My hotwire rig.

Those of you who have ever sculpted foam for a living may find this funny. I sculpted one of these pistols maybe 15 years ago for a client, based on the laser guns from the Star Wars movies. When I was working on Land of the Lost at Universal studios a couple of years ago I cast a couple of them from the mold and made a hot wire rig out of them. Got a lot of dirty looks from the golf cart driving security guards, because I was walking around the studios in front of the tourists with pistols in my hands. They do work very well though.

For those who don't know what a hot wire is, it is a tool for cutting large blocks of polystyrene foam. It is basically a piece of wire with two handles on the end of it, one with a positive electrical charge and one with a negative. the wire that connects them turns red hot and is used to cut through blocks of foam. Just one part of the carving process.