{"id":607,"date":"2011-03-13T13:28:34","date_gmt":"2011-03-13T20:28:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davidstipes.net\/?p=607"},"modified":"2011-03-13T16:16:16","modified_gmt":"2011-03-13T23:16:16","slug":"building-the-%e2%80%9cnormally-this-weird%e2%80%9d-death-ray-weapon-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidstipes.net\/?p=607","title":{"rendered":"Building the \u201cNormally This Weird\u201d Death Ray Weapon part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I mentioned in my prior post, my friend Diane Cook introduced me to a fantastic, low cost craft material that we put to use in a number of ways on our death ray prop and on a put-it-together-quickly \u00a0\u201ctime machine.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is this material?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Fun Foam!<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Fun Foam; available at Michael's Art Supply and some Wal Marts<\/p><\/div>\n

Fun Foam is flexible, takes glue,\u00a0paints well and is easy to cut and shape.<\/p>\n

Fun Foam has been around for some time but relegated to the \u201ckiddie kraft\u201d market. It has seen a resurgence in Sci Fi fan costuming and prop building.\u00a0A local Phoenix costumer used it to make the body armor for his Batman costume.\u00a0Since it is flexible and comes in a thicker size, he could use it to safely recreate the \u201cspikes\u201d along the outer edge of the Batman gloves.<\/p>\n

In the Death Ray prop for the\u00a0SciFi web series, \u201cNormally This Weird,\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Fun Foam was originally purchased as a spacer between tubing on the prop base. As we were trying to solve logistic problems, we found it excellent for use as light sealing gaskets, locking seals to hold removable parts, surface shaping or texturing\u00a0 and art direction.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>

Fun Foam used as a molding to left and surface to fit keyboard.<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>

Thin strips of Fun Foam used as a light seal for the "Plasma Coil."<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Here used as a flexible edging to fit on curved surfaces.<\/p><\/div>\n

In addition to the “Death Ray”, we had to\u00a0tech-out\u00a0the interior of a vintage car to be a ‘ Time Machine.’\u00a0We could do no painting or modifying to\u00a0the actual surfaces.\u00a0We found that the Fun Foam could be used to create or apply a non-permanent and non-damaging surface that could be painted or\u00a0receive additional props or details.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>

Fun Foam resurfacing the center console of vintage car.<\/p><\/div>\n

Diane used the Fun Foam to solve a size \/ compatibility issue with the firing controls.\u00a0We had items that would function as the handles but we also wanted hoses to attach to them.\u00a0Because Fun Foam is so flexible, almost moldable, Diane was able to manufacture rubber ‘boots’ to fit the hoses and taper down to\u00a0plug into\u00a0the handles.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>

Tapered hose to handle 'boots' for Death Ray firing controls.<\/p><\/div>\n

Now for a tease of what\u00a0this Death Ray looks like:<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>

The evil Dr. Archeval's logo (Photo by Nathan Blackwell)<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>

Plasma Coil engaged! (Photo by Nathan Blackwell)<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ready to fire! (Photo by Nathan Blackwell)<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

So, what is that Plasma Coil?\u00a0What were these handles made of?\u00a0What common, even crazy, household items were used to construct this prop?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

There is still more to tell!\u00a0Check back in and see!<\/p>\n

(To be continued…)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Photos by Nathan Blackwell \u00a9 2011 Squishy Studios.\u00a0 All other photos \u00a9 2011 David Stipes<\/span><\/address>\n

<\/span><\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I mentioned in my prior post, my friend Diane Cook introduced me to a fantastic, low cost craft material that we put to use in a number of ways on our death ray prop and on a put-it-together-quickly \u00a0\u201ctime machine.\u201d What is this material?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,70,34],"tags":[8,64,68,67,69,66,65,71,78],"class_list":["post-607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-prop-building-2","category-visual-effects-techniques","tag-david-stipes-productions","tag-death-ray","tag-diane-cook","tag-nate-stipes","tag-nathan-blackwell","tag-normally-this-weird","tag-prop-building","tag-squishy-studios","tag-visual-effects"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidstipes.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidstipes.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidstipes.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidstipes.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidstipes.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=607"}],"version-history":[{"count":43,"href":"https:\/\/davidstipes.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":661,"href":"https:\/\/davidstipes.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607\/revisions\/661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidstipes.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidstipes.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidstipes.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}