Graphic designer Matthew Milam of Dallas, TX, made this intricate pepakura model of the “snub” pistol from Epic Games’ popular Gears of War franchise. Unlike most papercraft designers today, Matt eschews the software-based approach and lays out the parts freehand! Bit of foam core are included, here and there, for strength, as well as a […]
Cool postapocalyptic cosplay from Bellingham, Washington craftsman Ivan Owen. The roadsigns, he assures us, were “obtained through legal means,” and were formed into plates by peening against an anvil, before being affixed to a harness made from belts.
MAKE reader Ken Miller wrote in to tell us about the magical staff prop he built this Halloween to complement a very lucky lad’s wizard costume:”We built this Dragon Head Wizard Staff for my girlfriend’s 9 year old son, mostly out of parts we had lying around. It uses an accelerometer to ‘cast spells’ based on the direction you shake the staff…”
Shawn Thorsson explains the build process for his props and costumes at Maker Faire Bay Area 2011. First he starts with a digital 3D model, then cuts the pieces out with a CNC machine, assembles them and fine tunes with wood shaping techniques, then casts molds so he can reproduce them. The result are authentic looking reproductions of popular costumes.
I set out to write a generic “props” round-up, but quickly discovered that our props tag is pretty deep, and covers a wide range of subjects including haunt props and/or prop furniture, elaborate costumes, and display props. I narrowed my focus, then, to props a person might carry around as part of a costume, and found, even then, there was more cool stuff than I could fit into one roundup.
From user Douglas Desrochers. The barrels appear to be PVC. They rotate around a piece of 1/2″ copper pipe, and a high-intensity LED is positioned to shine down the top one, strobing as the barrels spin. The whole thing is driven by the motor and battery pack from a cheap cordless drill. Let the Predator jokes commence.
More sci-fi cosplay badness from prop-maker, costumer, and MAKE pal Shawn Thorsson. I haven’t played Dead Space 2, yet, but I enjoyed the first one, and I have to say that protagonist Isaac Clarke’s “Engineering RIG suit” looks exactly the same to me. And Shawn’s version is pretty spot-on. Lots of details over at Shawn’s blog, and more pics in his Flickr set. [Thanks, Shawn!]
