Custom Greatsword

Been meaning to do more custom weapons for awhile, and finally got down to making one. What I had in mind was a large buster sword type, a bit FF inspired and a bit Monster Hunter inspired. However, after all my random sketches, I settled for a simple design first to test a few things.

After my previous struggles cutting and sanding 2mm thick styrene sheets, I wanted to try something thinner, say maybe two pieces of 1mm sheets glued together. Unfortunately, my local store didn't sell 1mm sheets on its own, so I settled for 075mm sheets instead, which worked just as well.

A paper sketch drawn and cut out, with size comparison.

Three pieces of styrene cut and held together. Thinner pieces are so much faster to cut and I could get each piece done in less than 5 minutes with minimal effort. Judicious application of plastic cement sealed the three pieces together and after sanding, they are almost seamless.

A Yellow Hornet testing the unpainted piece. Turns out the handle was too big and required hell lot more of sanding to bring down to size.

After that is the painting process. Again, experimented with a new way of painting. Base coat of Tamiya Gun Metal, then a light spray of Mica Red along the blade edge for the 'blood' splatters. My can was finishing and there was uneven sputtering, which added to the effect. Then a light spray of matt Black along the spine to create a gradient. Came out very well for my first try!

Ran out of ideas for the handle though. Was planning to thicken the handle so the sword didn't look so flat and 2D, but started to get lazy and uninspired. Couldn't think how else to design it, so I simply wrapped string on it instead, hoping to get a crude look. Will probably need some weathering. 

Next up is a sheath system. Need to figure out how to strap this huge thing to the back of a TK. In the meantime, here's my favourite TK swinging a few poses. 

And a guest appearance by the body who took over the previous kitbash.