Kingdom Hearts Photoshoot 2009! [UP11/03/09]

[Forever Purity]

XD Point. XD

[Technowraith]

Awesome, thanks! Yeah, I knew life-size was out. I'm planning on doing the full thing. I found a supposedly "official" pic with the break down of all of them, and how the add up. I just scaled up the final to be about 5 feet. Since I'm 5'5", that's going to pretty close scale wise, I think. My dad said he's help me with the construction of it. How'd you do yours? My dad suggested molding it out of fiberglass, but I'm afraid it'd be too heavy.

My original tsurugi sword was made out of paperboard, foamboard, velcro and duct tape.

A full photo set of the construction and completed prop is here.

It's about 5 feet long (it was a little shorter than i planned, since i used the steel replica i had as a template). The two smaller blades camed off and "opened". It was a quick throw-together project that i did in 9 days. Materials and tools cost about $52 dollars. By the way, i misnamed the prop "buster sword" because that was before i knew the name of the sword Cloud used during Advent Children. There's a photo that shows a bunch of bolts and nuts. This was the original system designed for the handle attachment to the switchblades. I ended up not using them, favoring an easier method of several layers of heavy duty duct tape. For a quick prop project, it turned out very well.

Materials used:

4 x 5 sheets of half inch foamboard
4 x 5 sheets of medium grade paperboard
4 x 5 sheets of cardboard
Rolls of white, red, black and gray duct tape/electrical tape ("Paint" for the sword)
Industrial strength Velcro
Super glue/ahesive. Important note: Make sure your adhesive is rated for FOAM. Do not use an adhesive not rated for foam. If your adhesive is not rated for foam, it may destroy the foam on contact, or generate toxic/harmful vapors when in contact with the foam. I forget what adhesive i used, but i found it at michaels art supply stores. it's in a blue tube and vosts about $3 a tube. Gorilla glue works, just be sure to check it for foam usage.
Balsa board (One 36 x 24 inch x 1/16 inch thick board)

Tools used:

Scissors (Heavy duty, a pair of smaller scissors may not be helpful).
Exacto knife
Exacto saws (Yes, there are exacto saws!)
Hacksaw for cutting larger pieces (thinner blade, more precision).
Pencil/Marker (for marking off templates)

Overall, it turned out very well. It ended weighing a little more than i thought it, about 7 pounds maybe? Not sure. Fiberglass is surprisingly light. If you want fiberglass though, you should make a base frame and coat it with fiberglass. Fiberglass alone won't be rigid or strong enough for a prop. You make the prop out of whatever material first, then coat it with several coats of fiberglass to stiffen and strengthen the prop.

[majesticlunacy]

Holy CRAP! *jaw drops* That's amazing!

Would fiberglass over foam work? My dad said something about "it not holding all the details" but most people just say to coat foam in fiberglass.

[Forever Purity]

Cloud, you rock, hardcore. XD

[majesticlunacy]

Cloud, you rock, hardcore. XD

I totally agree!

[Forever Purity]

FOUR PAGES THIS TOPIC IS ALREADY, LOL.

[majesticlunacy]

Read: four of me, you, and technowraith chatting. XD

[Technowraith]

Holy CRAP! *jaw drops* That's amazing!

Would fiberglass over foam work? My dad said something about "it not holding all the details" but most people just say to coat foam in fiberglass.

Fiberglass over foam should work. In this case, be sure your foam is at least an inch to 1.5 inches thick. If you don't want an overly thick prop, consider using just half inch thick foam sheets with a paperboard combination, similar to how i made the tsurugi sword above. Use a layer of paperboard on either side of the foam, then fiberglass the whole thing in 1-3 layers of fiberglass. Be sure to add extra support for the handle/hilt area. This allows you to pick up the prop and not worry too much about the handle breaking off. If you saw the tsurugi sword pictures above, you'll see where i added the balsa board strips on the handle. The purpose of those strips was to strengthen the handle.

Another alternative to foam and paperboard is wood. Not nearly as light as foam, but the durability factor of wood is 100 times better then foam. Just be sure that wood props are permitted at the event you're attending. Almost all conventions allow wood props, so long as there are no dangerous sharp edges on the prop.

[Forever Purity]

Yo, Cloud. Where'd you get your styrofoam? xD

urgh. Finding a good picture of FFIX's Beatrix's Save The Queen is a pain. xX

[Technowraith]

Yo, Cloud. Where'd you get your styrofoam? xD

urgh. Finding a good picture of FFIX's Beatrix's Save The Queen is a pain. xX

I got my foamboard at an art/ drafting supply store called Art and Drafting connection. It's a local supply store up in bethlehem Pa. (I lived up in bethlehem when i made the tsurugui sword). You would probably find the same material at an art supply store or maybe a hobby supply store. Home depot and lowe's sells standard 4x8 foot x 1inch thick panels of foam. not sure about anything thinner than 1 inch though.

[Forever Purity]

..mm, home depo, got it. XD;

I've gotta make like, two sets of twin daggers and that save the queen. FUNTIMES.

[Forever Purity]

-prods- xD

[Anxa]

It's been awhile since anyone has posted here, but if you still want to do a Kingdom Hearts photoshoot, I'm in. I'll be cosplaying as Roxas, hopefully. Unless I destory his wig, haha.
And I can probably get a few more people; I have a friend that might be doing Larxene, another that might be doing Xion, and maybe a Kairi and a Namine, and maybe even a Zexion (but I wouldn't count on it).

[Forever Purity]

Whoo hoo, fun!

[RisingPhoenix]

Yeah I'm in too if it's on Sunday ^^(I didn't exactly read all 4 pages to find out..) I'll be Kairi

xD This sounds like fun!