Prop Building 101

Prop Building 101 Part 1: PVC Frames and Armatures

Pipe sizes and weights, sun and cold, cutting and dry fit, primer, cure times and cement safety for PVC prop frames, plus why PVC never carries compressed air.

Prop Building 101 Part 2: Monster Mud

What USG, Sherwin-Williams and the clear-coat makers say about each ingredient in monster mud, our own method for dipping and draping a figure, and what to expect when it spends October outside.

Requires: Prop Building 101 Part 1: PVC Frames and Armatures

Prop Building 101 Part 3: Corpsing a Skeleton

Turn a clean plastic store skeleton into a dried corpse with shrink film and a heat gun, then liquid latex and paint. What four heat gun manuals say, where plastics melt, why PVC stays out of it, and the latex allergy basics.

Requires: Prop Building 101 Part 2: Monster Mud

Prop Building 101 Part 4: The Flying Crank Ghost

Build a flying crank ghost: frame, crank, strings and cheesecloth, a rotisserie or DC gear motor, and the electrical, pinch-point and fire rules that keep it safe.

Requires: Prop Building 101 Part 1: PVC Frames and Armatures