Yodajammies
Sr Member
Perhaps you guys have seen the Skyrim webseries that's being produced by some very talented film makers up in NY - http://www.therpf.com/f9/skyrim-fan-series-prop-builds-176078/
They've tapped me to build the Iron Shield for the show, so let's show what I've been working on the past few weeks.
First if this build seems oddly familiar, its basically a step-by-step build of Volpin's Whiterun shield with a few extra doo-dads sculpted on top.
Using my high-tech compass to draw circles in styrofoam.
1/4" Styrene for the outter rim.
Center ring sculpted in Apoxie Sculpt over a foam core.
I've been building up the center ring with leftover apoxie from other parts of the shield. I should have sculpted the foam base a little closer to the final shape and then clayed over it in one-go, but this helps avoid waste and is only going to add extra bit of time with the dremel sculpting it down properly.
Faux-metal texture stamped into the clay before it cures. It'll probably get dremelled away, but its good practice for later.
Taking a cue from Volpie's design, I rigged up my own wood panel etcher. As its a combo of a scroll saw and a dremel, I call it "The Scrimmel." (Patent Pending)
Laminating the panels down with 2-part epoxy. Who needs clamps? Not this guy.
Cross section braces cut from 1/4" Sintra.
On the main section of the shield we've epoxyed on the Sintra rim, feathered out the edge with Apoxie Sculpt, and applied a dark walnut stain to the wood paneling. I got a bit ahead of myself, as I'll need to go back and expand on the wood grain detailing, and then give it another coat of stain.
Handle and hardware. The 1/4-20 posts are counter sunk into the shield with a bit of Apoxie. So far this seems to anchor the handle pretty well, but I'll need to give this piece a good thrashing before I send it out the door. I wouldn't want MY shield falling apart while trying to sink a battle axe into Alduin's jugular.
I got a lot of questions when I did the DragonPriest mask on how I gave the part a hammered metal finish, so I thought I'd put together a quick sample of a similar technique I'm using on the Iron Shield. Basically you just ruin a perfectly good dremel by smashing into the part 50,000 times. Then give it a good rub with sandpaper and you've got yourself a weathered and pitted metal part.
Its arduously time consuming but the results are pretty impressive if you don't rush things.
Skyrim: Iron Shield WIP Timelapse.wmv - YouTube
I'll aiming to finish up this build in the next week or so, then I'll post up part-2 of the build. It doesn't look like much so far, but I think my process really shines in the "spit polish" phase of building.
They've tapped me to build the Iron Shield for the show, so let's show what I've been working on the past few weeks.
First if this build seems oddly familiar, its basically a step-by-step build of Volpin's Whiterun shield with a few extra doo-dads sculpted on top.
Using my high-tech compass to draw circles in styrofoam.
1/4" Styrene for the outter rim.
Center ring sculpted in Apoxie Sculpt over a foam core.
I've been building up the center ring with leftover apoxie from other parts of the shield. I should have sculpted the foam base a little closer to the final shape and then clayed over it in one-go, but this helps avoid waste and is only going to add extra bit of time with the dremel sculpting it down properly.
Faux-metal texture stamped into the clay before it cures. It'll probably get dremelled away, but its good practice for later.
Taking a cue from Volpie's design, I rigged up my own wood panel etcher. As its a combo of a scroll saw and a dremel, I call it "The Scrimmel." (Patent Pending)
Laminating the panels down with 2-part epoxy. Who needs clamps? Not this guy.
Cross section braces cut from 1/4" Sintra.
On the main section of the shield we've epoxyed on the Sintra rim, feathered out the edge with Apoxie Sculpt, and applied a dark walnut stain to the wood paneling. I got a bit ahead of myself, as I'll need to go back and expand on the wood grain detailing, and then give it another coat of stain.
Handle and hardware. The 1/4-20 posts are counter sunk into the shield with a bit of Apoxie. So far this seems to anchor the handle pretty well, but I'll need to give this piece a good thrashing before I send it out the door. I wouldn't want MY shield falling apart while trying to sink a battle axe into Alduin's jugular.
I got a lot of questions when I did the DragonPriest mask on how I gave the part a hammered metal finish, so I thought I'd put together a quick sample of a similar technique I'm using on the Iron Shield. Basically you just ruin a perfectly good dremel by smashing into the part 50,000 times. Then give it a good rub with sandpaper and you've got yourself a weathered and pitted metal part.
Its arduously time consuming but the results are pretty impressive if you don't rush things.
Skyrim: Iron Shield WIP Timelapse.wmv - YouTube
I'll aiming to finish up this build in the next week or so, then I'll post up part-2 of the build. It doesn't look like much so far, but I think my process really shines in the "spit polish" phase of building.
