For no one in this world can you trust...

Nexus6

Sr Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
...THIS you can trust.

On the heels of my earlier Conan project, I got an urge to make another attempt.

Conan the Barbarian was the first movie I had ever seen where the weapons in the film caught my UNDIVIDED attention. I would buy any magazine I could find that had photos of the swords from that movie. Imagine my elation when Albion Armourers joined forces with Jody Samson to start producing exact replicas of the original swords. Take the "Father's sword" for example:


Now imagine my dismay at the price tag of these edged works of art (from $2,500 to $10,000). Not too say that they aren't worth every penny, but that I cannot justify shelling out that much scratch for something that would amount to a mantle piece. My budget simply will not permit it. Apparently I am "prop small potatoes".

In addition, I found all of the cheaper "Conan swords" that are available EVERYWHERE to be unworthy of purchase. They looked nothing like the originals, & appeared to be shoddily constructed.

Then one day on e-bay I found a sword that was close to looking correct, but still not enough to be interesting to me, despite the very affordable price ($45 + $14 s&h). As I looked at it, suddenly an idea occurred to me, an idea that appealed to my curious nature of owning oddball props that many people (even prop collectors) don't have. So I ordered this fairly reasonable facsimile, & set about taking screencaps of the Father's sword after Conan & Rexor's duel at the Battle of the Mounds:


When my "Father's sword" arrived, it was pretty much what I expected. Incorrect wrap-pattern on the grip (with incorrectly-colored "leather"), Shiny brass-colored pommel & guard, & the inscription was unexpectedly too far away from the elk's head (painted on with a gloss black):




The first thing I had to do was to MOVE the inscription towards the handle. I put masking tape over the inscription, & traced the lettering with a fine-tipped marker. I pulled the tape off & affixed it to a sheet of wax paper. Then with an exacto knife, I cut the letters out by hand. By the way, this turned out to be the biggest pain that I was to experience on this project, since the masking tape did NOT want to come off of the wax paper later on. I had to tear the wax paper off the tape, then pick the pieces of wax paper (between the letters) off of the tape, which took about 2 hours. When I finally got the tape put on the blade in the correct position, I masked everything off & first shot it with self-etching primer, followed by a dark gray primer. Then I had to clean up the edges.

I replaced the grip wrapping with material of a better base color (which was later stained), & in the correct pattern. I sanded the pommel & guard & dry-brushed on some 'Anodized Bronze' paint (to simulate the weathering present in the screencaps), & cut the blade with my Dremel, making the "break" resemble the on-screen version. Then I lightly misted the blade with a 'Cast-coat iron' engine enamel (I just liked the color).

That's about it, so without further ado, here's what I came up with:




I'm pretty pleased with how my 'Thulsa Doom killer' turned out. I'm currently working on the display-stand (will post pix when finished).

Thanks for looking. ;)
 
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Fantastic work. I didn't know about those new swords and passed the link (thanks.) on to my friend who's been a Conan fan his whole life.
 
<div class='quotetop'>(propsculptor @ May 21 2006, 08:34 PM) [snapback]1248292[/snapback]</div>
Looks great , but wasn't the inscription Carved into the Blade?
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On the screen-used & licensed replicas, yes.

But is wasn't on the one I bought, & I was disinclined to find out how much money it would've cost to have the inscription machined into my piece. Pretty sure the whole "affordable alternative" premise that I used for this project would've gone out the window at that point... :confused
 
Yeah, I can understand that.

I have yet to buy a Atlantean Swod because of the Price, although I want one REALLY BAD.

I'd like to eventually have both the Atlantean and the Father's Sword.
 
Very nicely done. James Earl Jones will never know what hit him. You've taken a reasonable replica and made it into a much more fantastic piece. Looking at the before and after I would have never known they were one and the same. I know it's already been said, but... CROM. :)
 
Can you tell me what kind of attachment you used to cut that blade?

This looks fantastic, and for my money props you personalize and work on like this end up having a lot more worth. :) And you take pride in your work every time you look at it..
 
<div class='quotetop'>(Noeland @ Aug 11 2006, 01:54 AM) [snapback]1298141[/snapback]</div>
Can you tell me what kind of attachment you used to cut that blade?

This looks fantastic, and for my money props you personalize and work on like this end up having a lot more worth. :) And you take pride in your work every time you look at it..
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Wow, RESURRECTION.

Thanks again everyone. To make the "break", I used the 1 1/2" Fiberglass Reinforced Cut-off Wheel. I ended up wearing 2 of them down to nothing by the time I got done.

And I agree with your personalization philosophy. I've found that I'm much more fond of the props that I've had to sweat over & use PURE creativity to get the finished result, than I am of the props that I buy already completed.

I love it when I try out a technique, with NO idea whether it will work or not, & it turns out better than I ever could've expected. That happened several times with this project.

By this weekend I should have the sword display stand finished, along with a second 'wheel of pain' pendant that I've been trying to get to for far too long...
 
Okay, first of all, that's such an AMAZING conversion.. It looks nothing like the original prop it started from. Very well-done, Nexus.

Second, I haven't heard of the Jody Samson & Albion project until just now...I clicked that link and proceeded to drool all over the floor. :eek
Those are some amazing swords...I just WISH I had $3,000 for a Father's Sword...Or in my WILDEST dreams, $10 grand for that Limited Edition version...Ugghhghhh....

Ryan
 
BTW, they make a paper called Frisk that is designed for making stencils for airbrushing. Don't know if that would work better than the wax paper, but it might.
 
<div class='quotetop'>(WookieGunner @ Aug 11 2006, 05:06 PM) [snapback]1298627[/snapback]</div>
BTW, they make a paper called Frisk that is designed for making stencils for airbrushing. Don't know if that would work better than the wax paper, but it might.
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It can't be any worse. Any hints on where I might find this "Frisk"?
 
It's usually caleld frisket. You can get it at almost any art supply store. My local hobby shop also carries it.
 
<div class='quotetop'>(The Hopkinator @ Aug 11 2006, 02:30 PM) [snapback]1298489[/snapback]</div>
COOL.. I WANT 1ST DIBBS IF U SELL IT....
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Heh, if you're referring to the pendant, it was "dibbed" by an interested party a while back. So, he'll get first shot at it.

If, y'know, he's still an interested party.

PM me if you'd like more info...

<div class='quotetop'>(juno @ Aug 11 2006, 06:18 PM) [snapback]1298679[/snapback]</div>
It's usually caleld frisket. You can get it at almost any art supply store. My local hobby shop also carries it.
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Thanks for the info, I will look for it. ^_^
 
EXCELLENT work.

NOW that sword is worthy of display.
There is no reason they could not have made that sword match the movie version closer.

BTW, have you concidered etching in the letters with a sand-blaster?
If you cut the mask yourself, it wouldn't be very expensive.
 
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