I'll be starting a pretty substantial sword build in the coming weeks, so I decided it might be a good idea to have ago at something smaller and simpler, to test the waters so to speak.
Sword Of Omens was a no-brainer. I loved the Thundercats as a kid and always wanted Lion-Os sword and mitt.
After I decided on a scale and produced the plans I started with the handle. I initially turned the handle of of a piece of wood I had lying about (trying to keep cost down) this didn't work out to well, I couldn't get a finish with out any gaps. It looked the part, but would have need going over with filler. I blaming the wood, rather than my turning skills
Second attempt, I filled a cardboard tube (with a slightly bigger diameter than the handle) with so quick-curing resin with a wooden dowel in the centre. This was a pretty handy solution and saved me having to order material and wait for delivery.
This material turned beautifully, and in truth, the first attempt proved valuable as it meant I knew exactly how to go about turning the handle, reducing the chance of mistakes. All in all, it turned out pretty damn nice and i was only a couple of millimetre of my drawings.
Next up, the crossguard. I decided to build the components separately, this way it would be easy to work on them and get the detailing accurate. Simple process, paper templates, cut out of foam,easy-peasy. For the curvy bits, i double sided them together and sanded them to get them as close to identical as possible.
The details are added by placing styrene directly to the foam. The hollowed areas have a different texture, so the untreated foam should provide this nicely.
It was about here that I realised I should cover the exposed foam so that when I apply the layers of primer It doesn't reduce the texture. I placed a piece of masking tape down, then using the styrene cut out as a template, cut out shape on the tape, then fixed the detail down. now I will be able to remove the tape easily.
For the sides, I cut out the recess from the styrene, but left the surrounds oversized so that i could cut and sand it back after it had been fixed down.
Naturally, there are small gaps in the joins of the styrene which will need to be filled. A problem that I quite often find when using a filler, whether it is bondo or something lighter, is that there is always a material that is weaker and at risk of been sanded away quicker, either the surrounding material or the filler itself.
As lovely little trick when working with styrene is to put small pieces of styrene in a glass jar and add some dichlo, this will dissolve the the styrene in a goopy substance. This can then be applied to any gaps in your piece and can be sanded back, just like regular styrene.
More to follow soon.
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Beautiful work man, can't wait to see the finished piece!Any plans fora light up Thundercat symbol?
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