WIP: Harry Potter Quidditch Broom

[Wolfie]

Well its not so much a work in progress other than I need some ideas for the Footrest assembly ...

The flash washed the colors out a bit, and when I finish some touch ups I'll add a better photo.

It started its life as a hickory long axe handle. I sanded the clear coat off of it and stained it with Ebony stain. The 'straw' is Asian Willow.

I used a couple of those metal screw tightened things you use to hold your dryer exhaust pipe to the vent to hold the stems in place. Cut off the assembly and plastic welded it together then sanded the plastic weld overspill down. After those were in place I poured wood glue down into the tops of the stems.

After all of that dried, I bought some various sized foam balls and painted them reddish brown. stuffed them into the stems and bent them over them, using the heaviest gauge beading wire I could find to wrap the ends together. Then gave it a "hair cut".


I have to note, that I was working on this before that stupid cellphone came out with the same name. Just for the record. :lol

Anyone have any ideas for the foot rest things? I dont have access to anyone who can work metal but if someone out there is good with it and its not TOO much money I'd be interested in your services. Otherwise good ideas for bending thin metal or working with plastics would be appreciated! Or I'll just pull something out of thin air eventually

I'm about to start work on the pads as I am doing a Katie Bell costume for Dragon*Con so I'll add that and change the title as I start working on those if anyone is interested :cool

 

[EZBSVS]

Having built a Nimbus 2000 and 2001 I can appreciate this.

For the foot rests, the bands on the Nimbus brooms were actually just wire, wrapped in wide strips. So I think you can probably figure that part out. For the actual pedals though, I just used a pipe bender and some steel tube from Lowe's. Had a friend weld it up for me though... I'm in the process of making a new weld-free broom for the Last movie (doing Viktor Krum here) and all I have to do is bend and screw metal tube.

What sort of design do you have for your foot rests? If you need help or advice I wouldn't mind helping where possible PM me if ya like or post here or such.

Good luck!

i

 

[woozelmom]

Oh I hope you two will brainstorm on the thread because I am very interested in what you come up with. I have always wanted to try to make a broom myself and might benefit from your posts

*Wolfie-your broom is turning out great. I can't wait to see your progress

*EZBSVS- would you be able to post pictures of your brooms. I would love to see them

 

[Starairi]

For the foot rests, it would be easier to help if you drew a basic drawing of how you picture them to look like. From what I have seen in the movies, there are a lot of varieties of foot rests for the different brooms which probably means different solutions.

Great work so far! I really like how you solved this task. It inspires me to maybe attempt to make a broom at some point.

 

[Wolfie]

EZBSVS, thanks I certainly will PM you when I get my thoughts together lol

As for sketches, I havent even thought about it beyond looking at what is on the Firebolt, and the two Screen seen Nimbus brooms..

Here is you ax handle by the way for anyone interested in attempting a scratch build with out having to modify wood themselves.


http://www.amazon.com/Seymour-100-19-Curved-Lacquer-Finish/dp/B000FP8CBE

Ace Hardware and Sears claim they have them in stock in some areas but when I went looking they never had them in the stores , just the hatchet handles.

Dryer vent clamps:

 

[ecl]

very cool!

 

[Wolfie]

Also just as an afterthought here is kind of a cost break down.

Broom handle with shipping was around $17.00
Two Dryer Vent Clamps about $3.00
3 packages of Asian Willow stems $35.00 (i was lucky and got them at 17.50 during a half off sale at Hobby Lobby)
Small can of stain - $4.00
Wood glue - $4.00
Beading Wire - $3.00
Crystal Clear Spray On Clear Coat - $4.00
Two bags of foam craft balls $6.00

So the total you would put into it would be about $75.00. I lucked out with the stem bits so my cost so far has been $58.50 and probably 4 days worth of effort. Most of it being in getting the stems on.

 

[bunker1]

Just for information.
The foot pedals for the 2000 were pattern made in polyurethane modelboard and then cast in brass and polished to a smooth finish.
Same deal with the 2001, except they were cast in steel.
Stunt versions were made in hard polyurethane foam with armatures inside, cast out of moulds taken from the modelboard masters.
A very expensive process!

 

[EZBSVS]

Dang, I just used steel tube here...

I'm going through some old files, if it's alright with Wolfie I'll post some pics of my brooms? I don't wanna hijack a thread, just figured I'd offer them as resources

 

[Wolfie]

Feel free to post any pictures! I'll change the topic to include "Multiple Members Brooms" lol

Bunker, thanks for sharing that, yeah I didnt think I would have the money or time really to make a mold and cast something or have anyone do that. Possibly just pipe bending and heat shaping of something would be the most effort I could expect lol

 

[EZBSVS]

Haha well I am working on a couple more brooms for the last movie, so it can stay the same... I just won't hijack ya completely!

But anywho, I went through my old files and had a pretty major fail. The pictures I have of the brooms were from my old old OLD cell phone days, and the pictures came out super tiny! So I apologize for that I just tossed them all into a couple large pics so you could get the idea. They came out awesome! I was just young and foolish and didn't understand the importance of documentation So the new brooms are getting a better camera involved.

Anywho! Here's the two pics:

The Nimbus 2001 (it later broke so no new pictures :cry)

And the Nimbus 2000 (ignore the mess in the big picture, the guy I made it for took it at his place... I'd never be caught with so much laundry! :angel)

So there is a small glimpse at my past works.
And for ****s n giggles, here's the concept model for the broom I'm building this summer:

It's a Nimbus 2001 handle cause I had 2 of them cut out cause I thought I was going to do Slytherin Quidditch, but changed my mind. So going to wood stain it a deep cherry red and call it a Nimbus 3001

Oh and the tail is rough black twigs (think Firebolt, but black) and the pedals are brass. AND! They are no weld just lengths of pipe bent and such! Easy stuff!

So with that I'll conclude my hijacking until asked for more Thanks for putting up with my rambling!

i

 

[ElliotStone]

Thats awesome work on the brooms, I was thinking for the foot rests you could maybe use a bicycle handlebar.

http://www.amazon.com/Wald-8069-Hi-Rise-Handlebar-24-5-Inches/dp/B000WY5SL0/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1305246293&sr=8-13

http://www.amazon.com/Wald-880-Handlebar-23-25-Inches-10-5-Inch/dp/B00131V5IG/ref=sr_1_32?ie=UTF8&qid=1305246322&sr=8-32

I made a broom for Goblet of Fire, looking back there is alot of room for improvement

 

[Wolfie]

HRm, thats a thought... they may be a bit too big for the size of my broom though But I think if I fail miserably at buying some thin copper tubing and bending it , I will end up with something very much like that. Maybe a kids bike get up

 

[EZBSVS]

Wolfie, do you have access to anyone who might own a pipe bender? Bending by hand can collapse the pipe, so if you do it'll help a lot. Copper tube is usually pretty easy to bend! Just be careful cause if it's so thin you can bend it easily that means it can unbend even easier. Good luck with it!

 

[Wolfie]

Well, not at the moment I dont have access like that lol. I was going to try to bend it around a mold... IE something like a varying sizes of inflated sports balls held in place with with a vice.

I'll look into if anyone around here I know has a pipe bender though...

I've also thought of finding some stiff wiring and using it to fill out a thin plastic tubing to give it just enough stiffness that it can hold a shape. it wouldnt be great, but it would be safer to lug around at dragon*con if they hit someone lol

 

[EZBSVS]

You'd have to find a strong something to bend around, and even then the tube would probably collapse. Another alternative I mentioned in another thread though is to use acrylic rod, heat it with a heat gun and then bend it around a shape. It'd probably bend around various curves much easier, and be sturdier than filling tube. Get the shape you want then spray paint it however.

Shouldn't be too hard!

 

[Russ257]

you can fill the pipe with sand before you bend it and it should prevnt it from crimping

 

[Wolfie]

You'd have to find a strong something to bend around, and even then the tube would probably collapse. Another alternative I mentioned in another thread though is to use acrylic rod, heat it with a heat gun and then bend it around a shape. It'd probably bend around various curves much easier, and be sturdier than filling tube. Get the shape you want then spray paint it however.

Shouldn't be too hard!

will have to try to find some Acrylic rod then!

Also see if I can convince Lowes or Home Depot to bend the pipe into a shape for me too ,I know they will cut various lengths of wood and tube and pipe. Maybe they'd help me bend it just because they're bored that day LOL

Russ, depending on how cheaply I can get some thin piping, I might try the sand idea too!

 

[Wolfie]

Well, I bought some copper tubing, I want to saw it was about 5/16 or 3/8 inch thick, and a hand held pipe bender that bends up to 3/8 inch tubing lol

I'll be working on it using glues and not welds. so that I can try to sand the connections somewhat smooth. then painting it silver to match the bands. Considering trying to give it a "kick stand" effect of being able to change positions but I may give up completely on that lol

Going to look at door handles (bar type) to use as the foot rest parts so they have a bit of a nice shape/design to them.

Not exactly this probably but something like these:

 

[EZBSVS]

Hey Wolfie! Good luck getting Lowe's to do anything, I never can. But hey, if you do, awesome! As for your pedals, I love the idea of using a door knob like that, could be cool! Or look at maybe doing bike handles? For the longest time I actually thought the Nimbus 2001 pedals were rubber bike handles like these:

So might work well Plus with those, you can usually just slide them onto your tube. So you'd just have to get a bend on the end and then pop em on.

Can't wait to see what you come up with though!