Cecrops Props

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Do you have a set date for when your commissions will be open?

No I don/y really. Do you have something specific in mind?

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Would you sell your lil cal?

I am considering putting him up for auction sometime in the near future...

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Could I potentially buy your Jake English gas mask? It may need custom sizing though considering my rather large glasses.

That mask was custom made for a customer who now owns it.

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Hi, I was looking at the Zillyhoo hammer on your website. (It's probably the best realisation I've seen of a pretty popular prop.) The curved rainbow section coming out the back of the hammer is really round. How did you manage that? My current plan is to heat, carve and sand EVA foam, so I'd be grateful if you could suggest any improvements. :p

I made the whole thing out of that blue wall insulation foam, coated with patching compound and sanded smooth. I wouldn’t recommend it, however, because it ends up being somewhat fragile. EVA foam is a good idea especially if you have a dremel to shape it. It might be easiest to form a curved core for the curved part, and cover it with thin rounded strips to make it fluted.

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Now I have a bunch of tiny wax tools. I still need to remake a few of the molds that didn’t work, then it’s on to casting!

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Here’s some more new molds. These look so neat that it almost seems a shame to cut them open.

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New mold compound, this stuff in nice! This mold is a thing of beauty!

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It’s almost time to pour the first batch of molds.

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Here’s what I’ve got so far…

Now it’s finally time to start making new molds!

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After finishing up the two guns, and getting some (real) work out of the way, I have finally had a chance to get back to work on the little tools. I got a tiny jeweler’s torch, and I’m having lots of fun using it. It has given me the ability to make masters with built up parts, like this new little dagger blade and cross guard. It is based on a 19th century “flame blade” Spanish dagger. (It’s standing on a quarter for scale). It also features, in the cross guard, the tiniest metal lathe turning I’ve ever done.

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My Borderlands Jakobs Smasher is all finished!  Please enjoy the photos.

Here’s what I have learned from this build:

It’s not worth the trouble to try to salvage bad castings. I spent way too much time filling, priming and sanding bubbles and pits. I would have save a good deal of time just re-casting the parts.

Also, at one point during painting, I thought I was being clever using kitchen plastic wrap during masking instead of paper. It stuck to the cured paint underneath, and pealed off big sheets of the paint, in some cases, right down to the primer. What a mess.

And, I have gathered from some helpful pointers to help in my casting. I will be using this advise to starting with some new castings in a while, to build plain steel and wood Jakobs pistol, one of the Iron or Rex pistols. 

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My Borderlands Unkempt Harold is all finished! Please enjoy the photos.

Here’s what I have learned from this build:

On this build, I used a mix of poplar and hard maple. It too a lot of extra time to fill and sand out the grain in the poplar. Although the maple is harder to work, it is worth the trouble when it comes to finishing, with no visible grain texture.

I had a lot of fun using the toothpaste masking technique for the first time to simulate paint chipping, and I really like the way it turned out. I’ll be keeping this trick handing for future builds.

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I’m also getting closed to finished with the Jakobs Smasher! It's all assembled now, I just have a little more wear and weathering to do. 

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I’m getting closed to finished with the Unkempt Harold! I’ve got the stripes and stars painted, and just have a little more wear and weathering to do.

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Here is the second coat of darker metallic, after masking out some areas for lighter metallic. You can also see the lighted vents, or whatever they are supposed to be, on the cowls. I had airbrushed those on some time ago, they were underneath masking all this time.

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…and here is the first metallic coat, Alclad stainless steel. Cecrops Props: cecropsprops.com Facebook: facebook.com/cecropsprops

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At this point, I have applied the black undercoat to the Unkempt Harold...

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