The Sword of omens materials

[TimDrakeRobin]

Is it just me, or did the blade of the sword of omens look more like
Diamond or Crystal rather than metal? Every time they show it the
blade has an almost transparent look to it. The hilt and all other
metal items on the series were a solid gray color were as the blade
of the sword, seemed to me at least to be diamond/Crystal.

Now, the reason I bring this up is this. Would it be easier to make a blade out of plexiglass or something of that sort than to make one out of steel? Say you do a poured metal hilt, and then
the plexi blade. Would this be possible? Or something along these lines to make it cheaply and super accurate?

 

[Jumpin Jax]

Is it just me, or did the blade of the sword of omens look more like
Diamond or Crystal rather than metal? Every time they show it the
blade has an almost transparent look to it. The hilt and all other
metal items on the series were a solid gray color were as the blade
of the sword, seemed to me at least to be diamond/Crystal.

I think they went with a white blade just to hit that "purity" angle. It was once broken and had to be reforged, so it is supposed to me metal.
Although a glossy nylon or plexi blade would look interesting.

 

[TimDrakeRobin]

Yea I remember it being broken. It just seemed to me that it would look bad @$$ with a crystal blade of sorts, frosted even. Would make sense for the blade growing and shrinking and the magical stuff as well.

 

[hydin]

If someone wants to design the blade, I can check with my factory and see if they can do it.

I know they can do things LIKE this, but generally they have to be pretty thick to avoid it snapping under its own weight.

Plexi is pretty easy to do, but a pain to polish totally.

Chris

 

[gnrlotto]

Would make sense for the blade growing and shrinking and the magical stuff as well.

Or the fact that it's magic...:lol

 

[TimDrakeRobin]

thats true, but crystals have more of a connection to magic then metal I believe.

I dont know if a real crystal blade is the way to go here chris, I was thinking frosted plexi or something.

 

[YenChih Lin]

Guys you're so lucky - I was browsing through couple of days on Thundecats pages and digged this out - unfortunately not bigger.

 

[TimDrakeRobin]

Thanks! Yea I have the second pic no bigger as well. I think the first one is concept art as the Eye housing and main body of the hilt is quite a bit different then the actual sword of omens, still a very nice piece of art though.

 

[gnrlotto]

thats true, but crystals have more of a connection to magic then metal I believe.

Iron is supposed to be a supreme mystical talisman.

 

[GuntahKela]

I'd say a frosted crystal blade. It's crystal, but not immediatelly see-throug

 

[TimDrakeRobin]

Yea, I think the frosted blade would look sweet.

 

[KnightAsylum]

I think the blade would have to be metal, at least for me, if you were trying to copy the show, and that seems to be part of the point. I know it was already pointed out that the blade was broken and forged, so it wasn't Crystal. That is not to say that someone couldn't change it, it just would not really be The Sword of Omens with a Crystal blade.
Maybe an alternate universe sword of Omens.

Although having a collection of movie/tv (or in this case cartoon) prop swords all done in a crystal (or similar material) would make for a cool, and unique display.

 

[TimDrakeRobin]

In this case here I could have it made with either a metal or crystal/plexi blade depending on preference. I am just gathering opinions on it now. I think to capture the look of the blade from the show, frosted crystal is the way to go as the blade does not look like just metal on the show.

Ok, now time for some dimensional opinions. What is the size of the sword of omens? I prefer it with the slightly longer handle. Here is the design I will be working off of. The blade I think will need to be longer and the handle
a bit more girth. It is missing some elements but I will talk wit the designer to get them fixed.

 

[JKolton]

Years ago, I started working on a CG Sword of Omens for a little project that never went through. When I was surfacing it, I decided that the blade must be some kind of frosted diamond or something. It never looked like metal to me on the show either. Here are some renders of the sword that I was working on. You can see the scale I came up with.

I made the model using all the screen caps I could. The number of notches on the handle is an average that I saw over the course of about 10 screen grabs. The final (as final as it got) version of the sword is seen in the first image. If you guys need any help, I'd be more than happy to contribute whatever I can.
Jon

 

[TimDrakeRobin]

Beautiful work. Particularly the last image. The blade looks amazing.
My only gripes are that I think the handle has to be rounded and a bit longer
I just dig it longer lol. The base of the handle also looks a bit over sized and the thickness of the hilt is a bit thin, but the detailing is spectacular.

If you would be willing to do some 3D CAD work with your final design and
alter the sizing a bit to more closely resemble the sword in the second image posted by YenChih Lin, particularly the Thickness of the hilt and the shape of the handle that would be greatly appreciated and would get us even closer to a sweet accurate version of the greatest sword ever.

About the blade material. Once there is a CAD design worked up for it, it can be made out of steel or frosted plexi it does not matter, that could be personal preference.

Now, how long does each piece look to everyone? I say the blade we want at about 37" or so. Total length at about 47" maybe?

Here is one of my fav pics of the sword of omens and its size and so forth.

This one is my all time favorite Thundercats image. The swords Handle is clearly too long, but its still bad @$$

 

[TimDrakeRobin]

any more ideas?

Oh Yea...HAPPY 4th

 

[gnrlotto]

White anodized aluminum.

 

[KnightAsylum]

Any light colored (or painted) metal would work.
I'm sure that part of the idea was to create a different look from the handle to the blade. BUT more important, in reality, is that both in the cartoon, and the comic you want to make it (as well as other other hand held things - guns are always a lighter color in comics as well) as light colored as possible for contrast with the background. Everything is always a big lighter or darker, brighter or dimmer then in reality to help with that pesky 2-D medium limit. If you want the reader/watcher to notice it, it has to pop off the background.
Not such a big issue in the real world. I would just say more of a hammered looking metal handle, with a polished steel blade would give it that look as well.

 

[TimDrakeRobin]

Thanks guys,
Yea my wife was actually just saying that a white anodized blade
would look bad ass and I agree.

 

[JKolton]

Here's the sword with a rounded, and longer handle. I flared out the bottom of the cross guard to accommodate the increased size. I think I may actually re make many parks of the sword. I've had a few ideas since re-opening the file. I'll do a few sketches to illustrate my plans in a bit. This pic shows a two handed grip. Also, I think the pommel should be flared out like I have it depicted. Not only would it give a little extra grip while swinging around, but it adds some balance to the design.