"How Come It's Not Standard Issue?" - My Cap: TFA Shield

Kevin Gossett

Master Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
I've made enough progress on this I think it's about time I share it with everyone!

Inspired by those before me, I had to have my own Captain America shield... Early this year I followed Valor's lead and made a budget shield using a Flexible Flyer steel saucer sled (like this one). I was very pleased with what I was able to come up with on such a small budget. My final tally came in under $100, which was the goal for me. Plus, it only took me two days to complete!

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But that wasn't quite good enough for me... I knew however I would never be able to obtain one of high quality replicas that were available. Just not within my budget, especially with a newborn! So my wife and I made a deal. Any money I make off of my props, be it pieces I have made or acquired, or commissions I do, can go back into the collection in the way of "upgrades." :love

So I sold that first shield I made and used the money to fund this project. I bought one of the spun aluminum blanks from eBay (Accurate Metal Spinning in Miami)

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I wanted the brackets and straps on the back to be a bit closer to screen accurate than my first attempt, so I drew up a quick sketch using Photoshop. The movie version has the brackets that angle in (which Valor does an amazing job with!), but also a ring that connects the two pieces together.

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I was going to get the bracket water jet cut out of aluminum, so I needed to have my drawing converted to a vector drawing for the machine. Andrew (epilepticsquirrel) was nice enough to whip those up for me quickly (thanks again bud!) and I sent them over to my local cutter. A week later the pieces were ready for me to pick up:

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I also had the pentagonal clips, rectangular D's, and slide buckles cut out as well. The pieces looked great! Just need some slight filing around the edges to clean them up.

Now this is when I ran into some problems... I needed to figure out how to bend the piece to fit the concave shape of the back of the shield. I'm no metal worker, so this wasn't the easiest thing to do. After messing with it for a while, I was able to get the rough shape, but it just wasn't fitting like I thought it would. Turns out I was wrong on two counts here: when Chris made his brackets this way, he used a second spinning to cut the brackets out of so the bracket would already be perfectly shaped. Secondly, my measurements were slightly big, and the ring was about half an inch to big. I was never going to be able to get it to fit this way.

My solution was to separate the brackets from the ring, and cut the ring down a little in order to fit the perimeter of the shield properly. This also gave to more leeway in getting the pieces bent to shape properly. However, cutting the ring this way created tension in the piece, almost like a spring. So I had to get a little creative on attaching it to the shield.

I used 3M outdoor mounting tape (just as I did on my first shield) to secure the ring and brackets to the back. The first attempt didn't yield great results... Because of the tension I mentioned, the ring didn't want to stay in place, even after being clamped for 48 hours. The ring kept wanting to slide towards the center of the shield, instead of staying in place along the perimeter. So I created a keystone using the section of the ring I removed when cutting it down. Basically I cut the section into a trapezoid, and cut the ends of the ring section to match the angles. I secured the keystone in place first, and allowed the tape to set overnight ensuring it wouldn't slide under the pressure of the ring. Once that was set, I taped down the rest of the ring and clamped everything down for a few days.

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At this point I can't obtain 100% screen accuracy, but I'm OK with that :thumbsup
A little filing around the edges will help blend the pieces together and make it a little less noticeable, but since it will just be on display nobody will pay attention to it. Now I could proceed with the rest of back!

Before I attached the bracket pieces, I drilled holes to accept the screw posts I would be using for the leather straps and pentagonal clips. Once all the holes were drilled, I inserted the screw posts from the bottom and glued them in place using some epoxy. Once that was set, I added the adhesive tape to the brackets and secured them to the shield.

Next up was to add the rivet details around the brackets. To accomplish this I was going to use the same method used for the spun rivets on the stars: a small piece of aluminum rod inserted into the drill press. However, I had already attached the brackets so there was no way I would be able to go that route. I went to Lowe's looking around the hardware section to see what I could come up with, and found these: furniture tacks

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I used my nail nippers and clipped the heads off them, all 48!

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I left a little bit of the shaft attached so I could drill a hole into the bracket and insert the tack head in.

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I liked the look! Gives it a slightly more industrial feel. With that done, I tackled the leather straps. I used some leather I had left over from my holster rig build, and cut out several 1.5" strips. After measuring for each strap, I began cutting them to length and punching the holes to accept the screw posts. Once everything was cut and punched, I used my stitch groover to get the detail along the edges of each strap, and then began dying the pieces.

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Once these were dry, I wiped them down with a protective sealer and worked them a bit to soften them back up. Attached each piece to its proper place and secured them using the screw posts.

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So there we have it! The back is done. Now I can focus on the fun part... the painting! It's a bit muggy and humid today, so I don't think I'll be able to do any painting. Before I start painting there are some scratches on the front that need to be cleaned up. I'll try sanding those out today and cleaning it really well with acetone. When it heats up this afternoon (105 anyone? :cry) I might be able to get the blue done. We shall see :thumbsup
 
Two Days!?? so much for the wait seven days before recoating. So you didn't put a clear coat on the steel?

The back of your shield looks so awesome. Straps are nice an tight.

But are you going to be truly happy with this version or are you going to hear the call for the pinnacle of shields, a machined star with front and back turned or perhaps Titanium?
 
Two Days!?? so much for the wait seven days before recoating. So you didn't put a clear coat on the steel?

The back of your shield looks so awesome. Straps are nice an tight.

But are you going to be truly happy with this version or are you going to hear the call for the pinnacle of shields, a machined star with front and back turned or perhaps Titanium?

Yeah, I was under a little bit of a time constraint on the first one! :lol

I did put a clear coat on the back of the steel shield, but never got around to putting a clear coat on the front... The shield was just hanging on my wall, so I didn't put an emphasis on it.

As far as upgrading this one... I think my wife would kill me! She actually said "you're going to keep this one right?" :lol
 
That is AWESOME work Kevin!!! The back of that shield looks amazing! I'm diggin the cut off tacks, really beefs up the look of that thing a lot.
 
same method used for the spun rivets on the stars: a small piece of aluminum rod inserted into the drill press.

That was a 1/8" rod?
May try your technique but grinding the tip off a nail and using a hand drill.
Don't have a drill press so will have to rig up a guide.

Was thinking about it over night and now need to buy some furniture tacks.
At first, was going to use roofing nails but the definition of your tacks is so much better.
Like you said. Go Big.
 
That is AWESOME work Kevin!!! The back of that shield looks amazing! I'm diggin the cut off tacks, really beefs up the look of that thing a lot.

Thanks Bobby! :)

That was a 1/8" rod?
May try your technique but grinding the tip off a nail and using a hand drill.
Don't have a drill press so will have to rig up a guide.

1/4" actually. Be careful with the hand drill... You'll want to be as steady in one spot long enough to get the impression. If you can rig something up so that the drill doesn't bounce around, you'll be fine
 
I spent some time this weekend working on the Valor brackets for my shield and went ahead wih this rivet concept and added some to mine too! Great idea! I hope to epoxy the brackets on this week and will try to get a picture when it's done!
 
Thanks for the idea on rivets!! I still need to clean the back of the shield and JB Weld the brackets on, hopefully this week sometime.

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Nicely done! I painted the center ring the other day with the Metalcast, and (like many others) I'm not quite happy with how it turned out. There is definitely a lot more texture to it this time around than my first shield. Tomorrow I'm going to strip it off and give it another try using a different method. If that doesn't work out, I'll give the Testors a try
 
Love this shield dude. I am wanting to do a sled as soon as they have them for sale out here when they are cheap, so after january?

In the words of Borat, "Very nice".
 
Michael, get the sled on Amazon for $30! It's listed at $34.99 right now, but the price fluctuates a bit. You can probably find it less than $30 :thumbsup
 
garrrr... I kept finding them like a month ago with shipping for around $50. Boo. I'll keep my quest ongoing! Thanks for the heads up pal!
 
Well, it's about time I return to this one. I've been off work since last Monday, so I've been able to get caught up on all my ongoing projects! :lol

Today was the shield's turn. After seeing GeneralFROSTY give the Dupli-Color anodized paints another try, I decided I needed to give them another try too. I didn't go about it the same way he did though. I used them straight out of the rattle can, as they were intended. My results didn't come out as well as his either (a spray gun trumps rattle cans any day!), but I'm still very happy with my results!

When I was deciding between the Dupli-Color and the Testor's, I did side-by-side tests of each paint, both colors. Testor's on the left, Dupli-Color on the right:

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I really love the depth that the Dupli-Color gives, but my first attempt gave me a textured, uneven finish. Going back to my test strip however, the color was more even and smooth. So what was different? With the test strip I sprayed one wet coat (not heavy, don't want drips or runs!) rather than the conventional several light coats. Today I tried the same with the shield, and it actually yielded better results! Everyone who has used these paints knows how finicky they can be, so it only makes sense that you have to go against conventional wisdom when using them.

Now, pictures!

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Without flash

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With flash

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Now I need to go back and paint the grooves, and cut and attach the star. For the grooves, I'm going to try to extract and degas a little bit of each color as GeneralFROSTY did, and paint with a fine brush. For the star, I think I have developed a method of getting the spun texture on the aluminum without having to put a hole in the center. I will be attempting that tomorrow!
 
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