Angel of Verdun Sword (Edge of Tomorrow)

[blakejolly]

Greetings from Australia!

I'm a long time lurker on the forums, and I've built a bunch of stuff but never really gotten around to putting up any pics or build logs, but I thought this would be a good project for it. I saw the movie Edge of Tomorrow on Thursday, and was particularly taken with the Angel of Verdun's (Emily Blunt's) sword. It's clearly made from a propeller (I assume from one of the dropships that have the quad-rotor setup...), and I love the military/found item aesthetic.

Obviously the first thing to do was to gather some reference materials, and then begin working out sketches, etc. The reference gathering began with promo shots, and ended with me screen-shotting like mad during the super-brief appearances it makes in the trailers. I'm not 100% sold on the dimensions yet, but I've got a rough idea. I'm still working out angles and so on. I'll post a really crummy-looking sketch once I've got it measured out. Look forward to that mess. My early dimensions are based primarily on the assumption that the handle part is 2.5cm (1") thick. I think it's a reasonable guess given it's thickness relative to Emily Blunt's thumb in what I've come to think of as the primary source for the top end of the blade (the accomodating promo poster where she's looking all moody and is resting her hand on top of it the sword). Anyway, based on that, I think that the blade at its widest point is around 150-170mm (around 6"-6.5") - and I'm erring towards the lower end of that. As far as the height of the actual blade goes, I'm thinking it's about 1100mm, (about 44"), maybe a little shorter.

At this point it's worth mentioning that I'm making my measurements based on the Metric system, but as I'm familiar with Imperial also, I'm making a general conversion to make it easier for all the peeps to follow along. If there's some discrepancies (there will be), the Metric measurements are the actual ones I'm using.

Anyway, I really want this sword to be something that you can swing around and play with; after all, what's the point in making something awesome that you can't play with? That said, I wanted to be able to do that without risking harm to either the prop or anyone that might be unfortunate enough to get in my exoskeleton-clad way, so I've decided to go with an aluminium blade. This will make it solid enough to cart around, but it won't be super heavy or hold any appreciable edge. I am going to make the handle out of solid steel bar, with a solid steel cap on the end, as the weight of this will help to offset the blade's weight and make it easier to carry (at least, this is the hope...).

I rang a couple of places, and found a business that sells aluminium in the dimensions I wanted, so I've got it on order and am now in the process of waiting for it to arrive (a long weekend holiday in Australia means the order got delayed and it will take a week or so). I ordered a piece of flat bar that's 200mm X 12mm X 1200mm (roughly 8" X 1/2"-ish X 48"-ish. That should give me more than enough material to make the blade to within the specs I've roughed out, as well as being thick enough to make it seem realistic (in all the pictures of the blade I've seen, it's clearly very thick, see last ref. pic below).

Currently I'm noodling over how to attach the handle to the whole thing. I'm not 100% certain of any way in particular. I'm going to make the strange bracket looking things that the blade bolts onto (I'm not sure what they are called, I'm sure there is a chopper enthusiast or two on this forum that knows, apologies for my ignorance) out of the same material that the blade is made out of, but I'm not sure how to attach it all together.

If anyone has any good ideas on how to do this, or any illuminating screenshots, promo stills, etc, that might be of assistance, it would be greatly appreciated! Also if you think I've managed to make a right mess of the dimensions and have good reasons for this suspicion, please let me know.

I'll post progress shots as I go. Thanks for looking!

REFERENCE PICS:

 

[blakejolly]

As a brief addition to my first post, I looked a couple of the images above to work out the serial number on the blade itself: "2321.8514476-35/UN" and underneath it is "POS 53." Most of it is visible in the first image, but it is missing a little bit. Additionally, it's interesting to note that the text is oriented differently on either side of the blade. On one side it's facing towards the edge of the sword, and on the other it's facing away. This is most obvious when looking at the first and last reference pics. Small detail, but there you go. I'm thinking I'm going to get the whole blade part anodised black, before I finish the edge, so it will have the nice worn away look. I'll then use a template to spray on the lettering. But we're a long way from there at this point.

 

[MatterMaker]

I cannot wait to see this build completed. Aluminum!?! It's going to be SUUUPPERRR heavy regardless. The handle is essentially a 'hand and a half' length so it's not easy to lift as you're holding onto the very end and there is a lot of weight leveraging the thing down. Check out my build under posts by me 'mattermaker'. I just began posting yesterday. I used thin MDF and pine to build it. I'd be happy to give you my dimensions if you want. (at least what I remember. I gave my prop to a friend. (It's currently sitting in the local theatre)

Regarding attaching the handle. You might try to figure a way to connect the blade to the handle piece and just reinforce the joint with the blade grip (the part with the two bolts running through it) or consider the blade grip as a purely cosmetic attachment. I'm going through the entire build process of my version of the prop and will be posting shots of the blade grip assembly soon. Unless you have a machine shop handy that can cut your parts to spec, you're gonna just need to put in a tonne of elbow grease, filing and drilling.

The aluminum will look AMAZING! I'm excited to see what you come up with!
Cheers!
MM

 

[blakejolly]

Yeah I saw your build, it looked awesome. The aluminium one will be heavy, but a lot less heavy than a steel one would be My other option was wood, but I've not had any luck finishing it to make it look metallic in the past, so I decided the easiest option was to simply make it out of metal. I'm ok with it being heavy, as long as I can balance it out a little bit with the solid steel pommel bit. I have had some luck with that in the past, so I'm hoping the proverbial lightning will strike in the same place twice and things will work out.

As for the handle, I'm presently thinking that the best option might be to try and make it with a tang on it, like an actual sword. The piece I'm getting is long enough for me to do that. I might be able to make something work that way, because I could use a steel piece on either side of the tang, round it all off, and then cover the bolts that will hold it together with the black electrical tape that's on the handle... I dunno. It's all these fun little bits that I enjoy working out, though.

 

[BRDencklau]

Love that sword. Subscribed.

 

[sparky0922]

Me too! I think that was one of the best part of this movie..Emily Blunt swinging this cool sword. Shame it was only in couple fast scenes!

 

[p51]

I know someone with access to real trail rotor blades who owes me a favor. It's such a temptation to get my hands on a real one and build this sword as it'd exist in real life...

 

[oysteinhole]

Anyone know what heli this comes from ?

 

[Ckesner]

Anyone know what heli this comes from ?

From the shape of the blade and the blade grip, it appears to be a Bell UH-1 tail rotor. I would love to get my hands on one, but good luck getting a scrap one + grip for under 1k.

 

[Monk]

I don't think it's an old Bell blade, it doesn't seem to have the reinforcement near the handle, it looks to be a straight composite blade, probably off a British helicopter.

 

[tmax]

Any update on this build?

 

[blakejolly]

My suspicion is that it was made for the film specifically, as I think it is meant to be a blade of one of the in-universe multirotor vehicles.

As to updates tmax, yes! It's been a long time coming with lots of other projects in between while I sat stewing on the best way to make this work. I've found a place that will cut the blade shape out for me (it became apparent swiftly that it was too thick to cut through effectively given the tools I had on hand). I have also figured out how I will make the handle in such a way as to remain (mostly) faithful to the original design while still actually providing enough contact with the blade that it won't just snap right off when lifted.

My hope is that the cutting should be done tomorrow! I'll take pics and weigh it then, and post both. Glad to be back on this build again.

Stay tuned for blade shots, and some sketches on how I'm going to attach the handle.

 

[blakejolly]

Well, annoyingly, it's not going to be ready now until Monday, which is rubbish timing as I had some time this weekend to work on the project. Without the blade itself I can't do much.

I did, while waiting for the blade to get cut, sketch out a few ideas of how I'll make the handle work, and purchase some other odds and ends on eBay for the handle. For the weekend I'll probably have to play around with the 3d printer and try to make it work.

 

[blakejolly]

Ok, so due to finishing late at work, I wasn't able to pick the piece up until today, however, it was worth the wait. Attached are photos of the blade cut out.
I'll say this much - it's heavy! It's a really weighty piece, which is awesome, as it actually feels like something that would take some real strength to wield effectively. I think it's going to look really nice - and it's going to weather super nice also, I suspect.
Now that this is back, I can start putting an edge on it this weekend, as well as attaching the grip. More updates to come!

 

[TheShinyOne]

Looking forward to it!

 

[tmax]

Brilliant! Blade looks awesome.

How hard was it to find a place who'd cut it for you? I'm thinking I should try the same here (New Zealand). Or maybe I should've got you to order 2 and ship me one across the ditch! ;-)


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