How To Make A Portal In Real Life

This is how I went virtually making my own Discontinuity Scientific discipline Handheld Portal Device.

Ever wanted to run effectually a death bedchamber in an orange jumpsuit merely never had the ways to think with portals? Well now you lot can give it a get; perhaps. This is but i of the examples I hope to employ to get into the Props and Special Effects manufacture *wink wink*. Rate it if you similar it please.

To start this, I needed to do some research to get some proficient views of the Portal Gun other than the POV postion behind the device. These 3 pictures taken from the cyberspace were the all-time examples I could observe to go an idea of what the whole gun looks like. The first paradigm is an creative person’s impression which is fairly accurate so I used it every bit my scale cartoon.

Assuming the gun would be approximately 500mm in length, I scaled the commencement image upwards in Microsoft Discussion and then simply drew lines to find measurements to get an accurate model. And so using the other screen shots, make full in the details.

This projection took the best part of a calendar month and used a variety of tools, skills and materials. The most annoying part is that every aspect of the build is bespoke, apart from the pigment and so takes a far while to put together. So hither’s some of the chief things:

Tools:

Drill printing

Router

Lots of manus tools

Scalpel

Hot Glue Gun (lots of hot gum!)

Materials:

Various wood

Exercise mat foam

Folder plastic (similar an A3 art folder)

5Litre paint can

Chicken Wire

Dirt or plasticine

Wire coathangers

Newspaper & PVA glue

Various paints

Wood filler (this stuff is vital!)

It all starts with the butt of the device. This measures up to a cylindrical tube 75mm outer diameter and about 300mm long. A decent bit of wall thickness helps for stiffness simply isn’t critical. Home drainpipes are merely around the correct size if yous can go some. I didn’t want to spend the money so had to use a toy plastic tube which I had to thicken up with several layers of newspaper and mucilage plastered on. I also mixed some black paint into the glue to salvage some painting endeavor later.

Everything is and so built onto this barrel, starting at the front. Cut out a suitable sized piece of foam and hot mucilage it effectually the barrel to build up the shape. I used an old practise mat about 8mm thick which was easy to cutting with a scalpel only also meant it damaged hands and deforms if in contact with the glue gun nozzle, then be careful! Shaping the front end piece of foam is washed carefully with a scalpel, it’ll become tidied upwards later on.

At present we’re building up the contour of the model. This part was fabricated from 18mm plywood shaped out with a router to get a 100mm disc. Drilled a hole in the center of the disc and screwed a bolt to it so I could simply the disc on the drill press, get it spinning and use a file to shape the radius on the disc. So used the router again to cut out the centre and form a band with an ID of 75mm (to slide over the butt) and OD of 100mm all shaped nicely. If you lot take a big enough radius bit for the router, yous can use that, or just painstakingly sand abroad the shape.

A ring is shaped out of cream from a kneeling garden mat which was thicker and stiffer than the do mat. Hot glue the ii together and so hot gum the ring onto the butt.

The next department of the gun is a bit more work. It isn’t a straight cylinder anymore but an oval which was about 130mm on the curves and 30mm on the straights with the 75mm pigsty in the eye of the acme. Two identical shapes were cut out with a router from 6mm plywood and and so wooden blocks tacked in between with nails to get the right thickness.

Slide it onto the barrel and hot mucilage information technology to the foam ring and the butt. Lots of hot glue to concur everything together.

The wood sandwich is the footing of the windowed section of the gun. The wood is skinned with a thin plastic cut from an old A3 fine art folder (the folded black blazon with a handle and clasp). The plastic is piece of cake to cutting with a knife and is strong enough to concord shape.

A rectangle of plastic long enough to cover the tiptop curve and half as broad is cut out. 9 slits are cut so the plastic can fold alternately between stright and L-shaped to course the windows. Scoring the back of the plastic helps it crease nicely. Another strip of foam was glued to the barrel underneath the plastic to give the depth. All the folds are hot glued downward so they stay put.

A suitably big piece of folder plastic is cut out to become around the curve, up the straights and over the top to class a ledge. Hot glue the whole lot together over again.

The big cylinder at the back finish of the gun is most 165mm in bore and 200mm long, which is virtually the size of a five litre firm paint can (which I found in a skip). Subsequently you lot’ve cleaned it out, cutting a 75mm hole for the barrel to slide into. Again, it’s not eye but is relative to the oval shape being in the eye of the can. I cut it out by drilling lots of holes in a circumvolve and punched it out.

2 thin strips of cream were stuck to the side of the butt and shell to add together item and little triangles of foam underneath the plastic window bits to fill in. You can use dirt or plasticine instead. A hole is too cut out of the barrel for the clear window section to get in later.

A large disc of the kneeling mat cream was cutting and tapered to the diameter of the paint tin can and stuck onto the bottom. Make sure to cut a pigsty in the same place on the foam as the can for the barrel to slide through. The top of the can (the back of the gun) was cutting off to bring it to length.

This is where wood filler is invaluable. I used Ronseal Wood Filler which spreads on like a putty and sets hard. Get over the whole model and fill in whatsoever divots or gaps or uneven transitions with wood filler. This is crucial around the parts cut with the scalpel to smooth it out and lose the jagged cuts. Take time with this as it is where things will all smooth out and await neat. Sand information technology down with fine paper so information technology’s nice and smooth for painting.

This is a tricky and intensive part, at least information technology was the mode I did it. The front end handle shell was shaped from wire sail, cut to shape, aptitude, and then cuts made at the front and back so the canvass tin can be aptitude over itself to form the curves. A few bangs with a hammer smoothed out the curves.

The large shell at the rear is made from craven wire cut to shape and bent like before to make the basic beat.

I used pieces of paper to find the shape I demand and made sure they fit around the paint can and the front section. I’ve added the patterns I used to make the shells. Sketched out by and large by heart. The front end shell is on A4 and the back shell is on A3.

With the front crush, I congenital up the shape with plasticine to thicken the shell and add depth. The big shell didn’t demand it and then was left equally wire. Each shell is then coated in several layers of newspaper strips and a mixture of 50/50 PVA glue and water. You could use fibreglass resin if you wanted extra strength just the newspaper is just as practiced and readily bachelor. Use small strips of paper to prevent creases and comprehend evenly with the glue mix using a paintbrush (but like in Fine art Set on). This is particularly crucial on the large trounce to go a smooth curvy finish. Cover the handle shell on both sides but the big shell only needs covering on the outside.

The large shell wasn’t smooth plenty for my liking so I made upwards a Polyfilla mix paste (like they employ for walls) and spackled the whole beat to fill in the dips and smooth the vanquish. Use a palette knife to spread the paste and so a wet knife to smooth things over, or just wet your manus and run information technology over.

Then paint both shells with the same bright white gloss paint used for the primary trunk for a nice shiny white shell. You could save yourself alot of problem if y’all have sheets of acrylic and a rut gun to mould the plastic into shape.

These are the little details that make it look the role.

Pic 1 is the hole for big shell made from several strips of paper wrapped tightly round and glued. The paper ringlet is and then staggered to go that chamfered expect. More than wood filler is spread to smooth it out and so a pigsty is cutting in the big trounce and the paper cylinder hot glued in.

Film two show the artillery that point over the forepart of the device. The arms are cutting from wood and lap-jointed in place. The front of the arms sandwich the principal arm and come to a point later on some whittling (see Pic 3).

Picture four shows the cables made from some tube with coathanger wire within to allow shaping and stiffness. The trivial black wire things are just that, made from coathanger wire. Each one is four identical lengths of wire with two bent into C shapes and so stuck to the other two lengths (run across Picture show 5).

Picture 6 is the niggling turbine similar disc you tin can sometimes see inside the gun barrel when information technology’s lit up. Just a piece of cardboard with foam inserts stuck on and the heart cutting out. And so all painted two-tone grey.

Unfortunately non many photos of these steps, but it’s pretty obvious. The whole model is sprayed black and a hole cut in the pigment can for the hole in the vanquish to poke through.

Holes are then cut in the front shell and acme of the windowed section for the arm thing, tubing and black wire affair to poke through and all glued into place. The elevation arm on the windowed department is off centre in placement and is farther over to the right.

Poke the other finish of the tubes into the plasticine sweet capsules on the big vanquish and glue in. Then gum the shells to the master barrel. The pigsty cutting out of the barrel is paned with a sheet of clear plastic inserted inside and stuck down and y’all’re done!

This is the finished production now once everything is stuck downward and painted on. I haven’t had a hazard to make it calorie-free up orangish and blue every bit I didn’t accept an orangish LED or an orange filter. Perhaps later I’ll modify it with sprays for parafin and potassium chloride meths to make orange and bluish fireballs instead.

Improvements to be made? Thanks for reading!