Splatoon Splat Roller

Hello and welcome to my Instructable for a green Splat Roller. This is the final instalment of my series of Instructables on making a Splatoon Inkling Halloween costume, which include the Splatoon Ink Tank and the Splatoon Inkling Wig. Enjoy.

Tools:

• glue gun
• heat gun
• PVC pipe cutter
• PVC solvent / glue
• sharp cutting tools; xacto knife
• brushes
• Mod Podge

Materials:

• Pool noodle
• 3/4" PVC Pipe
• 1/2" PVC Pipe
• 3/4" rigid conduit PVC 90° elbows
• 1/2" PVC Pipe Fittings (90° elbows x2; 45° elbows x2; T-fitting x1)
• black 2mm craft foam
• 9mm EVA foam (purchased as puzzle matt pieces at the local dollar store)
• 1" PVC Union Fitting non-threaded insert (i used the threaded pieces for top cover of the Splatoon Ink Tank)
• 2L pop bottle and bottle caps x2
• Spraypaint
• Small amount of newsprint
• Spray Primer

I created the frame of the Splat Roller using 3/4" Schedule 40 PVC pipe and 1/2" fittings. First determine the desired length of your roller (pool noodle) to determine the overall size of the Splat Roller frame.

Measure, cut, and dry-fit the pieces of the frame:

1. Two rigid conduit PVC 90° elbows are used for the round end of the roller.
   
   • Cut the narrow end of the elbows to form a U shape; the size / how much you cut will depend on the size of your roller
   • Using a heat gun, slowly heat and bend / round the narrow ends to form a nice U shape
   • The bell ends (wider ends) of the elbow will be used to connect to 3/4" PVC pipes to create the main frame of the roller
2. Upper Arm Assembly - the length of the top PVC pipe is 38" to support my 36" pool noodle (ie the main paint roller)
3. Lower Arm Assembly - PVC pipe is approximately 20"
4. Upper Handle Assembly - I used 3/4" PVC pipes with 1/2" PVC pipe fittings
   • 1/2" PVC pipes were used to connect the pipe fittings and 3/4" PVC pipes were telescoped over the 1/2" pipe
   • Short vertical pipe is approximately 10 1/8" long (inside 1/2" pipe approximately 11.5")
5. Main Handle Assembly is approximately 23" in length

**Note - The T-fitting and bottom 45° elbow both need to be rotated and positioned perpendicular to the paint roller

Glue and paint:

• After dry-fitting the pieces of the frame, glue everything together with PVC glue / solvent.
• Spray paint the frame with desired colour (I used purple Krylon spraypaint)

Near the top of the main shaft (before the 45° elbow) wrap a couple layers of black 2mm craft foam for the upper grip and glue secure. For the lower grip at the base of the main shaft, I was able to salvage a plastic ball holder part from a kids T-Ball set that we were throwing out.

Green Ink Bottle:

• Cut a 2L pop bottle in half (optional, but this helped reduce its size and allowed me to fill the bottle later with newsprint to give the bottle some internal support)
• Cut the knobbly base of the bottle
• Using Modge Podge and strips of newsprint in layers, form a round bottom for the base for the ink bottle
• Spray the outside of the bottle with a primer (I used Dominion Sure Seal 1K High Build filler primer as I had some from another project) to give the bottle a stronger exo-skeleton and provide a good base for the spray-paint.

Ink Bottle Housing:

• Oversized bottle end cap - I spray-painted the non-threaded insert portion of the 1" PVC Union Fitting (the threaded pieces were utilized for the top cover of the Splatoon Ink Tank) dark green
• Connector Assembly - this is the oversized EVA foam piece that connects the Lower Arm Assembly to the Upper Handle Assembly of the Splat Roller frame.
  • Measure the OD of the T-fitting and the 90° elbow, and the distance between the two fittings, and create an insole shaped (for lack of a better term) connector piece that will fit around them.
    • I cut the end in order attach the connector to the 90° elbow of the Upper Handle Assembly
    • Apply a coat or two of Modge Podge and spray-paint to desired colour
• After attaching the foam connector piece to the frame, insert a short 1/2" PVC pipe to the T-fitting; then slide the oversized bottle end cap over it and glue it to the foam piece
• Attach the green ink bottle by sliding the exposed 1/2" PVC pipe into the mouth of the bottle and glue
• Drape a strip of 2mm craft foam around the frame and the middle of the green ink bottle to ensure you have enough material to work with
  • Glue the craft foam around the frame, bottle, and together in the empty space between frame and bottle.

Black Connector Piece:

• The final connector piece covers the top half of the T-fitting and the 90° elbow above the green ink bottle
• I created a lapel shaped piece with black 2mm craft foam, gluing 2 pieces of 9mm EVA foam and a bottle cap (which were painted black) to the connector piece

Roller End Caps:

• Cut 2 larger round 9mm EVA foam pieces approximately half the diameter of the pool noodle to create the roller caps on both ends
• Cut 1 smaller narrow ring piece with 9mm EVA foam for the bushing (half diameter of one of the round pieces for the elbow end of the Splat Roller frame) and glue to one of the larger round pieces
• Apply a couple coats of Modge Podge to the rings and spray-paint black
• Paint a pop bottle lid to desired colour for the end cap

Paint Roller

• Apply multiple coats of Modge Podge around the pool noodle to provide a seal over the entire surface of the porous material and dry well
• Cut white 2mm craft foam to size and glue around the surface of the pool noodle
• Apply a coat or two of Modge Podge to the craft foam; when dry, spray-paint using random patterns / directions to give the appearance of rolled paint

Slide the bushing / end cap down the Upper Arm Assembly just into the bell end of the rigid conduit PVC 90°, then slide the roller onto the Upper Arm sealing the end with the remaining roller cap and finishing it off with a pop bottle lid.

Thank you for checking this final Instructable instalment of the green Splatoon Inkling character costume! Any photos, comments and/or feedback appreciated!