Thread: A few props I have been working on

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Here are a couple of the props I have been working on the last few weeks. Not the quality most of you produce, but with the right lighting they will work good for what we are doing. They are for a 1 night show and hopefully will be adding to a pirate ship build.

Pirate helmsman. This is the one that has had me scratching my head. Runs fine off a battery, but can't get a power supply to work with it. Also, it is running way too fast. I don't have the money to buy a commercial power supply or speed controller, so will keep trying to think of something to do with what I have. I still have some finishing touches to do to the pirate. Need to open the shirt some to show the ribcage I made on him out of smashed copper tubing.

http://youtu.be/nEhEEK6xoo8

The beginning of a flying ghost. I will of course make the ghost better, this is just a test run. It will be moved and setup later. The ghost will hopefully be a little larger lit up with glow sticks or whatever light weight light source I can come up with.

http://youtu.be/Q__5e3b6MQA

The drunken pirate. Again, still have finishing touches to do. Made from skeleton arms legs and skull. The body is styrophoam with a stick for support. I am going to find some Haiwiian leighs to cover the neck area. With proper lighting and some strategic placement of cloth it should look ok for what I am after.
I am also thinking of adding a pair of mirrored sunglasses. Also I still need to make the bottle look a little better. He will be floating beside the ship.

http://youtu.be/fKW-aFRArpM

Like I said, not the quality most of you come up with but for an amateur I am happy with the outcome. The total cost so far for all 3 props has been under $20.

I really like the drunken Pirate one...lots of potential there.

If you run another motor in SERIES with the motor that you are using to power the helmsman you may be able to slow it down considerably. Depending on the weight of the helm, you could switch to the "vent motor" that many of us use for the slower moving props...this may be a good alternative to adding another motor for no good reason.

Another, albeit more complicated way, to slow him down may be to attempt to gear the motor down using some pulleys/levers and different size drive wheels.

Either way, the props look really good!!

dK

Better than what i could do, that's for sure!

I love how the kitty is trying to chase the ghosts... so cute!

I don't think the speed of the pirate at the wheel is too bad - he is kind of frantic and it's sort of cool, especially since you'll probably have other slower things going on. It will draw attention to him being so hurky-jerky. Granted, would be more realistic if he was slower, but it's kind of cool.