Captain America's shield scratchbuild- lots o pics!

Well, it's been a little while since my last picture-filled post so I've had time to finish up another prop I've been wanting to get to. Here's how it went down...

I started with a circle of 3/16" plywood to give the form a rigid backing and to make trimming it easier (stop when you hit the edges ).



Then I determined the centre point, marked it, and flipped it over. I went to town with a low-expansion spray-foam and let it cure. This stuff remains somewhat flexible when it's cured, making it less than ideal for the purpose. However, I was doing this on a budget and with a deadline in mind.



I roughed it into shape with a sureform rasp, utility knife and a sander.


Then I slapped a lot of drywall filler on top to start refining the shape. Cheap and plentiful, even if you have to be a little gentle when sanding it smooth. Give it plenty of time to dry.



After that was done it was time to start firming up the surface. I chose to brush a couple layers of fiberglass resin on, knowing it would bond well with the foam and give it a hard shell. Then it was on to the spot putty phase to fill any low spots I wasn't seeing. After a little sanding and cleaning I also gave it a few coats of paste wax. It helps smooth the surface while doubling as a release agent/moisture barrier. Also, it's quite cheap and easy to obtain. :lol



I didn't take many pics during the molding, but I do have one of the finished mold. I used hydrostone reinforced with chicken wire. It was a little thin in places, but I've already pulled a few blanks out of it with no problems yet.



The next thing to consider was attaching the straps. I found a few rectangular wire rings and decided to use plumbers straping to hold them on. The holes in the strapping let the resin soak through it creaating a really solid bond if you layer it in well. There's no way those straps are pulling out of the shield body!



The next shot is the first few layers with the strap points set in.



I made sure to extend the fibreglass farther than the finished diameter of the shield so the edges would be uniformly thick after I trim the blank to size. You can see the wax worked quite well as a release agent in this case.



The next stage was adding some bondo to the front to make sure everything was nice and smooth, then start laying out the design. I opted for a very evenly proportioned star on this one, instead of the huge star version some folks prefer. I wanted it to be very classic Cap.



I started with a couple layers of black primer to help make the white coat opaque. It's also easier to tell where you've already painted with this technique.



To Be Continued...

haha Thats awesome!!! Can't wait to see more

Here's a nice shot of the red I wound up using.



A little more masking and layout of the design...



It really got me going when I saw how well the stripes were coming out.



Masking for the blue around the star...



And a few shots of it almost finished. There were a few spots where I had some paint lifting around the masking, but it was easily touched up later.









This one was one of my favorite shots...



More to come...

That looks amazing!

Now, the whole point of doing this (besides having my own Cap shield :love) was for a convention in town. I finished in time and brought it along to get signed by every Cap artist who showed up.

I got to start with Tim Sale first thing in the morning. He's most recently been working with Jeph Loeb on "Captain America: White". Everyone kept saying "he's not sketching, he's not sketching!". When I came up with the shield and asked him to sign it we were pleased to find that one lucky fellow was getting a sketch. :lol



It turned out it was a version of one of the small sketches in the notes for that very book! I was more than happy.

Next up were Steve McNiven and Dexter Vines, who've done a lot of work through the Civil War story arc. They were surprised to see the shield, and as we were walking away we heard them talking amongst each other. "Man, I thought they were going to give it to us!" Sadly, no. This one stays with me. :lol



Up next was Adam Hughes, who's been drawing some of the best Catwoman covers I've ever seen. Cap is one of his all-time top characters he's love to draw, and I've seen some of his sketches. Fantastic stuff! He contributed a great Benjamin Franklin quote: "Treason is an excuse, invented by the winners, for hanging the losers..." Very fitting for the back of a Cap shield in my opinion! Adam's currently not drawing due to a hand injury, but I was very impressed by him taking the time to come up with the quote and still write it out. He's a class act.



One of the last signatures I got was from someone a lot of you are familiar with. You may not know the man, but one look at his work and you'd recognize it. The main reason I had built the shield was to get it signed by Alex Ross. When he saw it he smiled and took a good long look, then asked me a question.

"Did you make these straps extendable so you could put it over your shoulders?"

"Yes."

" That's funny, because I had a guy make one for me, and he couldn't figure it out!"

Score a few points for the Canadian boy! :lol That was one of the little details I really wanted to get right, and had to figure out myself. In a comic it's easy to draw the straps tight over Cap's arm, then have them seated snugly over his shoulders in the next frame. I was quite happy to see that he had noticed it. I also made the straps quite weathered, as they're attached to an "indestructible" shield. The front is glossy and pristine, while the straps are old and beaten (just as they should be after over 60 years of use).



We couldn't go more than a few steps the whole convention without someone coming up to us and asking "where did you buy that?" More than a few smiles and pictures were taken away, and the empty spaces on the back are just waiting for the next chance to get a few more names on it. This one is already one of my most treasured props.



Here are a few more shot of this great prop, just 'cause its pretty fun to photograph it, too. The paints I used simulate an anodized finish, so it has a silver undercoat with metal flakes, and a candy coat for colour over that. This sucker beams and sparkles in any natural light, and it has tha "wet" look and depth which contrasts so sharply with the flat white I used on the other areas. The back got a charcoal hammered-finish applied, and the autographs stand out pretty well on it. I'm going to have fun making a couple other versions...







Even a "Sentinel of Liberty" gets tired sometimes...:lol

it looks amazing.

That's pretty darn amazing...nice work
mike

The shield turned out nice, great job :thumbsup

The "boots" shot is the best, IMHO...

Great Job!!

Incredible job. :thumbsup :thumbsup

Hat is off - what a great job you did on that and the signatures are cool whip on the ice cream.

Wow, that's amazing! Great job! :thumbsup

That turned out GREAT!! Loved seeing the step by step as well, very impressive!

Also, the shot of the shield with the boots is my fav!

-B89!

It's even better in person! Incredible work, Fettclone!!! :thumbsup

Looks really great, and the autographs put it over the top!

Awesome job as well the story afterwards! Thanks for taking the time to post it, really enjoyed seeing it here.

Looks excellent to me

Beautiful shield!
Great work and a great read on how it went at the convention getting the signatures.
Again, fantastic job and great photos.

Very, very cool. :thumbsup