I made the source 3D model based on reference art from Majora’s Mask, Soul Calibur 2, and fan art.  I then carved it using my CNC, smoothed and finished the master, and made a mold from Smooth-On’s Mold Max Stroke brush-on silicone.  I created a mold jacket from plaster wrap for support, with metal rods for extra strength because of the length.  I then brushed Smooth Cast 321 plastic onto the mold jacket as well, to seal it and strengthen it further.

The cast was made in Smooth Cast 320 plastic in two halves, which were bonded together with a steel rod down the center.  To ensure the bond between the halves and the steel was strong, I also drilled small holes into the blade and hilt, injected more Smooth Cast 321 plastic, and effectively rotocast the plastic onto the inside.  Finally, small imperfections were filled with Bondo.

The blade was painted with a primer coat, then airbrushed with various acrylic colors including metallic pearlized purple, metallic green, pearlized white, metallic black, and metallic ruby red in various mixtures.  The entire prop was then coated with Rustoleum automotive clear coat and Turtle Wax Super Hard Shell wax.

This is an insulation foam carving, coated with 3 coats of Smooth Cast 320 plastic, wet sanded, then coated with one extra coat of plastic.  After that, I painted it with Rustoleum gray primer, and sanded it to 1000 grit wet sandpaper.  Then I painted it with Rustoleum gloss black automotive paint, and finally coated it with Velspar “brilliant metallic” silver paint.  I have not yet coated it with gloss coating, since this item has other problems, but when I do such coatings, I use hand painted gloss coat, as spray painted gloss coat will dull the silvery/chrome finish.

Hope this helps anyone who is making similar items!

Highlights of the year:

• Walking home with a heavy car battery when my car died
• Decided to buy a 3D printer to work with my prop making ideas
• Tried all sorts of ideas for making silicone molds, most of which failed
• Figured out that my 3D carver was skewed for at least a year or two, resulting in bad carvings (and a few bad molds)
• Started learning how to use an airbrush

And plans for next year:

• Get back in shape, I hope
• Make a bunch of cosplay props for people
• Finally quit one of my jobs
• Finish some armor!

Hope everyone out there has a safe and happy New Year’s.  Stay safe, use a designated driver, a cab, the tipsy tow service, or whatever else you can to stay off the roads if you’ve been drinking.

Stage 1: Make the master nice and shiny – carved insulation foam, coated with Smooth Cast 320 plastic, So-Strong black tint, then painted with auto spray primer and gloss black.

Step 2: Wax the master to prep for silicone – using Sonite Wax II.  I’ll probably switch to a spray-on mold release from now on, the wax leaves trails from being brushed on.

Step 3: Apply layers of silicone to make the mold – using Mold Max Stroke and So-Strong black tint.  3 layers, with registration keys added to the second layer to make sure the mold seats properly in the mold shell when making castings.

Step 4: Make a mold shell – using Rigid Wrap plaster cloth.

Step 5: Start casting – using Smooth Cast 320 and fiberglass surfacing veil (shown with a stand-in for the sword).

Step 6 (aborted) – lining the inside.  At first, I wanted to line the inside of the scabbard, but after I finished, I realized that the lining would drag against the painted sword more than the plastic of the scabbard would.  However, the way I did this was to glue fabric to the inside of the scabbard with tacky glue, in case anyone wants to include this step.  I later made a new scabbard without, personally.

Still to come – combining the halves, and painting.  Soon, soon…

Just needs some slight cleanup, then it’s ready for a mold…

Apparently the router melted some hot glue, which melted foam, picked up the foam bits, let them re-solidify into a disc, which then cut way more than the 1/8″ of the router bit would normally… first it carved the right side, but when it moved to the left it picked up the extra material, as seen in the first two pictures.  The result?  A whole bunch of cut away details that should’ve remained in the final picture…

On the plus side, I’ve improved the carving program since that carving, so it will be faster to re-create it.