Wow... It's been forever since I updated this thread. Okay. First off, I deleted my last post on my gauntlets because they were an epic failure.
My original idea was to use a ren fest gauntlet as the base and then cover it in foam and cut out a slot for a moveable track for the blades. As stated before, failure.
So, I started from scratch.
I went looking through the threads here and came across several threads that were pretty helpful. The first was Master Anubis's gauntlet huntorial. The second was aaron1126's build thread. They both had some great ideas for gauntlets and would work well with the materials I had.
First up, the base of the gauntlet. I decided to go with Aaron's idea of a soccer shin guard.
And what I would attach it to would be an item pusher from work. You can see these things in most stores, they push items forward on the shelves when someone takes one off.
These are propelled by a rolled up strip of metal and it moves pretty fast.
So, I took my blades and attached them to a small block of wood and then attached that to my pusher. I cut a hole in the track so I could work in a catch to hold the blades back and then release them.
On the underside of the track, I attached a small, flexible strip of plastic and attached a wedge shaped block to it that would fit up inside the hole I had cut in the track and into a hole I had drilled in the wooden block. Now, all I had to do was attach a string to the plastic strip on the under side of the track, so when I pull the string, it pulled the wedge out of the block, letting the pusher do its job and send the blades forward.
Once I had all that set up, I bolted the pusher to the shin guard and here's what I got.
I'll post again once I finish the cover. I'm going to make the basic shape out of cardboard and paper mache, then mold foamies around it and toughen them up with a water/glue mix.
So, as always, let me know whacha think.
And a special thanks to Master Anubis and Aaron1126 for the ideas!
--Tsurabisu