How to make a Custom The Child Baby Yoda Pram Bassinet Pod out of Foam with Free Templates

welcome to the shop steve here at sks props and in today’s video i’ve got one of my most enjoyable builds yet like thousands of others i purchased one of these the child aka baby yoda dolls from mattel and it is absolutely adorable and it looks great just sitting on the shelf but i wanted something special i wanted to make my own chibi-style pram to go right along with him better than that i wanted to make free templates available so you could build one for your baby doll or your cat or whatever else you have so this one of course is made out of my hd phone which you can find over at blick art materials and i want to thank everyone that has been buying my phone the support is amazing especially those of you that are going through the links that are in the description section or on my website because i do receive a small vendor affiliate and that helps me continue to build awesome things like this for the channel so in this video i’m going to show you step by step every single little piece where it goes and what it takes to put together your own little pram so of course the first thing you need to do is go to my website sksprops.com download the templates for this and then open those up in adobe acrobat or adobe reader go to the printer section click poster and that will scale the templates over multiple sheets of paper from there you just need to watch the video follow along with me and by the end of the video you’ll have your own baby yoda pram i promise you now let’s go ahead and jump into the build the basic shape of the pram resembled an egg so i took some masking tape and covered about one quarter of the egg to make my basic pattern using a ballpoint pen i quartered off the egg and then cut and removed the tape and adhered that to some bristol board these pieces were scanned into the computer traced around and then blown up to the size that i need now that i have my printouts i can transfer them onto some six millimeter hd foam i’m going to start off with part a this will be the lower front half of the pram this piece will need to be traced two times onto the foam now to cut out the pieces for this template you can of course use a utility knife be sure to sharpen it as needed i end up doing a rough cut with my utility knife to do all my final cuts on my bandsaw now having a bandsaw is not a necessity but it does help me speed through this building process contact cement is going to be used to glue together the darts on part a i apply a thin coat of the adhesive wipe away any excess and set these pieces aside to dry while i’m waiting on those pieces i’m going to go ahead and move on to part b this is the lower back half of the pram part b will also need to be traced two times onto some six millimeter hd foam with a pencil this is also rough cut and then finished on the bandsaw contact cement is also used on the darts on part b and then i use a heat gun to do a light heat treatment over the surface to help speed up the contact cement and start to round over the pieces now that the contact cement has dried the darts can be firmly pressed together you can see how this rounds the foam to give us the correct shape for the front of the build go ahead and press all of the darts together for parts a and b and then slightly round them with your hands to get the correct shape now i’m going to apply contact cement to the two part a halves make sure at this point you’re only putting adhesive on the lower seam to help me speed up the dry process i once again use a heat gun now don’t apply too much heat because it can weaken the bond after the adhesive on both sides has become tacky the pieces can be firmly pressed together i would recommend to start at the bottom and slowly work your way up you can see that i let the inside of the seam touch first just to make sure that it lines up properly and then i go back and firmly press the outside of the seam together and at this point the front half of our pram is starting to take shape moving on the two part b pieces are also lined up and firmly pressed together and at this point you can see how the egg gave us the pattern for the lower half more contact cement is applied to the two sides that will join these pieces together now these two pieces are a little tricky to put together so i’d recommend to start by lining up your seams in the middle from there you can slowly work out to the side firmly pressing the foam together and then flip the piece to repeat the process once all the seams have firmly been pressed together we now have the lower half of our pram part c is going to give the front of our pram some structure this part is traced onto some 10 millimeter hd foam final cuts are done on the bandsaw now as you can see i put a small mark at the very front of the piece right in the middle this will help me line it up with the seam bob smith super glue is applied to the foam and then this piece is placed leaving a 1 8 inch gap from the top of the rim i apply more adhesive and glue down the two sides and then test fit the child to make sure that everything looks right i’m to the point where i can start to refine these pieces before i add on additional parts using a medium grit sandy drum i flatten the entire top of the brim then i switch over to an extremely smooth sanding drum this is used to slightly knock down the foam and start to alleviate the seams now this process requires a very light touch but you can see that with a steady ham the seams really do start to disappear part d is traced onto some two millimeter hd foam this piece will wrap around the bottom of the pram and cover up the majority of the seams i use a pencil to lightly mark exactly where this piece needs to go that way once adhesive is being used there is absolutely no guesswork super glue is applied to one end and notice that it slightly lips over the brim once i’m done with this piece i’ll trim away any excess because it’s a very large area contact cement is once again used but to keep the build clean i do run a bead of super glue around the perimeter of this piece i carefully pull this piece across the bottom of the prim making sure that the edge of it lines up with my mark now because of the higher density of my foam if you need to stretch or pull it to meet up properly it’s more forgiving than a lot of the other products on the market now when i get to the other side you’ll see that i have a lot of excess foam now this is by design so that i’ll have more than i need and i trim away any additional foam with some shears and you can see what a great job the two millimeter foam piece does covering all the initial seams part e is traced onto some six millimeter hd foam and cut out this piece will give me the front lip of the pram super glue is applied about 1 8 inch from the top this piece will sit slightly above the brim of the pram once the top has been attached super glue is then applied to the bottom of the piece and it’s pressed into place this will allow the front strip to conform to the curve that the front half has part f is traced onto some six millimeter foam and cut out the same procedure is applied to this piece also making sure to leave about a 1 8 inch gap above the brim of the pram once the top of this piece is attached the bottom can then be glued down part g is traced onto some six millimeter hd foam two times this is going to start the back half of the hood these pieces are cut out on the bandsaw and i mark an x to know which is the inside contact cement is applied to the darts and these pieces are left to dry i’m going to need the pattern for part b again but this time i’m going to add part h to it once attached this pattern will make up the top half of the hood this pattern is transferred onto some six millimeter hd foam with a pencil and then cut out now that the contact cement on part g has had a chance to dry i can use a heat gun to start shaping the piece these darts can now be placed together once again making sure to note the inside so i curve it the correct way additional contact cement is applied to the inside of the seams and these pieces can now be pressed together to make the back of the hood the top of the hood which consisted of part b with h attached can now be heat formed i’m slightly rounding this piece before pressing the darts together you can see that once this is complete this makes half of the top shell i can now repeat this process for the opposite side once both halves have been created i can put contact cement on the middle seam and press these together now if you don’t get these seams perfect don’t worry about it we’re going to cover these up with additional pieces later on we’re just looking to get the general shape i take the back of the hood and add super glue to the base then i line it up with the middle seam once the center had been attached i then moved to the outside of the piece and glue that to the top of the brim this is how the back of the hood gets the curve that i need the top of the hood is going to fit on the inside of part g i test fit it here just to make sure that it works once i’m satisfied with how it looks a little bit of super glue is applied to the bottom right in the middle i would recommend not to apply adhesive to the entire width of this it just needs to be tacked down the wings of this piece can now be glued to the side of the pram the opening of the hood should now be a 90 degree angle with the top of the brim part i is now cut out of some two millimeter hd foam this is going to cover the seam at the top just like the piece on the bottom you’ll have more foam than you need so some of this will hang over the front the middle of part i is glued down and tucked in between the two plates and then i move along the perimeter to glue down the sides part j can now be cut out of the two millimeter foam and attached the sides of this piece can now also be glued down before i attach the pieces that will cover up the seams on the hood i take my rotary tool and refine any parts on the lip that need it i also take a smooth sanding drum and knock down the seams i lightly use a heat gun on the surface and once again check fit with the child i lightly mark on the hood where these detail pieces are going to go i start off with part k i’m going to need two of these cut out of two millimeter hd foam just like the seam on the top there’s enough foam here to tuck under part g and slightly protrude past the lip on the front before i glue this piece down i also trace and cut out part l that’s to make sure that the curve that these two pieces make line up properly i add adhesive to the bottom and then tuck part l in between part g and part f more adhesive can now be applied to glue down this piece and again notice that there is additional foam protruding from the front that will be trimmed off since part l is in place i can now glue down part k matching the curve across the two pieces the process of attaching part l and part k can now be repeated on the opposite side with all the detail pieces now in place i can take some shears and trim away any of the excess foam on the hood a smooth sanding drum on my dremel rotary tool is once again used to make this transition completely smooth the front and the back plates of the hood can now be glued together i start by gluing in the middle and then lightly mark on the sides exactly where the adhesive needs to go i only glue down the spots that have the two millimeter foam details so there’s a slight gap on the spots that don’t part m is traced onto some six millimeter hd foam cut out and then rounded over with my rotary tool these little latches line up on either side and they’re marked with a pencil super glue is added and the piece is slightly rounded to conform with the shape of the hood once complete the second latch is applied to the opposite side now it’s time to add the detail strips to the top of part c i’m going to need 21 pieces of part in which can be all cut out by hand but i set up a rail on my bandsaw so i could cut through these pieces faster and make sure that they’re all uniform after all the detail pieces have been cut out i start by gluing one directly in the middle of part c i then use the spacer to work my way around the piece you can see in the video how i glue one down place the spacer draw around the new piece glue it down and work my way all around it you’ll see that the front tapers in but everything else is pretty uniform part o can now be cut out of some six millimeter foam this strip is adhered to each one of the individual pieces and glued to the base i work my way around till i get to the opposite side if you have any additional foam left on the end just trim it away with utility blade parts p and q can be cut out by hand but i’ve got this nifty circle jig that i made that i can cut out perfect circles to any diameter that i need if you want to learn how to make your own i’ll put a link up above part p is cut out of six millimeter foam part q is cut out of 10 millimeter foam with my circles cut out i now need to cut out the interior of part p this is done by tracing the shape onto the foam and cutting it out with a scalpel blade super glue is then added and part p and q can be adhered together a smooth sandy drum is now used to round over the edge and clean up the cuts this piece can now be marked on the side you want the line to line up with the front lip of the hood and for it to be slightly higher on the brim super glue is added and this piece can be put into place it also covers up the seams from part e and f now i have a gap in between this piece and the hood this section will be filled with part r part r is cut out of some 10 millimeter hd foam and glued to the back of part q this piece can then be traced around and glued to the side of the hood go ahead and glue trace and glue the second one to the opposite side parts s and t can now be cut out of some 10 millimeter hd foam these pieces are also glued together with some bob smith super glue you can see how these two pieces will now line up to the middle of the front circle after it’s traced around super glue is added and it’s glued to the interior wall of the hood line it up and do the same thing to the opposite side there’s now a small gap at the front of the hood in between the circles this is where we’re going to place part u part u is cut out of some 10 millimeter hd foam and rounded over with a rotary tool super glue is then added and these pieces are pressed into place at the front of the hood for the detail at the front of the circle we’re going to be cutting part v out of some six millimeter hd foam this piece is traced cut out and cleaned up with my rotary tool before being added to the prop to line up a mark part v i match it to the top of the brim this is traced around and the super glue is added to the strip and the inside of this piece because it doesn’t attach to the bottom of the pram it has to be glued directly to part q but because it is six millimeter foam there’s enough surface area that this piece is pretty stable there is no pattern for this piece just cut a one inch by 11 inch six millimeter strip and glue it to the back wall this is just an additional support and will act as a spacer for part ff later on part w is now cut out of some six millimeter hd foam super glue is added to the very top of this piece and it’s glued about mid way down the thickness of part c this piece should line up pretty good with either side if you have any additional foam cut off the excess during this initial fabrication process i’m always going back and checking the scale against the figure there are two little rods attached to the inside of the hood and a part s to fabricate these i’m going to be using 10 millimeter hd foam round dowels but part x is a template for you to cut them out of 10 millimeter foam as well part y is cut out of some six millimeter hd foam this is glued to the very front of the pram part z is transferred onto some two millimeter hd foam three times these pieces are cut out and glued to the middle of part y part a is a six millimeter hd foam detail that’s glued to either side of the front hinges detail part bb is cut out of some two millimeter hd foam and glued to the top of part r part cc is cut out of some two millimeter hd foam this strip is glued to the inside middle of the hood to cover the back seam any excess can be cut flush and then smoothed out with a rotary tool if necessary part dd was transferred onto some two millimeter hd foam three times these detail pieces were cut out and rounded over with some shears before being glued down each one of these pieces was traced around to make sure that spacing was correct one is glued at the very top in the middle and the other two are glued at the lower panel on either side part e was transferred onto some two millimeter foam and cut out with some shears this piece lines up with the bottom of part e and about a quarter inch from the front of part d it is also traced around with a pencil and glued into place part ff is our last major construction piece this is traced onto some six millimeter hd foam and cut out this piece is glued onto the one inch by 11 inch strip that i added earlier after the middle had been tacked down i could then glue the sides onto the hood i’m done with the fabrication of baby yoda’s pram and now it’s time to start thinking about sealing and painting so my first step is to do a light heat treatment over the entire surface and then give the foam several light coats of plasti-dip plasti-dip is added onto the surface in three light layers you don’t want to add it too thick all at once because it has a tendency to run after the plasti dip has been allowed to cure the surface is now prepped for paint after that has fully dried i’m then going to go in with a rattle can and do a light dusting over the entire surface now with spray paint you don’t want to put it on thick because it has a tendency to crack but if you do a dusting and then hand paint acrylics on top of that everything will work out just fine i’m going to start off the acrylic base layer of my pram using some liquitex heavy body unbleached titanium and utrecht brand titanium white this paint is thoroughly mixed until i get an even consistency then it’s applied using a one inch mop brush i apply a little bit of water to the paint for this layer to make sure that i get a full coverage over the entire surface a hair dryer is used to go ahead and speed up the dry time and lock in this layer then a second layer of this paint mixture is applied using less water this time around eventually i need to get to areas that are a little more detailed so i switch over to a smaller filbert brush now this process does take a while but i want to make sure that i evenly apply this across the entire surface and that i minimize my brushstrokes for the interior of the pram i’m going to be using a mixture of liquitex mars black and utrecht brand cadmium red now this is a very opaque combination of colors so it goes on really well but on that same token i want to make sure not to get this on that off-white color i have on the outside of the pram this mixture is applied to the entire surface using a filbert brush making sure to get down into all the little details when i get to the very edge i switch over to a small detail brush taking my time making sure not to get that paint where i don’t want it i switch back over to the filbert brush to paint the bottom interior of the pram and then once it’s fully covered use the hair dryer to speed up that dry time taking my mars black and cadmium red mixture i add more cadmium red to it this color will be for the interior side wall at the front of the pram using utrecht brand raw sienna i’m going to do a basic wash over the entire surface this will make sure the pram has a dusty dirty look to it rather than looking brand new this watered-down acrylic is painted over most of the surface and then a watered-down paper towel is used to spread around and mop up a lot of the paint making sure that some of it stays down in the nooks and crannies you could also stipple this paint on with the brush or the paper towel to vary the textures after the pram has been pretty much covered i think going with a clean wet paper towel and scrub away the paint from most of the high spots and a little bit of this dusty color is also added on the interior for the saturated orange on this piece i’m going to be using liquitex heavy body cadmium red medium hue and cadmium orange this orange is going to be applied to the details that are on top of the hood and the inside of the half circle on the hood mechanism this is also an extremely high pigment opaque paint combination so i’m making sure not to get this anywhere i don’t want it i keep switching my brush sizes depending on the application sometimes i need a very small brush to paint the sides of the two millimeter foam while other times i’m just trying to cover a larger surface this paint is also applied to the details that are under the circles and even though you really won’t see it with baby yoda sitting in the chair i go ahead and paint the piece ff orange as well now it’s time to add the chip paint metallic look to this piece i’m going to do this a really simple way and mark out exactly where i want the paint chips to go then i’m going to use vallejo brand gunmetal as my base color these vallejo paints have a very good pigment quality to them and their metallic sheen in the end is really nice so the gunmetal is painted on first with a detail brush in all the spots i want it to look like it’s chipped away after the gunmetal has been painted on i go back in with some of my off-white mixture and clean up the chips the trick here is painting vallejo brand silver in the middle of all this exposed metal and here you can see just how reflective that silver is on top now of course this is kind of an easy way out if i was going to do a really authentic chip paint effect i would start off by spray painting the entire thing silver i would then go in with a liquid latex medium for all the spots that i wanted it to look chip after that i’d spray the entire piece with the off-white and then pull off the liquid latex parts this will expose the silver paint below but since this is just a chibi-style pram i’m fine with this application for the build and feel free to do whatever you want on your own to paint my detail lines on part v i first transfer that template onto some bristol board and cut out all the individual lines i taped this template down and then mix up some gray paint from unbleached titanium and mars black and then used the bristol board template as a stencil now when i did it on the opposite side i still had some wet paint on there that was my fault but then i went back in with my detail brush and a little bit more of that off-white mixture and cleaned it up now for a simple stand i added part gg you’ll also need a small strip of two millimeter hd foam this would work fine to keep the pram upright but i wanted something a little special so i went in and designed a small stand that i could laser cut out of acrylic this template was uploaded into the system my logo was etched into the corner and the entire piece was cut out with the laser i’m using the clear acrylic because i want it to look as though the prim is floating on my shelf i’m really happy with how these things came out i removed the masking tape from the face and from the logo and once i removed the tape from the back stand i glued these two pieces together and set it aside i found some red cloth in my bin of fabrics that kind of matches the blanket that he has in his pram the child was then placed into the pram and it fit great on the stand so i know that this was a longer video than normal but there are a lot of pieces that go into making your own chibi style baby yoda pram and hopefully if you guys are building this or using my hd phone be sure to tag me on twitter and instagram sksprops because i want to see your creations and if you guys are enjoying these builds be sure to give them a thumbs up share them with your friends and family and until next time build your best with the best hd foam .