How can I make giant, durable, light-weight lobster claws?

September 19, 2007 7:20 AM

I'm doing a road rallye in New England next weekend, and my team is turning my '85 Saab 900 hatchback into a giant lobster. I will be putting 4-foot long claws onto the front of it, and actuators inside will actually make the claws move. So, there will be a metal frame/skeleton at the heart of it, but I want to encase that in realistic looking giant lobster claws. What material will look good, be cheap, and hold up for a day on the road?

Here are some pictures to illustrate the point a bit more:
The rails for attaching the claws
A bit farther back - these run down each side of the hood
Sketches of the claws - the bottom part will move up and down.

posted by excitementMD to sports, hobbies, & recreation (9 answers total)

>>Correct Link for Sketches
posted by excitementMD at 7:22 AM on September 19, 2007

Fine wire mesh covered with short-strand body filler material?
posted by aramaic at 7:41 AM on September 19, 2007

If you can make a mesh or foil covering, plaster gauze would work well. You can buy it at surgical supply stores, or maybe from a doctor's office, if you explain it's for an art project. Some craft stores may have it too. All you have to do is moisten the strips and wind them around the frame; you can smooth out the texture with wet fingers; they'll dry hard, you can paint them however you want. I would lacquer them to protect against rain or whatever, but they dry hard enough that they should stand up to a little moisture anyway.
posted by hermitosis at 7:50 AM on September 19, 2007

Two things: you are awesome and please post pictures after the event.

It probably won't hold up too well in rain, but if you really want to go cheap, a chicken wire mesh plus masking tape, spray painted, would probably do ya for a day.
posted by nursegracer at 8:13 AM on September 19, 2007

I'd go with hermitosis approach but if it's too expensive you can get a similar result with paper towel and plaster of paris.
posted by Mitheral at 9:05 AM on September 19, 2007

If you've got metal inside, you don't really need the claw "skin" to be hard. I'd make claw-shaped "mittens" out of carpet underlay foam (the solid, dense, rubbery kind, not the chipped stuff) and put them over the animatronic skeleton. Giant Muppet Claws!

With foam, you won't have to worry about getting the claws' joint articulated correctly, as the foam sheet will flex to hide any misalignment. Also, you won't have to worry about holes getting knocked in the claws by rocks or bits snapped off by grabby spectators.

Use Contact Cement to stick the parts together - it is stronger than the foam. Paint with water-based latex exterior paint.
posted by Crosius at 9:37 AM on September 19, 2007

Oh yeahh: metallic spandex in red.

They may have it at Fabric Place in Framingham if that's convenient to you, but any lycra/jersey/knit would work. You can staple the fabric over a chicken wire (or similar) frame. And please give details on the rally. I have a vintage saab in MA and would love to turn out for it.
posted by cocoagirl at 10:59 AM on September 19, 2007

Metafilter, thanks as always. I will surely post new pics here later, and some video of the claws doing their thang.

The rallye is, sadly, a somewhat closed event at this point. Each year, the winner gets to invite one more person, but that's it. In fact, I don't technically even have one, but I'm using one of my cousin's this year. It's called TALCAR (The Annual Lost Cause Auto Rallye).

Incidentally, we still need a team name as well. So far, it's either:

TALCLAW or Laabster

Any ideas? Thanks again!
posted by excitementMD at 11:52 AM on September 19, 2007

Team Zoidberg, of course.
posted by hermitosis at 1:49 PM on September 19, 2007