Thunder Cats Sword Of Omens Display

animevortex

New Member
Kind of Nervous posting my first build. I've never actually built anything outside of a sculpture of Priss from Bubblegum Crisis in High School. I hope you will be kind and provide as much creative feedback as possible!

About this project:

Ever since I was a kid, I've always wanted to own the sword of Omens from the Cartoon Thundercats. The Sword of Omens has always been, at least to me one of the most beautifully designed swords I have ever seen!

I am a HUGE Conan the Barbarian Fan and BOTH the Atlantean Swords and the Fathers Swords are incredible designs in and of themsleves but The Sword of Omens is one that I knew I had to have some day.

Last year, stumbled upon Jeffery Robinson's Amazing video where he created his own LEATHAL Father's Sword. After watching his sculpting techniques, I knew this was the artist who could bring the Sword of Omens to life!

I contacted Jeffery, agreed on a prices for his services and 6 months Later to my JOY! I received this:

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I basically fainted first, then when my friends woke me up, I was in heaven! A HUGE Shout out goes to Jeffery Robinson for his amazing craftsmanship and help with this project. None of this would be possible without him.

I of course then had a party to celebrate the occasion.
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It was then that I was presented with a problem. All of my other swords were hung on various walls in my house, they all have their own silent mystique about them, but this is THE SWORD OF OMENS we're talking about! This is NO wall hanger.

So I decided to build a stand for The Mystic Sword.

Over the next few posts, I'll explain how I built my sword stand, where I got my inspiration for the build, links to the VERY helpful youtube videos and contributors who assisted me in the build, and what I intend to do with the stand other than leaving it in my basement to gather mold for authenticity ;-)

Here is a sneak peek for everyone on baited breath (not that anyone is actually reading this mind you ;-).

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Can't wait to follow your build. That is an awesome sword .... I would love to own one someday :)

Thanks Moviefreak! Its very much on the high end of the collecting spectrum. But I just had to have it. Whenever I bring it to cons people pass by the stand, realize what they just saw, back track, and usually say something to the effect of:

"OMFG!", "Holy S#!T!", "Is that Real?", "EPIC!", "Well Done!", and the most often question I am asked is "HOW MUCH?!!!"

Did I commission this for attention, I can't say really. But I fully intended to share it with as many people as possible!

Glad everyone is enjoying it!
 
Anyone who knows me will vouch that once I put my mind to something I get it done.

So there I am, I have the sword of my childhood finally, completely, in true real life before me... And it is lying on my kitchen table everyday sitting on two pieces of cloth, and the styrofoam packers that were in the shipping box. Not how I envisioned the Sword of Omens to be in a place of honour at my house.

The sword needed a place of honour, and I fully intended to give it one!

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Problem 1
How to make a stand...

So when I first conceived of this Grand object to hold the sword the first thing that came to mind was the ornamental sword holder that the Sword rests on in the Exodus episode.


This was quickly abandoned as I am neither able to blow glass, or even come close to being able to afford to have something as artistic as that commissioned by anyone who deserves to be paid handsomely for that artwork! It also didn't hurt that the sword was in its Dagger form so it wouldn't have fit anyway.

The next concept was an acrylic case, something where people could see but not touch the sword and still appreciate it for its elegance of design, and true proportions in real life.


This was ultimately abandoned as I didn't want to display the case without people being able to touch the sword. I have always wanted people to be able to hold this sword and appreciate its weight, its beauty, up close and personal. Whenever anyone wields the sword, there is a magic moment where you KNOW they are Calling the Other Thundercats (in their minds). Then there are those who actually do the call (we give them a WIDE birth). So this case was scrapped.

I mulled over the project for a while, and couldn't come up with anything really memorable. I did get plenty of suggestions from friends and colleagues though:

• Just hang it on the wall (what?!!!)
• Put it in a wooden box like the Conan Sword (dear God no...)
• It looks fine where it is (that person still hasn't been found ;-) )

Then as what I can only describe as a joke one of my friends said - Why not make something out of stone hahaha! (... ooh that's actually a great idea! )!

I started referencing swords and stones.

Excalibur is the first thing that comes to mind (which is actually incorrect as the sword in the stone wasn't Excalibur, the actual Sword was shattered in a fight with King Pellinor (or a by a giant knight or something :confused), but I didn't want the Sword of Omens sticking out of a block of marble by the sword tip (it was in the series though!!!).

Ultimately I was reminded of the Tomb of the Glorious Dead at St. Pauls Cathedral in Toronto. A glorious Monument in memory of the fallen Canadian soldiers who died in the first world war.

The tomb was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield for the Imperial War Graves Commission (now Commonwealth War Graves Commission) and is usually present in Commonwealth war cemeteries containing 40 or more graves. The sculpture was titled "Cross of Sacrifice"


I knew I had found my inspiration and proceeded to figure out how to make it (preferably not out of stone...)
 
So before I started the build on the stand. I decided that I should probably reference how others have accomplished their builds and what materials they suggested.

Although there were a number of different tutorials I drew from the most informative were from ScaryLadyVideos on youtube. Her tombstone videos are quite detailed and she goes through several techniques on how to sculpt using foam. After watching her videos I realized that the stand did not have to be expensive OR weigh a lot. This was good as I wanted to display the sword at various events and conventions for others to see, and seeing as I didn't own a pickup truck my little Mitsubishi Lancer would have to bear the load!

The specific tutorials I referenced were "Building Halloween Tombstones" Building Halloween Tombstones - YouTube and "Painting Halloween Tombstones" Painting Halloween tombstones - YouTube . These were very useful and a big shout out goes to ScaryLadyVideos Scaryladyvideos - YouTube for all of her great tutorials!

So after much research I was off to gather materials and tools for the build!

Here is a small list of what I used to build my Sword Stand:

Hotwire Foam Factory Starter Kit

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Actually for the majority of the build I only used the 4" knife. I found that it the other tools while useful didn't really serve any purpose. Well that was until the final part of the build (more on that later).

Hotwire Foam Factory 4" knife

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A 2 packs of 6 HandiPac insulation foam sheets from Home Depot.
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ScaryLadyVideos recommends Pink insulation, but up here in Canada that stuff is way too pricy. I was able to pick up 2 of these packs for a little under $30!

Gorilla Glue
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This stuff if amazing! just read the instructions before using and make sure to keep it away from your hands! Use gloves if you have to!

Stanely Rasp
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This tool is also equally as useful when whittling down the foam! Messy but effective. I find that having a vacuum close to you is always a good thing. Also to minimize hacking and coughing during the build make sure to grab a cheap mask filter and some protective eye ware. Foam particulates stick to EVERYTHING especially moist things like your mouth and eyes.

Lastly Elmers Woodfiller.
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Yup this stuff fills in gaps that show up after glueing and rasping. Great stuff, mostly non-toxic can be applied by spade or pushed in by hand (use gloves to be safe).

So I had the tools and the materials next step? The design?… Wait what?!!!
 
Hey there, congrats on the sword. I had to go for one to, gotta say Jeffery is truley a master. Im in the same quandry as you, trying to find or make a display to do the sword justice. I really want to display it tip up so the cat logo is the right way around. All the best with the build :)
 
Didn't meant to resurrect this thread, but I saw the comments about Jeffrey, and just had to add my support. The man is the real deal. He made me the Sword of Grayskull from the Masters of the Universe movie, and even created a replica of the "lock device". We changed it up a bit, but it's the perfect display for the sword.

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Just happened to come across this thread while searching for a legit sword of omens. I know I'm a few years late to the party but I was wondering how the stand turned out.
 
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