Props, Scenery, Costumes and Makeup: large vehicle silhouettes

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large vehicle silhouettes

Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Props, Scenery, Costumes and Makeup
Forum Discription: For how-to's and where-can-I-find
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3391
Printed Date: 7/11/25 at 12:50am
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Topic: large vehicle silhouettes

Posted By: Nanette
Subject: large vehicle silhouettes
Date Posted: 8/27/08 at 7:33am

HELP! I need three large vehicle silhouettes for an upcoming show and am stumped.

I'm picturing made from heavy-heavy-heavy duty cardboard or foamcore. However, my props person brings me plain ol' cardboard and says it'll be framed out. My fear is that it will look cheap and flimsy.

It needs to be light-weight as it's being manipulated by children. That's why I'm thinking foamcore. But, where can I get large sheets of foamcore? I thought Home Depot, Lowe's, or the like, but there's nothing listed on their websites for anything similar. Any ideas would be helpful.

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In a world of margarine, be butter!

Replies:

Posted By: kaelidancer
Date Posted: 8/27/08 at 9:59am

Home Depot or Lowe's will carry 4x8 sheets of styrofoam insulation, up to 3/4" thick, usually. Would probably suit your purposes. Do yourself a favor and get the more durable, more dense blue panels rather than the flaky white variant. It's very forgiving, just cut out your desired shape with a utility knife, mount it, use some painters tape to mask the seam. If you really want to you can use a hotknife to smooth the edges, but for your purposes it sounds like that's overkill.

I'd share your concern with plain old corrugated cardboard. It's pretty flimsy, but remember that even with styrofoam you'll have to make sure the kids are gentle with it... it will bend very well, but it can break if you stress it too much! A break is usually nothing some glue and painter's tape can't fix, but no breaking is the ultimate goal :)

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Kaeli Gardner
Johnson City Community Theatre
http://www.jcct.us - www.jcct.us
http://www.gardnerarts.com - www.gardnerarts.com

Posted By: whitebat
Date Posted: 8/27/08 at 7:18pm

Do you plan on painting the vehicles? Our HS art class used the blue styro insulation with muslin as cheapo canvases. You just staple it on the back, then you can prime and paint it like a soft flat. It even works with 3-D shapes (like your cars). You might need to cut darts or whatever out of it if there is too much material on the sides when you try to fold it around the back.

Posted By: Nanette
Date Posted: 8/28/08 at 7:40am

We've decided to go with a lightweight paneling of sorts.

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In a world of margarine, be butter!

Posted By: kaelidancer
Date Posted: 8/28/08 at 10:15am

Paneling works too! It's rigid, but thinner and lighter than lauan. Make sure you either sand or tape the edges, though.. or both.. to guard against splinters in your kids :)

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Kaeli Gardner
Johnson City Community Theatre
http://www.jcct.us - www.jcct.us
http://www.gardnerarts.com - www.gardnerarts.com