Five months ago, two college students got it into their heads to begin building a costume prop. Not just any costume prop, mind you – a costume prop to rule all other costume props and, in fact, the WORLD! Not really, but we did want to participate in the GenCon Indy 2011 costume contest and didn’t have any ideas for what to do!
Portal came to mind. Valve is a long-time favorite when it comes to awesome games for us, and so it then became a question of which Valve game to work from. Zoey from Left 4 Dead? Gordon Freeman of the fabled Half Life series? Or perhaps… could it be? Yes! Chell was our woman, and our own epic tale in the quest of a Chell costume began.
Of course, the first thing that any Chell costume needs is an Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device (or ASHPD), and in looking around on the internet, we couldn’t find that many tutorials (or even people who had actually done it in the first place). What we did find was severely lacking in either finesse, materials, or dedication. As we soon found out, if you weren’t willing to sink about $350 and four months of your waking life into the project, the end result wouldn’t be worth the sacrifice. Then we found the exception.
This instructable is going to start a little differently than most – with a word of thanks. Without his work and documentation (little though there is), none of this would have happened and we would have given up from not even knowing where to start. Harrison Krix of Volpin Props created the first real ASHPD, and his work also served as the basis for ours. His lack of real numerical documentation actually made the process much more fun and interesting as it forced us to rebuild his methods through guesswork and a little luck. It allowed us to create our own path, loosely based on his, that arrived at approximately the same place.
(We also didn’t have as much money to throw into it.)
We studied his pictures and made sketches as though studying for an upcoming test and slowly began our own journey into the world of Portal.
(Though first of all, we need a quick introduction! I, Joe, [the one writing at the moment] was responsible for the electronics, and my partner, Shelley, was responsible for the carving and for things requiring a steady hand, which I generally lack. For the rest of the gun, though, our efforts and skills were combined in such a way that we could probably refer to our creation as our nerd-child. And what a lovely nerd-child it is…!)
(Thanks to everyone who voted for us in the LED contest!! We managed to walk away with a Kindle, and for that we are incredibly pleased. Thank you again for showing your love!)
Portal came to mind. Valve is a long-time favorite when it comes to awesome games for us, and so it then became a question of which Valve game to work from. Zoey from Left 4 Dead? Gordon Freeman of the fabled Half Life series? Or perhaps… could it be? Yes! Chell was our woman, and our own epic tale in the quest of a Chell costume began.
Of course, the first thing that any Chell costume needs is an Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device (or ASHPD), and in looking around on the internet, we couldn’t find that many tutorials (or even people who had actually done it in the first place). What we did find was severely lacking in either finesse, materials, or dedication. As we soon found out, if you weren’t willing to sink about $350 and four months of your waking life into the project, the end result wouldn’t be worth the sacrifice. Then we found the exception.
This instructable is going to start a little differently than most – with a word of thanks. Without his work and documentation (little though there is), none of this would have happened and we would have given up from not even knowing where to start. Harrison Krix of Volpin Props created the first real ASHPD, and his work also served as the basis for ours. His lack of real numerical documentation actually made the process much more fun and interesting as it forced us to rebuild his methods through guesswork and a little luck. It allowed us to create our own path, loosely based on his, that arrived at approximately the same place.
(We also didn’t have as much money to throw into it.)
We studied his pictures and made sketches as though studying for an upcoming test and slowly began our own journey into the world of Portal.
(Though first of all, we need a quick introduction! I, Joe, [the one writing at the moment] was responsible for the electronics, and my partner, Shelley, was responsible for the carving and for things requiring a steady hand, which I generally lack. For the rest of the gun, though, our efforts and skills were combined in such a way that we could probably refer to our creation as our nerd-child. And what a lovely nerd-child it is…!)
(Thanks to everyone who voted for us in the LED contest!! We managed to walk away with a Kindle, and for that we are incredibly pleased. Thank you again for showing your love!)
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Signing UpStep 1: Ingredients!
We bought and used a lot of things to make this project, and it was worth it all. Here's a more or less complete list:
Core:
4” diameter PVC pipe
3” diameter PVC pipe
2 4” PVC couplers
Lots o’ Cardstock (We managed to use about a 30”x24” sheet over the course of the gun)
About a gallon of Bondo + extra hardener (We blew through two quart containers and then gave up and bought a gallon. It’s still holding us)
Florists Foam (The largest we could find was about 3’x1’x4”, and it worked pretty well once we cut it in half and glued the halves together)
Superglue
Drywall Spackling
Gesso (a very bright white canvas primer)
Craploads of sandpaper, from grits 80-600. Trust us, you’ll need them.
Spraypaint: flat black, pure white, and clear coat gloss.
Plexiglass – amount unknown; we didn’t keep track because we had a near unlimited source.
Electrical Tape
1” glass lens
¼” black tubing
9 screws and nuts
20 gauge beading wire
dowel rod
Clear toilet plunger handle (preferably an adult sized one if you can find it – we used a child sized one ‘cause that’s all we could find, but there’s no room for error)
2 ½” diameter clear plastic tube
Packing foam
Painter’s tape
Plastic wrap
Electronics (Optional):
11 blue LEDs
11 orange LEDs
3 red LEDs
4.5v power supply (3 AA’s)
25 68 ohm ¼w resistors
about 6 feet of CAT5 cable
2 switches
some method of prototyping
Required:
Optimism
Patience
Steady hands
A willingness to get your hands dirty
Working knowledge of various power tools
A large work space (in our case, a living room, kitchen, and front yard gave their lives for this project)
Core:
4” diameter PVC pipe
3” diameter PVC pipe
2 4” PVC couplers
Lots o’ Cardstock (We managed to use about a 30”x24” sheet over the course of the gun)
About a gallon of Bondo + extra hardener (We blew through two quart containers and then gave up and bought a gallon. It’s still holding us)
Florists Foam (The largest we could find was about 3’x1’x4”, and it worked pretty well once we cut it in half and glued the halves together)
Superglue
Drywall Spackling
Gesso (a very bright white canvas primer)
Craploads of sandpaper, from grits 80-600. Trust us, you’ll need them.
Spraypaint: flat black, pure white, and clear coat gloss.
Plexiglass – amount unknown; we didn’t keep track because we had a near unlimited source.
Electrical Tape
1” glass lens
¼” black tubing
9 screws and nuts
20 gauge beading wire
dowel rod
Clear toilet plunger handle (preferably an adult sized one if you can find it – we used a child sized one ‘cause that’s all we could find, but there’s no room for error)
2 ½” diameter clear plastic tube
Packing foam
Painter’s tape
Plastic wrap
Electronics (Optional):
11 blue LEDs
11 orange LEDs
3 red LEDs
4.5v power supply (3 AA’s)
25 68 ohm ¼w resistors
about 6 feet of CAT5 cable
2 switches
some method of prototyping
Required:
Optimism
Patience
Steady hands
A willingness to get your hands dirty
Working knowledge of various power tools
A large work space (in our case, a living room, kitchen, and front yard gave their lives for this project)
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any suggestions? thanks.
Thanks!
Bring on the questions! And good luck :D
Just curious Cpt, what did you end up using for the clear 2.5" plastic tube?
I'm talking about this by the way : http://ak.buy.com/PI/0/500/229037683.jpg
Hope it helped!
you used 4 in pipe for the outside of the front, and the couplers are also 4 in, so why is there so much side diffrence between them? the couplers look like 5 in.
Took me two and a half weeks to make, and cost me under $100, so those of you who saw the maker's 6 months and $350, no worries! It's totally doable with the money and time I spent/took to make this :D If you have any questions, you can go ahead and ask.
The spackle tuned out to be my worst enemy. I had an issue with the paint eating it away, thus causing these soft spots to appear throughout the shell. It was a very painful discovery, since I thought I was finally done, but I found some magic sculpt resin & hardener thats FIVE THOUSAND times better and more reliable than spackle. It's so easy to use to fill holes and cracks, and easy to sand afterwards.
Anyway, PEOPLE- ASK ME ANYTHING! I've got this thing fresh on my mind. :)
When sculpting the basic shape of the shells out of the florist foam, I used a regular kitchen knife, but when I started doing the curves, I used one of these:
http://www.creativecoldsnow.com/prodimg/KEMFW11.jpg
which made it easy to carve out the shape.
I'd list you the dimensions of my shells, but unfortunately I don't have my portal gun with me at the moment. Personally, I didn't really go for any specific dimensions; I just made sure the shells had enough space around the pvc pipes. :)
The claws are made of wood, bolts, washers, acrylic sheets, and some random stuff I found for the tip of the claws.
From my understanding, the people who made this tutorial made their claw tips out of wood. I however made mine out of this random plastic bit I found (and sanded down to the shape I wanted it to be) and I attached it to the top of half a plastic clip, sort of like this: http://honghui.imould.com/product/honghui/17.jpg (but only one half of one) which I also cut/sanded down to size, so that it would be easy to install since it had those holes.
Hope this helped! Let me know if you have any other questions :)
one question, how strong is florists foam? and how porous is it? carving porous foam is a true pain, because it will bend and not get cut, then it will tear.
is it possible to substitute fiberglass and resin? they might be better for the shells.
What the heck man! Are you trying to kill us??!
~joe
-Aak3
But ya' know what else I'd love to have? A full size, fully animatronic, replica of GLaDOS hanging from my ceiling. Give her motion sensors to sense when someone is in the room, a microphone and speaker, and an AI like Cleverbot.com but that sounds like GLaDOS. That would be awesome! (just don't give her any neurotoxin)
1) How did you end up attaching the barrel and cores? Was it very fragile or was everything sturdy?
2) How did you hide the wiring for the LEDs in the barrel of the gun?
1) The barrel WAS attached to the core using a rather elaborate pin and hook system, right before it broke thirty minutes before the costume show. We ended up just flat out supergluing the barrel to the core. It's still there, so I guess it worked pretty well!
2) The wiring for the LEDs is under a piece of black construction paper underneath the clear tube.
I can't seem to find it x_____x
~ joe
~joe
Should I be getting smaller pipes or bigger couplings?
~ Joe
packs.
I had somehow had the idea from a previous step that they were the small "nub thingies" that connectect the large black wires to each shell.
Does that answer your question? ~joe
?
YES I would be interested. I was thinking of making my own and then casting resin coated foam-core parts. it would really help with the weight. Also a more natural grip handle, possibly from a toy gun, with a simple pressure switch in the handle for power (whenever you grip, it powers up) with another small switch by the inside of your thumb to change colors. I cannot say too much about the amazing CURVES you managed to create with no instruments. I would be hard pressed to re-create them. All in all, definatly in the TOP 5 instructibles I have ever seen.
has anyone ddone this already? I just want to know how much does building this cost?
thank you
~ joe
It's okay for wandering around in crowds -- if the costume's good, people will naturally give you a wide berth. We did have one instance where a claw snagged on someone's clothing and bent backwards, but there was no permanent damage, so all was good :) Does that help?
I've been reading the tutorial and looking for hardware stores for buying the materials but in my country (Spain) 3M does not sell Bondo... so can you confirm me if it is epoxi resin? I'm just not really sure what I have to look for... (the other things I already know where to get them )
Thank you very much!
~ joe
Epoxy Resin is used as a strong adhesive, and comes in the 2-part syringe packs
We got it by just googling "led resistance calculator". It only asks for a few numbers, and here's what we used:
Source voltage: 4.5
diode forward voltage (what the LED needs to run): 3.3 (A generic number if you don't know)
diode forward current (in mA): 20 (Also a good generic number)
Number of LEDs in array: 14 (for each color, since only 11 colored LEDs will be lit at any given time plus the three red ones in the front, we calculated for 14)
Does that help?
~ Joe
Once again great job guys!
~joe and shelly
~joe and shelly
Everyone I know says it falls apart in your hands and, having never touched the stuff myself, I want to ask if you had any trouble with it or a technique to make my little project look atleast some percentage as good as yours.
~ Shelley
A craft store?
Micheals?
Or an actual florist?
1'x1' same volume as 3'x1'x4"
Please use spell check, it looks like a 9 year old is writing that.
And to your comment, it is impossible to to make a worm hole on planet earth, especially at home with a gun, if you do manage to make a worm hole, it would be nearly impossible to move it, and to get it to "stick" to a wall.
It's really amazing, though! I might make my dad help me. Or, I mean, I will. Because of above statement :x
http://www.amazon.com/2-75-OZ-RED-CREAM-HARDENER/dp/B000P1E2LM/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1311453747&sr=8-11
Thanks!
However, when I look at your link, the first thing that stands out is that amazon wants $10 for shipping, which is outrageous. You can buy those tubes at pretty much any large hardware store for about $5, which is what we bought ours for. Unless you don't have access to a Lowe's or Home Depot (or something similar) I'd suggest buying it in a store.
~joe
My computer wants to save it as a word doc or a winrar zip file, can you make it into a .pdf or something other than whatever it is then upload that?
1. I cal orange led to 5.6 ohms in array. at 4.5 v
2. I cal blue led to 56 ohms i array. at 4.5 v
so why have used 68 ohm on the leds?
scott klar
I'm interested in making a Bioshock syringe at some point, and I'd love to see yours! Seeing what other people have done and learning from it is an important part of getting better.
We look forward to seeing you at GenCon!!
~joe
Can you guys make a GLaDOS potato too?
If I could make one next year for tech i could make a potato too
~joe
~joe
~joe
~joe
No, we didn't get it off the show. First of all, that show was made long after we did our original research for the gun. Second, even though our gun and his gun use the same reference point (VolpinProps' build, v1), ours is a far better and cleaner design and execution. :)
~joe
~ joe
He never made the five he had said he would make, because after he made the 2nd gun for Child's Play, and they had marketed that it would be one of two (one being the gun at auction and the other being the gun sold to Valve, as my gun was somewhat different from those two), they had decided that he would not make any more. He did pull some casts for the casings, but he only ever finished three guns.
That being said, I should have mentioned in my first comment that we both really like your article here, and he will probably include it among his list of resource links when people ask him how to make one.
Cheers!
Also, we would like to cordially invite you as well as your husband to GenCon and lunch if you happen to be in the greater Indianapolis area around the 6th of August. We'd love to meet you both! Michelle, Jake, and I realize that it's a little bit of a schlep for you to make from GA, but the offer does stand! You can get ahold of us at thepropnerds@gmail.com :)
~ joe
Seriously though kudos for an awesome project =]
one project i will never be able to make :-)
The post above -posted by joe- seems to imply that either I am a guy or that joe and I will be rooming together in the statement "...our dorm room." Let me just say I would personally like to clean up matters by stating that Joe and I have perfectly separated rooms and he, in fact, will be rooming with my boyfriend instead of myself. ;) ...just fyi. Whoo! ...Glad that got cleared up. *grin* ~Shelley
For the good of all of us, except the ones who are dead.
And you make a neat Break.
For the people who are still alive.
And you make a neat gun.
Although from a quick look over yours, you do a bit of a better job (they have to be very quick on the show).
Either way, YOU ARE AMAZING!
Props to you for a brilliant prop!
+1 vote in the LED contest! :)
And thank you very much for the vote! :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQFBCH1nno8
:)