One of my favorite TV shows is the cartoon Jackie Chan Adventures. I watch the entire run every year and love it more with every viewing. Besides great stories, comedy and action, the show has beautifully designed props that I covet greatly. As to not deny myself any longer, I decided to build the Talisman Detector.

After drawing out the plans in illustrator, I cut the handle parts from basswood. I used small wooden dowels to strengthen the glue joint.

A bit of wood glue and pressure from a clamp completes the base.

My friend Fev was nice enough to laser cut the decorative bits from thin hobby plywood. Since I needed 4 sets, this saved me tons of time hand cutting and they are perfect beyond what I could do by hand.

The assembled handle! Now the easy part is done.

After a less than stellar attempt to sculpt the dragon head master in epoxy putty, I decided to model them in Strata and have them 3D printed.

Working from my blueprints, I slowly worked the detail into the dragon. Fortunately, Strata allows you to work on half of an object and it mirrors the geometry for a perfectly symmetrical sculpt.

To save on printing costs, I made the dragon 2mm thick. This will be plenty strong but will also allow for the thin spots to meet minimum printing requirements.

A few weeks later, I got the master back from Shapeways. I printed it in their “White, Strong and Flexible” material. With the polished option, there was very little to clean up.

The 2mm wall thickness was crazy strong!

I made a silicone mold of the master so that I could make four resin copies.

I made a silicone mold for the handle using MoldMax 40. The resin will pour in through the base.

Even with a 1″ core of foam, the cast resin handle has some nice heft!

A simple base coat of green, a wash of dark green to bring out detail and a matte finish completes the Talisman Detector.

The final assembled prop.