Props One Day Builds: Combat Knives

Theoretically I'll end up with all of the combat knife permutations, but for now I'm starting with Halo 4's to go with my BR85. These aren't being done in one day, really, but the actual quantity of build time is such that they could be if I was so inclined.

First up, buy a new bandsaw blade after snapping the last one whilst cutting mould backer plates for the BR85 project. Then a couple of hours to take the digital asset, produce a useable blueprint plan, then scale and print it:



Under an hour to cut out the templates, trace them out onto MDF, and cut them out:







Looking pretty decent so far, the sliced construction method is doable on this one because there are no voids or undercuts:



Next up, templating the blade detail:





Then an hour of sanding, first on the bench sander, then with the Dremel, then finally with a sanding block. All 60 grit.

...Then blood for the blood god:



I guess MDF can hold more of an edge than I'd expected?



Side scales glued on! Half way there, about 4 hours in at this point:



Cut out the scale detail template and transferred it:



45 minutes of Dremel sanding later:



Scale. Fits very nicely in my medium-sized hand:



Adding more notation that's missing from the blueprints for the final round of wood sanding:



Done!







About 6 hours in at this point, just some fairly minor all-over Bondo work and priming to go, other than the little ridges on the top and the holes/slot, but I think I'm going to do that stuff after Bondo. This thing isn't going to get clearcoated; I feel like that severely impaired the fit and finish of the BR85 kit, so I'm never gonna go past primer again. Clearcoat is for (some) finished paint jobs.

Given the sharpness of the edge, I'm going to have to look into what urethane rubber options are available for casting. Econ 60 looks like it might be worth a shot, I just need to work out some kind of central core.

I still can't believe you cut yourself on it. I practically wet myself when you popped off that picture.

IT HUNGERS.

It was pretty ridiculous; I just looked at my finger incredulously!

Time for a picdump! I'll annotate the timelines if I can remember, but this post here should cover about 4 hours or so of work time.

A couple hours, I think, on getting the blade hardened up and the handle smoothed out for its first round of primer.









Then sanded down for a few minutes with 180 grit, which is all I'm working with right now.



It only took one layer of Bondo to really be happy with its progress, since I got 95% of the shape carved in in the first place, so I moved straight on to spot putty.

This is with another little side project I started since I bought a lathe this past weekend.



And after sanding, probably about 30 minutes total on this first spot putty pass. It goes nice and quickly.



More painting more sanding:





Now for detail, where I had to decide between the 3D model and the screenshots I've seen, since they appear to differ for some reason. I went with the in-game screenshots. Took about 30 minutes to get these little pieces of PVC pipe made up and glued on, then a little while more to get the ridges put in.





Added some grippy texture with lacquer-thinner-thinned-Bondo to the handle scales for 15 minutes, and that's it so far.



That's the details complete! Just more layers of primer and sanding up the grits, now. Next stop: 220!

Looking marvelous, I haven't seen many knives around here receive such attention to detail. I am curious about that last bit where you added texture, was the thinned bondo just dabbed on with a rag? It looks like a nice result.

m00sem4n said:

Looking marvelous, I haven't seen many knives around here receive such attention to detail. I am curious about that last bit where you added texture, was the thinned bondo just dabbed on with a rag? It looks like a nice result.

Click to expand...

Thanks man! I do like the combat knives, probably my affinity for H3:ODST. The Bondo I dabbed on with a nitrile-clad fingertip, no special tools at all. It comes up more crisp than stone-texture spray paint and holds its texture better through the layers of primer and sanding, too. Wasn't a big deal on the BR85, but on the knife the handle display is far more prominent.

As promised, the last two hours of painting and wet sanding!

The aforementioned 220:



Up to 400 grit, and trying to fill in a few last little dimples as much as possible (not that I'm too concerned about a little bit of "erosion" texture detail on a knife blade):



Dark grey primer and more 400 grit then straight up to 1500 grit! I lost my sheet of 1000 somewhere and at 1500 it's not really worth bothering with 2000, so I finished out here:



Another more solid layer of the dark grey, then finishing out with more 1500 grit:





Done. Gonna mould and cast in September I think, or sooner if the silicone I just bought to remould the BR85 barrel can do both, though I'll have to do some experimentation with types of casting foam and solid rubber to see what can hold the detail the best. I may also do a few "display" models in solid resin, but there's no way in hell they'd be con safe (nor child safe, street-safe, or anywhere else you wouldn't take a regular knife).

Feel free to let me know if you're interested. I'm currently assuming they'll be about $30 a pop.