Sailor Moon Crystal: Sailor Uranus Sword
I was excited when approached with this project, early 2018. I'd been learning more about ways to construct swords and was ready to try them out.
Because of the large gem in the center, I decided to run a metal rod throughout the entire piece. I'm surprised I've never done it before honestly. The whole thing felt so much stronger. Plus, it would need the support since I didn't want the gem to hold everything together.
It began with a reference vectored in illustrator, then the base of the model created in Fusion360. I moved to Zbrush to add in the more organic shapes. This was printed in ABS on my Polyprinter 229. I decided to try something a bit different when attaching it. Instead of just an ABS slurry, I cut back on that and applied a coating of XTC over all of it.
The gem was cast in two parts of Epoxicast 690, since I don't have a pressure pot. This allowed me to drill the hole for the rod once cast.
The chrome was done with the Spaz Stik system, just like I did with the Soul Calibur ring. But this time, I remembered how the clear coat ate away at the chrome, so I did some tests and found out that Pledge Floor Care worked great as a clear coat. It protected the chrome with minimal clouding and smelled of strawberries. The detail pieces on the gem where strips of sintra that I laid into the groves and epoxied down.
Stay tuned for a video in the future!
Because of the large gem in the center, I decided to run a metal rod throughout the entire piece. I'm surprised I've never done it before honestly. The whole thing felt so much stronger. Plus, it would need the support since I didn't want the gem to hold everything together.
It began with a reference vectored in illustrator, then the base of the model created in Fusion360. I moved to Zbrush to add in the more organic shapes. This was printed in ABS on my Polyprinter 229. I decided to try something a bit different when attaching it. Instead of just an ABS slurry, I cut back on that and applied a coating of XTC over all of it.
The gem was cast in two parts of Epoxicast 690, since I don't have a pressure pot. This allowed me to drill the hole for the rod once cast.
The chrome was done with the Spaz Stik system, just like I did with the Soul Calibur ring. But this time, I remembered how the clear coat ate away at the chrome, so I did some tests and found out that Pledge Floor Care worked great as a clear coat. It protected the chrome with minimal clouding and smelled of strawberries. The detail pieces on the gem where strips of sintra that I laid into the groves and epoxied down.
Stay tuned for a video in the future!
