Will Vale Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 Hi all, I finally took some pictures of this thing, it's not straightforward as it's too big for my piece of paper and is very reflective. Instead of trying to document it like a model I've opted to make it look silly/pretty/instagrammy, with soft focus etc. It's Riff Raff's laser from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, as a full-size prop. I doubt very much that it's made the same way as the original but the shape and size feel about right. I put it together over a week of lunchtimes before we went to a screening last year. The main ingredient is two sets of 15mm knitting needles. I channelled our very own Nigel Heath and bent these using a heat gun and a bending spring. I don't have any bending springs so I made one by winding wire around a pen. It took a fair while, but not nearly as long as it would've done to go to the hardware shop and discover they didn't have the spring I wanted I used a pan to guide the curve and then cut the ends off square. The needles go into holes drilled in a broken turned boss salvaged from our sofa. Lots of epoxy keeps it all together, and I drilled all the way through the boss and each tube to pin it with more wire so there'd be some sort of mechanical joint. The not-authentic ribbed bit is part of a hose coupler, which hides a step between the boss and the rear part. That and the grip are made from pine dowel wrapped in thin styrene sheet. I cut the sheet slightly too long to leave recesses at the ends of the tube and expoxied ping-pong balls into them. The small ball is from a craft shop and has a plastic lightning bolt glued into a saw cut. I painted it all with some awesome shiny rattle can paint from the hardware store. I wouldn't recommend it for models though as it rubs off - maybe the pigment is graphite powder? It was great for this as it took no time and looked just fine on the night. It's probably obvious that I had a great time making the LASER. It's sometimes liberating to just get it done rather than fret about the finish or the details. Plus it helped us win the Best Couples' Costume prize at the screening which was awesesome. Not often that the Mrs. and I get to stand on stage while seven or eight hundred baying twenty-somethings raise the roof with applause! Cheers, Will 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicodemus Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 Hi,Will,I remember you fretting that you wouldnt be able to finish this in time for the show- so glad you did! Lovely fun build :-) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Heath Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 Hi Will, great prop thanks for posting and pleased that I came in handy for the channelling. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Rose Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 Haha love it, you'd never believe it wasn't real! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerbannog Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Cool. Looks great :-) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted January 12, 2016 Author Share Posted January 12, 2016 Thanks folks! In a sense it is real, in that you can hold it and wave it around at people. See the pic in the other thread... I was trying to link to the event photographer's pics but they're on Facebook in some irritating unlinkable form. Will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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