Limited Run Nazgul Gauntlets - comfortable for long convention-days

[vaderdarth]

It's just wishful thinking. Don't be a Debbie Downer. We can dream!!!! If it doesn't happen I'm an RPF veteran. I've been around this same block more times than you'll ever fathom. Besides, this guy isn't the type to rush anything. He's as much a perfectionist as they come. Just look at the prototypes.

 

[TomVDJ]

From "My entire costume depends on it" to "We can dream"... That's more like it... . So SciFiPropFreak: take your time mate! Don't let anybody rush you. Great props take time, we all know that here on the RPF...

 

[vaderdarth]

Hey it wouldn't be the first halloween I've missed and nobody died because of it......LOL.

 

[SciFiPropFreak]

Hey guys! Thanks that you still believe in me

Regardless of vaderdarths halloween...I recently sent a first deposit for my CNC-Router which is planned to arrive end of this month because of a larger animatronics project...so I need to get the Gauntlets shipped this month!
But don't worry about me rushing things...I sometimes just need a deadline get more focused ;-)

Progress:
I finished the clay work today. Tomorrow I'll build walls around the parts and hopefully already make the first silicon mold already. To strengthen the silicone, I bought some bi-strech lycra which will be soaked in the silicone. (This tip I got from Brad Cunningham from Weta ... met him at a convention some time ago and we talked a bit about moldmaking etc ... great Guy! :-D )

I'll make some pics over the weekend.

 

[SciFiPropFreak]

hey there!
...so I finally got some time and then...I get a stupid cold :'(
been in bed since sunday but now much better again.
On saturday I got 2 molds ready for silicone and the others just need the walls built around them..which are also already prepared...
Will keep you updated.

 

[TomVDJ]

Get well soon, mate... so you can work on these gauntlets again! :devil

No, seriously: get well soon!

 

[SciFiPropFreak]

Hey guys!

I didn't have much time to post pictures lately and it's late already right now, so I'll just drop in some pictures right now and if you have questions I'll answer them in the nex days.

Here we go:


Homemade Vacuforming table on top of my also homemade vibrating platform -> for degassing the silicone
first mold done

 

[N2darkness]

Awesome progress! Looking forward to the first pull!

 

[vaderdarth]

Looking great!

 

[TomVDJ]

Thanks for the pics. Looks very, very promising!

 

[N2darkness]

How did the casting go?

 

[TomVDJ]

Aha, nice to see that the INT thread is back up .

 

[JediHomer]

It's just wishful thinking. Don't be a Debbie Downer. We can dream!!!! If it doesn't happen I'm an RPF veteran. I've been around this same block more times than you'll ever fathom.....

these words put a smile on my face

 

[TomVDJ]

these words put a smile on my face

I think his words sound rather cocky, to be honest. Doesn't matter how long you are an RPF member or how many posts you have, a basic politeness never hurts. Also in real life I don't like people who think they are better than someone else due to age, experience, title, diploma, profession, race, gender, etc... I work with some pretty amazing scientists at work, some of them have 3 PhD's, but all of them are very, very modest and nice to work with. These are the kind of people that earn my respect... Just my two cents...

 

[JediHomer]

i don't think he needs me to defend his words. he simply said something funny; that he was only saying he's been around the block and that i CAN personally fathom it, that was all. i don't think he meant anything more than that. there are peeps here from this boards' inception before 1999 easily but had anyone, even from 2010 made that statement, i'd still smile, just not as widely.

nothing more, just a 'nod'... had i been in a pub and overheard it, i would've lifted my pint.

it's all good, noone was knocking your years here.

 

[TomVDJ]

it's all good, noone was knocking your years here.

No offense taken (I'm not easily offended ), just saying that modesty is a nice quality, that's all... If I heard something like that in a bar, I'd just frown, and be glad I'm with other people .

Anyway: back on track. This thread is all about great looking Nazgul Gauntlets, not about the ego of some RPF members that won't have these gauntlets for their Halloween costume .

 

[SciFiPropFreak]

whoww..guys...keep cool....I assume these are just signs of withdrawal because of the lack of updated pics...so I'm sorry


This is my advanced anti-bubble-silicone-mold-device...vacuum-plattform on top of a homemade vibrating table...works quite nice!
Also I clamp the mold itself to the vibration table to get rid of as many bubbles as possible.


Cutting the edges of of the lycra which I used to support the silicone


First layer: just silicone.
Second layer: Silicone and lycra
...

 

[SciFiPropFreak]

...
third layer: silicone and insertion of cap-nuts for keys

..but they tend to drown in the silicone when you insert them before the silicone is set to exactly the right amount.


So I built some little helpers


With these, you can hang the cap-nuts where you want them to be before pouring silicone in there.


curing silicone! Unfortunately it got cold and the heating would not work right from the start, so I made a crude Styrofoam box with a light bulb as a heating source to get the temperature above 20°C

Keys removed, ready for fiberglass.

 

[SciFiPropFreak]

For the Support...or mother mold (did more 3D printing than moldmaking lately ;-) )... I used fiberglass matte and old resin.
The resin was on the edge to going bad, but for the mother mold it was still OK to use.


because of the thick matte and old resin, there are some areas which got not totally saturated, but around the silicone it's good enough

 

[SciFiPropFreak]

TADAAAAAAA

well, this took long enough!


...from a slightly different perspective That was a joyful moment for me :lol


For the Gauntlets themselves, I got new resin and thin fiberglass cloth (twill weave), because it's much easier to get into shape.


First test. This is just Resin with iron-powder and cotton flocks. Because Iron is a bit heavier than resin, it always sunk down to the bottom of the pot the last time I made these gauntlets. With the cotton flocks added this still happens, but not as fast. (the molds on the right are for Weyland Yutani and USS Sulaco/Saphora signs)