time now but hadn't posted anything up yet. I joined to browse and lurk since I have yet really gotten into building props. I mainly sew and so I didn't think I should really post anything until it was time for me to make props. I don't have a collection going yet. I am a starting out cosplayer but want to be more serious into costuming mainly for Star Wars Rebels: Sabine Wren and Guardians of the Galaxy: Rocket Racoon for starters. These will be the first longer build for me as I want to get these two looking as great as I can. I hope to be able to contribute to this forum soon.

Thanks!

 

[JoshuaHarris]

Hey, I'm totally new to this. I've always been fascinated at the work of others. I currently attend a few conventions around the Southeast and own / operate a small commercial haunted house, for which I develop and design all of our props / scares.I'm looking forward to learning a lot and making some excellent connections.

 

[Hydrargyros]

the physics-thing makes for more realistic props, doesn't it? I've always wanted a "light saber" (have three of the Hasbro toys), but haven't figured out how to do a "projected mirror". (Laser power INSIDE of a resonant cavity is many times higher than emitted.) I do have a laser pointer in the 1000mW range, easily lights matches and burns paper (and really messes up houseflies' wings!). Would love to figure out how to make a non-contact "stun device" like the SG1's "zat gun". Perhaps an actual antigravity device. Do you know about the Alcubierre drive?

I can certainly say that I have a good eye for details, and am definitely a perfectionist, and that it's something that comes in very useful in my studies. When it comes lasers, you can get some pretty powerful stuff just online these days. Antigravity is a little out of my league haha, definitely less doable - at least harder to find on Amazon. And as for the Alcubierre drive, yes actually - I did a nice big long essay a year or two ago (before I started university) on space travel and colonisation, and the Alcubierre did come up a couple of times in my research. It's another one of those 'amazing in theory, near-impossible in practice' kind of things. It's an absolutely fascinating idea (for those reading this who don't know, the idea is this: You can't travel through spacetime faster than the speed of light, but spacetime can warp and stretch, and it has no speed limit. The Alcubierre drive - which is basically the closest thing yet theorised to the Star Trek warp drive - is designed to warp a 'bubble' of spacetime around the craft in such a way that the bubble moves at, or faster than, the speed of light, while the craft doesn't actually move through spacetime faster than light. It's kind of like surfing on a wave you are continuously creating from your board), definitely something I would love to see more research done into.

RE "animatronics" to you and everyone else, as I said in a previous post, there is an approaching season that lends itself to "experimentation" -- Halloween comes with many animated displays, motorized, talking, lighted. These things go half-price November 1st, and often 75% off if they've not sold.

I didn't think about that - I'm always very careful to buy a lot of my clothes, computer parts, etc. at the right time of year (I found a chart once that showed me the best times but I lost it, I'm sure I could find it again with a quick google), but I hadn't thought to do that with my Arduino, servos, etc. It makes me wish I hadn't ordered over £50 worth of stuff just the other day..

Oh, and by the way, if you're interested in seeing what I'm doing, I put up a post about my Audrey II project in the Replica Props forum. Tonight I went to a 3D printing group up in the Manchester city centre, so I've found a great makerspace where I will have access to a 3D printer to do all of the parts for the internal frame. I can't believe how little it's actually going to cost - £10 a month for use of the space (with laser cutters, 3D printers, all kinds of woodworking, electronics, etc. equipment) plus buying my own filaments/materials is really a lot less than I had imagined. I'm working on the CAD designs for the head internal frame at the moment, will update the post once that's made some progress. Thanks for your interest!

 

[JeffreyJJohnson]

Hello,


Jeffrey from Tennessee here. I tend to go to conventions in the southeast (particularly DragonCon) but plan to branch out in the future.


I have known of RPF for awhile but have not really gotten into anything serious yet, though I hope to change that. I have wanted to build a full size TARDIS for about as long as I can remember, well I wanted a working one as a child but have learned enough about physics to know that is not likely to happen anytime soon. In addition to that I have started to get into costuming as well as just general props I would like to do. I, of course, have a dream list of Iron Man, Stormtrooper, both the Time Lord General and High Lords from Doctor Who (Day of the Doctor), The Moment (also from the Day of the Doctor), K-9, Dalek and R2-D2. But for now I am starting smaller and have made one (rather pitiful) pass at a Dominator from the Anime Psyco-Pass. It does light up when the trigger is pulled which is cool but that is about as far as I can say with that. I want to make a resin casted version that lights up as my next project but have never done any of that so hoping I can find help with that here. After that is Maka's Death Scyth from another Anime, Soul Eater (recently got a girlfriend who is into anime and has gotten me hooked, haha).

 

[Oneiros]

I probably should have done this ages ago, but here goes!

Greetings from sunny Puerto Rico! I've been doing costumes and props for about 8 years, on and off. Recently decided to start back up again, so I'll be more active!

 

[COZombieHunter]

Hello everyone:
I am new to cosplay and prop making, but I was introduced to cosplay last Summer and since there really aren't any stores that sell many cosplay props, I started to slowly make up my props for my cosplay character. I was told about this site by a Lowes employee whom I had met while I as shopping for some wood and parts to make one of my props for my cosplay outfit. I find this site a great place to get information to make my props, and the people on here are nice and have a great eye for detail about various props.
I'm excited to see people's props, and very i'm grateful for the helpful knowledge that I've gotten from peeps on here.
I am making zombie hunter props, zombie props, and Ghostbusters props so far. My two passions are zombie themed stuff and I fell in love Ghostbusters cosplay as well.
Its a pleasure to meet peeps and I appreciate the knowledge and talents on this site.
Peace

 

[InfoJuicer]

Hi Everyone,

i'm Mark, from the UK. Long time lurker so I thought I'd best start off with an intro.

Have been a sci-if model builder for a long time but now just getting into props and costumes (mainly as I'm fed up not cosplaying at Comic Con when I take my kids!). Just starting to put together a Fallout-based costume so hope to post some progress information when I can!

Cheers

 

[Damndrew]

Hey everybody,

I've been checking you guys out more and more recently. I'm a big Tested fan and after hearing so much about RPF through them I've been coming here to see what everyone is working on. Today I said why not sign up.

I've started my first prop
I've been trying to figure out Johnny Mo's twin shotas from Kill Bill vol 1. for a long time and was hoping someone else had already done it so I could hang on their coattails. But after many times trying to search it out on the forums and looking for similar stuff on the normal page. I will probably have to do it myself, which is cool too. Hopefully I'll have a good time at it and document my progress so another Kill Bill fan can do a better job than I.

I'll see everyone around.
Drew

 

[Steppingrazor66]

Hello Everyone!

My name is Dan. I have been going to Conventions since the mid 90's. Although I slacked off in the middle, I've been very active for the last 5-6 years. I take a ton of shoots and became really interested in the costumes that everyone worked so hard for. I have a few friends that are active in the 501st and Jedi Guild Even though it was not my thing. I started to collect Star Wars Helmets.

I have also made a few Tie fighter Speaker Monitor systems. Here are 2 I've done so far.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/choosepoorly/c399n2

&

https://www.flickr.com/gp/choosepoorly/un5V4D

I recently purchased a SW:TFA Trooper helmet that was created before the office Masks were revealed so it is going to need some heavy modification. Im just looking for help and suggestions.

Thank you!

 

[friendly]

Hello! I have a healthy obsession with Fallout 3 props and the game and just about anything relating to it excites me. I have never felt this way about a game before or since~ (That t-45d armour is very h) Me favourite marvel character is probably Deadpool and Mac Gargan as Spider Man. The Fifth Element is pretty special to me. I'd like to get into clothes making soon because (I really liked the dresses from Firefly, and also bustles are cute) it would open up a lot of creative possibilities for me! The one treasured prop I do have is the tenth Doctor's screwdriver. Would love to make props and costumes from the seventh Doctor's time with Ace. I'm gleaning info on what I'd like to make and getting a lot of vicarious pleasure from following people's projects, too! There are so many cool, obscure ideas that would not have occurred to me. So this is great. In conclusion, hey

 

[krispikarim]

hey, hi, hello, im karim, and im only 15, but i really like to build (technical theatre stuff), but i am best at props (thats why im here lol), i have started reading threads here since 2012, but i never made an account until now, i started just reading about how people are building iron man suits, and i started to build one myself a year ago, but i have only worked on it very slowly, because i was really focused in technical theatre on my free time, because i went to an arts school, but this past summer i really got into building props, other than the iron man stuff i did, the first real thing i attempted to build without pepakura was an oblivion keyblade, but they technique i used wasnt structural enough, so i stopped working on that, and went for a little bit less detailed oathkeeper keyblade when this summer started, and i am currently half way building it, and i think this time it is gonna work out, bc i accounted for all the variables, and i also have fully build a mass effect N7 eagle and i am currently molding it, and these past few days i have started making my own nike mags from back to the future 100% from scratch

 

[Gadgeteer]

I can certainly say that I have a good eye for details, and am definitely a perfectionist, and that it's something that comes in very useful in my studies. When it comes lasers, you can get some pretty powerful stuff just online these days.

And generally they're LYING. I bought a green 5000mW (5 watts) laser on ebay, but it measured only 50mW. (Ebay refunded my money, I still have the laser!) Any posted power over about 1.5-2 watts blue (450nm), or 200mW green (doubled 532nm), or red ~600mW, they're just flat lying. My blue 1 watt laser draws a whole amp, which means (4.5 volts drop) it dissipates 4.5 watts of heat! Imagine how much heat a 10-50 watt laser would dump!!! :eek

Antigravity is a little out of my league haha, definitely less doable - at least harder to find on Amazon.

There's no way to go to other planets without an electric propulsion, both antigravitic in function and sufficient power. With current technology a trip to Mars would be ONE WAY, impossible to carry enough fuel for a rocket to get out of the Martian gravity well.

And as for the Alcubierre drive, yes actually - I did a nice big long essay a year or two ago (before I started university) on space travel and colonisation, and the Alcubierre did come up a couple of times in my research. It's another one of those 'amazing in theory, near-impossible in practice' kind of things.

Apparently not; another physicist reworked the calculations and decided "this is feasible". Nasa is studying it; but they would never ADMIT to having a working ship, it would destroy the minerals and precious metals markets!

It's an absolutely fascinating idea (for those reading this who don't know, the idea is this: You can't travel through spacetime faster than the speed of light, but spacetime can warp and stretch, and it has no speed limit. The Alcubierre drive - which is basically the closest thing yet theorised to the Star Trek warp drive - is designed to warp a 'bubble' of spacetime around the craft in such a way that the bubble moves at, or faster than, the speed of light, while the craft doesn't actually move through spacetime faster than light. It's kind of like surfing on a wave you are continuously creating from your board), definitely something I would love to see more research done into.

Take what you just said, and apply it to Mallett's "time-travel". He contends it's impossible to travel back in time further than the start of the experiment (when you first turned on your laser whirlpool); but if your ship CREATES the wave AS you travel, you should be able to go as far back as you want.

Time-travel also is one of those things no one would ever admit to; and it's very easy to screw up history.

I didn't think about that - I'm always very careful to buy a lot of my clothes, computer parts, etc. at the right time of year (I found a chart once that showed me the best times but I lost it, I'm sure I could find it again with a quick google), but I hadn't thought to do that with my Arduino, servos, etc. It makes me wish I hadn't ordered over £50 worth of stuff just the other day..

Heh heh -- I sometimes wish I hadn't discovered ebay. But then, sometimes I get props that I never thought I could afford! One of my addictions is "LTA" (zeppelins, airships) -- I have an actual plate that supposedly flew on the Graff!

Oh, and by the way, if you're interested in seeing what I'm doing, I put up a post about my Audrey II project in the Replica Props forum. Tonight I went to a 3D printing group up in the Manchester city centre, so I've found a great makerspace where I will have access to a 3D printer to do all of the parts for the internal frame. I can't believe how little it's actually going to cost - £10 a month for use of the space (with laser cutters, 3D printers, all kinds of woodworking, electronics, etc. equipment) plus buying my own filaments/materials is really a lot less than I had imagined. I'm working on the CAD designs for the head internal frame at the moment, will update the post once that's made some progress. Thanks for your interest!

You know, I think I'm gonna hafta learn the "3D printing" thing. Someone sent to me as a "free surprise", a little Minion, molded in white (don't know if it's ABS or PLA). As I said in another post I've been trying to get a Tripod (from the BBC series); I just acquired one, will look into creating an STL file from the actual model. The only model posted online is so large that Shapeways wants $37,500 to make it (and I've not learned how to "scale"). And its head is said to be mis-scaled. I'm absolutely ecstatic about the Tripod I just got, looking forward to make its "eyes" (forward windows) light up like on the series, and its head turn (ordered some timer chips and a tiny motor...)

 

[Gadgeteer]

Hello! I have a healthy obsession with Fallout 3 props and the game and just about anything relating to it excites me. I have never felt this way about a game before or since~ (That t-45d armour is very h) Me favourite marvel character is probably Deadpool and Mac Gargan as Spider Man. The Fifth Element is pretty special to me. I'd like to get into clothes making soon because (I really liked the dresses from Firefly, and also bustles are cute) it would open up a lot of creative possibilities for me! The one treasured prop I do have is the tenth Doctor's screwdriver. Would love to make props and costumes from the seventh Doctor's time with Ace. I'm gleaning info on what I'd like to make and getting a lot of vicarious pleasure from following people's projects, too! There are so many cool, obscure ideas that would not have occurred to me. So this is great. In conclusion, hey

Hi! Can you post a pic of the screwdriver? I confess to drooling over a "screwdriver" a local hobby shop sells; but they're too expensive...

 

[Aquamad]

HI
This year was the first time I have ventured into cosplay and prop making... I have wanted to own several outfits from various movies/series/books over the past years but have been disappointed at the low quality stuff sold in stores, yet never thought to build my own. A year or 2 ago I came across the Dalek plans on a website and immediately saved them to a flash drive - i wanted to build it (one day)... but life got away from me and the idea was shelved. I then attended my first comic-con type event this year (tropicon in Cairns, Australia) and was well impressed by some of the outfits I saw. Within a week I had bought a pile of EVA foam, glues, cutting tools and fittings for my Dremel rotary tool. However, I decided to start with a different Dr Who villain, the Cyberman. To date I have complete the head/helmet and have made an early start on the chest piece. Its a steep learning curve, but I am enjoying it all the same. Its as much a hobby at the moment as it is an addiction. Im even planning my wifes outfit for 2016 as well as that of my 3 kids - with so many files out there ready to use (thanks to the hard work of so very many dedicated fans) my biggest problem (next to a limited budget) is what to settle on
Currently my students think I`m ever so slightly nutso (I teach middle school).

 

[cstayton]

Hey all,

Charlie Stayton here I'm a writer and developer of games for Cracked Monocle Gaming and a huge Geek! Love Sci Fi and Steampunk and building props for some of the conventions I go to. I have a DaVinci 1.0 AiO and love working with 3D print! Glad to be a part of the forums here!

Charlie

 

[Oase]

Hello to all,

I´m Christopher and im quite new in costuming. I transformed to real Star Wars nerd in the last few years collecting all kind of Star Wars props and items. I allready have some started Star Wars costumes but i never got one finished, so i joined here to get some insperation from you guys here. My Stormtrooper is nearly finished only my E-11 Blaster is missing to complete it (just got my Airsoft Sterling replica an monday). I also have a Boba costume it only needs the flightsuit and some weathering then its finished (have to lose some weight first don´t want to go out as Boba Fat :lol). My biggest project what i want get started in near future is my diningroom, I want to pimp it up into a Deathstar themed room. So i think i might be here in the right place find some crazy freaks like me. Sorry my english is little bit rusty.

 

[Machinimax]

Ah-ha! Here is the intro thread!

Hello folks! I go by the name of Machinimax on the forums. I've been in the prop hobby for about 5 years now but really got into custom prop work about 4 years ago. I am glad to finally be a member of the RPF.

A bit about myself, I am a high school engineering teacher and will soon be starting the second year of my career. My hobbies involve working with electronics and, of course, building props. I love combining the two together! My biggest fandom is Star Wars. I've loved the movies since I saw A New Hope when I was 2 years old. Most of the props and projects I build come from there. However I am also a collector from other franchises, two of my other favorites being Doctor Who and Halo. There is much I have learned and acquired while being a part of this hobby. I've built lots of fun things from lightsabers to blasters. By the start of next year I plan on working on my first set of stormtrooper armor and have hopes of joining up with the 501st.

That briefly sums it up. I hope you all will enjoy what I can bring to the table and I hope to learn even more while I am here!

 

[Pasta]

Hello!
I planned on just lurking as I have bad luck in forums, but due to increasing health concerns I decided to take up my dream hobby. This website is the hub for creators everywhere, and being here feels like being right at home!