Yondu Udonta's Arrow Prop

Hey there, random fandoms and fellow enthusiasts! Ever since watching Guardians of the Galaxy, I have wanted Yondu’s whistle arrow. JLaservideo on Youtube made a cool arrow shaped drone that can be controlled by whistle, but it is just not the same. It wasn’t small, and it didn’t look right. Knowing that I could never make a working arrow, and because I am neither bald nor blue, I decided to make a prop version instead of moping around without an arrow at all. Now let’s get into this!

A fourth of July flag with a plastic topper

Bronze or Gold acrylic paint

Red acrylic paint or red reflective tape

Some popsicle sticks

Polymer clay

Exact-o knife

Craft glue

Hot glue gun

Reference images

And that man’s leg

I don’t have many pictures for this step because A: I was using a power tool and I only have so many hands and B: It’s incredibly simple. All you need to do is yank the plastic topper off your flag and then cut off the part of the pole that has the flag attached to it. If you live in Canada or across the pond or anywhere else where you can’t get one of these handy flags, look for a dowel with a diameter a bit larger than that of your pinky finger. I would measure for you, but I don’t have calipers. It should also be about a foot and a half long. While you’re cutting things, cut down the topper so it is just a cone or spike.

Not the fin Yondu wears on his head. The little fletching bits that in olden times would have been feathers. Take your popsicle sticks and exact-o knife and cut the sticks until you get the fin shape shown. I messed up on at least one, so make sure you have extra sticks. I then lightly sanded the cut edges. Mark lines on the dowel to show where the fins end and how they will be spaced. I found looking up a picture of an actual arrow helpful for the spacing.

To make the tip, you need to find or make a little pyramid that is similar in base width to your back spike made from the topper, but shorter. You could cut this from wood or 3D print it, but I chose to make mine from polymer clay. Make sure you make a hole to put your dowel into. Once your tip is ready, use hot glue to secure it onto the end of your dowel.

Yondu’s arrow is a sort of bronze or gold color, with red light coming from between the fins. We don’t have room for lights, so I painted the section of the dowel that the fins will be on red(This is why you marked it earlier). I then painted the rest of the shaft a goldish bronze that I made by mixing gold and pearlescent black paint. Bronze paint would be easier, but I don’t have any. I painted the tip and the fins the same color.

Using craft glue, I glued the fins to the shaft. The marks I made earlier to help me space them out were still visible through the paint. I then touched up the paint by adding a band of the bronze color in between the fins just under the topper.

At this point, if you had red reflective tape, you could cut strips to fit in between the fins. The tape will reflect light in a way that mimics the CGI glow the arrow has in the movies.

No we don’t actually need the leg, I was joking.

Finished! Your arrow is complete! You can use it for a cosplay or display it on a shelf or do whatever you want with it, but if you make it, please show me in the I Made It! section. Thank you for reading, and I love you 3000!