How-To: Weather paper for prop documents
Tea-staining is the standard darkening method, but Propnomicon’s trick for producing an ancient, time-worn ragged edge is simple, looks great, and is one I hadn’t heard of before.
props
Sick ‘n’ simple squirmin’ worms effect
OK, so this video from YouTuber beachj0 includes no explanation, but my belief is that there are one or more cylindrical magnets embedded in the plastic bait worms (possibly by casting them in place using the DIY bait molds commonly sold to fisherman), and several more magnets attached to a platter rotating beneath the table. A simple effect, but strikingly creepy. [via Propnomicon]
Homemade Aliens power loader and queen
Pretty remarkable work here from Instructables user alexthemoviegeek, who, as an end-of-the-summer project, assembled full-sized versions of both the xenomorph queen and Ripley’s power loader from Aliens, the latter of which can be worn as a costume.
How-To: Build an official BBC Dalek, ca 1973
Apparently if you wrote to the BBC in the late 1970s or early 1980s wanting to know how to build your own Dalek, they sent you this fantastic set of official plans, which are now preserved for posterity in the cloud-mind at Tom Rathborne’s site. [via Neatorama]
Sterling silver replicator block pendant
News of the big Stargate prop auction got me Googling around for entrepreneurs selling replica, um, replicators. Which search yielded this handsome handmade necklace from DeviantArt user DreamingDragonDesign. There’s also a 3D-printable replicator block on Shapeways.
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
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.
