Prop Tarantula - Pre Construction Research

Prop Tarantula Initial Research

Initial Research

The first part of research was to look at similar props, of sufficient size that they would be able to intimidate and if real would easily overpower a human, but not be too big to fit onto an extending living room roof on a standard UK terraced house.#

Measurements of the room were taken and how to videos were looked up.

Primary Instruction Video to Start With

This video by a Paul Jones was initially followed quite closely or attempts to were. It looked realistic, intimidating, A seemingly good size and looking at the material listing seemed doable for a rough budget of just over £100, with easy to acquire materials and doable in a week to couple of weeks.

It was only when construction started that it became evident of missing steps in the video and complete underestimating the amount of material and time that would be needed.

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The system to connect the legs needed substantial improvement and resulted in the development of these connection components.

Spider
Title & Intro

Page

This was a double bed size prop Tarantula, originally intended as a cool Halloween front of house prop as well as portfolio piece to discuss project development.

Finished project page.

Spider Project

Development

Projects Accounting Costs

Spider Initial Research & PPP Testing

To start the project was looking into existing props and Halloween tableaus and how such a project could be done.

Initial Proving Principle Prototyping & scale modelling.

Spider
Development

Head

The main central part is the head to which all other parts are connected and would be the section to connect stands and load supports.

This involved the most substantial development and most restarts.

Spider
Development

Body

This had a similar basic structure to the head but a lot simpler. It does have its own issues and problems.

This had to be re-opened for upgrades to strengthen the connections to the head.

Spider

Development

Legs

The legs required repeated and costly redesign and rebuilding building to try and build enough strength into them to be able to support the weight of the spider, as well as look realistic and bond the paint to them.