Davy Jones *Dead Mans* Chest Build

[Cbstudios]

Ok so changing tack with a 9 year necropost, “Do ye fear death?” This thread certainly does.

My foam core attempt was pretty good, but ultimately very flimsy, and while I loved the proportions I just never saw myself finishing it so I scrapped the whole thing. The box itself also turned out to be much larger than I really wanted. I happened to be wandering around at a second hand store back in 2017 (I think) and found a green painted timber box that was a rough similar shape and style, with a hinged lid, so I bought it for a few bucks and got to work!

You can see here, I’ve split the lid off, and I used a table saw to rip down some strips of MDF for the raised panel pieces. I’ve also started marking out where to cut and put the lock detail.

Lid structurally done, same MDF strips, a timber insert to build it all but a little higher, an MDF ring for the lock surrounds and a fuckload of brass furniture tacks for the rivets. At this point I also sculpted the octopus panel details and cast a bunch up in Epoxy, and then sealed the whole chest in with a couple of brushed on coats of epoxy resin. The piece got sprayed black and then hit with some silver and brown paint work to finish it. I also sculpted the lock in plasticine and did the old moldy casty in resin, et voila

A pretty respectable and heavy, albeit slightly inaccurate Chest of Davy Jones! Buuuuuuut.....

 

[Cbstudios]

Like many of us, I cannot leave well enough alone. That paint up was good enough for 2017 CB, but was it good enough for totally extra 2021 CB? Of course not. Since this whole project came to fruition, I’d been lucky enough to earn a job with my casting and moulding supplier, and one of the things we stock is a range of Metal paints and Patina fluids by Sculpt Nouveau. What’s better than a chest painted to look like rusted iron? A chest painted WITH rusted iron. I also took this opportunity to rework the lock ring and insert to something a little nicer, using some 3D print files I found on thingiverse and customizing them to my needs, adds a whole lot of detail and was definitely worth the effort

So this iron goes on like an acrylic paint, it’s metal powder in suspension, and it goes down like a flat slightly aged iron. I’d let it dry and the above photo shows about 20 minutes after I’d applied the first round of colour. I did several passes with different patinas, but I settled on “Darkening Patina”,”Japanese Brown” and “Light Green” to get the colours I wanted.

The freshly resin printed Lock section...

and a test fit in the rusty chest. This also shows the new ring I printed for around the lock frame itself, small details adding up to a greater finish.

A super artsy Instagram shot of the lock detail. The Iron B paint is pretty thick, so you can stipple it on to get some dimension, I chose to go pretty heavy on the lock, and it really gives the look of rusted steel and iron you’d see on an old seaside pier. Some of the patina fluids were poured into the grooves and details fairly heavily, which gave a really nice highlight to the dimensions.

And finally, Sealed in and finished. I chose to go for a more satin finish, as it looks closer to the movie chest.

I knocked a lot of the brighter oranges and yellows down to make the whole effect a lot more subtle. In the light it has some great grey highlights, and genuinly looks like a convincing genuine iron chest in hand. Not bad for a 9 year project hey.

 

[LuckyS7evine]

The chest and 3d print

 

[Cbstudios]

The chest and 3d print

That looks great!

 

[LuckyS7evine]

Thank you, I work hard to make it functional

 

[Cbstudios]

Just a little bumpy bump. I've been dabbling with YouTube videos and took the opportunity to do a not so short video on my finished chest! Also i took this badass looking shot. Feel free to check me out in the link!