props

Massive Stargate props auction

Massive Stargate props auction

The news of this impending giant auction of original props and costumes from Stargate: SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis both thrills and saddens my inner fanboy: Thrills, because the prospect of owning, say, the original “travel” stargate, the “Thor” puppet, Daniel Jackson’s glasses, Teal’c’s forehead tattoo, Ronon Dex’s blaster, a mature larval Goa’uld, Apophis’s “serpent” helmet, a Zero Point Module, the original MALP robot probe, a bucket of Replicator blocks, an Iratus bug, a Jaffa staff weapon, a Zat’nikatel, a ring transporter platform, and/or the original SGC conference room briefing table is pretty awesome (even though all will likely sell for well more than I could afford); and saddens, because it means beyond any doubt that there will be no more SG-1 or SG-Atlantis. And, so far, I have to say, I’m not enjoying the more humorless, post-Battlestar Galactica approach of Stargate Universe quite as much.

Sandcast aluminum ray gun, with bonus pour vid

Sandcast aluminum ray gun, with bonus pour vid

Craig Bush saw our recent post about Ryan Palser’s Fallout 3 replica weapons and thought we might be interested in this photoset of his home-poured aluminum Call of Duty ray gun replica. He was right. As much as the prop itself, I really dig his video of the pour, embedded above. If you’re interested in sandcasting aluminum at home, there’s a lot to learn, in the 120-odd seconds of this video, about how to do it right.

How-To: Snap-action Batarang prop

How-To: Snap-action Batarang prop

Instructables user spookylean shows us how to make this cool little folding prop based on a weapon from the video game Batman: Arkham Asylum. He does it the labor-intensive but inexpensive way–cutting the profiles by hand from clear hardware store Plexiglas and then painting them black. I am too lazy for that and would probably just have them laser-cut from black plastic to start with. Embedded magnets lock it in the deployed position.

Fallout 3 replica weapons

Fallout 3 replica weapons

Ryan Palser, aka Flickr user citizensnips, built this impressive replica of the AER-9 laser rifle from Bethesda’s runaway hit RPG Fallout 3. He’s also got some work-in-progress shots of a replica A3-21 plasma rifle that is shaping up to be even more impressive. Nice work, Ryan–let us know when it’s finished! [via Propnomicon]

Holy smokes Iron Man costume

Holy smokes Iron Man costume

t may look like a CG rendering from a big-budget movie, but it’s really just a photograph of Colorodan Anthony Le wearing his $4,000 homemade costume.

[Le] used thin, high-impact urethane for the armor, cutting it into plates and joining them with some 1,500 rivets and washers. He sculpted a clay helmet mold and then used a liquid resin mix to create the final product…He also added a small servo motor that opens the faceplate, as in the movie, and built a gun out of pipes and a motor. LEDs in the eyes and chest-plate further add to the illusion.