Captain America aluminum shield build

[Eggstream]

My wife recently started a character rental business with princesses and superheroes. I decided to build a shield instead of buying one. I wasn't going for movie accuracy but instead wanted something decent looking and heavy enough for the kids to believe it was real. This is all 1/8" aluminum and the face is 13 water jet cut pieces tig welded from the back side. Here are some pictures of the results...

 

[jackoshadow]

Nicely done! Character rental business, as in people having characters show up to parties and whatnot? Cool stuff!

 

[Eggstream]

Nicely done! Character rental business, as in people having characters show up to parties and whatnot? Cool stuff!

Exactly... Right now she has a lineup of 10 characters. 6 princesses and 4 Superheroes being Batman, Superman, Spiderman and obviously Captain America. My next project is the Cap's helmet as the one that came with the costume is a pleather piece of garbage.

 

[RocFoamArmory]

Hi, can you explain the polishing/buffing/painting/clear coating process you used? I'm building a shield from an aluminum sheet, and I want a nice reflective surface on it.

 

[Eggstream]

Hi, can you explain the polishing/buffing/painting/clear coating process you used? I'm building a shield from an aluminum sheet, and I want a nice reflective surface on it.

I used an orbital sander with progressively finer papers to remove all the surface imperfections. Once I felt like the metal was blemish free I used SOS pads to kinda put a uniform semi polished finish on it. Then used Mothers wheel polish to do a good mirror polish. Then I made a bracket with an arbor that bolts to the back of the shield where my leather straps are secured. I then chucked the arbor into a drill that I attached to my work bench to spin the shield and used a green scotch bright pad with water and dawn dish soap to give it the spun/brushed finish. As for painting I just cleaned the shield with acetone to remove any residue left from polishing stages. Masked as necessary and sprayed using the Duplicolor metalcast translucent red and blue rattle cans. I chose not to clearcoat the shield. Some like the satin look of the shield from the newer movies but I preferred the glossy paint.

 

[RocFoamArmory]

That's super helpful! Hopefully I can finish mine up this weekend!

 

[Lord Finesse]

Awesome tips! I just finished painting, and will be adding a clear coat this weekend. Looking forward to getting this done!