Need a special Prop Gun made . . . help!

Fiveacre Films

New Member
Hello, I'm a filmmaker, not a prop maker, and I need help with a special kind of prop gun. We are currently in production on a period film-noir inspired comedy that's set in the 1940s. We have already assembled most of the period-correct props and wardrobe needed, but there is one prop that I'll need to have made: I need a replica of a 1908 Vest Pocket model Colt .25 handgun, with a finish that looks nickel plated with pearl grips just like the one pictured here:
400px-Colt1908VestPocketNickel.jpg

Now here's the kicker . . . I need this prop made of foam rubber or some other compressible/pliable material so that we are able to insert the whole gun inside an actors mouth. The scene calls for him to "cough up" the gun and extract it from his mouth (sounds weird, but this is a screwball comedy). Yes, I could do this shot with VFX, but it will be so much more effective if we can do it as a practical effect. I have an airsoft replica of the gun that someone could use to make a mold from, if that would help. I see it being made from something similar to a Nerf football where it has a slick solid outer layer that can be painted, but a soft foamy inside that would allow it to be compressed and folded as needed.

Can I get any help here?
 
Compressible, pliable, nickel coating and all food safe. You don't ask for much do you?
I think you might be correct with using foam rubber, but the closest you will get would probably be mixing food coloring to get a somewhat silver color, since I don't think any silver paint would be safe to put in your mouth, especially if it is painted on a foam rubber medium. This probably wouldn't stand up to any close inspection, so you would probably have to switch to a more realistic looking prop after it has been regurgitated.

TazMan2000
 
My wife actually has food-safe airbrush coloring in silver that she uses for cakes, so that certainly could be used.
 
You could probably do this yourself. The gun is very simple and small, so a two piece mold would do the trick.

You'd want it done in self-skinning cold curing foam (so you don't have to worry about screwing up the curing in an oven), then you'd paint it in acrylics, and do a gloss acrylic medium over that. I've used cold-curing foam for all sorts of prosthetic stuff over the years, and I've been able to get away with having it in my mouth and near my eyes. And water-based acrylics are pretty safe overall. As Taz mentioned, any attempt at this aside from a plated version won't really stand up to insane scrutiny, but I'd use sleight of hand in editing to transition between the foam version and the metal version.
 
I think the wrinkles would show after it unfolded, if cast in foam rubber. Especially with a silver finish. Might be better to cast a solid that is small enough to fit in the actor's mouth: change the dimensions so that it is narrow, but still to scale, then switch to full size prop after it is coughed up.
 
You guys are thinking like prop collectors. Not film makers.

It doesn't have to be perfect. Have the actor spit out the stunt foamy rubber one painted in relatively safe acrylics, then cut to the chromed hero gun falling into the guys hands or on the floor or where ever the script demands.

Stunt prop to Hero prop. Gag sold.
 
Thats actually rather simple, except you need the materials to do so. You are looking at,

1: the skills to do the job,
2: clay up on the gun for mold prep,
3: silicone for the mold and mold making materials,
4: a skinning rubber (not a self skinning foam),
5: soft foam rubber for the inner.

The silver color, if doing a skin coat of rubber krylon dull aluminum is what you will want. Not chrome or any of that as it will never dry proper and will crack on a soft breeze. Dull aluminum, trust me. Considering its going into someones mouth there will be stress lines on the surface regardless. Its going to be an FX type insert shot between the actual gag and the hero prop.

What you may want to consider, if you have the cheap springer $10 airsoft gun is to get one or two more of them and just cut the handle off one then the handle and half the slide off another. This will get you the barrel in the mouth on the tongue insert as if its coming up out of the throat (if you want to see inside the mouth) and also another of the full barrel being seen inside and coming out of the mouth. Next is the full gun, it will come together in editing but talk it through with your DP.
That way is much simpler and cheaper then molding and casting. You cant just walk into a supplier and buy a tiny kit of soft foam and skin rubber. Your looking at hundreds of dollars here to do the project right. If your not going to do it right, do it another way that will work or dont do it at all. Cutting down two other cheap airsoft guns will work. If the actor cant act the part, direct him or get an actor that can act. That sounds mean but an actor is an ACTOR.
 
I second robstyle's suggestion. Just finished some flexible foam meat cleavers for a project. It's expensive for a gag you'll probably chop up in the edit anyway.

I have a Colt .25 for reference here and I think a flexible foam version coming out of the actor's mouth would look like a foam object expanding out of his mouth, not a rigid object forcing it's way out, if you catch my drift.

I think robstyle's suggestion of cutting up a cheap airsoft is excellent. If you are really dying to sell the gag in one seamless shot, there may even be a way for the actor to spit out the partial gun, then use a little slight of hand to grab it out and swap it with the real gun. But your actor would have to have some magician skills and you'd have to sell it with the camera angle.
 
Grey/silver (non chrome) paint would work, and if you brush some clear honey or other viscous fluid onto the gun just before it goes into the mouth, that will give you the strong highlights you'd associate with a shiny metal object once it pops out - and help to hide any cracks/flakes in the paintwork.
 
I too think a foamy gun squishing out of the actors mouth might not give a clean believable effect.

A good profile shot with the gun falling from beside the actors head with the hero prop might be all thats needed to sell the gag too. No elaborate prop construction needed.

Or just have the handle (chopped airsoft gun handle) begin to pop out of the actors mouth. Then cut to him pulling the rest out from a side view.

Again depends on the visual style of the director and what the script dictates. Lots of options to get the visual gag across.
 
Hey Robstyle, how does a self-skinning foam not work for this?

The surface "skin" on self skinning foam is porous and micro thin for the soft foam he is requesting as well as the surface would be full of imperfections for an item that is supposed to be a smooth metal. There is also the stress lines that would be instantly created upon first hitting the actors mouth not just from being bent up to fit but from heat and moisture from the mouth alone. If he is after a full visual unedited on camera gag that will sell, self skinning foam wont work. Been there, done that :cool

Acting, lighting, camera work and editing ill make the cheaper way work with cut up airsoft items. If the big bucks are there opt for the rubber skin and foam version and see if it will work in one shot. The problem again there is its mass inside the actors mouth. It will be visually obvious to Helen Keller the actor has something in their mouth from the start. From experience, the cheap way out is what will work. Cut them sumbitches up and creatively make it work.
 
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