Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Bioshock Little Sister ADAM Syringe

The Little Sisters from Bioshock are among the creepiest characters I've ever seen in a videogame. Their syringes, used for extracting ADAM are even moreso, with vials of genetic material in a glass that the sisters suck from dead bodies, then drink. ugh.


I have to compliment the designers at 2K Games, their research on this project was top-notch. The Syringes themselves are built out of mid 20's-era brass gasoline pumps, the needles/bottles/etc being added by either the Sisters themselves or some other crafty person. I went looking and found this one, casting stamp date 1926. After breaking it apart, I needed to add the barrel/syringe combo, the bottle, and an endcap.


I found an old glass bottle in a friend's basement that was the perfect shape and size. After filing down the threads on the end, I fitted a PVC coupler to its open end, shaving down the inside for a tight fit.

 
 
 
Raised edges were added to the pipe fitting with apoxie sculpt to mimic the attachment point on the game syringe, and the end was capped off with ABS and more apoxie sculpt. This was then sanded flat.


I threaded the apoxie sculpt and inserted a brass fitting to mate with the upper plug on the nozzle. A few washers were added for texture. This piece was epoxied in place.


The endcap started life as a piece of steel pipe from a hardware store. I had to grind off the ugly casting marks of the manufacturer and "CHINA" which were in the metal. Leaving them there would have been hideous.


The endcap and bottle coupler were painted with silver krylon "hammered" texture paint, then coated with Testors gold to match the body of the nozzle.


An early test fit of the pieces shows the 1" PVC I used to make the "barrel" of the syringe. The end was plugged with apoxie sculpt and sanded flat. This was then drilled out to recieve...


...a 3/8" pine dowel which I lathed down to a point. The end is chamfered like a real syringe would be, although one this size is a little disturbing. Its alarmingly sharp.


I drilled and tapped the upper plug on the nozzle to accept the brass fitting from before, then secured it in place with JB weld. I needed a hollow piece to run the wiring through for the LED bank which will live in the ADAM chamber and illuminate the red goo from inside.



The bottle coupler was added, and a frosted clear cap was placed over the LEDs to diffuse the glow. This was filled with epoxy to seal any leaks from the bottle above.


The "ADAM" is actually RIT dye, clear hairgel and water. I had hoped the hairgel would increase the viscosity of the solution, but it seems like the chemicals in the dye dilute it somewhat. The liquid inside is about the color and consistency of red gatorade... which makes me wonder why I didn't just use that.


First assembly and test-fire. The needle part has been painted with dull aluminum.


Weathering this project was fun. Just beat into the finish with anything you have available, make it as random as possible, then fill the resulting scars with layers of black and brown acrylic paint. I think from now on I'm only going to do "heavily weathered" props... The finish is just so much more fun than sanding with 2,000 grit paper! The endcap was weathered with a hacksaw and dremel, to match the scars that already existed in the nozzle when I got it. It looks like someone stuck a huge pipewrench on it several times in it's life.


A key thing missing in almost all of the syringes I've seen so far is the baby bottle nipple end on the ADAM chamber. You can watch the Little Sisters drink from it in the trailers... gross. The ring was made from apoxie sculpt and PVC, and the clear nipple painted pink from the inside. It recieved the same weathering treatment as the rest of the syringe.


Once the whole thing was assembled, I sprayed it with a few coats of matte finish clearcoat, to make sure none of the weathering "grime" wore off. You can see in the above shot the blood-soaked end of the needle. Smaller but still there are the three thumbscrews I added that sit on the upper ring of the bottle coupler. This was hard to make out in the game stills, but the extra dimension there adds a bit of "cobbled together" feeling to the piece.


The final replica, outside in natural light, and a few shots indoors to show the illumination.


 
 
 

56 comments:

  1. Wow, once again great work! I hope to see your Portal gun go up for auction soon, as I will certainly be looking to bid on it =)

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  2. AMAZING!!!!!!!! You are the greatest and best person! I really think it is great that you give us a glimpse into the making of these amazing projects.

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  3. Absolutely astonishing work! I love the attention to detail, and think that you have incredible talent. GREAT JOB!!!

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  4. So...where do we sign up to buy one of these? I've come to terms with the fact I'll never be getting the Life-Sized Little Sister statue at my local Game Crazy, yet, this seems a little more within my grasp!

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  5. wow. haven't experienced such amusement for a long time in my life. thanks!

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  6. I hope that when the make the movies for this film they give you a call for creating the props. This is incredible.

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  7. this is so gorgeous, thanks for sharing!

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  8. My god, what an artist.

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  9. The level of detail you put into your props is astounding! You easily could make a living as a prop designer for any major film company. Keep up the good work! :)

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  10. Exceptional. Ever consider firing an email off to WETA or ILM?

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  11. man that's cool i want to buy it now

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  12. Wow! That is so ungodly awesome! Great work! (I want one lol)

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  13. *wipes tear from eye*

    It's so fucking beautiful. LOVE the addition of the baby bottle nipple; your weathering process is top fucking notch.

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  14. OOoh very nice! Another idea for the bottles I thought, ( if your going to make more) would be the paint bottles used for an airbrush machine. Not sure how pricy I would be but just a thought.

    Looks like this. http://www.be-unique.com/airbrush/EclipseHP-BCSnew.jpg

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  15. Spectacular work! You really should get hired for props if they ever make a bioshock movie ;)

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  16. where did you find the old gas pump?

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  17. ebay it ;D found mine on there for $16

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  18. What are the chances I could get you to make one for me?

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  19. It would be cool if he would give us the total price of all the parts used in creating some of his replica's. But great work. Its truly an art and you are simply an artist.

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  20. what i find funny is you said you could have used Gatorade for the ADAM and it occurs to me that with the nipple you could have rigged it so you could actually drink from it with out much effort

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  21. Loved your Big Daddy costume at Dragon*Con! Can't wait to see y'all next year :D

    When you reopen commissions I may have to purchase a prop for my 2010 costume ;)

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  22. It's true what they say: What has been seen cannot be unseen. I never noticed the nipple before, now I can't ignore it.

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  23. I am curious as to the activation mechanism for the LED inside the bottle. Is it simply an "always on/always off" thing when connected/disconnected to the battery? I think it would be righteous if the LED was activated using the pump handle!

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  24. Impressive. I've seen a lot of amazing props and costumes but yours stand out.

    Excellent work sir!

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  25. Absolutely gorgeous and well executed :D

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  26. where did you found that gasoline pump exactly?
    i search around e-bay and local depots, atill i can't find one.

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  27. love your work, i hope a big daddy drill is next in line!

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  28. i want to have one :(
    anybody knows where i can find one for halloween?

    email me at pandachii@gmail.com

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  29. Wow!I am going to be a Little Sister for Halloween,so could you show me a link to buy one or something?Thanks =D

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  30. This was so helpful when it came to making my ADAM syringe. Thank you!

    Your's came out amazingly, and your Big Daddy and Little Sister cosplay was amazing to see in pictures. If only I could have seen you at a con somewhere!

    You can see my syringe replica, along with my little sister cosplay here:
    http://twilightxxxchild.deviantart.com/

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  31. Hi Is there anyway i could by that syringe if so email me back at myrandaskye@yahoo.com. thank you!

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  32. wow, That's amazing! I should make one now, could you help me out by sending me an e-mail at oliviaii98@msn.com to tell me where I can find the gasoline pump nozzle?

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  33. How do I buy this? I want this so bad! How much would you charge for one of these?

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  34. where did you find the gasoline pump?
    i am planning to make this soon but i need to fine out where that was purchased, or found.
    thank you

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  35. This Adam Syringe is AMAZING. If you could tell me how you attached the "Adam" to the handle of the gas pump i would be very grateful. My e-mail is egk8_16@yahoo.com.
    Thank You VERY much.

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  36. I absolutely love Bioshock and this is a dead on replica. Amazing stuff. If you were able to make the bottle and nipple sanitary and functioning you could've filled it with red gatorade and drank from it to really make people freak out. This is an amazing piece.

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  37. If you were to make another one to sell, how much would you sell it for? Sadly, I cannot make my own.

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  38. Thanks for this tutorial! My friend is using this as a reference to make this, but in a smaller scale.

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  39. How much would I have to pay you to make me one of these amazing syringes?!

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  40. Waaaa! This is the most awesome thing that I see in my life! I think Bioshock's my favourite game, and I've seen this and I've been a few happy! Hahaha
    Excelet job, and tutorial! :D

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  41. How would you sell a copy?
    I am Brazilian and I wanted to get a copy
    I hope to answer ...
    my email is rodrigo_toi@hotmail.com

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  42. I live in america I would like a copy as well for my sisters outfit.
    my email is lalanyomi07@yahoo.com

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  43. I want one of these for my collection!!
    c_theory_99@yahoo.com

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  44. Wow this prop looks amazing, I would love to have this and sit it above my tv set!!

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  45. Is it possible to get a full list of components?

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  46. I would like to know if you would make another and sell it. I'm being a little sister this year and i want to buy one from someone

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  47. This is amazing. I have three nozzles just waiting to be turned into syringes. This will help my husband and I a TON in making mine! One will be for me, and the others will probably be sold at some point, if they're worthy. They may end up being used for a test run. O.o

    Thank you for sharing your process with us!

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