Day 6 - Mockup Nearing Completion!

1013553_10153107831650002_376916603_n.jpg


I was finally able to get a good chunk of time devoted to the build today. Clock in about 6 1/2 hours, putting the build up to 18 hours now. I know last time that I said the mock up was almost done, but it's much closer now! To look into the weight, I finally put everything to a pole and surprisingly, with the amount of painter's tape I have on the thing, it didn't fall apart, at least not quickly.

Sizing was off so we have been working on fixing that by slimming down various pieces. Some of my initial measurements have held true, but definitely not most of them. It makes me glad that I started with a mockup version of the weapon before working straight into the final materials, especially seeing as this is the first cosplay build that I've done, let alone first weapon build that I've done.

Spent a good part of the morning talking to my dad about the build. He's thinking there should be a way for us to be able to have it fold up into a gun, but he's getting concerned about the weight of the weapon. It's not bad so far, I could see myself carrying it around for sometime before giving up and having to put it away for a while. Granted, I also don't have the bottom part of the weapon done, though I'm hoping that won't negatively change the weight too much.

Speaking of bottom half, I finally cut PVC piping to create the base of the weapon! My measurements were WAY off for that one... This thing is not going to be 2 feet taller than me, it looks obnoxious and completely off proportion-wise. That will be one of the next things tackled once the blade is done.

I did get new styrofoam as I'm thinking using that for the barrel and blocks on the sniper part of the scythe may be a good idea. I had purchased this green foam stuff that is used for potting plants and someone recommended getting house insulation, not the poofy stuff that's in the roof, but actual sheets of foam. Durability-wise, the housing stuff wins hands down. As long as I can figure out an easy way to work with it, I'll probably go with that in forming the shapes of the barrel and whatnot.

As for animating the weapon, so far there hasn't been a concrete idea. I keep throwing ideas to my dad and he usually lets me know if it would make the weapon heavy, be too complicated or just overly expensive. I'm hoping that once I have a more finalized piece to show him, that part won't be too, too complicated. I have no experience in such things so I have really no idea.