Be Right Back, Uninstalling

I had a question regarding prop-making and since there wasn't a thread for that, I made one for everyone to use. I intend this to be a thread where people can ask questions regarding the various aspects of prop-making and other people with (helpful) answers can respond to them.

To start things off, has anyone used Apoxie sculpt before? I would like to know the pros and cons of it if I were to use it to re-enforce my medigun prop. I've been looking into wonderflex as well but it appears to be more troublesome because of the efforts put into smoothing (and the medigun is not a lumpy item at all so there would be a lot of smoothing involved).

And can someone assist me in wiring LEDs+a switch? I am rubbish at circuits; What should I get? (and where to buy) How do they connect?

Apoxie sculpt seems to be a gold standard for making custom stuff, but requires some sanding before painting. I haven't used it personally though.

You'll need an LED (or LEDs), some sort of holder for a battery, a switch of your choice, and a current-limiting resistor. The resistor depends on the number and type of LEDs as well as the power source. http://ledcalculator.net/ should get you going. The LED's voltage and current ratings you should be able to get from whatever supplier you're getting the LED from, and it'll tell you what size current-limiting resistor you need to put in series with it in order to keep from burning out the LED. If you want to get heavy into the math involved, check this out for a start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED_circuit

As far as which end of the LED goes to what part of the battery, it only works one way, and one leg/side of the LED is marked. Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED_circuit#Polarity

Depending on big the thing you wanna sculpt is, green putty is damn good stuff.  Also for LEDs, keep it volted between 3 and 3.5 volts or you might fry the LED.  I've done LEDs with button batteries only.  As for circuits, a good primer is any basic physics text book.  Google-Fu will probably even work.  If you understand the basics of EMF, capacitance, resistance, series vs parallell and some of the circuit rules, thats probably 90% of the way.  I'd have to check up on it myself though.

You can find LEDs anywhere that sells electronic parts, Radio Shack, Frys, etc.
You will need resistors as At0m noted, that calculator is pretty good.

When shopping for LEDs, they come is various sizes and colours. Find one that matches your needs.
You will see voltage, current and brightness (measured in mcd). You will need to know what type of battery you are using, the current of the LED and the forward voltage of the LED before you can choose resistors (using the resistor calculator).

You can also find LEDs that produce two or three colours (or a mix). There are also LEDs with blinking modules built in.
Depending on effect, there are a number of simple circuits that can created that can make fading and flashing effects (very cool with mixed colours).

Thanks for the replies!
For the battery, I'm thinking of using a 9 volt since I have a box of it on hand from interning at Rayovac. And Karrde, by button batteries, do you mean the zinc-air ones that are commonly used in hearing aids?
I might visit Radioshack this weekend and take a look at their stuff.

He means watch batteries, like the CR2032. Not sure if those are zinc air or not, though.

(09-21-2011, 11:22 AM)at0m link Wrote: [ -> ]He means watch batteries, like the CR2032. Not sure if those are zinc air or not, though.

The C means lithium electrode, manganese dioxide electrode.
The R means it's a round form factor. The 2032 is the size: 20mm diameter, 3.2mm height.

Zinc-air use the 'A' prefix.

themoreyouknow.jpg

Ordered smooth-on stuff for making pokeballs

(09-21-2011, 09:42 PM)Caffeine link Wrote: [ -> ]Ordered smooth-on stuff for making pokeballs

Smooth-on: Apply directly to the pokeball
Smooth-on: Apply directly to the pokeball

SSo I figured out what kind of Hat the Sniper wears.  It is called a Barmah.  They are made of Kangaroo leather and can be folded.  The trouble now regards the Trophy Belt.  How can I make the Trophy Belt Cheap and Easy like?

(09-24-2011, 03:12 PM)The Generic Name link Wrote: [ -> ]SSo I figured out what kind of Hat the Sniper wears.  It is called a Barmah.  They are made of Kangaroo leather and can be folded.  The trouble now regards the Trophy Belt.  How can I make the Trophy Belt Cheap and Easy like?

two strips of canvas, make square stitches so you have gaps.

In those gaps buy or make some teeth, use a bit of liquid nails to hold these in place.


Wrap around head

For the Trophy Belt, what you can also do is weave a piece of cloth (I think thin brown leather would look really nice) through the larger piece as shown in the official art. It'll be easier in the sense that you won't have to sew as much since it's mostly just cutting the right-sized slits and weaving. This method might not work as well with canvas since after being cut, the threads by the edges will begin to fall apart unless you stitch them down (which would be more work).

Here's a pic:


If you wanted to use two pieces of fabric for the base, make sure you fold the top and bottom edges of both pieces over when you sew them together.                  I tried to illustrate what I meant but I'm bad at drawing.
And glue the teeth down so they don't fall out.

Will have to try this.  Tracedarkwind is helping me make the rifle.  Scope will actually be a telescope, so I can zoom in, lol. :megusta:

My Dad said that he had a spare stock for a gun, so hopefully I can actually use that, but If I can't, making it should not be too much of a problem. Oh!  I almost forgot to ask this:  What would be the best way to put the sniper "logo" on the sleeves of the shirt?  I am thinking that iron on would be the best effect.  I know that it could be sewn on as well.

Two embroidered TF2 patches are $15 from this person on Etsy.
They come with the iron-on adhesive, by default... but you can request that yours not come with the glue, if you are going to sew it on.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/59794520/pai...tches-your
Has new and old Demoman logos

Also! You will be able to find shark teeth for cheap souvenirs as sharks shed theirs throughout a lifetime. Taxidermy shops locally, and taxidermy supply retailers on the Internet, specialize in plastic animal teeth.
Not to mention it's Halloween, so look in costume shops for a cheapass plastic Crocodile Dundee hat with a halfway decent looking croc tooth hatband.

Sew the patches on. The glue is not exactly strong or consistent enough to get the job done.

Go to any store with cross stitching thread (such as Walmart) and get a close color matched yellow for the patches and stitch it in by hand. That is what i did and it worked just fine. You can't even see my sloppy stitches and the patch is nice and secure.

For the iron-on patches, if you have the time, try to sew them on too. Iron-on adhesives usually aren't the strongest so in my experience, they tend to peel at the edges after a day of use at a con.

Awesome.  All my questions were answered

I'll post here if I have anymore because it seems like you guys know a lot of what to do

(09-25-2011, 01:03 PM)Käse link Wrote: [ -> ]For the iron-on patches, if you have the time, try to sew them on too. Iron-on adhesives usually aren't the strongest so in my experience, they tend to peel at the edges after a day of use at a con.

I would like to second this, stitch on patches, takes a bit more effort, but its well worth it.

(09-26-2011, 09:47 AM)Caffeine link Wrote: [ -> ][quote author=Käse link=topic=5961.msg224166#msg224166 date=1316973828]
For the iron-on patches, if you have the time, try to sew them on too. Iron-on adhesives usually aren't the strongest so in my experience, they tend to peel at the edges after a day of use at a con.

I would like to second this, stitch on patches, takes a bit more effort, but its well worth it.
[/quote]

I also agree, had to stitch the demopatches which were just ironed on initially.

EDIT: herp