Frostmourne(new pics) 1st build sword of The Lich King

[godproject]

Okay been away from this for to long. I've picked this back up and started working on it again. I now have access to a 3D printer and I just recently bought a CNC machine which I just need to assemble. I use Solidworks to model most of the pieces I do.

This is the 3D printed hilt and pommel I made. You'll note that there is a yellow section between the separate pieces. This is a threaded piece that I have designed to house batteries like the Master Replica lightsabers.


Here's me holding it to give a better idea of it's scale...


Here's the modeled center assembly. It's about a foot square.



And the eventual complete sword...

 

[godproject]

I've been doing more work on this sword over time but haven't been able to update it as I have had two jobs, class, and building my CNC. Now that I'm down to a single job and a working CNC I am going to try to knock this baby out with a quickness. I did some modeling work on the blade tonight and set-up the tool path to cut it out. Now just have to cut it tomorrow when I get home from work and check it's dimensions against my other pieces and see how I like it. After that it's combine all the mirrored pieces and cut out two full halves and sculpt any minute details in sculpy on top of that. Take a mold of each side and make copies...then onto the electrical and the base. That's right....you heard correctly. I am going to make a ice block base for it to stand in and it will all light up all glowing blue like.

 

[godproject]

So, I've managed to combine my sculptures with my para-metric models and set them up for cutting on my CNC. I've got the renderings of the toolpath verifications to show today. From here I plan to cut the pieces as separate sides as shown in the pictures. I will then sculpt more details onto the parts to make a finished piece which I will scan back into the computer and do a final cut to make a mold with. After that I will create a shell and add in electronics and make her glow. Then it is onto the ice sculpture base. Moving along at a brisk pace now. Hope to have this done within the next two months.

 

[godproject]

I've now cut the blade out...in two separate pieces as getting a block that was large enough to do it one piece was less monetarily efficient than separating the blade into two pieces and reassembling the cast. At least that is what I hope the situation will be. I ordered plaster of paris and am going to finish out the runes engravings today. I'll cut the area from the handguard to the blade later today once I have had time to let the glue attaching the two blocks of foam together dry. Otherwise she is coming along rather nicely.

 

[Wheatbee]

Ambitious and amazing project. The Lich King's sword is one of the most iconic weapons in Warcraft, and I just love this thread. Your work looks solid all the way.

 

[Nocturno]

WoW talking about some real skills thanks for showing pics of your progress and big congrats buddy.

 

[godproject]

Thanks for the positive comments guys. It only took me four years to break into the second page of this build, but here we are. I attempted to seal the foam piece with modge podge and it melted the piece.
Not a huge deal as I can just cut it again, but this time I think I will try sealing it with PVA glue and then molding it. I've got plenty of foam to cut as many pieces as I need and this really only puts me back about a day so not to bad of a loss. I should have done some tests with this material beforehand but I was so happy how inexpensive and easy it was to work with I rushed into it. Oh well, you live you learn. However, I will be cutting all the pieces I have done so far and I'd like to show a quick mock up here of all the pieces I have so far. I have a horn I sculpted to wrap around the hand-guard, but I'm not sure if I will be using it as I don't think it is bulky enough for what I want. I'll probably do that last as I think that will be the piece that really ties it together and it will be the most difficult piece to produce as it will require a separate silicone mold for each horn since they are spiral shaped. I'll post some more updates soon

 

[godproject]

Continuing on...I've cut one side of the blade again and attempted to coat a test cut with smooth cast 305. It takes way to long ot harden for my needs so I'm going to pick up some 300Q soon and do a test with that. If all goes well I can cut the pieces out of the foam and piece them together to do my finishing work on them. I'm attempting to seal them with PVA glue and then do a brush on casting with the Smooth-cast 300Q. After that it's onto the horns which I will sculpt by hand and mold in urethane rubber. Then I'll piece it altogether and hopefully one day soon I'll be able to make an aluminum version using investment casting methods. Here's some pics to bide your time with.....
Here you can see the separated blade that couldn't fit on my machine as a whole piece...
Just the blade here straight on from above...
Here is the 3-D printed pommel and grip that I modeled and printed out over a year ago now...
And here;s my hand to give an idea of scale... overall length can now be determined...54"

 

[godproject]

So I've been busy with other projects and work but now I am pretty freed up for time so I started back in on this project. I've been remodeling the hilt as I was unhappy with it and this is what I've come up with....


I've also upgraded my arsenal with a 3D Printer so I can produce these parts faster and not have to make as many casts to test the pieces.I've also cut the foam blade away from the block and pieced them together. I'm going to print the pictured piece up and assemble it together with the blade and then do some finishing sculpting of fine details. After that I am going to model som low-poly horns to print and sculpt finer detail onto. All in all it is now moving along at a brisker pace.

 

[godproject]

Got some more work done today....



Got the end pieces sculpted and attached and started work on the goat's horns.

 

[godproject]

I've moved onto showing video renderings of the project as I think they really do a lot better at giving an idea of how the piece will look when finished. I believe I measured this at about 52" so just shy of 5 ft. It's turning out really close to what I had originally envisioned and I am actually pretty happy with it. Which is something I can't usually say about the pieces I make as I am always critical of my own work. I added the blade on it to show what my nearly complete sword will look like. I think I am going to do a mock-up with a person to give a better idea of the scale and I have an idea to cast it in a swirled blue tinted resin and only paint over it in bits so when the LEDs turn on it glows through the "cracks" and gives it a really cool effect.


[video]https://youtu.be/7K2uQTv4nkA[/video]

 

[godproject]

Been steadily making progress with this one. I have come to not like that insulation foam as much as I used to. It is messy and probably a health hazard. It also is kind of diffucult to seal and do finishing work on. I decided that I should cut the blade out of pine so it would be more rigid and easier to finish. So...I did...
(rough)(finish)

I also 3d printed the grip and pommel...

The orange is the final design and next to it is my previous base design which I had wanted to sculpt over but then I started digitally sculpting and never looked back.

I'm going to cut out the other side of the blade and the handguards this week. After that, it is just finish work and the horns and it will be ready to cast.

 

[godproject]

Cut out one side of the handguard section... A lot of polishing/sanding to do, but I'm moving along at a brisk pace now.

 

[godproject]

After some hell-ascious problems with my CNC and 3d printer I did some major overhauls of their parts. Now that my life and my machines are now back in working order I have delved back into this project. I recently moved some 1600 miles from TN to CO and lost the blade I had previously cut. So I did another and it came out great. I am back onto the project and hope to be finished with it before the year is out.