Avatar Scorpion Gunship Re-Finish

It has been too long since my last posting. Naturally, I have been crazy busy! One of the many things keeping my attention has been this Avatar Scorpion Gunship project. I picked up the toy at Fred Meyer, a little steep at $25, but I really like the design.

The toy came in pieces, which was actually quite helpful when re-finishing it. You can see the step-by-step progress on my flickr page here. My goal was to re-finish this so it looks like a piece of military tech that has seen some combat. I layered colored paint over metallic paint so that I could leave some metal exposed. The desired effect was to have it look like paint has worn off on the areas that would see more weather than others.

To finish it off I gave it a wash of brown paint to dirty it up a bit. What I ended up with is really close to my initial concept, so I am quite pleased with it!

Faux Finish - Toy Gun

I just finished up putting a new finish on this plastic toy gun. I employed a lot of the techniques I learned at Scott Allen Caplan's "Faux Finish" panel at SteamCon. You can see the work in progress photos along with descriptions of the process on my flickr page. This was a fun, cheap, and easy project. It is ideal for someone who is interested in prop making. I plan on using these techniques to finish some from-scratch project I have planned for the future.

Where I Go to Get Crafting Supplies

One of my newest hobbies has been crafting costumes and props for events such as the Penny Arcade Expo, the Portland Pirate Festival, Steamcon, and Halloween. Over the past couple months I have amassed a collection of favorite shops in the greater Bellevue/Redmond, WA area to look for tools, parts, cloth, and materials. Here is a list of those shops:

Hobbytown USA

http://www.hobbytown.com/

Address: Cleveland Street Square

16421-A Cleveland Street

Redmond, WA 98052

Phone: (425) 558-0312

Tap Plastics

http://www.tapplastics.com/

12021 NE Northup Way

Bellevue, WA 98005

Mon-Fri 8:30 to 6, Sat 9 to 5

Phone: 425.861.0940

The guys here are super friendly and they are right across the street from Lowe's.

Vetco Electronics

http://www.vetco.net/

12718 Northup Way # 100

Bellevue, WA 98005

(425) 641-7275

Pacific Fabric

http://www.pacificfabrics.com/

1645 140th Ave NE

Bellevue, WA‎

(425) 747-3551‎

Be sure to check what they have in their "remainders" pile. It is th ends of rolls of cloth and are sold at a discount.

Hardware:

Lowe's

11959 Northup Way

Bellevue, WA 98005-1919

(425) 646-9031

Harbor Freight Tools

http://www.harborfreight.com/

14506 NE 20th St

Bellevue, WA 98007-3764

(425) 746-1303

This is THE place to get cheap tools.

Crafts:

Ben Franklin Crafts

http://www.craftsandframes.com/

15756 Redmond Way

Redmond, WA 98052-3830

(425) 883-2050

Michael's

http://www.michaels.com

15600 NE 8th St # D4

Bellevue, WA 98008-3927

(425) 747-1221

Thrift Stores:

Goodwill

14515 NE 20th St

Bellevue, WA?

(425) 649-2080

Value Village

16771 Redmond Way

Redmond, WA 98052-4472

(425) 883-2049

Team Fortress 2 Rocket Launcher

Over the last week I have been puting a lot of time into the rocket launcher for my Team Fortress 2 soldier costume. A good reference of the rocket launcher in-game can be found at TF2wiki.net. Here is my progress:

This is the removeable nose-cap. It is designed to pop out so I can put things in the body of the rocket launcher while I walk around PAX. The cap is made out of a piece of styrofoam that was carved to shape then finished with Bondo all-purpose putty.

This is the flanged tail end of the launcher, also carved out of styrofoam, epoxied to the main body piece of PVC pipe, then slathered in Bondo. Here you can see it before and after being covered in Bondo and adding the two rings to the back end.

Here is the sanded flanged end with the two rings and the cone-shaped part on the back end of the launcher. The cone is a funnel that I picked up at an auto parts store. The ring at the end of the cone is cardboard that has been expoxied to the cone then covered in Bondo.