Thread: Complete Bucky for hardly no cost!

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This is my first Bucky attempt. It took me about 15-20 hours but may take you less time. (I'm a quadriplegic and only one of my hands works pretty good) It is part pvc, sheetmetal, paper mache, plastic, a little of everything. Instead of doing a parts list, I will list and describe as I go. One fun thing about props is that there are many ways of doing things and some things I did without any planning. One very helpful tip is, when doing props, always try to find things that resemble the object or item you are trying to create. This saves you time. For example, I think you will like what I made his rib cage from!! hahaha Anyway, if this tutorial helps anyone out, it was my pleasure to post this. Have fun, be creative and if you guys have any tips, just reply! The only thing I did not complete was the feet but I'm doing a cornfield theme like pumkin rot and they don't need feet. I will however be doing a pantyhose corpsing process like "skull & bone" website to complete my Bucky!! Here goes...........

I heated up a piece of 3/4 pvc pipe and bent it into the shape of a spine, then tie wrapped pipe insulation around it to look like vertebras


Make about 20 rolls with newspaper, (3 pages thick) Roll them by starting at one corner and going diagonally. This will cause it to have a strong center and weaker ends


I folded them in half and cut the ends to what size I wanted each bone for the arms and legs. Use your body parts as a guide


Take one single page and roll up like this, not too tight. Then fold in half, then fold again






Tape it together, then tie wrap it so the center is small





To Be Continued.....................

Get roll of wire, cut a piece about 10 inches long, and form an "EYE". This is how you can connect the bones





Drill a hole in the bone end you just made, pass the wire through as shown. Then drill a hole through the main bone at the "bend", then pass the wire through that. Then wrap the wire tight around one of the two bones of your leg or arm, whatever you are working on. Lastly, you can wrap with tape if you choose. Repeat these steps to build all your arms and legs. Don't put any where the wrist are.









I printed a skeleton as a guide. Free hand half of a pelvic bone on a thin sheet of sheetmetal, fold it over and trace with a marker, fold it back and you have an identical other side. Cut this out with shears and tape the edges because it is sharp!





To Be Continued...............

I bolted this to my spine with 3 little bolts. Then as you see in the pictures, put foam in there to make it look a little thick, and wrapped it with masking tape.









I mixed 2 cups water and two cups of water and did some of my bones with paper mache. I was too anxious to finish the skeleton so I didn't finish all of my bones but go ahead and finish yours if you want.



To Be Continued....................

Wondering what to do for ribs...................I spotted a plastic bucket!!! Cut the ribbed area off, then cut out the bottom. I free handed a sternum, then cut it out.









I divided the bucket into I think 9 ribs as shown.



To Be Continued..................

Make a little jig as shown with a marker and a stick. You can use you thumb as a guide running it along the edge to mark all of your ribs to be cut out. After they are marked, tape the end together as shown



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Turn it around and mark you a backbone. This will keep all your ribs together, act as a guide to stop cutting your ribs, and also this is where you will attach your ribs to the spine. After you mark your backbone, have fun cutting all the ribs out! I cut out every othe rib as shown so you have space between them. I kept the bottom two and top two together.







After all your ribs are cut out, I started with the second rib at the bottom, and shortened each one until I got to the top. Example, 1/4" off the first one, 1/2" off the second, 3/4" off the third, 1" off the forth, etc.....Then attach ribs to spine with tie wraps as shown. Make sure you have a neck above it. Now we're getting somewhere huh?



Drill a hole on the end of each rib. Then get your sternum you cut out, (I shortened mine up at this point because it need to be about 3/4 the lenght of your rib cage) Divide your stenum into 8 ribs. I didn't attach the last top rib to the sternum because I made them into the collar bones. (you will see later)



To Be Continued...........

I then went ahead, used my rivit gun and rivited it all together. You can use wire or short bolts etc....... whatever you can think of if you don't have rivits





I cut another piece of 3/4 pvc for the shoulders, then bolted it to the spine, and also used the same bolt to attach the top ribs to form the collar bone.





I had to hang it up at this point and attach the legs cause I was excited!



Now for the hands, I made some wire hands from a clothes hanger as shown. I then rolled up a sheet of copy paper kind of tight and taped along the entire edge to keep it together. I also found a 1/4" hose. I cut the hose and the rolled up paper into little pieces for my knuckles.





To Be Continued...........

I slipped the tube on the fingers first, then the paper on each tube. If you have your own ideas for knuckles, go with it. I then used electric tape to tape them in place and also taped between each knuckle.







Now get your arms. You should have two open holes where the wrists go. Put one wire in each hole. Get a long piece of tape, stick it on the arm, the go between two fingers, then tape it on the other side of the arm. I did this between each finger to hold the hand on. I also wrapped tape arounf the wrist to secure everything together.









To Be Continued...............

Now you can attach all your bones where they go. I drilled a hole in the sheetmetal pelvic to attach legs, and a hole on the shoulders pvc for the arms. I had this foam skull from another prop that I put on just temperary. I think it looks ok for my first one and it didn't cost me a dime!!!!! I had all the parts hanging around my shop. As I said in the beginning, I will be using the corpsing method found here - http://skullandbone.com/tutorial_02.htm
to finish up my budget bucky and I'll post the finished product as time permits!!! Now I have two more to make...............Here is my budget Bucky!!





Future twisted prop maker!

Enjoyed your creative solutions to some of the problems building a skeleton presents.

You do know, you've probably scarred that kid for life, right?

Thanks,
No he's used to it. He likes to help build the "Monster". What other 3 year old wants to watch halloween props on youtube? I think I created a little vampire!