Boromir's Shield

[BlindSquirrel]

Since United Cutlery died before they had a chance to make Boromir's shield (but not before they could tease us with it) I decided to take a stab at it.

I laminated two 3/4" MDF discs together and mounted this 20# monstrosity on the disc sanding plate of my cheap-o lathe. Taking my LIFE into my hands I lathed the curve and rim details on the front and back of the shield. The lathe would shake and rock as it approached full speed so I rigged up a foot switch to turn it off when it started to wobble, and then lathed like a demon!

The triangles were made using Aves epoxy putty and the rivets are humble thumb tacks. I carved the planks into the surface with an exacto knife but a recently found reference photo showed me that the planks are running the wrong way! They're wood puttied up now awaiting new grooves.

The boss was MDF lathed for the base with Aves detail added. I made a mold of it and slush cast resin (backed with fiberglass). The dents were from my "too thin" mold (lesson learned) but I liked the look....

The next step is the handle at the center and the back details. If anyone has any reference photos, particulary from the traveling exhibit, I'd appreciate the help. Good detail is hard to find of the back and the Sideshow figure's shield isn't accurate.

 

[Westies14]

That's fantastic work! How many hours do you have into it?

 

[BlindSquirrel]

That's fantastic work! How many hours do you have into it?

Thanks! The shield took (so far) about 8 hours and the boss probably took 10-14 hours. I have many more to go!

In addition to my new lathe attachment, this was my first slush cast and I'll be doing metalwork and leatherwork for the first time, too!

I forgot to mention that after lathing the shield is now about 8#...a comfortable weight.

 

[jwhite]

New guy on the boards, but I have a few pics from the exhibit, I can email you hi-res. I just glad to see someone making this darn thing.

I may have sent you a couple of shots of the prop from UC on another board if not let me see if I can find those for you too. I wish we had made this thing when I was working in PD at UC... but that down the toilet now.

Nice job so far!

 

[juno]

I just wanted to let you know how much I look forward to your posts / blog updates. It reminds me of something said during one of the "making of" videos I was watching, "everything they do is a prototype, and it's exciting to see how each piece ends up getting made."

I saw the traveling exhibit (no cameras allowed!) and this piece would fit right in! Is the slush-cast version heavy?

 

[BlindSquirrel]

Is the slush-cast version heavy?

The shield boss is surprisingly light, almost where you would expect it to be flimsy. The fiberglass makes it very strong...there's no flex to it at all.

 

[Great_Bizarro]

Nice shield. Just fyi a shield boss is the metal center part.

 

[DavidS]

so when will you be making duplicates for sale?

 

[BlindSquirrel]

so when will you be making duplicates for sale?

I guess the whole thing could be molded and fiberglass cast in two parts, couldn't it. Hmmm...I'll have to consider that.

 

[anglachel]

Great work. I would be definitely interested in one. :thumbsup

 

[BlindSquirrel]

With the long weekend, I made some good progress!

I made the handle out of pine, sandwiched around a piece of steel. The whole thing is glued together with screws attached from the inside (hidden by the boss)

I cut out sections of the inner ring and cut insets for the steel. I drilled through the shield and attached the handle with brass screw rivets. The sections of inner ring were glued back into place and puttied.

Here is the assembled and painted shield inside. I cut the plank lines into the MDF with an xacto blade and then painted a faux wood grain. The wood was masked off and I used a Testors Metallizer Stainless Steel for the rings. The picture unfortunately doesn't show it but the steel really shines! (Please ignore my dusty fingerprints)

I still have to make the sling brackets and add some rivets to the trianglular pieces and then the inside is complete!

 

[BlindSquirrel]

I just added the hardware to attach the sling (which I'll make later). Both "rings" had to be made from scratch and strong enough to support the shield. I haven't done much metalwork so this was a nice learning experience.

The outer ring made from a threaded rod. The bolt was later covered with epoxy putty.

The inner "ring" was made from a galvanized steel joist hanger, hammered flat. My bolts turned out rougher than I thought (in close-up) but look OK to the naked eye.

Here is the final painted and weathered shield inside (with the boss temporarily attached)

Additional photos and details on the blog.

 

[BlindSquirrel]

The final shield! I really lucked out and found some vinyl that PERFECTLY matched Boromir's (although my lousy pictures don't really show it). I still have to make the sling but this part is DONE!

More pics and info are on me blog.

 

[Darth Brass]

That's absolutely beautiful!

 

[Nexus6]

Dude, you never cease to amaze... :eek

 

[anglachel]

Absolutely amazing. I love it. :thumbsup

 

[Smiling Demon]

Man, that looks great!!

Like a comment earlier, you never cease to amaze!!!:eek