plexiglass wand build (WIP)update 10/26! pic intensive

[dax]

last year, i did a rush halloween job for 2 packs and the wand was a huge casualty. looked like hell, made from a solid block, no lights details, etc. This year i have a little more time and want to do things a little more professional, but i also have 4 packs to finish before halloween. I’m not going for screen accuracy here, just some kickass packs with lights and possibly sound.

at first, i hand cut a wand box out out 1/4" plexiglass with a router and dremmel. man was that a giant pain in the ass and took me over an hour just on cutting. so i pulled out the table saw and just cut up a whole bunch of pieces in one shot. took me 15 minutes between measuring and cutting.



got to work on the building. cut some holes and did some fine tuned-measurements, using masking tape to hold it together while i figured everything out using only my blackberry bold and a picture of sean’s plans.

bam! just a couple of hours later, things start to take shape…


thats all for now. heading to home depot for some larger rivets. im using corner brackets inside the gun for structural integrity. i have little to no faith in glue, no matter what the brand or strength. i like things that are secured mechanically, especially after last year. still havent figured out how i want to handle the dreaded gunbox curve.

will post some more progress later on tonight.

dax

[donkey8012]

I made a trap out of the exact same stuff. It’s very strong, but a bitch to cut and clean. You can see pics of it on my profile. Good luck on your build!

[Gareee]

I picked up some plexi for building our traps this year as well. If you use a fine metal blade on a jigsaw, clamp down well, and cut slowly, it goes very smoothly.

For assembling it, instead of having rivets or bolts sticking out that should be there, I’d recommend glueing with gel superglue first, and then use light amounts of gorilla glue on the seams inside. That stuff is rediculously hard to remove or break a bond of once itt cures in 2 hours, but you need the parts to stay put while it is drying, hence the superglue.

I used gorilla glue to glue pvc pipes on our plexiglas lenses of our welding masks for our gb goggles, and my wife has dropped them hard twice, and they stayed put.

It DOES expand while curing, and if you have any outside, or excess, it can look like a welded mess. I hated it last halloween working on our gear, but now that I’m familiar with its properties, I’ve replaced almost every other glued joint with it now.

BTW, you can use elmer’s wood putty on the plexiglass as well, in case you get any of those rough areas where your blade overheated and it melted some.

[BigJon]

Built my proton wand using the same thickness of plastic, but I used white opaque plastic. Put it together with superglue gel and then used 2part plastic epoxy on the inner seams.

[dax]

UPdate 10/20

finally got back to the project after a good 5 days. been working a lot. anyway, got busy on the pvc, switch placement, cut up some wood, and its starting to look like something here.


sanded everything down, secured the handles into the box via loc-tite and epoxy, and threw some primer on them. they are pretty solid. dropped one in transit and nothing happened. exactly what i was going for. i know it isnt screen accurate, but frankly, i like it the way it is.

cut some gun tracks out of plexi-glass and MDF. glued and sanded, then primered as well.



closed up shop til tomorrow. thanks for stopping in.

dax

[dax]

got started on the packs. still have some sanding, cutting and routing to do before i glue, screw, then prime. *8 clippards on the way!

[XxEctOxX]

hey dax nice work man i hope you have enough time to finish for halloween. you told me you lived out in long island, if you think you might need help i can spare some time this weekend. i just wanna make sure you get these bad boys done for the parade!!! pm me your number if so ok. best of luck

[Ectoman_913]

Looks great dax!! also let me know if you need any help I wouldn’t mind giving you a hand

Coming near crunch time so give us a pm if you need it.

[XxEctOxX]

U shut up chris ! I offered first!!!

[Ectoman_913]

It’s Dimitri :sigh: LOL how can you hangout with us so much and get me and chris confused! :walterpeck:

[dax]

ok, so fast forward a few days and a friend of mine drops out of the project. now im down to two people. so i figure ill get one of the packs on ebay to at least make some money back (this has been an overall expensive venture). so i pound out an entire pack over the course of about 13 straight hours. i didnt take too many progress pics because i was blazing through. anyway, i scored a few pics of the guns and packs, and finally the first pack done (95%, needs decals, crank knob, and booster frame)

I went with textured flat black paint. it looks almost like black primer and really looks authentic.


i used various doo-dads from around the garage to dress the wand. while i would have loved nothing more than to go for screen accurate, realism set in when i had a week left, dwindling funds, and fatigue setting in. my goal then changed from accuracy to just mimicking it piece by piece with as much detail as possible. i used an LED string from walmart that had 4 twinkling lights (perfect for the orange chaser) and the rest stationary. ran the power to the big switch up front.

working on the packs little by little in the meantime


before most small details, a barebone pack completed:


final gun completed. im using real clippards, however they are R301s, and by comparison to the 5’s and 7’s, they are ginormous lol (but i got a lot of 7 for 15 bucks, couldnt pass it up). the grips are far more comfortable than routed wood, got them from dollar store window scrapers, and with a little lube, slipped right onto the handles. lens from cd case, 1/4’ vinyl tubing painted, gun tip from plastic tubing from dollar store eyeglass repair kits, and plumbing clamps for the trigger mockup.


finally, a finished pack. well, almost. id say about 95%. curtain rod/washers for the bumper, insulation foam/straw for ion arm assembly, clippard R301. pack lights are from a walmart set of 16 coned battery powered LEDs that sequence. stumped on a crank knob, i think im going to fashion one myself, hit every store imaginable and spent hours pondering in isles, nothing…



tried to be as accurate as possible with what ive got. will post progress pics of the packs as i pump them out. for the other set of two wands, uscm buzz saved my behind by sending me 2 resin gun bodies. appreciate the last minute help, my friend.


[dax]

oh, and to the LIGB, i appreciate the offer for help. had i checked in recently, i might have taken you up on it. at the moment however, it looks like im going to be alright.

thanks guys

[Ectoman_913]

No problem! Sorry your buddy droped out. your stuff looks great ! Looking forward to seeing you guys on Sat let’s try and make sure we all meet up together so we can all March together

[dax]

most definitely, may have to meet up with you in the city, i get out of work at 5ish. hope i dont have to jump into the parade in route lol. cant wait man.