"LiL Merle"-Walking Dead-Merle's prosthetic hand

seancoleman

Well-Known Member
A friend on mine does a Rick Grimes cosplay with his wife as Laurie and son as Carl and has begun to expand the group.

I have decided to take on one of my favorite characters from the show, Merle Dixon

The costume isnt hard to do, the only real task is his prosthetic hand

My friend who cosplays as Rick is amazing at building anything and offered to help me build the hand. We looked into the design and had a good idea of how to start.

I went and picked up a 3" ABS pipe from Home Depot (I will not fill the page with all the troubles i had to find a pipe that fit my hand properly lol)
I also picked up 2 caps, on the fit over the ends of the pipe and one that was the same size as the end.

We cut the pipe to 12", cut down the end cap and epoxied it together



It is kinda of a snug fit but works

After I design on a basic shape that the end my hand goes into has and cut it out
lil merle has a lip at the end that I wanted to have to make it more visual appealing so i used the end cap i bought that goes over the end, cut out the same shape and epoxied it on



When all the epoxy was setting, I measured out the design of the "metal" pieces that attach to the main body
We cut them out with a thick plexi glass and when the epoxy was set, measured and drilled the holes to attach all the pieces



This is where we left the build (at 1am) (please excuse my messy desk lol)
the bolts are place holders for the new bolts i need to buy

we still need to clean up the ends, grind them down and round out the top cap, make and attach the bayonet, paint then add the straps

still a lot to do and it needs to be done by March 7 so we are hustling this week

I am super excited about this build, it is looking far better then I could have imagined and I cant wait to see it done

Here what it currently looks like on



Truth be told....I didnt want to take it off all night lol

and as a bonus here is the clothes i got for the costumes
They are perfect as was happy as a clam when I found them



I didnt realize how much I missed working with my hands in a shop with awesome people. Had so much fun building this and excited for more to come!
 
Day 2 and 3 of the "lil Merle" build have passed and it is DONE!....for now lol

First thing on day 2 I cleaned up the edges and ground down the end to make it 1,000 times more comfortable and easy to put on



Once everything was smooth, I sanded everything down and hit with primer



While the main body was drying we started work on the bayonet
We cut out a piece of wood and shaped and sanded it for the handle, the blade was made some a scrap piece of wood from a sword my friend was making at the time.

I wish I would have done a layer of bondo on the blade because the wood grain shows through the paint. but eventually im going to throw some blood on it and dirty up the blade so it wont be so noticeable



While the glue on the bayonet was drying, I painted the "metal" side pieces and did some dry brushing to make them look weathered
I also spend a long time taking a hand sander to the 5 belts I bought to weather them as well. this was well worth the time in the end. they came out looking great

After everything was dry, we bolted on the bayonet, attached all the belts and put on all the finishing bolts

here is the final product! it is by far my favorite prop!






Needless to say...Im in love! :love

 
Awesome, came out great! Another piece I'd like to take a crack at one day when I get a place with a proper garage.
 
Guess I never posted photos of my wearing it with the full costume WHOOPS! lol
I have worn it to a few cons now and have some good shots

photo 1 (1).JPGphoto 2 (1).JPG

These are from the first time I worn it at Toronto Comic Con

photo 4.JPGphoto 5.JPGphoto 1.JPGphoto 2.JPGphoto 3.JPG
And these are from the 3rd time I wore it at Niagara Falls Comic Con

I plan on redoing the blade and making a second broken blade for Zombie Merle
 
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