Limited Run Nazgul Gauntlets - comfortable for long convention-days

[SciFiPropFreak]

Updates from the last days:

cut leatherstrips... more than 3meter are needed for a pair of gauntlets...


My girlfriend helped me sorting rivets


All day today I was cleaning up all parts for one pair....


...and sewed all fingerplates to strips of leather. Using a guide to get them all consistent.

As it is looking now, I'm not going to finish 2 pairs until Dec.24th (which is in 15 min...). I have one set complete and started assembly. Since TomVDJ (who's first on my list) doesn't seem to be in that much of a hurry, I'm planning on sending the first finished pair to vaderdarth ... if that's OK with everybody.

I'll do the riveting tomorrow morning and take the pair with me, visiting family over the next 3 days, because I need to sew all the leather strips to the gauntlets...which I can do almost anywhere.

 

[TomVDJ]

Since @TomVDJ (who's first on my list) doesn't seem to be in that much of a hurry, I'm planning on sending the first finished pair to @vaderdarth ... if that's OK with everybody.

That's OK for me, mate...

 

[N2darkness]

Awesome progress! Your due diligence has payed off in the clean up and sanding process. Great job

 

[vaderdarth]

You know it's A-okay with me. Wow those are pretty!!!!

 

[darthwhitey]

Looking great!!

 

[SciFiPropFreak]

Hey guys! Hope you had a happy christmas!

I know you would like to see the first finished pair right now and - BELIEVE ME - so would I!
Before riveting the handplates together, I noticed a few cracks in some of them ...
I always had air-bubbles in some of the plates, but that usually only added to the rotten look.
There have always been some bad parts even with the old molds, and I guess I just have to make some more plates that I need and than pick the best ones for use in your gauntlets.

I already laminated a new set of parts yesterday and will see how they turned out later this day.
Maybe I was just a bit to "hasty" to believe that all parts would turn out perfect at first try with the new molds :eek


I know this doesn't look that severe and probably isn't, but I don't want to send you gauntlets when I can't be sure that they will as strong as the ones I made before.

 

[TomVDJ]

Glad to see how dedicated you are for quality, SciFiPropFreak! Thanks for keeping us updated and the great effort you are putting into these. I'm sure they will be well worth the wait...

 

[N2darkness]

Glad to see how dedicated you are for quality, SciFiPropFreak! Thanks for keeping us updated and the great effort you are putting into these. I'm sure they will be well worth the wait...

I agree 100% with Tom!

 

[SciFiPropFreak]

Thanks guys, I do my best! These days it doesn't seem to be usual that people appreciate the efforts which went into something they buy, so I really appreciate that you DO!

The parts I laminated yesterday seem to be much better than the first ones I laminated



only 1 air-bubble in this set of fingerplates... i must say, I'm a bit pleased


And some more laminated parts from today.

I need to find some kind of a rhythm of laminating and trimming parts. I want to finish the plates for vaderdarths pair as soon as possible and than first focus on laminating as quickly as possible. The reason being, that because of the polyester-resin I have to wear a respirator all the time and keep the room heated to >20 C°.

 

[vaderdarth]

new molds always wreak havoc with the first castings. I'm sure these will look better. Fiberglassing buddy of mine says watch using too much accelerator as it will cause cracking. It makes them kick off too hot.

Dave

 

[SciFiPropFreak]

Fiberglassing buddy of mine says watch using too much accelerator as it will cause cracking. It makes them kick off too hot.

Dave

Thanks for the hint! I'm more on the lower end of hardener actually. I'm not using any additional accelerator, because I need the time to laminate all the fiberglass layers
(there might be a translation error for the terms, though !??:eek)

I think the main problem is that resin, mixed with iron-powder, becomes a bit brittle. But if I get that iron layer thin enough in relation to the fiberglass, it won't be able to flex enough to break

New parts look much more resilient than the first pulls. Just some air bubbles still, but that's not that much of an issue for these gaunts, because the texture looks like that anyway ;-)

...but I'm practicing to get rid of the bubbles, just in case I'll ever have to make something which has to look new... :$


some more parts drilled and partly trimmed.

 

[Hoppy81]

Looking great. Love your attention to detail and quality!

 

[SciFiPropFreak]

Looking great. Love your attention to detail and quality!

Thank you, Sir!

Updates on the first pair to be finished:

New handplates


Assembly station: The rig is mainly to align top and bottom part of the rivets, but also help with stacking stuff on the rivet before hammering it down.


At first some handplates get riveted together, then the arm-pieces to each other and to the gloves, then all partly assembled sections into one gauntlet.

All that's left now is to sew the leather straps to the leather glove and than do some weathering.

 

[TomVDJ]

Looking great! thumbsup:thumbsup

 

[vaderdarth]

pretty!!!!!

 

[vaderdarth]

Any news on these beautiful gauntlets?

Dave

 

[SciFiPropFreak]

Any news on these beautiful gauntlets?

YES! THEY ARE DONE!!! (except weathering. I'll be off to my workshop in 30min to put some washes of paint on. )




All the leather-straps with fingerplates on them are sewed to each finger at the tip and on each side to make sure the fingerplates keep aligned with the actual finger.

I just finished them and will be off to the shop for painting and making some kind of a crate to ship them in (I think they deserve a bit more than only a cardboard box ;-) )

 

[N2darkness]

These have turned out really good and worth the wait. As most members here appreciate the value in all the details and hard work that is put into each piece your efforts really shines through. :thumbsup

 

[SciFiPropFreak]

These have turned out really good and worth the wait. As most members here appreciate the value in all the details and hard work that is put into each piece your efforts really shines through. :thumbsup

Thank you for the kind words
It's been a while since I painted my own pair, so I needed to get into it a bit. The first 1-1,5h was basically wasted, because I started very gently with a bit of thinned black...which almost wasn't visible at all ...followed with a tiny bit of "rust" (burnt sienna is the color). The burnt sienna also wasn't that much, after drying, because acrylic colors get darker as they dry.


I ended up painting all the plates almost solid brown and cleaned it of with steel wool until I liked the degree of rust.


A bit of lighter brown - almost beige - to get some more contrast, simulating dust which got caught in crevices.
I still want to add a bit to the contrast with thinned black and some details, but had to get some food for the weekend, before the stores closed ;-)

Tomorrow I'll be at a meeting of my cosplay group (we've been entrusted to do some official stuff for ComicCon Gemany this year, so planning ahead is essential ... and it's also pretty cool )
Will finish the gauntlets on Sunday and when I know the size and weight will look for the best shipping option.

Next week I will be laminating more gauntlets
already had some more iron powder delivered, because I started to run low...and more hinges

 

[allosaur176]

Looks amazing! Deposit sent!