So we went whole hog the other day, har, har. That above is a Hole Hawg, which we used to auger a 18″ or so deep hole in the base of the sword’s grip. It’s designed to be compact so you can work inside walls, between studs to run electrical conduit or plumbing. And as Williamson says “It’s got enough torque to break your arm”. Fun, beautiful tool.
Above – One of two hilt templates for bondo that we made. On Thursday, we basically spent the whole day getting the hilt perfect. The chevron shape of the hilt, and the necessary tapers and angles would take too long to build up and shape by hand. So we made a pair of templates for the top and the bottom of each side of the hilt. That template is made of aluminum, but when we went to bend it, we discovered that it’s tempered aluminum and it added about 45 minutes to the task of making the template. Regardless, it was faster and way, way less frustrating to use the template.
Above – Bondo, or polyester body filler, is a two part putty, that has to be catalyzed by adding a product called cream hardener. Once you’ve got it hot, you’ve only got a few minutes of workability. Here Eric is loading the side of the hilt, in preparation for the template to be pressed into place.
Above – template in place. It only takes a few minutes to harden, and then you’ve got to pull it off before the bondo tries to bond with the template. We had covered the template in PVA tape to prevent that from happening, but you certainly don’t want to break for lunch and then come back to pull the template.
Above – template removed. The shape is right but the surface is funky from the template. So we tracked down any air bubbles and filled the divots made by the pop rivets that hold the template to the wood backing. Repeat three more times, get the corners and edges right and then sand the whole damn thing to 180, and we were ready to primer the sword.
Above – That’s the sword after six coats of white primer. It’s mounted on what might generously be called a contraption, that involved using the above Hole Hawg to auger out the grip, mounting a steel rod in hole with bondo, and basically wedging the support and painting stand into a bunch of cabinets to keep the whole thing from tipping over. We’re using a catalytic primer here, which is nigh invulnerable, although soft and sandable when it sets. It costs about $60 a gallon, and is also polyester based.
Above – Here Eric’s painting on the first layer of what’s basically a guide coat. It’s the same polyprimer, but the different colour allows you to know when you’ve either sanded too far, or to help correct waviness and bumps in the final surface.
Above – All finished, in a nice light blue, after a total of 12 coats of primer. Now all it needs is a little sanding and we’re ready to make a mold out of this thing.
Looks like it got misplaced from some Bandai Gundam figurine of the gods! Great work, I revel in your fabrication porn.
There’s no documentation like too much documentation. If I get my act together on this project, I’m going to work up a “how to make a giant resin sword flowchart” to accompany all these photos.