Monday, October 25, 2010

Daft Punk Handplates

It just makes sense, really. If you have the helmet then you're going to need the gloves to go with it.


You might recall my vacuumformer build from a few months back. My reason for creating that tool was to eventually create a set of Daft Punk glove pieces. This all stemmed from a very helpful post over on the Replica Props Forum where a member had noted he had worked on a set of handplates for Daft Punk themselves while they were on tour! The originals, as it turns out, were vacuumformed. This information was perfect, and I set about creating a set of vac-forming masters.

After a lot of research, I made up these blueprints to nail down the scale and shape of the plates.
 
 
First off, I got some alginate and cast a couple of copies of my hands. Alginate is great for single-use lifecasting and I had 2 exact copies of my paws in a couple hours. The finals were made with Smooth Cast 300 resin.


Once these were fully cured, I sculpted the hand plates over the finger sections with Apoxie Sculpt.


I only sculpted the finger plates on one hand, as they would be used for both fingers on both hands. The only parts that needed to be sculpted separately were the large back plates.


The next step was a bit unnerving. In order to use these pieces as vacuumform masters, they needed to be separated and the bottoms sanded flat. In order to do this, I cut each of the fingers off the palm on my bandsaw, then cut the fingers into individual sections.


These little hotdog slices all ended up looking very similar, so they were labeled to keep everything straight. The handplates, noticably different, were labeled as well. I get confused easily.


The first set of pulls went near flawlessly. These were done in .060" styrene plastic.


After removing the masters from the pull, I labeled the inside of the plates and cut them out roughly on my bandsaw.


My preferred, or at least "settled-upon" method of trimming the edges to shape was to clamp my dremel tool to my workbench and shape each piece individually with a sanding drum. It took a while (4 hours!) but the results were worth it.


The result - all pieces trimmed, the edges smoothed with 1000 grit paper, and ready for chrome!


In order to set these up for spray chrome, I made a few parts trees (similar to model car kits) out of my scrap styrene. The plates were glued to the trees with a small dab of superglue, which would make them easy to snap off later after paint.


First photos from my friends over at Creations n' Chrome. Beautiful!


Unfortunately, I don't have a photo available for the "mounting" part. I ended up cutting small pieces of craft foam to fit into the recessed cavities of the concave glove plates. These were superglued to the styrene side. To affix them to the gloves, I used 3M black weatherstrip adhesive. Highly toxic and difficult to work with, but once it sets, the pieces are on there for life!

Note: I glued these in place using a friend of mine (Thanks, Dr. Roundtree!) as a stand-in hand mannequin. If you decide to do the same, have your hand model wear a set of latex gloves underneath the cloth ones. You do NOT want to glue this stuff to your skin.

For gloves, I went to a camping store and bought some thin black glove liners. These have no markings and are lightweight as well, so nothing would get in the way of the design.


Some final shots of the pieces, all shiny and ready for Halloween!


Thanks for reading!

23 comments:

Kevin said...

<3

Anonymous said...

fuckin awesome!! xD

Jordan Thoms said...

First! And those are awesome, great work as always!

ZerFEr said...

<3 thank you SO much!

Unknown said...

I am in love.

Unknown said...

Could you post your complete Halloween garb? I'd love to see the whole costume.

Austaylerr said...

Great piece!
Two small questions.
What are the main materials that you use when making your props, and where do you buy them?

KREO said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Crystal Graziano said...

These turned out beautiful! Useful information too, I have to do something similar. Thanks for sharing!

Matt Breitbach said...

You mention spray-chroming. Is that a paint process, or is it an actual electro-chemical process? Is this something that the typical DIY'er can do with a touch-up gun or an HVLP gun, or are there specialized shops and equipment for it?

Unknown said...

i think i love you! i just found your blog from your video that my friend sent me because i love daft punk and i would love to be guy (his helmet's the best). and you have a corgi?! you're too awesome. are you going to make any tron replicas?!

Christie Klein said...

Wow that's really awesome. I've done castings of my own hands and feet, but using regular moulding plaster, and they definitely didn't come out as nice as yours. Good info!

Ryan said...

smooth cast 300? or smooth cast 300Q? awesome work

XiYen said...

Simply amazing. I was going to inquire about commissioning Guy's helmet and gloves, but then I read the helmet FAQ, and decided against bothering you. However, I was wondering if you know of a college course or studio (or even just some basic DIY sites) that could help me learn this kind of stuff. I would love to build my own Guy helmet. Would you happen to know of a specific site for hi-res images for his helmet? or was it just Google Images?
P.S. I have the same problem as you...I talk too much.

Vermithrax said...

Beautiful work man. Absolutely beautiful work.

The Great Spaz said...

Theyre SHINNY!!! Your work is epic.

Soul-Drinker said...

Harrison-

Is it alright if I copy your techniques for the Daft Punk helmets and gloves, perhaps? I'll credit you of course, and it's not like anyone who doesn't search for this stuff DOESN'T know you did it first. I really want to make some, and your work is soo astounding. Just wanted to ask.

-Deanna

Anonymous said...

Holy mother of--

You, uh, d-do you take commissions? Because as much as I'd LOVE to make a set of handplates myself, I don't have the money for the equipment and tools, or even a place to put it all *tiny house*. But I would sooooooo be willing to pay for a pair... The hand casting I can probably do myself, though.

Please, please, pleeeeeease tell me you take commissions.

~Deimos (or Parrot)

BikePark St-Luc said...

You're my hero...

Darkneo said...

Your Job is really Awesome!! Unfortunatelly anybody will not be able to access such tools or materials... I really would like to do my own :D :D :D

Unknown said...

Dear, Mr. Krix

I was wondering if i could bother you with the task of making a pair of elbow long daft punk gloves?? i will pay for them of course and let you name the price. I wish i could do it myself, but i dont have the resources or the skill I see you do.

please contact me at wadebowers9111@yahoo.com with your answer as soon as possible

thank you,

Wade Bowers

Electric Candy Zac Mac said...

are these for sale?

Zac@electriccandy.com.au

beanieboi2793 said...

how can i get you to make me a pair of these fine handplates?

Post a Comment