2nd age Gondorian Shield build

[Wraith 5]

Hey there, long time lurker, I thought it was about time to start contributing.

Been meaning to start one of these ever since seeing the United Cutlery version awhile back. With the hype building around the new Hobbit film and getting myself moved into a new house (with plenty of free wall-space), it seems like the perfect time.

So far:

Template (Hand-drawn to measurements I worked out from the UC version, if anyone is interested in having them I'll draw them up when I have time in a couple of days)

Transfer to 10mm pine (bought planks at 38mm width but planed down to 35mm after pic below was taken):

Traced and cut.

A few of the boards are slightly warped, hence the cuts at the top of the shield looking slightly odd from the photo angle, they're perfectly aligned when viewing head-on.

Pretty much where I'm at so far, updates on this one should come in thick and fast as I aim to have it finished within the week.

Comments and criticism welcome, any advice on how to get the metal edging done would also be helpful, so far I'm thinking sheet aluminium for weight reasons, cut to shape and painted/weathered to look more like steel/iron?

 

[G17RDY]

Off to a great start, watching this thread with great interest, its a project that has been on my to do list for what seems like forever!!!!!

Whats your plan to tackle the curved nature of the shield?

 

[Fawbish]

fantastic so far, get a move on!

 

[Wraith 5]

Off to a great start, watching this thread with great interest, its a project that has been on my to do list for what seems like forever!!!!!

Whats your plan to tackle the curved nature of the shield?

So far I've done a few tests of the curve using the cardboard template, basically bent it to the desired curvature and tied it in place with string. Then traced the curve onto cardboard to later build a form onto which I can bend the metal edging to shape.

 

[Wraith 5]

Progress!

Sealed the pine with a mix of watered down PVA and flat black acrylic paint. I might keep it like this for the back of the shield as I like how it's brought out the wood grain, but will paint the front a heavier black as seen in the film/UC version.

for the curve I've laid out the boards onto the cardboard template, and as pictured just bent it and taped in place at the moment. Bought and cut the steel strips also pictured which are bent to shape and hopefully will help to hold the form once epoxied in place. I'm also thinking of planing an angled edge on each side of the planks to help keep the curve when glued.

 

[Wraith 5]

Completed cutting out the metal edging, seen here pegged in place. Some of you may notice the top metal edge doesn't exactly follow the shape of the original or UC versions, simply because I couldn't find a metal sheet of the right size without having to shell out loads of money for a huge sheet.

Also filled in gaps between boards with a mixture of wall filler, PVA and black paint, so the whole piece is pretty much solid now.

 

[N2darkness]

Looks great! How are you going to do the tree? Hand paint or a stencil?

 

[BlindSquirrel]

Looks great! How are you going to do the tree? Hand paint or a stencil?

I'd recommend getting the design cut out in vinyl at a sign shop and using that for a stencil.

 

[Wraith 5]

I was about to ask about that actually, been considering a few options.

Found this reference pic online of a screen used shield, and the tree design itself appears slightly raised from the shield, indicating that it's maybe printed onto canvas/fabric and stuck on, rather than painted directly to the wood as with the UC replica? Thoughts?

As of yet I haven't found a high-enough resolution image of the tree from a head-on angle to be able to convert into a template for stencilling.. so I'm thinking hand-painting may have to be the way to go?

 

[Smiling Demon]

Now this is sweet. This is something that I have been wanting to do for a long time myself. Will be watching this one.

Looking great, keep it up!!!

Kenny

 

[Wraith 5]

Template printed and overlayed:

After looking at screencaps and such I'm fairly certain the screen-used shields use a tree printed onto some other material rather than straight onto the wood, therefore I've started transferring the template to some black vinyl/faux leather-ish material from an old guitar case. From there I'll either paint it and stick it to the shield, or if further research proves otherwise, use it as a master template to transfer the outline to the wood.

I'm off for the weekend but will be back working on it with a vengeance on Sunday.

 

[Wraith 5]

Started painting the design in silver paint onto the black vinyl. At the moment it's a mix of cut-out details from the fabric, and handpainting them on, although I'm planning on creating a template and re-doing the woven branches on the top of the curve to be more uniform.

Really glad I chose the vinyl route rather than painting straight onto the wood. It's a lot easier to paint and I'm still convinced slightly more movie accurate.

Tomorrow hopefully going to sand down the filler overspill and repaint the shield, along with attaching the metal edging. if weather is bad will continue painting the tree.

 

[kwalsh0000]

Very very cool, its looking damn good! Thanks for posting up the step by step. Might have to give it a go sometime.

 

[Wraith 5]

Very very cool, its looking damn good! Thanks for posting up the step by step. Might have to give it a go sometime.

No worries, I seem to write everything up tutorial-style as second nature. If there are any valuable details missing that may assist you in building your own let me know .

 

[Wraith 5]

Voila!

Handpainting the tree got frustrating, so I switched to painting the whole thing silver, then drawing out the details with a black sharpie. Gave a lot more control than paint.

A few notes: rivet-heads in the metal edging are tacks for roofing felt, nailed through and then dremelled flat at the back.

Handles are a £1 leather-effect belt from poundland chopped down to size. (screw-heads will be filled to look like rivets)

The first few photos you see it hanging on the wall, but already It's spent more time on my arm around the house.. completely justifiable with all the riots this week, not because I just love wearing it so much >_>

I'm quite happy with it like this, though may go back and weather the front a bit, especially dirtying up the metal edging. not sure about adding battle marks though. Thoughts?

 

[SmilingOtter]

Looks beautiful!

Two questions - when it's on your arm, how high is it riding? Admittedly, I haven't made one myself, nor have I seen the back of any other Gondorian shields, but it looks like the arm straps are a bit on the low side.

Also, have you considered putting padding between the two straps? I've seen some shields with those, and it looks like that would be useful in cushioning any blows.

 

[Wraith 5]

Looks beautiful!

Two questions - when it's on your arm, how high is it riding? Admittedly, I haven't made one myself, nor have I seen the back of any other Gondorian shields, but it looks like the arm straps are a bit on the low side.

Also, have you considered putting padding between the two straps? I've seen some shields with those, and it looks like that would be useful in cushioning any blows.

Thanks for the kind words.

The straps are the one thing I was borderline about changing, not so much for me as I'm quite tall and have gangly arms, but for anyone else wanting to try it on (read: my LOTR fanboy flatmates), it might seem a bit too high. On me it comes up to my chin, so comparing to the film it's about right:

Anyone else building it I'd probably recommend seating the straps slightly higher.

In terms of padding, It's a possible future addition, but It's primarily going to be a wall display rather than part of a costume so I'm not that bothered about padding for prolonged wearing.

 

[vt357]

It looks great! Not enough LOTR props out there. Hopefully we'll see even more with the Hobbit picking up steam.

 

[G17RDY]

Looks fantastic, a brilliant job, well done!

 

[Wraith 5]

Not enough LOTR props out there. Hopefully we'll see even more with the Hobbit picking up steam.

I wholeheartedly agree! I'm already hyped to build more LOTR props, not even had a proper look at what the hobbit will have to offer in this area also.