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By Pseudodonn7
#4899077
Hello, I'm Brandon and I've been long overdue with throwing myself into the construction side of the community. For a time about 5 years or so ago, I went on a buying rampage and got myself virtually every prop imaginable. Some of great quality since most were from people on this site, some not so good like the repulsive costumes and slime blowers found on Ebay.

My pack was bought on Ebay and it contains a mix of Resin and Nick-a-Tron parts. Nick-a-Tron also supplied me with a foam stunt trap which was quite heavy and did not exactly fit the purposes that I want. That being a cheap, realitively durable, and lightweight prop to fit on my belt. It was all those things, minus it being light weight. It was sadly lost one drunken Halloween and I miss it dearly...

So dearly, that I decided that I would build my own. A hollow one, to make it light on weight. Realitively cheap, I mean it shouldn't cost me more than 5 bucks to make the main board. Other bells and whistles might cost it extra but I doubt it'll be more than 20$... And since I intend to make a similar light weight proton pack one day, I thought a trap would be a nice starting to point to sort of learn the ropes in making props.

I once held the ambition to make such props and sell them but I think the first thing I ought to do is see if I'm any good at making them first. Well, without further ado...

I should mention this was built within 4 hours and was hastily done. I'm calling it a prototype as I am not quite happy with the dimensions yet. The trap is loosely based on a wooden one I bought on Ebay. Not entirely accurate itself but I quite liked some ideas it incorporated to sort of make the design more simple.

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Now first things first, I experimented with cutting up an aluminum can and using aluminum foil. The front part of the trap is the can and the side is the aluminum foil. I dub both these experiments failures. Neither were very cooperative in staying straight.

I did however have a lot of luck with the caution doors, which was done by printing out the design on sticker paper. It is not very straight cut nor positioned but I intend to improve on that. Next time I will spray paint sticker paper silver and use this for the metallic parts.

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Another shot of the front. As you can see it's very hastily done. Feel free to call it shit, but I am experimenting with the proportions. The trap looks quite skinny and maybe a little too long so I'll probably shorten and fatten it a bit.

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The edges are not cut pretty either. I did attempt to bevel the edges but the foam board is basically foam trapped between two construction paper pieces. I have two ideas to try out next since beveling proved quite difficult (but not impossible)
I can either cut the board intricately and fold it together to hide the corners or take strips of construction paper and glue them to the edges to sort of coat them I also need to cut better... maybe a sharper crafting knife.

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I'm thinking the longer sides should dominate the front, it looks better that way... failing any attempt future to hide the foam sides.

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I glued a dixie cup bracket to fit into my trap holster which has been quit lonely without a trap to go into it.

It's very light and easy to make but I'd still like to go at it again. Again, the trap is quite skinny and maybe too long. But I intend to update this thread and show my progress. Might even go step by step.

I think it's a nice start but I still got a long way to go.

I intend to make a heat sink out of popsickle sticks... because that's worked for some members before.

The two silver/red bars I think will be just two hot glue sticks glued down. Knobs may also be shaped glue sticks...

I have ordered a glossy sticker printer paper for the labels and may or may not do the same for the caution doors. Not sure if I like the matte or glossy look for them. I know the Matty Trap has them glossy.

I do no know what the handle will be or how it'll be fastened. I have the idea of either glue sticks (too skinny), dowel rods (most likely), or some kind of foam tube.

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Comparison of a wooden trap, the Matty, and mine. Definitely a little too skinny but not as bad as I thought. Also just noticed the caution stripping is going the wrong direction. Oops. Adjustments to the measurements and improving the cutting skills and v2 should look much much better...

More to come.
GBDRE760, Noremon liked this
User avatar
By Pseudodonn7
#4899273
Finally got my additional supplies and picked up some different size popsicle sticks and running experiments for the bits and knobs.

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Worked on the vector plate and resistor made up of folded aluminum foil and popsicle sticks. Very easy to make and replace.

So far it looks like the only thing I'm going to paint on this is the resistor (brass/gold), the handle (flat black), the light (red), and the side tubes (red/yellow/silver/bronze).

Thinking of just using glue sticks for the tubes and light, but we'll see. I've ordered some foil stickers and hope they bond with the construction paper better than silver foil poster boards... if they don't then poster boards will be what I use for the aluminum panels in the future.
Noremon liked this
By GBDRE760
#4899363
Still VERY nice man! We have to start SOMEWHERE Right?
Put some Stay Puft Marshmallows in your Hot Coco an get ready.... It's story time.... lol.

Soooo.... A long time ago (2007 or 2008) I made a proton pack. I have absolutely NO clue what my screen name was on the site at the time because I went inactive for a while before I came back. Anyways it was made out of foam board like your trap. People said I did a great job. By the way, BRAVO for not going overboard with the hot glue lol. I really felt like my hot glue job was a mess. People thought it was real on Halloween, like I had bought the pack somewhere. Anyways, I didn't want to go out without a ghost trap and my girlfriend at the time had just gotten me a jigsaw because she knew that I wanted to get into making props.... I made one ghost trap and added lights and a switch but hated the dimensions and some things didn't look level. I made another ghost trap, didn't add electronics, but this time it had the wheels (skateboard bearings). Years went by and my props sat up as I got involved in other things and oneday one of our family friends sons came over. I was not aware of how much of a ghostbuster fan he was. So I decided to surprise him by GIVING him a ghost trap. I didn't think I was gonna be back into my props because so much was going on. Its so funny now because he wanted the one with the lights but I gave him the one with the wheels. Now that I am finally putting my proton pack back on, I am like, oh shoot, I need a trap! I go digging in my storage building, not remembering which trap I gave away, and when I finally find my trap, its my very first trap, with the electronics and no wheels. It absolutely looks like a first build because certain things aren't level etc. Honestly, even though it was wood, YOUR foam build looks better than that trap in the way of the fact that things are still cut nice. I think I found thin fiberglass panels that got painted silver to simulate the trap plating. Anyways I was like man, I should have given him this trap, lol, but I know he was so happy to have a damn good rolling trap. I tried to sand down the trap to level out things but it still seems like a mess. But in a way, it was my PROTOTYPE. The family friends son got the good complete one although the electronics arent in it. I have decided to build another one and since I live in Victorville, CA and there is NO place with styrene nearby unless I order, I opted to try to make a decent trap out of the same material that you made this one out of. I do want to offer a word of advice though. To help seal off those foam parts, before you go painting it, spray the entire thing with some kind of sandable filler primer. Spray it in layers carefully that way you can try to get a good seal on those edges. Thats what I'm gonna do to the one that I am currently on. Anyways, I hope I didn't bore you, lol.
User avatar
By Noremon
#4899397
I love seeing posts of people making things out of easier to find/use stuff!

I planned to make one out of cardboard but I have too much stuff now I doubt I will get to work on much of anything by Hallowe'en or until the new year.
GBDRE760 liked this
User avatar
By Pseudodonn7
#4902374
Sorry for the long time no posts. I need to start remaking my trap again, but I wanted to make a pedal to go with it. Here it is...

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Okay, so far, the only thing on this that's not homemade is the wires and the ribbon cable. Everything else is construction foam, construction paper, a bottle cap, and a tip of a glue stick colored red, and a plastic bottle that use to contain sprinkles. Ribbon cable is not pictured yet as I'm not sure if it'll be secure enough with whatever I plan to make the D-Sub connector and the header connector that the ribbon plugs into.

I am really proud of the Octal Relay. It's just a plastic bottle with the top cut off, and a piece of construction foam decorated in silver pen wrapped around a bottle cap. I might touch it up later.

Naturally, this pedal will not function, but my primary goal here is to use this for my belt. It weighs about the same as the Matty trap pedal that you can see in the back. But since those babies are scarce, I am going to be a bit more hesitant to bring it out without fear of damaging it.

Plus, it's fun to make this stuff.

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The dimensions are largely based on the Matty trap, so I have no idea of it's accuracy. I spent most of a day measuring and cutting to wind up with this. I went ahead and painted the brass parts and spray painted a ribbed strip of cardboard for the final top of the pedal.

I still haven't decided on what the ribbon cable will connect to. Ideally, I'd like it all to be homemade, so that if this thing gets damaged. (and oh it will) I can simply make another one. I did try to make the D-Sub connector out of foam but it didn't hold up as well as I wanted it to. Will tackle it in the morning. (Or next month.)
Last edited by Pseudodonn7 on April 25th, 2018, 9:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
#4902380
Pedal all finished! Just waiting for the 1/4 inch hose to arrive and then I'll start on the trap again.

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I should mention, this is my first time constructing a pedal for the trap. I have owned a couple, but never put one together. It's very inexpensive. I say the foam cost me about $5.00 at grocery store, construction paper was also $5.00 for like a pack of 50 sheets. And the bottle of sprinkles was like $4.00, and the wires and ribbon were $8.00 plus shipping.

So, just the pedal ended up being, $22.20... and it took about a day to get it assembled. Not too bad! And again, easy to replace if it falls off my belt or I step too hard on the sucker. :D

Also, I will print out the stickers and fix them on when I start on the trap. Don't think I haven't forgotten them.

Also note, I had some mixed results using construction paper to hide the foam edges. The main base of the pedal and the left project box (with the relay) were both done fairly well, I think. However, I rushed on the second project box, but I was more focused on trying to work out how to fix the hose. Still working on it, but I have some ideas on what I want to do so I might rip that piece off and make a new one.

I decided not to cover the foam on the edge of the vector plate. I figure, over time, the foam will condense anyways from stepping on it occasionally.
#4907857
I love the 2cnd trap you did . Definitely an improvement! Could you explain how you made the handle and how is it attached? I wanted to make one out of eva foam but this sounds cheaper lol


thank you1
Sal
User avatar
By Pseudodonn7
#4908976
Sorry for late response. The vertical part of the handle is made from the same material as the body of the trap. It's a single piece foamboard that's been cut and folded meticulously. It took a lot of measuring and cutting but I somehow got it on the first try. It meets straight down the middle in the back. The top part has a v cut into it for the next part.

The horizontal part of the handle is just construction paper rolled up and glued with clear Elmer's. Needing it to be a bit more sturdy, I inserted a thick glue stick into the center, then glued the top and let it sit. Then I turned it upside down and glued the bottom. I then glued, again with elmers, a circle to either end. I then hot-glued the handle pieces together and voila!

The primary reason I did this was to cut down on the weight. You could easily use dowel rods instead but I was curious if I could just use the primary materials I had already used to assemble the rest of the trap. I even had dowel rods on stand-by but I didn't need them.

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