Old School TMNT Film prop builds!

Hey guys! I know, it's another thread I've started with several others waiting forever for updates. The last one (the Iron Man build) I have officially stopped on, because the person who commissioned it dropped contact and hasn't paid a dime past the deposit, despite saying he'll pay more in a day or two and me not seeing anything in two weeks after that. Oh well. Leaves me time for more projects!

In this thread, I'll be building a bunch of different things from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies - the live action ones from the 90s! Gonna be a ton of fun, and certainly has been already. Here's a list of the pile of stuff I'll be making:

2 pairs of Mikey's 'chucks, first film (finished)
1 pair of Raph's sais, first film (molding process)
1 TGRI ooze canister, second film
1 ooze canister, first film
1 Shredder's spear, first film (painting)
1 Super Shredder helmet, second film
1 Time Scepter, third film

Several of these have been super easy, and several of them are going to be quite a bit more difficult. Tips, suggestions, anything anyone is willing to offer would be greatly appreciated, especially on the final two.

First up, the nunchucks! These aren't 100% accurate, since I unfortunately don't have a drill press (which would have made the whole thing a ton easier), but I still had fun making them. Bought 2 1"x4' dowels from Lowes, and chopped them all down to four one-foot rods.


Since the 'chucks aren't round, but octagonal, I shaped each one down with my mini belt sander, courtesy of Harbor Freight. It's the small, 1-inch wide belt that apparently is used to sharpen knives and tools, but I've used it for quite a number of things now. It's my little work horse! ;)

Anyway, once that was all done, I drilled two holes through each side and a wider hole down through the top, to thread the leather through. I also rounded each end down a bit, to keep with the look of the movie's 'chucks.


After that I stained each rod brown:


...then got to work on the leather. Here is where the drill press would have made things easier. The hole at the top is much wider than I made it, and the side sections are sunk in slightly, which would have made threading the leather fast and simple. Due to only having a drill, I had to push each end in farther than what was needed, through a wire looped inside the top hole, and pull them out. This part took a couple hours on its own.

Lesson learned here: get a drill press. :/


Once that was all done, I sanded down the stain drips and beat the 'chucks against a few things to ding them up a bit, giving it the "actually used" look. Didn't have to do a lot, since the sanding also added a few nice divots and whatnot, but these I can call done!

Next comes Raph's sais. Not quite finished on these, will update as I go.

Started with a glorious find at the local Halloween store: solid plastic sais that were the right length (though the arms were way too short and the wrong shape anyway). Cut the arms off the sides of one, and started shoving clay around.


Using an oil based clay here, one that is silicone-safe: Van Aiken's Klean Klay Alternative. Since it's an oil based clay, there are a lot of bumps and lines, but for this one I'm not worried. Once I pull the castings, the whole section covered by the clay is going to be wrapped with thin leather. Speaking of molding....


Using Oomoo 30 here, since that's all that was in stock at my local supply place, and it works. Unfortunately I'm also stuck at this point, since I'm out of money and don't have enough for the second half of the mold. If anyone is interested, I'm willing to sell a few kits to raise the funds for finishing this one up - you'll have to message me since I don't quite have access to the Junkyard yet.

Onward to another easy make: the Shredder spear!

I took a couple small liberties with this one. There aren't any great full shots of the spear I can find (at least in any decent quality) where I can also gauge the size. It did, however, look a lot smaller than a typical staff (though bigger than Donnie's), so I guestimated the staff length at 3 feet, and each of the spear ends at 12 inches. This put the whole thing at five feet, which to me sounds about right. I also decided to make it entirely out of wood - both cost-wise and less wobble than PVC/less dangerous than a metal version. The movie one seemed too plasticky anyway, so wood was my choice.

Grabbed 2 of the 1 1/4" dowels in 4 foot lengths (thicker and meatier than the 'chucks), chopped a foot off of one, and drilled a hole in each side for a glue post. Put a coat of a darker red stain down on it, set it to dry, then got to work on the spear heads.


Now the fun really starts. I bought a lathe a few months back, but hadn't used it and hadn't had anything to make with it. Also, it kinda scared me. To get over my worries, I used the extra 12" section to test out the spear points and to practice using the darn thing.


My fears are now nearly gone, and I've kinda caught the lathe-bug. Still have a healthy respect for the machine, but I'm totally ready to make more with it. And, on that note, I cut 2 thirteen inch rods (a bit longer to account for the excess at the end, since I don't have a chuck to hold things just yet) that barely fit on the lathe and pumped the actual spear heads out.


I grabbed the mini belt sander again, after chopping the chunks off the point, and sharpened out the ends (though I did round them slightly). After that was done, I stuck them on the end of the staff to find a flat point, then sanded down the flat side until it stood in the proper direction.

I also put a second coat of stain on the shaft, to really pop the color. This one is Rust-oleum's Ultimate Wood Stain, of the Cabernet color. And oh is it pretty!


As of this writing, I've sanded and primed the spikes. Just waiting for that to set before I throw on a metallic silver and assemble it. Taking longer, since it's snowing outside, which is making the garage freeze....

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