What was your first homemade prop?

[Wes R]

I remember as soon as Robocop 2 came out my best friends and i would try to make CAine out of legos and have him fight the mechwarrior mechas we'd built (based on the SNES game).

 

[defstartrooper]

First actual prop thing i remember making was a K.I.T.T when i was around 8 or 9 i really really wanted an R.C one but i got the usual reply of that's too expensive so off down the garden shed i went and carved myself one out of some old timber offcuts.
Bit of black paint and the wheels off my sisters Barbie mobile wotsit and i was golden i had my own K.I.T.T
Wasn't R.C but it was cool anyway i got a lot of fun out of it.

I was always knocking bits of wood together and making stuff before that but i think that's the first thing that was actually based off a tv show or movie that i actually made.

 

[kurtyboy]

Mine was a cardboard Freddy glove for a home movie in 1985.

Also lots of first props discussed in this thread:
http://www.therpf.com/f9/first-prop-you-ever-made-56091/

 

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[terryr]

I think it was the belt buckle cigarette lighter Laser from Our Man Flint. I used a Tic Tac box and some pens and model car headlights for the laser lenses.

A few years later I made these. I just took these pics from down in the basement storage. Both of these were made from memory. No internet back then. Every line is off but you know what they are. Models not props, but hey...

It really was from scratch. Just a sheet of flat styrene plastic. Whiskey bottle tops and fishing floats for the sides of Skydiver and plastic forks for the Nautilus 'saw' and bingo chips for the propeller.
No way was I going to put thousands of rivets on there.

As I'm typing this christmas songs are playing and Doris Day says 'Toyland, toyland, once you've left toyland you can't go back again.'

 

[Nexus6]

You didn't happen to grow up in Northern California did ya?
:lol

Heh, no, during that time-frame I lived in Virginia.

 

[cjvince]

My first prop was a Tricorder Mark X constructed using cardboard, duct tape, and a page out of the DS9 Technical Manual. It was a far cry from anything approaching accurate, but it was fun to build.


HPIM0852 by cjvince, on Flickr

Compared to a Rodd.com body kit.


Tricorder by cjvince, on Flickr

Apparently, not only did the prop improve, so did my ability to take a picture.

 

[Organic Mechanic]

I honestly don't recall. I made lots of things in my youth. The first thing that comes to mind is a set of glove mounted Wolverine claws I made for Halloween a couple years back. The design was good, but the execution was crap.


I should revisit those...

 

[moviebuff5]

My first was probably a Spas-12 out of PVC and pine after I saw it in Jurassic Park.
Around the same time, but I think a little later, I also made a light saber out of a pen light, acrylic rod, colored saran wrap, cardboard adapter and duct tape.

 

[Zombie_61]

Mine were a Star Trek TOS Communicator and Phaser Type II. Both were made mostly from thick posterboard and based on the dimensions in Franz Joseph's "Star Fleet Technical Manual", so it would have been late 1975 or early 1976. Though they were both "static" props, the antenna grid on the Communicator flipped open and the Phaser I was attached to the Phaser II grip with velcro so that I could remove it.

 

[Wolfdagon]

Can't remember which was first. One was the amulet worn by the main character in the tv show "Phoenix". I made it from cardboard and aluminum foil and used a string to hang it around my neck.

The other was a Captain America costume for Halloween. The shield was a piece of cardboard with the design drawn on it with red, white, and blue crayons. The cowl was made from the leg of an old pair of jeans and a letter "A" cut from red felt and glued to it. I was thrilled when someone actually realized who I was suppose to be.

 

[Kennyd]

My brother and I used to make Star Trek TOS stuff all the time. He also made a TMP Enterprise from the old AMT kit and cornflake packet cardboard.
I had a belt for the phaser which attached with magnets from small radio speakers, it really didn't stay on very well. We didn't realise they used velcro.

Lots of Blake's Seven bits as well, and police stuff.

 

[Forestmoonstudio]

I didn't get into making props until I was 40. Here the first prop that I ever made. PVC E-11 blaster. I tried to use the templetes from Blaster Builders but ended up making and finding alot of the pieces myself. (as you can see by the windshield wiper blades:lol)

 

[Zombie Killer]

I didn't get into prop building until recently either. My first kit was Munsons multipass, my first custom is my entry in the comm contest.

 

[Djinn]

I think I started making things when I was 13 or so. My first was probably a wooden Connor Macleod sword. Highlander the series was on tv at the time and I wanted the sword. My parents had a catalog with the sword in it but it was way too expensive (and my parents would never let me have a sword anyway) So I cut out a horribly inaccurate sword out of wood, used a salsa jar lid for the tsuba, painted the handle white and spent three days drawing the dragon design on with a permanent marker. After that my father coated the handle with urethane so it would last, then I went outside to whack down every tree branch within reach.

Around this time I also made a Thor's hammer out of a 4x4 piece of wood glued to a piece of a branch. And a Master Sword from Zelda:Link to the Past out of wood. And I used some of my mom's glass stain on a clear acrylic piece in the shape of a diamond, I think it was a display base for a watch. And colored it to look like the amulet from Darkhawk. (A comic book character from the early 90's)

 

[Darth Lars]

A Batman cowl in papiér maché, not long after Tim Burton's movie came out. I had planned to make a Batman fan film, but all I ever did was to start on Batman's costume. I was 14 and there were other interests ...

 

[electric jay]

A full-size TARDIS out of wood and cardboard when I was about 11. Around the same time, I made a sonic screwdriver out of...well, screwdrivers and a TARDIS key out of cardboard and Scotch tape.

 

[fevereon]

if you count models, I made a fleet of General Lee's out of folded paper when i was 5, but the dog used to eat them.


-Propwise- (like wieldable items) , i think that the Neutra laser from Bravestarr was my first. My mom bought me one >25$ toy twice a year (bday, xmas) and she didn't want to buy me a gun (even impractical spaceguns ) so i made one from cardboard.


no photos unfortunately

 

[parfaitelumiere]

A batarang,for a young boy,I think he was 6,I was about 15.
He loved batman,I made this batarang from thick paper,painted with chrome look paint,and added some kind words from Batman himself!
He was very happy!

 

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