The Walking Dead - Merle Dixon's Prosthetic Bayonet Arm (lil merle)

auzorann

auzorann

Well-Known Member
for some reason i'm fascinated with this thing lol. i've been trying to figure out if it was made from something else or if it was sculpted from scratch. i know on the talking dead they said it's made of fiberglass but i just can't help but think the prototype could have been made from pre-existing parts and then molded to cast fiberglass copies.

any ideas?

lilmerle.jpg
 
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Re: TWD Merle Dixon's Prosthetic arm (lil merle)

since my first post about this i've learned that the prop was actually sculpted and not a found item. so i started my own using some resin and clay. i still need to do some cleanup here and there but i'm going to call it finished.

i don't really know how i'm going to cast it though. the original prop is made of fiberglass but if i were to do a 2 piece silicone mold i wouldn't know how to bond the two fiberglass halves together. i'm thinking about maybe doing a resin casting but i'm still unsure.

any suggestions?

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I say make a one piece, brushed-on mold of your sculpt and then slush cast it to the appropriate thickness. You'll simply be able to pull out a seamless piece that will probably require little clean-up (probably just the curved lip at the proximal section of the piece). Afterwards, you can probably bulk up the slush cast with fiberglass strands, but if your slush cast is thick enough, you won't need to.

As for the hardware, it may be tempting to do this in actual steel or aluminum bar, but make it easy on yourself and use styrene, either thicker pieces or laminated thinner pieces.

I love the show (and the prop) and it looks like you're on the right track with your sculpt. Good luck!

-Jonaas
 
ahh nice. that's exactly what i was thinking but since i'm not too experienced with this type of thing i was unsure. i was going to use rebound 25 for the mold and slush cast with easyflo 60. i've used easyflo 60 on some prop knives and it's pretty tough yet a bit flexible.

excellent idea about the styrene hardware. i was going to use aluminum or steel but i think you may have just changed my mind lol.

thanks! i really appreciate it.
 
I used Smooth-On's Smoothcast 65D for my blunderbuss slushcasts. 3 coats seemed thin, but it was actually pretty rigid. I'm guessing five coats should get you what you're looking for if you chose that route.

-Jonaas
 
Have you seen the reference photos that Bruce Mitchell has on his Facebook site? He built the arm for the show, so would be a good one to contact if you're building one.

Facebook

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yeah i have both of those. he didn't build the fiberglass piece though. that was sent to him so he could add the leather and do the metal work. those pictures are pretty cool but there's better reference out there.
 
i finally got the thing molded but i ran into some issues when trying to do a fiberglass support shell. it was a failure. the mold had to be cut to get the part out but when the mold was put back into the support shell it refused to line up. so i tried to save the mold by putting the original piece back inside the mold and using plaster bandages fore a new support shell. probably pretty unorthodox but it worked lol.

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yep. i finished the bayonet mold today. i just poured some resin into it to see how it's going to turn out. i've also ordered the metal for the arm brace.
 
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