I need to make a giant 6 foot, light weight, resistant rook (chess piece) what material?

Question

I need to make a 6 foot tall rook (chess piece). It has to be light weight, resistant as I'll drive it around and it can not be made of chicken wire, cloth or styrofoam (I got those answeres before). It has to look real neat with a good finish. Please help me find the material I can use to build this thing - Thanks.

Answer 1

You can use Duct Tape! You can make sheets upon sheets of duct tape. Lay out strips of duct tape, overlapping them on each other. Make sure you do this on a surface that will be easy to remove such as a fairly clean carpet floor. It wont hurt the floor or the tape. Then, pull up the sheet and turn it over. Then add more tape to that side. You've just made your first duct tape sheet! Make a pattern and once you have all your sheets that you will need, just cut them out then you assemble them by using more duct tape. You will need a lot of duct tape to make a 6 feet tall rook, but it can be done! Also, if you need to have more stability in certain area and do not want to use chicken wire you can always use cardboard. Just place the cardboard between the duct tape sheets and that should do it.

Not only will it be lightweight, it will be resistant to the elements.

Good luck!

P.S. People have done lots of crafty things with duct tape. To show you the basic idea, below are just a few.

Answer 2

you want to use luan. over a 1" by 2" frame.
light weight....reduce the bulk but stay with wood.it can be painted and sealed inside and out the bolted or strapped to your vehicle....
luan is the one-eighth inch thick or so and can bend some, being so thin.
Also at the same Home depot you can get aluminum studs used to hold up wall board in home building and in the same section of the store you may find sheets of aluminum, or fibreglass or back to luan for the skin.
Get to know your home store guy, they get excited helping people build something outside the usual box.

Answer 3

More info would help me answer this. What is this for? How much are you willing to spend? Why the limitations on what can be used?

As of right now I can only suggest expensive methods such as fiberglass, make a plastic cast using a vaccume board etc..

Answer 4

Have you thought about using "great stuff"?? The instant foam that expands and hardens as it drys. It is commonly used to fill holes or cracks in homebuilding and can be found at any hardware store.

Answer 5

wire frame then cover it with an epoxy, fiberglass (gauss type).

You make the body shape with the wire then you cover it with the gauss and put epoxy on the gauss. You keep layering it till it is thick enough.

-OR-

If it is just temporary, then do it with gauss and plaster (cheaper). In other words you are making a cast.


Mike

Answer 6

Well if you know anything about metal craft I'd suggest aluminum.
A roll of sheet aluminim will be somewhat expensive but will fit all your specifications. Or try aluminum or vinyl siding and paint it.
Good luck.

Answer 7

I would say do the wire frame, paper mache or plaster the frame to give it some volume, then finish with shiny black fiberglass.

Answer 8

For this project you will need a material that will stretch. I would suggest a stretch polyester, room darken fabric.

Answer 9

You can make it from small foils of wood that you can glue together and nail and stuff. If you make it out wood you can carry it and it won't catch rust. You can use some metallic paint on it to look real.

Answer 10

light weight upholstery foam. its soft, easy to use and you can use a special paint to make it water proof. hollow out the bottom and insert a sandbag for extra stability.