Noob Captain America Shield (Steel Saucer)

[SirRamenNoodle]

Hi all!

My name is Christopher Wade Clark and I am an artist/designer from Syracuse Utah.

I am new to the prop areana and thought I would post my progress on my Captian America Shield here to get feedback and hopefully learn.

I first need to give credit to Irishamericanlad for his classic shield tutorials and everone else who has gone before me. I have seen most of the shields produced here and there is some amazing work.

At first I thought I would build up a foam base, sand it, bondo it and create a fiberglass shield... but that died after I learned a few lessons about bondo and resin

So I went out and bought the classic $70 steel "flexible Flyer" saucer on amazon and cut the rim off with my dremel. It was slow but I got it eventually.

Then I stripped all the paint off with some spray foam stuff I found at home depot in the paint isle

After that I cleaned the shield with mineral spirits and went about smoothing the edges of the shield. They were very sharp. It took a lot of work and actually killed the dremel but it was all smooth.

Then I cleaned the shield again and wiped all my fingerprints off with rubbing alcohol before spraying the primer

 

[StevenRogers84]

I can't see the pics, but I will imagine that it is awesome anyway!

 

[SirRamenNoodle]

yup... totally a noob. Fixed it though

 

[StevenRogers84]

Thats looking sweet so far! Thank you for sharing your build! I am looking forward to updates. There can't ever be enough cap shields.

I am amazed that you cut the ring off with a dremel That is cool as all get out.

 

[Snowmageddon]

This is looking good so far. What did you use to smooth the edges of the shield?

 

[truth777]

Hey man, this has the makings to be outstanding. Don't underestimate yourself. It looks like it will be better than a lot of homemade shields out there. Keep up the good work.

 

[SirRamenNoodle]

I grinded the edges down with my dremel at first to correct my initial mistakes and make sure the thing was as round as I could get it. When the dremel died I went to hand sanding. I used a 100, 220, and then 600 to keep the metal as smooth as possible. Maybe a little excesive, but the edges are smooth and clean.

Thank you for the compliments. If my patience holds out and I don't get too frustrated I might actually finish it.

Hope to post more pics today if I can figure the darn rings out

 

[payton paison]

Great job so far :thumbsup

 

[Snowmageddon]

What attachment did you use for your dremel? I always have a rough time getting metal smooth with it. (All puns intended)

 

[SirRamenNoodle]

ok... here is a dremel bit like the one I was using to grind down the edges of the shield. Its imprtant to note that this removed the bulk of the mess left over by cutting it out but sand paper really was the primary smoother... finisher... whatever.

I sanded the primer layer with some wet/dry 600 sandpaper until it was super smooth. Once I cleaned that up and removed my greasy fingerprints with rubbing alcohol I laid down the white and repeated the sanding process previously described.

After way too mach debate and a failed atempt to make the circles using magnets and a piece of string tied to a pencil I reached out to my wife's family and got some hand quilting frames to do the job. The circles are nowhere near as perfect as I would want them to be but this is as good as I can get it with the tools I have.

I used Krylon paints designed for metal surfaces and I can't stress enough how important it is to clean the surface before you lay down paint!

Shinny!... of course the outside circles weren't perfect (I traced a large bowl for the center) but I was pretty happy. There are some areas where the masking wasn't as smooth as I would want but I will live. you cant tell unless you are a foot away from it.

I made a quick star in photoshop that I am going to use to mask out the center. Thought I should share that.

 

[SirRamenNoodle]

Staring long enough at those red circles makes me think of the Target stores and how rediculous one of their commercials would be if they tried to use Cap's shield

 

[Funky]

I'm anxious to see how you're going to do the handles. :thumbsup

 

[SirRamenNoodle]

Ok... I cut out the star pattern on contact paper and applied it to the shield

Applied some blue awesomeness

and BAM!!! got goosbumps when I took all the masking off...

Its pretty sweet. I need to add a gloss coat and throw straps on the back.

I just ordered an aluminum spin and need to save funds for that so the straps on this shield will probably be velcro ...or perhaps an old canteen belt from my gear?

We will see

 

[kantgetnun]

wow im impressed. i have thought of using a sled too but didnt know where to find the metal ones. thanks!

 

[irishamericanlad]

good job, looks fantastic

 

[Chris Fields]

Very cool! Great job! You're going to love the aluminum spinning! Be extra careful with finger prints on the bare aluminum when you get it.

 

[EyeofSauron]

amazing thats about 100 dollars of supplies, and you got a close to perfect shield out of it.

id say:
build a bunch
put them on ebay
???
Profit!

 

[Stormgirl]

Looks awesome!

 

[Gareee]

VERY nice, and it looks like it makes an interesting end table as well!

 

[Kromanc]

amazing thats about 100 dollars of supplies, and you got a close to perfect shield out of it.

id say:
build a bunch
put them on ebay
???
Profit!

I'd be a customer for sure