flaagan
New Member
A friend who I play airsoft with frequently goes to the field dressed up as Captain America (modern MCU garb), sometimes even brings out a round shield to use. Earlier this year he mentioned his interest in doing a "WW2 rescue mission" Captain get-up both for use on the field and con cosplay, but didn't have a lead on the shield. I offered to help.
He sourced drawings from here on the RPF (which I will link to once I find them again) that had both the dimensions and line art for the design. Among the many things I do there, I operate a CNC router at my work. I managed to find in our supplies a scrap sheet of 6062 1/8" aluminum just big enough to make the shield scaled down maybe a half inch from the original size.
This was cut out around mid-March of this year.
After trying for nearly a month to find someone who could roll the piece to put the curve in it, I occurred to me one evening that we work with a sheetmetal shop that could potentially take care of it. After recovering from the impact of the facepalm for taking a month to realize that, I contacted the shop and they were willing to try it out. They ended up putting the curve in free of charge cause they wanted to see if it could even be done properly on an already-cut piece of that grade of aluminum.
This was taken care of mid-April of this year.
Since then I sourced some air-dry Cerakote and managed to get some small test pieces coated. I was not happy with the results of the spray (cannot recommend Preval sprayers), but at least I had confirmed the colors were right. I can post up shots / info on that later on if anyone's interested.
Additionally, I wanted to make damn certain the Cerakote would hold up on the shield if it got pummeled by airsoft bb's, so I did some up close tests with both a pistol and full auto rifle (~240 and 400 feet/second velocity respectively), and at best there were some surface scuffs you could barely make out in the right lighting, so I'm satisfied with that result.
Since then, this project is taking a bit longer than I originally planned, but I'm stalled at the exact phase I expected to have issue with. I need to 120 grit sand the shield to prep it, but the real issue is sorting out a location to paint. I have both an airbrush and a hopper-fed sprayer set up, but our garage is occupied with project vehicles, and there's enough dust and debris outside that I don't want to risk it. I may have come up with possible solution, but it may take a bit to setup. I have some time as my friend is currently recovering from both shoulder and knee surgery, but I don't want to keep him waiting.
He sourced drawings from here on the RPF (which I will link to once I find them again) that had both the dimensions and line art for the design. Among the many things I do there, I operate a CNC router at my work. I managed to find in our supplies a scrap sheet of 6062 1/8" aluminum just big enough to make the shield scaled down maybe a half inch from the original size.
This was cut out around mid-March of this year.
After trying for nearly a month to find someone who could roll the piece to put the curve in it, I occurred to me one evening that we work with a sheetmetal shop that could potentially take care of it. After recovering from the impact of the facepalm for taking a month to realize that, I contacted the shop and they were willing to try it out. They ended up putting the curve in free of charge cause they wanted to see if it could even be done properly on an already-cut piece of that grade of aluminum.
This was taken care of mid-April of this year.
Since then I sourced some air-dry Cerakote and managed to get some small test pieces coated. I was not happy with the results of the spray (cannot recommend Preval sprayers), but at least I had confirmed the colors were right. I can post up shots / info on that later on if anyone's interested.
Additionally, I wanted to make damn certain the Cerakote would hold up on the shield if it got pummeled by airsoft bb's, so I did some up close tests with both a pistol and full auto rifle (~240 and 400 feet/second velocity respectively), and at best there were some surface scuffs you could barely make out in the right lighting, so I'm satisfied with that result.
Since then, this project is taking a bit longer than I originally planned, but I'm stalled at the exact phase I expected to have issue with. I need to 120 grit sand the shield to prep it, but the real issue is sorting out a location to paint. I have both an airbrush and a hopper-fed sprayer set up, but our garage is occupied with project vehicles, and there's enough dust and debris outside that I don't want to risk it. I may have come up with possible solution, but it may take a bit to setup. I have some time as my friend is currently recovering from both shoulder and knee surgery, but I don't want to keep him waiting.
