AHSOKA Sabers From HD Foam

[Usagi Pilgrim]

I have a student that asked if I could make her a set of Ahsoka sabers for her birthday. I've had the foam plans from SKS PROPS for a while, so after she saw them, those were the ones she wanted.

Everything is done with 1,2,4, & 10mm HD foam, with 20mm foam dowels, & 20mm D-rings.

I actually have a hard deadline for this project, so after spending a couple weeks gathering supplies, I started on the longer 'katana', with the plan to do the 'shoto' this weekend.

I used a new-to-me technique of using a double adhesive, with contact cement covering the parts, then super glue around the perimeter. It's working like a charm.

I did the main body with 2 sheets of 10mm, then cut it out.

Then used a scroll saw to cut out the inset at the grip end. After that, I used a Dremel sanding drum & a medium Emory board to round the edges.

Last thing for today is to cut the dowel in half & shape it to fit the inset notch, then glue it in place.

I know the edges look a bit fuzzy, but I haven't heat sealed it yet, & that usually cleans those up nicely.

More tomorrow as I hopefully start the detailing work on the sides. My 'workshop' is my kitchen, so it'll all depend on when the wife leaves for work.

LOL

 

[jakob2121]

This is really cool.

 

[Astyanax]

Awesome! I may follow in your footsteps. Thank you for the detail so far! Subscribing.

 

[Usagi Pilgrim]

Quick update... Due to supply issues, life, & my own increasing stupidity, things did NOT go to plan.

My first issue came when I was ready to do the insets with the diamonds. I had the sickening realization that I had completely forgotten to add the sides to the saber before doing my final sanding & rounding the edges. I don't have pics of it, but I tried to salvage my work by adding them after the fact, but we they're made of 2mm foam, without adding them first with the 2 adhesive method they just peeled right up.

So we started all over again, & I left to top unsealed for my contact cement & ruined what was left. So I needed to order more. I also was running low on super glue so I decided to try something new with that. I'd heard great things about Bob Smith glues, but what SKS recommends was out of stock. I decided to try the glue that was one step down in viscosity, & have regretted it ever since. To be clear, as a glue, this is the most AMAZING adhesive I've ever used, but I got the blue label stuff & it is thinner than water. Being as careful as I'm capable of, I still managed to glue almost EVERYTHING in my work area to almost EVERYTHING ELSE in my work area. No joke, I spent almost 45 minutes sitting on the couch trying to slowly work me fingers loose from my thumb & a pair of tweezers.

That brought me to where I am now...

So as you can see, the black side pieces are what I forgot last time. I used what I have on hand, & I'm not totally happy with how it worked there. Since it was standard craft foam, instead of the HD stuff, it wanted too not cooperate when it came to sanding. I worked around that by adding glue to the edges that wanted to curl up.

All the detail pieces are the same 2mm foam, but my other issue with them was the thinness of the glue combined with the less dense foam caused them to absorb the glue through to the other side of the foam. Thats why you see so many wonky edges, but those will be cleaned up by adding foam clay, letting it cure a day, then sanding it back to the crisp edge I need.

Last thing... I have convinced her that they need a bit of weathering to "Show Ahsoka's travels & history", when in fact, I just need some weathering to cover some mistakes. LOL

How far that goes will depend on how the clay & PlastiDip seal & crisp up everything. I'm out of town this week, but hopefully, I'll have some updates when I get back.