Xena's Chakram (Xena: Warrior Princess) - Complete - Updated 4/10/2016

[ViskerStudios]

Someone asked me about building Xena's Chakram a while which I've been working on for a while now, but I thought this would be a good time to do my first build thread. I started by gathering reference images and whatever information I could find. Luckily the website http://xenaproptreasures.blogspot.com/2014/01/comparisons-original-chakram-i-of-iv.html had already done a lot of the leg work as far as dimensions go.


I also found a few other screen shots to be able to make the designs. I then started designing it in CAD. Knowing I was going to 3D print it, I cut it into 4 pieces that would be 3D printable.

Before I was able to make the final prints I had to find shell to match on outside so I could size my model to them. The website above mentioned paui shell, which I found to be fairly expensive to buy as an inlay. I was able to find some 10 mm abalone shell beads which looked like a perfect match


I printed everything in ABS, which meant I was able to use an ABS/Acetone mixture as a paste between them.




The next steps which I forgot to take pictures of, was filling the small gaps with spot putty and sanding until smooth, upto 600 grit. I'll be posting more progress pics within the next few days

 

[Kabeiroi]

Re: Xena's Chakram (Xena: Warrior Princess)

Looking good! One doubt though: the jagged pattern seems inverted (at least it seems so in your photos). Thanks for the quote btw! Cheers

 

[ViskerStudios]

Re: Xena's Chakram (Xena: Warrior Princess)

Looking good! One doubt though: the jagged pattern seems inverted (at least it seems so in your photos). Thanks for the quote btw! Cheers

Son of a......You are absolutely right, I do have the jagged edge reversed. Ill probably finish the one I have going since I am on the final stages now, but that just means I have to make another that isnt wrong. Thanks for the comment. That is something I completely missed

 

[Kabeiroi]

Re: Xena's Chakram (Xena: Warrior Princess)

No problemo, glad to help Do keep posting photos whenever you can, please, I'm dying to see the results! Cheers

 

[ViskerStudios]

Re: Xena's Chakram (Xena: Warrior Princess)

Thanks for having the website, it was a great source for references!

 

[ViskerStudios]

Re: Xena's Chakram (Xena: Warrior Princess)

Next Step was to start painting the Chakram. My original process was just going to be paint on silver, tape off the blade and then paint on gold. Unfortunately I didnt like the feel and color of the first silver paint I used so I ended up sanding it off, I unfortunately don't have pictures of this first attempt, but It looked ok but not great. So after sanding all the paint off and priming again I got another silver coat and which I actually liked:


This turned out well, I used Krylon Silver metallic paint and I liked the look and feel of it, The gold paint even went on well and looked good
:

Everything was peaceful, until the painters tape attacked


At this point it took all I had to not throw it out my 3rd floor window, Even the gold was pulling up pretty easily. I decided to take a step back and look at my process and the paints I was using and figure out what was going wrong. In that process I did some research (mostly on therpf) on chrome paints and getting things to look chrome. Here is what I discovered:

- You can't make things look actually chrome and silver unless
- You use chrome plating (expensive)
- You have an air brush (doesnt look as good, and I don't have an air brush)
- A Gloss Black layer under silver and gold paint will bring out a better shine
- Most chrome rattle cans tend not to stick well.

So from this I went back and ended up buying some silver auto-body paint. Which I know sticks well and looks great because I had used it in a previous project (Pokeballs). It won't have the silvery chrome look that the other paints have but It will hold.

After priming for a 3rd time It looks pretty good and is ready for the gold paint. I have take other precautions as well in using delicate surface frog tape:


This is where I'm currently at. Right now it is out on the drying rack with the gold paint drying around the rim, I might end up putting some rub n buff round the edge of the blade to give it a a bit of a shinier look to it

Edit : 8:21 PM Waitng for it to cure so I can pull off the tape and either celebrate or throw it out the window

 

[ViskerStudios]

Re: Xena's Chakram (Xena: Warrior Princess) - Updated 4/5/2016

View attachment 611806
I have won the battle with this paint. Now the question becomes to clear coat or to not clear coat .I am leaning towards not because I'm worried about the metallic paint losing some of its shine

 

[Prop Medjai]

Re: Xena's Chakram (Xena: Warrior Princess) - Updated 4/5/2016

Have you considered making a master casting with your paua holes and taking it to a foundry to have it sand casted
out of aluminium? I worked on the prototypes for Icons Authentic Replicas and that's how we did our first samples,
as per our instructions from Pacific Renaissance.

~Ron

 

[ViskerStudios]

Re: Xena's Chakram (Xena: Warrior Princess) - Updated 4/5/2016

Have you considered making a master casting with your paua holes and taking it to a foundry to have it sand casted
out of aluminium? I worked on the prototypes for Icons Authentic Replicas and that's how we did our first samples,
as per our instructions from Pacific Renaissance.

~Ron

I would love to make a cast of it out of aluminum or some other metal, and make a really nice metal version, but I don't have the money nor the skills to finish it properly once I have the cast at this point. I might look into doing something like that in the future though, thanks for the suggestion!

 

[BlobVanDam]

Re: Xena's Chakram (Xena: Warrior Princess) - Updated 4/5/2016

This looks awesome, and it's nice to see 3D printing being used as the basis of creating a prop replica. I'm glad you didn't have to throw it out the window though. Have you seen the damage that chakram could do in one throw? :lol

 

[ViskerStudios]

Re: Xena's Chakram (Xena: Warrior Princess) - Updated 4/5/2016

This looks awesome, and it's nice to see 3D printing being used as the basis of creating a prop replica. I'm glad you didn't have to throw it out the window though. Have you seen the damage that chakram could do in one throw? :lol

I really like using 3D printing as a base for props, but I treat it as a tool and not a final product, my goal when using 3D printing is to make it so you can't tell that it was 3D printed, meaning none of the regular 3D printing artifacts can be seen. There were a few times I go close to throwing it but, I feel like the neighbors would be displease with a chakram going through their window

 

[red4]

Re: Xena's Chakram (Xena: Warrior Princess) - Updated 4/5/2016

I love your commentary about chucking it out the 3rd floor window. It speaks to my soul.:lol

 

[ViskerStudios]

Re: Xena's Chakram (Xena: Warrior Princess) - Updated 4/5/2016

Now that I am in the final stages of this project, this is probably a good time to talk about how I dealt with the beads, when they came in they were pretty thick, ~3mm, which I had planned for in my 3D print but I wasn't a fan of putting some good show sides to where they couldnt be seen, so I came up with a method for cutting the beads in half using my scroll saw (great craigslist find btw). I obviously wasnt going to push them through with m fingers so I ended up getting them tight in one of my clamps and cutting them down the middle


Doing this allowed me to get the best faces from all of the beads. I got these somewhat cheap so I knew they wouldn't all be the best. In the next few days I'll be posting the final stages of my build i nthe next few days

I am thinking about putting a layer of rub n buff on the silver edge, if any one has any advice on whether or not I should put the rub n buff on, please let me know!

 

[ViskerStudios]

Re: Xena's Chakram (Xena: Warrior Princess) - Updated 4/6/2016

I've finally reached the finish line with this project, took longer than I thought it would, but here it is once the gold and silver paint had cured, I used acrylic paint in line between them. I then used a combination of JB weld and super glue to the get the abalone shell to the correct level and set them in the Chakram. I'll be watching the thread if there are any questions

 

[Kabeiroi]

Looking nice! Are you planning to try the Yin Yang version as well?

 

[ViskerStudios]

Looking nice! Are you planning to try the Yin Yang version as well? 

I'm not planning on that one currently, this was just a build for a friend. Now I'm ready to move on to the next project