Night vision goggle prop

[skienblack]

I have to make a set of night vision goggles as a prop that will be used in a black box show. So they have to look good from 10-15 feet away. I don't really have a lot of experience building props but I am a seasoned techie so I know my way around a shop. Any advice would be very much appreciated, thanks.

[BrianWolfe]

Find a nice image on google for what you want then buy an inexpensive pair of small binoculars attach them to a hardhat suspension or rig up a suspension with webbing and elastic. We took apart a binocular and rigged it up with bent aluminum flat stock to make a copy of the one worn by Zam Wessel(Star Wars):

[Kelite]

This prop looks very nice, Brian. You and your crew certainly have some creativity!

[Grog12]

Originally Posted by skienblack

I have to make a set of night vision goggles as a prop that will be used in a black box show. So they have to look good from 10-15 feet away. I don't really have a lot of experience building props but I am a seasoned techie so I know my way around a shop. Any advice would be very much appreciated, thanks.

As with all of lifes little problems the answer lies in video games.

See if your props department will go halfsies with you on this Amazon.com: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Prestige Edition: Xbox 360: Video Games

[skienblack]

Originally Posted by Grog12

As with all of lifes little problems the answer lies in video games.

See if your props department will go halfsies with you on this Amazon.com: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Prestige Edition: Xbox 360: Video Games

I wish I could use that for what I'm doing. But becasue I am a student making this for a show they want us to make the props. Does anyone know of any way that I would be able to make something similar to the rubber eyepieces found on nice binoculars and many night vision sets. I was thinking if I could fit that onto a box that I could fit onto binoculars I would be mostly there in terms of the base prop. Then maybe fit it with a green LED.

[Sayen]

A trip to a local toy store, or better yet a thrift store with childrens toys, will supply you with lots of neat shapes. A couple of toy helmets, toy binoculars, plastic paint, and a hot glue gun and you're set.

[BrianWolfe]

Does anyone know of any way that I would be able to make something similar to the rubber eyepieces found on nice binoculars and many night vision sets.

An easy and inexpensive way to make the rubber eyepiece shown in the link would be to take a snorkel mask and tear it apart and use the rubber flange. You could also take a pair of clear shop eye protection goggles and recut them to a fancier shape and paint them black. Telescopes and video cameras also come with rubber eyepieces that can be purchased seperately.

[Dionysus]

A note that there are many different types of "Night Vision Goggles" and most of them are not binocular, but monocular.
There are "one eye" versions common to snipers, and monocular versions that go to both eyes which are common to foot soldiers (usually flip down on an attachment to the helmet). Then there are of course the bulkier binocular versions. There are even some with three inputs!

http://www.infrarednightvisiongoggles.com/

This site shows a lot of them.

The real question is, does the actor have to actually be able to see though them, or is there another solution? Or does these goggles never get used and therefore can be a "sculpture"?

To make a functioning unit, I'd probably take apart a really cheap gun-scope (you can get one for like $10 at the right surplus place, you just need a small one) and pop out the lenses (doubt you want magnification) and build the prop around the scope perhaps?

Of course I am not a prop-maker, but I know a number of them. *sigh* props class was fun sometimes though.