I'm a big fan of
Amethyst Angel's guides for prop making. As long as you have a good steady hand and a decent knack for painting, you can get some really nice props made. Plus by using foam and styrene plastic, you get a nice, lightweight piece that you can carry around no problem. Below is the Auron katana I made three frikken days before SakuraCon 2k6 because the wooden hook blade I had spent weeks on broke. The key is to make sure you get the rigid insulation foam, and not the stuff that is like oversized packaging styrofoam. The styrene is super easy to paint and hot glue holds it to the foam nicely.
This was also my first ever experience with prop making.
