WIP: LOTR Witch King w/ Flail

[EvilCorpse]

Well, I can pretty much guarantee this will not be done in time for Halloween this year, Will most likely be staying as a scarecrow like last year.
The Ren Fair next year is my ultimate goal. After studying many different ways to do things, I have decided to tackle this feat, and hopefully turn some heads when it is complete. The main reason I am opting to build it myself is the weight factor, but the money being saved vs the metal counterparts will be nice too :cool

I am basing alot of it off of the expensive blacksmith replica work that most people are familiar with, but I am not going for an exact movie replica:

The rags/robes will be last on my agenda, as the armor and mace seem to be the difficult pieces.

As for the gauntlets, arm-guards, shoulders, etc.; I will be tackling them much later as I will most likely be doing those in plasticard since it is much more intricate, but I have practically no experience working with plastic at the moment. Was originally going to do them with cardboard but after seeing http://www.therpf.com/f24/wip-witch-king-angmar-86074/ I had a change of mind. There is a chance I will do them with thin sheet metal, as my girlfriends dad has tons of metal working tools collecting dust.

For my first project, I am doing the flail, followed by the helm.
Both of these will be cardboard/bondo creations.

Skeleton for the flail so far (only 4/8 spike sets cut out/ held up pic):

(hid the messy room :lol)
I have a test of spray foam setting to see how easy it can be carved/shaped, but if all goes well, I plan to spray-foam fill around the skeleton, carve the spray foam to a rough shape, then bondo for the final shape/texture/durability. However I still need to get a wooden dowel for the core so I can have something to screw the chain hook into that wont pull through, and give it a bit more durability.

Any thoughts and opinions are always appreciated, as this will be a lengthy task with most likely tons of trial and error.

 

[Amish Trooper]

I am working on the same costume. I have templates for the gauntlets once I get the correct shapes I am going to make molds and I will be able to vac form the gauntlet pieces and armor. I also have commissioned some one to do my robes. You might want to consider pink foam and cut it down with a hot knife. I look forward to more pics.

 

[EvilCorpse]

If the spray foam isn't as workable as I am hoping, I will definitely look into using insulation foam
you wouldn't happen to have those templates in digital form would you?

 

[Amish Trooper]

If the spray foam isn't as workable as I am hoping, I will definitely look into using insulation foam
you wouldn't happen to have those templates in digital form would you?

I don't but I will eventually and when I do I will shoot you a copy :thumbsup

 

[Hamsterstyle]

Best of luck, it's alot easier to make than I thought it would be. I've actually started working on the cloak a little bit.

I used Thin Styrene. Once it's sanded and painted it looks exactly like metal. Most people who pick up the helmet are surprised how light it is.

Let me know if you need any advice.

 

[EvilCorpse]

Ya, as far as the helm goes i plan to do it with cardboard + bondo to give it that thicker metal look, but any advice u can give me on doing the gauntlets and armguards and stuff would be nice =) not quite sure how I am going to tackle those as of yet.

Also have all my pieces cut out, the test spray foam hardened nicely, and is just as easy to carve as insulation foam.
still need to get the wooden dowel for the core of it though, afraid that If i use a real chain the hook may pull through if its just bondo'd to cardboard, might aswell screw it into some wood since i can

 

[kibosh]

I will follow this thread closely. I'd love to tackle the Witch King, but I have no idea how to tackle those gauntlets. If any of you guys put together templates for anything related to this project, I'd really appreciate them as well.

Good luck!

 

[EvilCorpse]

I will follow this thread closely. I'd love to tackle the Witch King, but I have no idea how to tackle those gauntlets. If any of you guys put together templates for anything related to this project, I'd really appreciate them as well.
Good luck!

Ya that is where I feel I will run into problems as well, getting the pieces to match properly with no ways to mass produce them will be challenging.

Flail head is getting there, eyeballed it while glueing the cardboard skeleton to the dowel, came out pretty well i think.

however I ran out of spray foam getting the core filled in, so I need to pick up some more... it is definitely sturdy enough to swing around and can probably take a beating, but i still need to finish the foam, carve it, and bondo case it. Right now it looks like a whip cream bottle went renegade lol :lol

 

[ed209]

What material would be best for the robe? Or, where can I find a finished robe like that? I'm not working on the same costume (although I'd love to have one), but I have a skeleton mask that would look really cool with that outfit.

 

[EvilCorpse]

What material would be best for the robe? Or, where can I find a finished robe like that? I'm not working on the same costume (although I'd love to have one), but I have a skeleton mask that would look really cool with that outfit.

I haven't gotten that far yet, you might be able to buy 1 from Witchking Costume (where i got the pic on first page), but it may be pricey if they even sell it

 

[Amish Trooper]

I have emailed Stetler a few times and no reply. I have contracted a seamstress who made my jawa robes and I know makes a good product. She is shopping for the material now and I have I sent her sample pics and she is going to email me what she finds for options of materials. for the complete Robe setup for a 210 6ft frame is going to cost between 150 and no more than 300. She is looking into a heavy material that will drape nice. once I get more details I will pass the info along to you guys.

 

[EvilCorpse]

sooo.. having had run out of foam I let this thing rot in the garage long enough... the ren fair is less than a month away and I have my work cut out for me now >.<
completely coated the flail head with foam and letting it dry now, tonight will be carving, and maybe gesso coating if I can pick some up before stores close... probably going to start with bondo tomorrow.

 

[marksman321]

i hope it looks fantastic

 

[EvilCorpse]

well, it got rained on slightly while i was at the store getting more bondo and gesso, but it didn't do enough to set me back.
Carving has now commenced. however, I am going to need to do some patch work before I gesso after it is carved because there were some hidden hollow spots due to using spray foam and the way it expands...

edit:
well, i managed to get most of the carving done, and sprayed some foam in the recesses that needed to be touched up... gotta let it sit for a few hours then finish up the carving and start on the gesso (might be tomorrow morning if a fall asleep)

edit again:
got the fillings for the major holes carved back to shape, and coated the entire thing with a bottle of gesso. Hopefully I can get to working with Bondo tomorrow, I have 8lbs of it to get it right. lol

 

[EvilCorpse]

slightly disappointed, a lot of the recesses are still wet, was hoping to dive into one of my tubs of Bondo this morning but it looks like that will have to be later today some time...

 

[EvilCorpse]

so i blew through a 1lb container of bondo and barely got maybe 1/5 of the thing covered, luckily i have a 7lb container still waiting to be pry'd open. I am a bit worried that each time I mixed the bondo, I may not have used enough hardener, as I was afraid it would cure too fast to work (my mix was unworkable after about 5 minutes already)... ended up with leftover hardener after the tub was gone...

This isn't as easy as I was hoping lol. the bondo is almost too thick, as it doesn't want to go into the pores leftover that the gesso didn't manage to take care of... not to mention the shape of the crevices of the spikes, using a putty knife cant get the bondo to stick in between each spike (resorted to rubber coated gloves + using my hands for those parts)
not quite sure what to do after I get the whole thing bondo'd and there are still pores everywhere, as another layer of bondo will make this thing a back breaker...

 

[EvilCorpse]

so, i went to the store and got some bondo spot putty, and some really small rubber spatulas for getting into the crevices... using rubber with bondo is like a GODSEND compared to plastic, I couldn't believe the difference it made. anyway, I have made decent progress, already have the first bits of paint going onto it =)

with the paint and the texture I left on the flail head, I am going for a more concrete look rather than hammered metal, as few clips in the movie that I could get a somewhat decent look at the flail make it look more like a chunk of concrete moreso than metal. After I finish coating it with the stone paint texture, I am going to go over it from a distance with a darker grey/black to make it less of a granite tile look

 

[EvilCorpse]

So i finished the flail head, still deciding on whether to darken it up a bit or not... but it's on a chain and getting slightly heavy but nothing too unbearable.

handle is also nearing completion, still needs sanding, possibly a second coat of bondo and more sanding, then I will hit it with some hammered metal.

lastly comes the helm, sadly I wont be getting to the gauntlets or anything before this ren fair, partly due to time but mostly due to budgeting and wanting to be able to actually buy stuff at the ren fair. Just printed out the pep file for the helm as a template, will most likely be making it out of bondo and cardboard just like the flail though.

I have bought 3 flat queen size black sheets, and my mom has decided to help me with the robes (I fail at sewing lol, but she is good enough that she got disqualified from a soccer banner contest when I was younger because they thought it was professionally made), so hopefully those come out pretty well. Also purchased a cheap Halloween hidden face mask for under the helm, just to save some time vs making it myself.

 

[JLeezy23]

I like that flail. U think spray-on Plastidip would work to cover the cardboard? I'm workin on things made of cardboard and trying to find ways to make it look more realistic and durable

 

[EvilCorpse]

I like that flail. U think spray-on Plastidip would work to cover the cardboard? I'm workin on things made of cardboard and trying to find ways to make it look more realistic and durable

I have never worked with that material so I wouldn't know, sorry. This is my first replica attempt, and I based my materials after researching other ways people do things, and since I didn't want to hassle with fiberglass I went with gesso and bondo.