When I decided to rebuild the sword I put a post on Cosplay Utah and the amazing Fitz from Caliston Armory responded. http://www.calistonarmory.com . Fitz is amazing and so helpful. I visited his shop and left with a Carbon Fiber center post, a sheet of EVA foam and clear instructions so I could make good progress before needing him again.
Cut out your foam pieces. The center one seen above has the center section cut out so the main post could be placed to secure the whole thing and provide hilt space. I used the packing tape that has strings layered in, to secure it but I cut the tape too long. I ended up fighting some of those ends once I was sanding the blade angles in. Using a steel brush, rough up the smooth foam underside. The next step is getting the layers bound together using Weldwood Contact Cement. (hit it with a heat gun before laying down on next piece)
Once they are all in it is time for shaping and sanding. This foam sanded down nicely but leaves a pretty good mess of dust. Once all the pieces were sanded we placed them on the center post. I thickened up the handle by wrapping leather over a layer of mounting tape wrapped over a PVC tube then sliding that in place.
Back to see Fitz and have him help secure all the parts and spray Plastidip over the whole thing.
Looks nice huh?
Some Hammered Steel spray paint. Followed by the Blue my son chose.
We ended up with a HUGE sword that is light weight with clean lines. We were SO much happier with these end results.
Much to work on before September. Some of it might even get finished. ;-)
