EvilDeadChainsaws.com - Pt5 Mechanical Hand 2014

[EvilDeadChainsaws]

Here is part 5 of my EvilDeadChainsaws photo retrospective, ranging roughly from June to August 2013. It covers the prototyping of the first mechanical hand, making the parts, moulding them and producing the final replica.

I had never intended to make a Mechanical Hand replica, AOD is my least favourite of the trilogy and it was never a prop which interested me enough to put this much work into making a replica. I was approached by a customer who wanted me to make them one, so I began with the plans made by BlindSquirrelProps (https://www.blindsquirrelprops.com/army-of-darkness-hand), and followed basically the same method; forming sections out of heated sheet plastic, and building them up using superglue, Milliput & BodyFilla, priming & sanding them, until I had a shiny smooth uniform part. The difference was, once I produced the finished parts, I then moulded them so I could easily replicate them in solid plastic resin. Those plans put me some way ahead, so I'm really appreciative they were made available!

Even starting out with ready-moulded resin parts, it was still a huge amount of work to make each hand, and not something I relished doing regardless of how much I was charging. Once the first arm was completed, I then made the fixings for another six arms (arm callipers, crank handle, finger pistons, and other bits & pieces) so I head them ready made for future orders to cut down on the workload. It wasn't until 2020 that I made an arm for myself, and that used up the last two sets of ready-made parts.