Arm Gaunlets, made from wood?

[BTRobertson]

So I was thinking of trying to craft at least the left arm gauntlet out of a wooden block, tapered on both ends with some jigsaw cuts in to simulate some layers (for lack of a better word) - like where it would open to the arm bomb, etc. Then, paint it black and layer some silver paint on it. It wouldn't be 100% detailed or open up or anything, but it would work as a prop at least.

Or, if that won't fly, I might look into buying a set of resin/fiberglass ones like some of you have made. Has anyone ever tried making them out of a wooden block? I couldn't find much info in the search.

 

[delonghi]

there gonna way a ton........theres plenty of scratchbuilds to try

 

[Xalener]

Theres always foamies/cardboard.

 

[Ei luj]

Balsa wood.... layers would do for some of it, but then would need a larger piece for the round section.

Also works well for the wristblade slide guide mechanism inside the gauntlet:

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Ei'luj

 

[Ei luj]

pix may not have posted for some reason....

trying again:

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Ei'luj

 

[Xalener]

...They seem to have worked the first time...

 

[Brandon1]

you can make them out of what ever you wnat. but depending on the wood they may be heavy and then you have to worry about mounting them to your suit.
i used construction foam for mine. kept it light weight and you can carve into the stuff. i then layered foamies onto them to add mroe detail.

 

[Xalener]

How do you get the blades to stay so rigid?

 

[Ei luj]

xalener

mine are plastic from car splash flaps cut into the shape and covered with silver colored tape.

haven't tried foamies, maybe something inside or sandwiched between them to make it stiffer?

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Ei'luj

 

[BTRobertson]

Very cool advice all. Thanks a bunch! I'm not sure which avenue I'm going to try first, but I like the balsa wood avenue and never thought about that. I used to build R/C airplanes and for those of you who don't know what they're made of, it's balsa wood. CA glue and epoxy behave very nicely with balsa, also, which is good because both types of glue form strong bonds depending on what you want. Key joints are reinforced with two-part epoxy mixes and the lightweight sections can be glued with CA (like Krazy Glue, just stronger, I think). That would definitely work best if I want the blades to slide since balsa can be bought/cut into thinner sections for the channels as shown in the pics above. Great suggestion!!

I like the foam idea, too, because of the lighter weight, but functionally I think the lightweight balsa wood idea would work best for what I envision. Also, balsa can be sanded very easily, so rounding edges to make the computer gauntlet look realistic would likely turn out great. I'm definitely thinking this will be the way I go. Thanks all!

Once I get started, probably in September after my current manuscript is written and submitted to my publisher, I'll start working on these and post pics of my progress. It will be trial and error, of course, because I've never done anything like this from scratch, but I'm eager to learn and try new things.