What was your first homemade prop?

[superjedi]

My first was Han's blaster from the old Burger King Star Wars posters.
Like this one:

It looked nothing like the DL-44 from the movie.
I built it all from wood and I remember my dad letting me use his radial arm saw to cut sections of dowel for the barrel.
I spray bombed it with Rustoleum black and hunted many imaginary Wampas.

I have no idea what happened to it. I'm sure it wound up in the trash at some point.

 

[Blackbirdcd]

With the help of my dad (on the bandsaw) I remember cutting out and painting a flat Phaser II from the classic Star Trek when I was about 5. Later, around 10-12 I made better ones that had inter-locking phaser 1s, and even a communicator. Still have them somewhere at home packed away.

Great thread!

 

[robtk9583]

my wifes jawa blaster

 

[CAndrewNelson]

The very first prop I attempted to make was when I "borrowed" my grandfather's penlight (he knew he wasn't getting it back) to turn it into Ultraman's beta capsule. It was the perfect size to begin with and almost the right color. I had to make changes to the top where it lit up. I think I was 9 years old at the time.

 

[TK 4702]

This is probably my 1st home made prop... It's a Thermal Detonator for a Stormtrooper outfit.

 

[Draphin]

Mine was the Rutger Hauer Blind fury Sword.

Disregard the PSD Files I turned them into Jpeg's and re attached them sorry

 

[jamief123]

I was in my teens when i built Sulu and Chekov's navigation station out of cardboard.I used it as part of my bridge set in the basement where i had filmed a short Star Trek parody video for America's Funniest People when they asked viewers to send in their Trek films.

 

[Straker]

Mine was the Rutger Hauer Blind fury Sword.

Disregard the PSD Files I turned them into Jpeg's and re attached them sorry

Nice! One of my favorite pieces too!


My first home made prop was this:

Stripped the paint off, cut the hole out the back and filled in gaps and holes. There's a plate on either side painted black to keep you from seeing my hand inside and the whole interior is padded in black leather. I repainted and hand aged the casing and gave it a greasy and dirty looking paint wash. Thing is heavy too XD

 

[Kingpin]

This isn't the first prop I'd built or had a hand in, but it's the most "homemade":

Sourcing the acrylic, locating a close enough paint, looking for an online tutorial, following what it detailed once I'd found it... actually cooking the handle in the oven to curve it... it gave me a tremendous surge in confidence in being able to build props on my own.

And even though it eventually broke through use, it's steeled my resolve to improve the design for mark 2.

 

[Spaceace]

This is the only thing I have done from scratch.

 

[Spaceace]

Ooops...forgot, I made this first...

 

[GBRyker61]

I didn't get into prop making until about three years ago. The first prop I made were the Ecto-goggles from GhostBusters. The pair I made were made from a pair of welding goggles, plumbing and electrical fittings. The next prop I made was, of course, the proton pack. Last year I made a ghost trap and a better looking proton pack. I want to post photos but I don't know how to.

 

[Kang1]

Lukes lightsaber from A New Hope. I was about 16 and made it from plumbing supplies and a fan belt from a truck for the grips.

 

[Draphin]

I want to post photos but I don't know how to.

I had a time with this when I first started as well but I soon found it was staring me in the face I just had to look harder.

When you create a response or topic, below the field you type in you will see a section called "Additional Options". In the middle of that you will see a section labeled Attach Files and in there a button that says Manage Attachments. Click that and your on your way. You should be able to figure the rest out as it is just as easy as clicking the attachement button and then searching your computer for the picture you want to attach and then saying done. My big problem was realizing and finding this first step. I hope this helps as I would really like to see some pictures of your Ghost Busters Props.

If you need any more help just PM me and I will see what I can do for ya.

 

[eumeri]

When I was 10 I made a TOS Phaser II with a removable Phaser 1 out of cardboard, poster board and latex paint. I scavenged every other piece from odds and ends (old A team van toy, etc.). Given it was my first attempt I was pretty pleased.

Had it for about 5 years then I gave it to the Star Trek club I was in locally for a charity auction. I think we got 50 or 60 bucks for it.

 

[dmwhiteman]

Like many of the responses here, mine will be similar. I didnt get into "real" prop making until recently and still the attempts I have made very amature, but I would say my first items used as props would have been any toy gun that I could pretend was from whatever movie I was into at the time, or dowel rods painted red, blue or green with black electrical tape around the handle. Tons of wooden swords!

 

[Duncanator]

Back in the 1970's I made a Tricorder and Communicater from the drawings in the original
Star Trek Technical Manual. They were made from corrugated cardboard primarily, but they
looked pretty darn good to me at the time. I kinda wish I still had them.

 

[stefwill]

Mine was Monkey's fighting staff!
It was made from an old broom stick, black electrical tape with gold tape for the ends. To get all the chinese characters that were written on the staff, I took photos of the TV – 1983 no internet and I wasn't allowed to use the Betamax (Yes Betamax, "Beter quality than VHS ya know" as my dad would remind me) took my camera to the chemist to get the film developed – 1983 no digital camera either. Then I had to wait a week for it to be sent of and developed. Got the photos back only to find that while 2 or 3 of the 24 shots were in focus enough to see the screen, none of them showed the writing on the staff.

So I made it up.

[rant]You kids with your laser powered printers and interwebs and digital doodads don't know how lucky you are! In my day....[/rant]

My neighbour also made one and we spent an entire summer fighting each other with them. there were lots of bruised knuckles and self-inflicted head wounds...

Oh fun times!

 

[DeLorean12]

My first homemade prop was my Colonial Marine armor, based off Hudson's.
Made it out of Sintra, hand painted it myself! Still very proud of it.
Currently working on time circuits and soon the speedometer from BTTF. I think I may just end up using sintra again for the boxes to put the electronics in. Any suggestions for alternatives?

 

[berger]

my first and only home made prop was a skull island map i drew in photoshop based off of scans of the original, printed out on nice paper and weathered, i didnt have an rpf account at the time because of the closed signups, so i made about 10 of them, and had a friend who DID have an rpf account sell them.

i was young at the time and for some reason thought i would be able to sell so many i would make it rich! i had dreams of fortune and glory! everyone would want one! i think he managed to sell 4 :lol everyone that bought one loved it though. so that was nice, after spending 20+ hours hunched over in front of my computer drawing it all out, making sure the folds were correct, and then countless hours spend staining and sanding the folds and creases to make it appear old as hell.

One of which went to Adam savage, which made me squeal like a schoolgirl, and made up for the fact that i managed to sell so few. it DID keep me visiting the site on a daily basis, and you can bet i was there as soon as sign ups were taken again around a year or so later.