The Four Sword

[TMNT Fan]

Going for this.
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Started by drawing and cutting out the main shape in cardboard. Two pieces are taped together to be a little more sturdy. Will be adding wire framing to this to give it stability in preparation for bondo or clay (haven't decided yet) to be used to build it up. What do you guys think would be better?

 

[loz64]

Hello,

Always good to see more Zelda props!

I actually would advise against clay or Bondo to build the structure, as it will get heavy and brittle especially if it's only resting on a wireframe. The very first "sword" I made was a keyblade from Kingdom Hearts out of solid air-drying clay with a foamcore core, and boy was it unpleasant to carry around at a convention (it also cracked). What are you going to be using the sword for?

Maybe try sculpting the main body from pink insulation foam and add details with clay/bondo. You can get it to be rock hard and sturdy, and still very light. Or, you could do how Kamui does and build up a cardboard "wire"frame, then cover it with expanding spray foam and carve it down.

 

[TMNT Fan]

i'm a LoZer... it's my fav game ever... i was even part of legendofzelda.com and was briefly a mod on there, before they started being retarded... actually paused Link to the Past to write this, lol

anyway... i might try the foam thing for my second version of this, the larger one... this will just be a decor hanger... looks only... and is really to get a feel for the making process...

i will cast the second one for a short run for friends... might try the spray foam on the second one... that sounds like a good idea...

 

[The Full Armor]

Personally, I would recommend doing the sword in foam as opposed to cardboard. Also, you should probably stay away from the spray foam. That stuff is pretty brittle. How It's Made did an episode on how companies make foam (nerf quality) swords for LARP. They have some pretty awesome and easy techniques. Plus you'll have a sword you can actually hit stuff with, without it being so breakable. I'll post that link to youtube so you can check it out. But I still would like to see how the cardboard/bondo method works out for ya. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q1DPtL6iwU

 

[TMNT Fan]

I watched that video. I think I want it to be a bit more realistic looking than that. I don't know how sharp the edges can look in foam.

I'm going to make this one and a larger version. I will then cast the larger version to make it out of resin. I'll give it a good paint job and maybe work on a leather sheath. At least, that's the plan. lol What I'm having to decide is what to make the master out of. If spray foam is stronger than the Nerf foam, I'll prolly use that... OR I thought about just using particle board as a base and clay as the detailing for the second sword.

All of these ideas are great, I wish I had the money to try them all, lol...

 

[TMNT Fan]

Added more to the cardboard build. Now I need to cover this in something to make it stronger.



BUT IT TOTALLY LOOKS LIKE A SWORD!!!!!!!!

 

[loz64]

Hi again! Good progress, keep going!

I dug up Kamui's expanding foam video tutorial if you'd like to get an idea of how that works:

If you poke around her website you can find more tutorials.

 

[TMNT Fan]

That's pretty cool... she has a lot of waste, which makes my OCD flare up, lol... but that is a pretty good idea.... i could then go back over the foam with bondo to seal it and make it hard...

she used paper mache, but i think bondo would be stronger.... especially if i cast it... now I just have to wait for my order from amazon to get here!!!

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Update

Just gonna throw this out there. I've not worked with clay since I was, like, 10, but this Prang DAS I got is just ridiculous. It's OK for filling in parts, but I'm trying to mold it into a handle and it's not going very well at all. It's basically paper mache disguised as clay. Anyone else use this stuff for modelling hilts? If not, can i get a recommendation for something good?

 

[TMNT Fan]

Ok, so I got the foam and Bondo in.

Then I printed out the full size that I wanted, cut it out, and glued it to medium weight chipboard, cut that out and now it's ready to get foamed and sealed... but since I'm diabled and you need to go outside to do that... that may take a while... lol...


But seriously... this looks bad ass as a cardboard cutout already...

 

[TMNT Fan]

Covered the chipboard cutout in spray foam. Idk how hard this stuff will be when it completely cures, but it's lookin good so far...



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Cut out the design and added clothes hanger wire for stability... then tried to seal it with a paper mache mix... that sucked, but i'm going to try something else...