Lucius Fox
New Member
Hi folks. I signed up to come here and get some input on a project from people who know before I get started on it. I'll try to keep is short and see how much interest there is before I bother to go into too much detail. I am completely serious about this so bear with me.
I want to make a titanium Cap shield but I'm thinking of doing the older heater shield because it's just so much cooler and best of all much more doable. I saw the thread on the titanium shield that a member here made but can't see the pics so I don't know how that turned out. I've been working with titanium for years and I knew the problem he had before he even described it. Titanium doesn't like to draw which is basically bending in all directions. Also, the pure grade 2 stuff isn't much harder than hard brass and there are alloys of aluminum that would offer more protection. Still, it's an awesome idea that I can't get out of my head so I have to do it.
The heater shield only curves in one direction which means that I can do it with rollers with no problem but I can also use 6AL4V titanium for a lot tougher shield. I'm thinking 2mm thick and if my math is correct (and it always is) the rectangle I would need to cut a 19x26" shield from would weight just under 6.5 pounds before I even cut the shape. The curve would strengthen it considerably and at that weight I am also thinking about laminating some carbon fiber and ballistic Kevlar to the backside to stiffen it up beyond belief along with a backer of tight weave Kevlar or Nomex to give a nice padded surface.
And all of that was enough to make me think the project was worth taking on but here's where I got really excited about it. I searched for pics and liked this style the most, http://www.sideshowtoy.com/mas_assets/jpg/9000661_press05-001.jpg
Then I came across this picture, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/87/1974ComicArtCon_book.jpg
and I like the pointer design. But something cool occurred when I noticed the way he was holding it like the arm straps were at a 90 degree angle to the usual way they would be mounted so the shield would cover most of the torso. I thought, "dang, that would make quite an offensive weapon. I bet that would knock a few teeth out if you wanted to." So I considered mounting the straps that way on a slightly pointier shield.
Then I thought about having it both ways. What if the arm straps were mounted on a very sturdy titanium and carbon fiber pivot that would unlock with the push of a thumb lever so it could be quickly snapped into either position? Better offensive capability than simply throwing the thing and hoping it finds it way back to you. Awesome. I'm going to do that!
One final thought before I wrap this up. Titanium will blue anodize very easy and red can be done under very controlled conditions. I could skip the paint job and anodize the stars and stripes right to the metal. It would have that cool metallic look of the movie version.
So here's the plan and it goes far beyond just one shield.
1. Get as much input from real Cap. fans as I can since I'm new to him. I'm a Batman guy and always have been and Captain America was never on my radar until I saw the movies. Movie Captain was just so awesome that I really took notice and my interest in WW2 history made the whole thing very fun for me.
2.Settle on a final design and build it as best I can. I have carbon fiber and kevlar from other projects so I can do the several layers of kevlar that would make this thing undoubtedly handgun bullet proof with 2mm of 6-4 titanium bonded to it. I have $500 to put into this so I may play around with the ti weight calculator and go with something thicker if the weights come out right. How much should Cap's shield weigh? I assume it's rather heavy and his strength lets him handle it the way he does.
3. Make it unbelievably awesome and put it up for sale on ebay. How much would something like this go for with nice aluminum ones selling for a few hundred? I don't know but it'll have to be worth the materials cost and then some.
4. Use that money to buy materials to make and sell several more until I have enough to...
5. Contact a maker of titanium pressure vessels and see if they can provide some 6-4 vessel heads of the right thickness, diameter and dish depth. Then I can make movie accurate versions from a good durable alloy of titanium. Just out of curiosity, would a flat round shield interest anyone or is the dish an absolute requirement?
7. And the ultimate goal and real reason I'm doing this, make enough money to fund the build of a kevlar Batsuit with carbon kevlar armor plates using multiple layers of black kevlar cut resistant sleeve material. But that's a whole different post.
Thanks in advance to anyone who wants to get in on this conversation and help me out with some Marvel knowledge.
I want to make a titanium Cap shield but I'm thinking of doing the older heater shield because it's just so much cooler and best of all much more doable. I saw the thread on the titanium shield that a member here made but can't see the pics so I don't know how that turned out. I've been working with titanium for years and I knew the problem he had before he even described it. Titanium doesn't like to draw which is basically bending in all directions. Also, the pure grade 2 stuff isn't much harder than hard brass and there are alloys of aluminum that would offer more protection. Still, it's an awesome idea that I can't get out of my head so I have to do it.
The heater shield only curves in one direction which means that I can do it with rollers with no problem but I can also use 6AL4V titanium for a lot tougher shield. I'm thinking 2mm thick and if my math is correct (and it always is) the rectangle I would need to cut a 19x26" shield from would weight just under 6.5 pounds before I even cut the shape. The curve would strengthen it considerably and at that weight I am also thinking about laminating some carbon fiber and ballistic Kevlar to the backside to stiffen it up beyond belief along with a backer of tight weave Kevlar or Nomex to give a nice padded surface.
And all of that was enough to make me think the project was worth taking on but here's where I got really excited about it. I searched for pics and liked this style the most, http://www.sideshowtoy.com/mas_assets/jpg/9000661_press05-001.jpg
Then I came across this picture, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/87/1974ComicArtCon_book.jpg
and I like the pointer design. But something cool occurred when I noticed the way he was holding it like the arm straps were at a 90 degree angle to the usual way they would be mounted so the shield would cover most of the torso. I thought, "dang, that would make quite an offensive weapon. I bet that would knock a few teeth out if you wanted to." So I considered mounting the straps that way on a slightly pointier shield.
Then I thought about having it both ways. What if the arm straps were mounted on a very sturdy titanium and carbon fiber pivot that would unlock with the push of a thumb lever so it could be quickly snapped into either position? Better offensive capability than simply throwing the thing and hoping it finds it way back to you. Awesome. I'm going to do that!
One final thought before I wrap this up. Titanium will blue anodize very easy and red can be done under very controlled conditions. I could skip the paint job and anodize the stars and stripes right to the metal. It would have that cool metallic look of the movie version.
So here's the plan and it goes far beyond just one shield.
1. Get as much input from real Cap. fans as I can since I'm new to him. I'm a Batman guy and always have been and Captain America was never on my radar until I saw the movies. Movie Captain was just so awesome that I really took notice and my interest in WW2 history made the whole thing very fun for me.
2.Settle on a final design and build it as best I can. I have carbon fiber and kevlar from other projects so I can do the several layers of kevlar that would make this thing undoubtedly handgun bullet proof with 2mm of 6-4 titanium bonded to it. I have $500 to put into this so I may play around with the ti weight calculator and go with something thicker if the weights come out right. How much should Cap's shield weigh? I assume it's rather heavy and his strength lets him handle it the way he does.
3. Make it unbelievably awesome and put it up for sale on ebay. How much would something like this go for with nice aluminum ones selling for a few hundred? I don't know but it'll have to be worth the materials cost and then some.
4. Use that money to buy materials to make and sell several more until I have enough to...
5. Contact a maker of titanium pressure vessels and see if they can provide some 6-4 vessel heads of the right thickness, diameter and dish depth. Then I can make movie accurate versions from a good durable alloy of titanium. Just out of curiosity, would a flat round shield interest anyone or is the dish an absolute requirement?
7. And the ultimate goal and real reason I'm doing this, make enough money to fund the build of a kevlar Batsuit with carbon kevlar armor plates using multiple layers of black kevlar cut resistant sleeve material. But that's a whole different post.
Thanks in advance to anyone who wants to get in on this conversation and help me out with some Marvel knowledge.