Let it begin! Completed Accurate Kill Bill Replica!

Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Fittings are in!

They are beautiful - not a casting mark to be seen any where! The detailing is awesome! They have a raised-bump texture that is totally not evident from the movie stills. Also, the leaves have stems, but these were just blackened out for the movie prop...

Casting supplies on the way, and I'm off to a jewelers to see how much a set of bronze copies will cost.

Btw, dimensions are:

Fuchi - 40mm x 24mm x 12mm
Kashira - 39mm x 18mm x 14mm
Kojiri - 40mm x 15mm x 36mm

The tsuba has a cool, flat, gun-metal blackened finish. Not shiny at all.

The seppa are gold-plated, and may need to be replaced - I asked for a set to match the dimensions of the fuchi, and I think they may have made a custom-sized set that EXACTLY matches the fuchi. This would be great, except that on the prop, the fuchi-seppa looks to be a bit oversize. Oh well, seppa are cheap:)

Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

A more detailed pic of the fittings - some details you just can't get from the film.

Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

This is an AMAZING project! I will enjoy following your progress. :thumbsup

Cheers,

Ryan
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

i just wish the parts would finish arriving so i could get started!:)

thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Got my bronze castings of the original handle fittings back today. They are beautiful! Only a tiny bit of dressing needed.

Btw, in Ottawa, Stan (and his wife Danuta) at Goldcast are a pleasure to deal with, and do excellent, on time, work.


Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

And, after a bit of filing/grinding, and a little Brass Black, the mid-level result...

I swear, the fittings on the movie sword look painted - they've got a bit of gloss to them that I don't think you'd get with just patination...


Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Just a quick update - no pics yet, hopefully tomorrow...

No progress on Adam's sword yet - except for some patina work on the fittings. Still waiting on the blade from Japan. Apparently, they had made a mistake and carved a bo-hi (groove) into the blade although I had specifically requested no bo-hi. Back to the drawing board...

However, I have made some progress on a second version I'm working on, using the cast bronze fittings. I swear, this sword wants to be a Bride's replica. The tsuka is almost exactly the right length to start with, the kurigata postion on the saya that I stole from another sword is in exactly the right place, and the plain brass habaki is 1", as required.

Had to add about 1/4" of an inch of wood to the fuchi end of the tsuka to take up some slack, it had been mounted with some VERY thick fittings. Just a little bit of rasp/file work, and the fittings work great! Tsuka needs a bit more shaping, but I think it'll soon be ready for rayskin...

Next up, filling the holes in the tsuka in preparation of drilling a new hole (in the same place as the hero sword). Also, priming/painting the saya in gloss black.

Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Finally did my first silicone mold! Followed the advice of a number of threads here (thanks everyone), and managed to get a good take of the menuki (handle ornaments) for the Bride's sword. The originals are around $50 dollars + shipping from Japan, but now I can cast 'em up whenever I want! The power!:) Stuck 'em down with modeling clay, measured/mixed/poured the silicone, waited 2 hours, and popped the mold out. Awesome stuff!

I'll have to wait till tomorrow to do the resin pour, I guess, but so far this molding/casting stuff is great fun!

Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Duplicate Post...
 
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Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Some pics of my sword in progress - fuchi is fitted, kashira is mostly fitted, new horn kurigata (knob) carved, polished, and glued in place. Made it a little less wide than the original wood kurigata to allow for the gold stripes on each side of the saya.

Also, I've got a kiku tsuba (handguard) in place for now - I don't have a Hanzo tsuba for this sword yet, and this one is the same thickness (4mm) as the Hanzo tsuba.

Next up, cleaning up the wood of the tsuka, getting the lines to line up, drilling a new mekugi (retaining pin) hole where I've marked it (18mm from edge of fuchi), filling in the existing mekugi-ana (pin holes).




Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Cast my first set of menuki last night, and I think they came out great. They're so little, though, that I tend to waste quite a bit of resin. Anyone have any tips for working with ~5ml of resin at a time?

Thanks,
jason
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Awsome thread mate. Keep up the good work. :thumbsup p (PS , PM sent)
 
Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Did you carve the Tsuka and saya yourself?
 
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Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!

Thanks for the kind words, guys:)

No, I didn't carve the tsuka/saya myself. I've carved a few tsuka, and it's not too hard, just time consuming. The existing tsuka was in OK shape and with some rework will be ok. And the saya I had laying around already stripped. It fit the blade quite well.

Here's a current pic of where the tsuka is - the lines at the fuchi end look good at this point, but the kashira needs to be shifted up from the bottom edge of the tsuka, and a bit more wood added on the top of the tsuka to adjust for that. There was just too much overhang on the kashira, and the tsuka could stand a bit more height towards the kashira end, anyways.

Thanks,
jason
 
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