Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with prop

Beach balls are too small. I need bigger spheres.

abirae — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 06:34:27 -0800

GiantSphereFilter: Help needed creating a 4 foot wide tennis ball. Details inside A friend of mine was hired to make props for a tv show in New York. The next one he has to make is a 4 foot wide tennis ball. He has been looking all over New York and the internet for four foot spheres to use as armature. It is trickier than you would think.

Here are some armature ideas that haven't worked so far:
- Yoga Balls - seem to max out at about 3 feet in diamater.
- Beach balls - Even when advertised as huge, have been too small when inflated.
- Hoberman Spheres, tents and umbrellas - too tricky to build on

My friend is good at this sort of thing, and may just build the sphere out of rings of pink industrial foam, but I thought the hive mind might have some good ideas for easier ways.

Is a DIY WeeGee Era Flash possible?

grabbingsand — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 08:49:47 -0800

How can I fake the tools of the 1930/40s paparazzi trade? You know what I mean, those wonderful speed cameras with the huge flashes. Assuming I can come up with some kind of land or speed camera, all I need is the flash. But flashbulbs are expensive, and vintage flash equipment is hard to come by - thanks, Star Wars fans! So might it be possible to build my own WeeGee-esque flash gun? Perhaps the body could be steel or copper tubing, plus a scavenged reflector of some sort. Where I'm stuck is the flash itself and the means of making it pop. Above all that, it would be a bonus to simulate the classic snap-and-sizzle sound. (You'd think there'd be something of this sort on Make or Instructables, but so far I'm coming up empty.)

Oh, and this is primarily for use as an on-stage theatre prop, though if someone could actually make this thing work as a for-reals flash, all the better.

I like turtles, too, but where'd this one come from?

redsparkler — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:07:08 -0800

Where did this large turtlish head come from? Which movie, television series, or commercial spawned this wise old creature? My local video store has an extensive collection of movie memorabilia, including a fairly large reptilian head. It was purportedly from Jurassic Park, but after close viewings of the movie, they're pretty darn sure that's not the case. So, then, where's it from? I'm hoping it's something Henson-crafted, but my knowledge of turtle media is weak. Perhaps someone out there recognizes this kindly, craggy soul?

Here's another angle, for scale.

Help me identify an item in a screen used Hellboy prop

asavage — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:55:31 -0800

Identification filter. In the bottom of the photo inside, is a small container that I'm trying to identify. (warning, geek alert!) A few weeks ago on Ebay, I bought an amazing screen-used prop from Hellboy. Known as "Broom's Box" it's seen being consulted by Abe Sapien prior to Hellboy's encounter with Sammael in the museum, and it's the box of trinkets, books and amulets in which Abe looks up the info on Abe Sapien.

Still here?

Anyway, the box came mostly empty and I'm (because I'm a freak this way) trying to identify a piece of dressing in the box, and my google fu has been failing me.

In this photo:

at the bottom right, just to the right of the brown glass bottle, and between it and the crystal wand, is a small container that looks kinda like a clove of garlic with a black drum head on it. This is my quarry.

Looks to me to be manufactured from a circle of leather, gathered up to make a crude vessel, and then covered with a thin black leather or latex top that's cinched on. Other photos of this prop in the film reveal about 7 of these vessels scattered throughout the prop.

Now I've been a prop maker. And so I know, I KNOW that this must be a found item that the propmaker liked. It's not rare, nor was it made specially for the film. I'm sure of that. If I had to fill this thing with trinkets, I'd allocate 1 day for shopping at a couple of antique stores (that would explain the salt-cured civil war era ink bottles) and other places I'd have a high percentage of finding my filler. feel like I'd find it in a health food store, but no amount of googling "leather vessel, bottle, herb container, apothecary" etc. etc. has yielded this item. Chinese herbs? Indian spices? I've searched apothecary sites, ebay etc to no avail.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? (am I the only one who wants to remove Ben Stein from my brain's movie quote database?)

You can read the full, impossibly geeky thread about my box here:

as the above thread shows, I consulted deeply with my fellow geeks at the RPF before coming to the hive mind.

How do I make a prop 1965 JB Hutto Montgomery Airline guitar?

mhum — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 10:55:23 -0800

How do I make a prop electric guitar? To complete my Halloween costume this year, I'd like to make a prop guitar -- specifically this one. (No bonus points for guessing the costume.) I'm not looking to make a 100% accurate replica, just something that's evocative, but it'd be nice to have something that really looks like a guitar. My basic plan is to turn that image into a full-scale stencil, use it to carve the guitar out of styrofoam, paint the styrofoam to match, and maybe attach (glue?) on pieces for the knobs, bridge, pickups, pegs, etc...

However, I have a few lacunae in my plan:

What kind of styrofoam? Hopefully, there's something suitable at the hardware store. I hoping to not have to spend too much on the raw materials.
Is styrofoam even going to be strong enough? I'm not planning putting a lot of strain on it, but it'd be a bummer if the neck snapped off.
What kind of paint? How can I get that glossy, lacquered look on styrofoam? I was hoping that spray paint would do since it's easy, but I'm not sure it'd look right.

I'd also be glad to hear if I'm completely barking up the wrong tree and that there's a much better way of going about this.

The Giant Toothbrush Necessity

jessicapierce — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 05:44:48 -0800

I need a seriously gigantic novelty toothbrush. Need giant toothbrush. Long story. 5-6 feet long preferable. Around $50 preferable. I've googled my pants off (oops) to no avail. Any ideas?

Where can I rent or borrow an hourglass?

RikiTikiTavi — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 09:15:43 -0800

Where can I rent or borrow a good-sized hourglass in Southern California? I'd like to use an hourglass as a prop for an upcoming speech. I don't anticipate needing the hourglass after the speech, and I hate clutter, so I don't particularly want to buy one. Said hourglass needs to be about 7-8 minutes in duration, and not one of those tiny game-sized timers, so it can be seen in a medium-sized room.

Prop store? Ye Olde Hourglass Rental? Any ideas?

Help me find a shirt I saw in a movie. :

andythebean — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 22:02:30 -0800

Is there a way I can find out what shirt a character in a movie was wearing and where I can get it? If this helps...
The film is The War Within
The shirt is a green, striped, short sleeved, dress shirt type worn by the bombmaker in one of the early scenes.

Aircraft for FS2004?

drleary — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 11:13:03 -0800

Does anyone know of a website that offers decent to high quality downloads for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004? I'm mostly looking for single engine props and turbo props made from 1935 to 1950. If anyone knows of a great site for that sort of thing I would be very appreciative.

Help me be the Green Lantern!

luftmensch — Thu, 18 May 2006 09:40:34 -0800

Help me fulfill my nerdly destiny and make my lantern into a decent Golden Age Green Lantern prop. A while back I found one of these lanterns at a consignment shop (for much less than that price thankfully) and it looked like a nice match for Alan Scott's lantern. Except, you know, being aluminum and red plastic. I call upon the Justice Society of Mefi to help brint it to its rightful green-ness. My best lead so far is that Rust-Oleum makes a metallic green spraypaint, but I've yet to see it in my local craft and hardware stores or online for sale. Any tips on coloring the aluminum body, translucent plastic cap and/or glass lantern bulb would be muchly appreciated.

I'm so glad we had this time together...

jvilter — Mon, 01 May 2006 22:53:37 -0800

I have been tasked with finding a dental exam chair for use on stage. It must have arms and a tray attached. I need to find it this week, in southern California and hopefully, can get it for the price of a couple of freebee tickets to see Harvey Korman and Tim Conway, live.
My husband is the production manager for a performing arts center, and is pulling his hair out over this. The only show we are aware of that makes use of this kind of chair is Little Shop of Horrors, and for some reason no one we know has one just hanging around. I'm sure they could go to one of the prop houses in LA and rent one for big money, but they're already spending a LOT of money to bring these guys in and would rather not spend any more than they have to. I'm planning to spend some time on the phone tomorrow, but thought I might get a head start tonight.

Need old dial phones

AstroGuy — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 14:33:16 -0800

Where can I find old dial telephones like these? They don't need to work at all (play props for The Front Page) and they need to be really cheap (~$20).