Thread: Pirate Barrel - What do you think?

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Ok guys, looking to have a pirate scene this year as part of my haunt and want some wine barrels (what pirate scene would it be without some???).

However, the cheapest I can find are on Ebay but they're still coming out at around £90 ($150) each with delivery!

However, as I mentioned in another thread, I have a local business that gives away the large blue drums like below that I can have (I see these can be expensive too so I guess getting them free is a good deal!). Do you think with a bit of creative painting and alterations these would 'pass' as a reasonable looking wooden wine barrel?

Ok, it's not going to be 100% convincing, but do you think it'll be near enough, bearing in mind it will be dark when seen?

Appreciate your comments guys & dolls.................

I think you could pull it off with some creative painting. Nice uniform oak brown appropriatly wood grained and aged. Black for the bands with silver "rivets" along the banding like its holding it together.

I think the hardest thing to "sell" or mask would be the top with that odd lip around it and the holes on top. I would either take the top off or turn the whole thing upside down.

Hope this helps, Marc V.

I agree with Ravenworks69. Some creative painting will sell these as barrels but the top needs to go !

The only problem with painting those plastic barrels is paint doesn't like to stick very well. Even paint made for plastic eventually starts to flake and peel if not prepared right. Make sure to wash and then sand everything. Use a good primer and paint. Better quality paints can flex more without cracking then cheap ones, And you need that flex for plastic.

Could you attach thin wooden slats and some kind of banding? Maybe bow out the center a little ?

I'm with Pandemic on the paint not sticking. I would try extruded polystyrene (pink) foam slats or regular white styrofoam if you can't find the pink. Metal banding at the top, bottom, and middle would keep it together along with some loctite or liquid nails. Btw I was able to get a used olive barrel for $10 which already has that classic barrel shape, you may want to check out availability on those in your area.

I have that barrel - my neighbor was given one to make a rain barrel and decided not to do the project. He asked if I could use it for Halloween, so of course I accepted the gift. I'm still working on it - I painted it quickly to mix it in with my other barrels last Halloween. I used a dark brown spray-on paint for plastic then dry-brushed a lighter latex paint to suggest wood slats. No detailing, but it fit in okay in the dark. This year it's going to contain my very first pneumatic prop.

http://youtu.be/5YyAvAUCfMM

Thanks for your feedback. I was wondering about the paint too. I thought it may be difficult to hold the paint, but as you say Pandemic, a good wash and sand may help a lot, plus good preparation. However, I had also thought about using foam board somehow, but to get the bow out to the centre I would need to angle the slats - think of the panels on a beach ball and you get the drift. Getting those angles right could be tricky.

Problem is I can't find anybody near me selling proper barrels - they're all a couple of hundred miles away.

I wonder if I could cut slits down the side from top to bottom, to make individual slats in the plastic say 3" wide (so they're only attached still to the bottom and the lid) and then apply weight on the top to make it bow out in the centre, then use some method to apply a type of mache effect around the barrel to join up the gaps - but rather than use paper, use plastic strips or thin strips of foam?

The foam board would not be as difficult as you think - remember, you aren't trying to make a real air-tight barrel, so you have a lot of wiggle room on the angles.

Originally, I was going to suggest using a graining tool for painting. But I like the idea of the foam board. It would hold paint much better than the barrel itself.
For the foam slats, measure the barrel's circumference at the top, middle, and bottom. You can even measure other points in between. The more measurements you take, the more accurately the slats will fit. Divide all measurements by the same number of slats to be used. Then, use the divided measurements and mark your width for each slat/ Now just cut an arc between those points.
You could always paint the barrel black before attaching the slats. That way, any spaces will just give it more "depth".