Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Master Sword build

In honor of the restoration of the site domain, I'm going to post a thread about my most recent build, my Legend of Zelda Master Sword, modelled after what I thought the Master Sword ought to look like. This sword is based on two different representations of the Master Sword, or the "True Master Sword," whichever term you prefer - the sword from Twilight Princess, where most of the structure is based on, and the sword from Skyward Sword, which is how I chose the paint scheme for the gold accents.


The Master Sword has always been a bit special to me because of the history I've had with the games. From playing Ocarina of Time at a friend's house to duking it out with my buddies on Super Smash Bros, I've always loved the look of the sword and the story behind it. To avoid spoilers, all I'll say is that the Master Sword has always played a central role in the modern Legend of Zelda games, and in the play-style of the game's protagonist Link - who has gone on to become one of the most recognizable video game characters ever, and has been featured in many other, out-of-universe games, including the SoulCalibur series and the Super Smash Brothers series.

Anyway, on to the actual build. I've recently built up a hilt from scratch in my garage, and that was a very, very difficult project for me to do. Since I'm in school, and don't have a great deal of time on my hands, I chose instead to purchase a cheapo replica of the sword from an online retailer. When I got it (it cost me about $60), I was a little surprised by how good the quality of the hilt was. Generally, it's a bad idea to get cheap swords, but since I was going after this with a rattlecan, I didn't want to mess up a sword on the caliber of a UC replica. In any case, I was presently surprised with what I received.

I took no photos of my own, unfortunately, but busted out the paint immediately. Here is a stock photo of what I ordered:



Not a bad replica, right? Just needed a repaint - especially those "gold accents," which were dabbed on yellow paint that looked awful.

Anyway, three hours later:





It turned out pretty well, I think. The blade's mediocre, with a blunt tip:



But it's really wide: probably two and a half inches below the ricasso, and it's all steel. It's poorly ground, and the blade is fairly patchy, but when I get time to polish it properly, it'll be a bit nicer. The blade does have this detail, though:



And now on to the hilt.



This paint, is, believe it or not, Ace Hardware purple gloss. That's it. Cheapo paint for a cheapo sword, but it turned out pretty well, considering I'm awful at painting anything at all.



The detail is hand painted gold (model paint), and the rubies are just plastic gems. They look pretty good up close, though. I chose to retain the black grip from Twilight Princess, as I think the purple and green layered grip of Skyward sword looks silly. However, I ignored Twilight Princess' gold accents on the blade, and stuck closer to the Skyward Sword version for the detail work.





You can see the paint is quite glossy. It's not quite believable as metal - it is, after all, purple - but it shines like it should.

So, overall, I'm pretty darn pleased with this hilt once I did some detail work to it. There really aren't any good Master Sword replicas available, but this one had the detail I was looking for, and was a nice looking sword to begin with. I just had to make it the right color. Most of the hilt is steel; the grip and the wings are plastic, but everything else is steel - including the rat tail tang.



So, tell me what you think! Pardon the not so great photos, I didn't clean my camera lens properly. :behave

Thanks for looking, folks.

No Zelda fans here?

Looks great! I've seen that sword around at convention dealers and didn't like the hilt colour. But yours looks quite a bit better, mind you if I do something like this, I might lean more towards blue, more than purple, but thats a personal choice.

Nice work.

I wanted to do the same thing you just did. That cheap one is relatively accurate, and your paint job is great.

I never liked the purple on the hilt, and never understood why Nintendo moved away from OoT blue. If I did dod a similar repaint, I'd want to either use some kind of prismatic purple paint to make it look ethereal or a metallic blue.

Looks nice!
A great prop to have
Personally im inclided to prefer the classical blue as it matches the shield and the whole world more,
But this looks great!

Yeah, it's a bit too purple for my tastes as well, I was hoping for more of a purplish-blue finish. Still, it's a cheap finish for a cheap sword, and I think it came out all right, anyway.

The pics are not all that great quality colour wise, (It proberly looks better in real life =3)
It looks kinda purple blue,
It should look good enough as you said for the pupose
Much more accurate anyway!
The hilt looks great by the way , the handle wrap looks more defined

I was just thinking I ought to snap some better photos. I'll do that when I get home this evening.

The color's pretty spot on in the photos, but sharper images won't hurt.

Nice I Like it! Partial to blue but this is awesome!

Actually, I'm gonna try and get a better shot of the purple. Two Zelda experts told me today it's just about right on.

That looks really impressive. I've always been a little disappointed with the Master Sword. The blue/purple just looks so out of place for a weapon. I always wanted to make a more realistic Link outfit. I was thinking something along the lines of a Ranger costume for sneaking through forests, with a separate outfit that was more armour based for battling through dungeons.

I like it a lot. Excellent make-over!

Nice paint job! Now it looks like a master sword. :love


-Carson

I think it looks great, now what are you waiting for man... go defeat Ganon!

Really awesome paint job! Nice and clean. The purple you chose looks nice, but I agree with previous posters that I, myself, would lean more towards blue. I feel that the blue in the shield should be the blue of the sword, so they match nicely. Again, just as a personal choice.

It's nice to know that the replica you bought can be made much more authentic-looking just by repainting it! ^_^

Just a thought, Mabey you could buy a big block of crafting foam,
And then Carve it up to make it look like the pedestal from the Temple Of Time
Would make for a cool display!

NintendoLiam said:

Just a thought, Mabey you could buy a big block of crafting foam,
And then Carve it up to make it look like the pedestal from the Temple Of Time
Would make for a cool display!

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That's too cool of an idea NOT to do! Even if you don't use it as a display stand, it'd definitely make for some awesome pictures!!!

Aren't you going to paint the green crosses around the handle?

Wow, look at all these comments.

thehalfboy said:

That looks really impressive. I've always been a little disappointed with the Master Sword. The blue/purple just looks so out of place for a weapon. I always wanted to make a more realistic Link outfit. I was thinking something along the lines of a Ranger costume for sneaking through forests, with a separate outfit that was more armour based for battling through dungeons.

Click to expand...

That'd be cool to see. Be sure to post a thread if you ever get around to doing it!

Humanoid said:

I like it a lot. Excellent make-over!

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deadbolt said:

Nice paint job! Now it looks like a master sword. :love

-Carson

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Thanks, guys. The compliments mean a lot.

MechMechanic said:

I think it looks great, now what are you waiting for man... go defeat Ganon!

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LOL, yeah. Booking my trip to Hyrule right now.

Nintendophile said:

Really awesome paint job! Nice and clean. The purple you chose looks nice, but I agree with previous posters that I, myself, would lean more towards blue. I feel that the blue in the shield should be the blue of the sword, so they match nicely. Again, just as a personal choice.

It's nice to know that the replica you bought can be made much more authentic-looking just by repainting it! ^_^

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Yeah, the sword really did turn out a lot better when the paint was applied. Overall, it just looks more like the late ingame versions, and I like how it worked out. It's a pretty simple project, to be honest.

Nintendophile said:

NintendoLiam said:

Just a thought, Mabey you could buy a big block of crafting foam,
And then Carve it up to make it look like the pedestal from the Temple Of Time
Would make for a cool display!

Click to expand...

That's too cool of an idea NOT to do! Even if you don't use it as a display stand, it'd definitely make for some awesome pictures!!!

Click to expand...

Actually, I don't think crafting foam would work out too well; the sword is quite heavy. I was, however, considering making a wooden mold and pouring one out of cement. What do you guys think?

MitasTouch said:

Aren't you going to paint the green crosses around the handle?

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Nope. I think the purple and green clash horribly, so I'm going to keep the black grip - which is more like the Twilight Princess version than the Skyward Sword, but hey - I'll make it the way I think it should be. The gem ain't red ingame, either, but I think it looks better this way. :lol

The cerment would work just as well if not better!
Did not suggest as some people seem to not want to make anything out of real materials
If you have the means that would be epic,
Just make sure to line the sword slot