GasMaskSaxon
New Member
So after a recent LOTR marathon, I realised that the Ringwraiths are seriously badass. Therefore, the only path open to me was to make a costume.
There is quite a high chance that I will make a Witch King of Angmar costume, but since his armour is very very complicated, I figured I'd start off on the (slightly) simpler dogsbody Ringwraiths and get some experience under my belt, then potentially move on to the Witch King. Besides, if that's the case, then I'll already have the robes done, which will make things easier...
I would also like to say I'm actually at university right now, so this build will take a LONG time due to constraints of time and money, so sorry in advance if this thread isn't often updated.
The first thing I did was rummage for references, and there really aren't very many. However, a guy called Kropserkel has done an incredible Witch King/Nazgul build here. He has also provided many many pictures, which prove very useful:
Kropserkel: Dark Rider Nazgul WitchKing costume and armor
Another good site might be this one, they've made both steel and plastic gauntlets, and while they haven't documented the building at all, they are trying to sell them (I think), so there are a couple of very close-up photos:
Nazgul Ringwraith Blackrider Armor
I decided to start with the gauntlets, something I already have a little experience with. I purchased a gauntlet template from here, for 499 of your American cents, then printed it off to toy with it. The template was perfect for providing a base for all those articulating pieces across the wrist and the back of the hand, so all I had to do was change their shape so they looked like the plates of the Nazgul armour. I also didn't need any of the finger pieces because the fingers of a Nazgul gauntlet are more like a strip of hinged scales than articulated fingers, so they are simpler in that regard, but they are somewhat time-consuming to cut. They may be a deciding factor in whether the armour is made of metal or Worbla, because I'd have to use my pillar drill to get the right shape on the finger scales if they were metal, and I don't have access to that at the moment.
Anyway, after much fiddling and tweaking and recutting of pieces, I ended up with a card model, hinged with drawing pins:
![IMG_0951[1].JPG](https://therpf-f28a.kxcdn.com/forums/data/attachments/58/58816-000855a2ebaefb330e37bab6ced582e9.jpg "IMG_0951[1].JPG")
I decided that making all four fingers would be a little pointless, because they're all exactly the same except for the number of shaped scales they have. The vambrace isn't actually shown here how it will be on the gauntlet, because it has a segmented look like the hand section, and I haven't made a piece for the underside of the vambrace either, but this is pretty much it. I think the initial batch will be made of Worbla, and maybe I'll move to steel once I have better equipment and a good idea of how this gauntlet works in a proper material.
Apologies for text
hoto ratio, but hopefully the rest of the process will be better documented...
There is quite a high chance that I will make a Witch King of Angmar costume, but since his armour is very very complicated, I figured I'd start off on the (slightly) simpler dogsbody Ringwraiths and get some experience under my belt, then potentially move on to the Witch King. Besides, if that's the case, then I'll already have the robes done, which will make things easier...
I would also like to say I'm actually at university right now, so this build will take a LONG time due to constraints of time and money, so sorry in advance if this thread isn't often updated.
The first thing I did was rummage for references, and there really aren't very many. However, a guy called Kropserkel has done an incredible Witch King/Nazgul build here. He has also provided many many pictures, which prove very useful:
Kropserkel: Dark Rider Nazgul WitchKing costume and armor
Another good site might be this one, they've made both steel and plastic gauntlets, and while they haven't documented the building at all, they are trying to sell them (I think), so there are a couple of very close-up photos:
Nazgul Ringwraith Blackrider Armor
I decided to start with the gauntlets, something I already have a little experience with. I purchased a gauntlet template from here, for 499 of your American cents, then printed it off to toy with it. The template was perfect for providing a base for all those articulating pieces across the wrist and the back of the hand, so all I had to do was change their shape so they looked like the plates of the Nazgul armour. I also didn't need any of the finger pieces because the fingers of a Nazgul gauntlet are more like a strip of hinged scales than articulated fingers, so they are simpler in that regard, but they are somewhat time-consuming to cut. They may be a deciding factor in whether the armour is made of metal or Worbla, because I'd have to use my pillar drill to get the right shape on the finger scales if they were metal, and I don't have access to that at the moment.
Anyway, after much fiddling and tweaking and recutting of pieces, I ended up with a card model, hinged with drawing pins:
I decided that making all four fingers would be a little pointless, because they're all exactly the same except for the number of shaped scales they have. The vambrace isn't actually shown here how it will be on the gauntlet, because it has a segmented look like the hand section, and I haven't made a piece for the underside of the vambrace either, but this is pretty much it. I think the initial batch will be made of Worbla, and maybe I'll move to steel once I have better equipment and a good idea of how this gauntlet works in a proper material.
Apologies for text
hoto ratio, but hopefully the rest of the process will be better documented...
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