Captain America Shield from plastic costume toy

Obligatory "I'm building a Cap shield", blah blah intro. I decided to make my (first?) shield on a tight budget from the rubies plastic costume shield. I picked up mine for $13, plus shipping. I nabbed the blue version because it was a few bucks cheaper, and I'm painting it anyway, so why not. My first impressions are that, while not made of paper thin plastic, it lives up to the reviews of seeming to be breakable upon any real use. Also, they attach the label to a bit of plastic that you have to tear off the shield, which leaves a mark. Which sucks.



My plan to make it more durable is fiberglass. Not going to make it as indestructible as Vibranium, but it should help it stand up to general wear and tear, since I probably won't be taking it to any cons. So I tore off the cheap straps and got to it:



I'll see how well that went after it dries. I'm debating putting Bondo on top of that to smooth it all out.

For your mocking pleasure, here's what I call my "Did I press the button, there's no countdown?" face.

 

So, after a night of drying, the fiberglass made the shield noticeably more firm, and it doesn't sway in on itself when I pick it up by the edges. So, some sanding down and leveling out the edges and voila:



So, while I decide what I want to bother to do to the back, I started to sand and prime the front:

 

Well, I had to drop my car off at the shop, and guess where my painters tape is? My trunk. And I can't drive out to get more, because car.

Anyway, I decided to do something, and I started putting down some red:



It seems like time is against me, my shield wasn't delivered until 7:30 PM last night, and I couldn't tape it up to paint it today. I'll try to do some work on it tomorrow after I get off of work.

 

Almost:



- - - Updated - - -

And bam:



I'm not super pleased with the paint job, the red isn't as bright as I was expecting, and the blue got a bit wonky in a few small places, but as long as you don't get to close, it's not to bad for a first try.

I'll have to do some touch ups with the blue at the very least.

 

This is pretty * awesome!
Where did you get the shield from if you don't mind me asking?

 

On Amazon. Here's the link if you were interested.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HQ8KTUK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Thank you good sir!

 

Hey! I'm planning on getting the same shield for a con. Did the fiberglassing work? Did it adhere well to the back of the shield? I remember once that I was supposed to fiberglass a Thor hammer from the same company that made the shield and the fiberglass and resin did not adhere at all. It dried, but it could be easily peeled off. I just want it to be stronger for the con I'm attending so please let me know Thanks!

 

Hey awesome shield bro!