Thought I'd share this build with all you superb craftsman out there as a small contribution in return for all the amazing information you lot post for us all.
My daughter wanted a Fili sword for cosplay purposes and I had a look at the one available to purchase. Apart from the fact that they're quite expensive I was not happy with many of the proportions. They seemed too skinny for a Dwarven weapon, made for human hands sort of thing so I started doing some sketches and estimating measurements from film and online pics.
My aim here was to build a master mould to produce the two swords Fili has.
Once happy with the sketches I made a tech drawing to work from. Tried various ways of sculpting using firstly medium NSP clay but found it hard to smooth properly despite using lighter fuel like recommened and then kept damaging it doing the next bit!
Then tried blue closed cell foam and bondo which worked well but I found cutting it at the correct angles quite a challenge as there are many angle in the handle.
In the end I saw an idea used by Volpin props using card stock to create the correct shape and filling the void with bondo which I found sooooo much more achievable. Cheers Mr Volpin Sir and quite envious of your amazing workshop!
The plan and some of the card stock cut out.
My daughter wanted a Fili sword for cosplay purposes and I had a look at the one available to purchase. Apart from the fact that they're quite expensive I was not happy with many of the proportions. They seemed too skinny for a Dwarven weapon, made for human hands sort of thing so I started doing some sketches and estimating measurements from film and online pics.
My aim here was to build a master mould to produce the two swords Fili has.
Once happy with the sketches I made a tech drawing to work from. Tried various ways of sculpting using firstly medium NSP clay but found it hard to smooth properly despite using lighter fuel like recommened and then kept damaging it doing the next bit!
Then tried blue closed cell foam and bondo which worked well but I found cutting it at the correct angles quite a challenge as there are many angle in the handle.
In the end I saw an idea used by Volpin props using card stock to create the correct shape and filling the void with bondo which I found sooooo much more achievable. Cheers Mr Volpin Sir and quite envious of your amazing workshop!
The plan and some of the card stock cut out.
