Bloodborne Trick Weapon foam builds

So, while I am interested in doing some armor building for myself in the future, I plan on working some simpler projects first to build some basic skills. I read through a quite comprehensive foam build guide on what foams to use and all manner of other tid-bits of nice info to have, but I had a question or two that perhaps someone here might be able to help with.

Here goes: Given the relative thinness of the foam you can buy, what is the best method of adhering large foam pieces together? For the context of that question, here's my idea. My plans to build these weapons out of foam are going to require me to build them in halves. One piece of foam will be "right" side of the weapon, and the other foam piece will be the "left" half of the weapon. When I attach the two halves together, the full weapon will be there, split down the middle. I know super glue or other forms of adhesive are popular for attaching things, but I do not know if that will work on the scale that I am looking at.

And secondly, once I have the basic foam weapon built, is it going to need a form of hardening like fiberglass resin on the outside or will the foam template itself be sufficient in terms of toughness? All of my work in the past has been in Pepakura, so foam is a new medium to me. If you have any thoughts, feel free to throw them my way.

The Bloodborne trick-weapons I am going to work on are as follows, in the order I plan to do them:

The Saw Cleaver, a weapon with one very jagged side used in close-quarters combat, and a smooth-bladed side when it is unfolded for slightly longer range with broad, sweeping attacks.


And Ludwig's Holy Blade, consisting of a standard longsword which, when slid into its sharp, bladed sheath, becomes a greatsword.

Dante Nero said:

Here goes: Given the relative thinness of the foam you can buy, what is the best method of adhering large foam pieces together? For the context of that question, here's my idea. My plans to build these weapons out of foam are going to require me to build them in halves. One piece of foam will be "right" side of the weapon, and the other foam piece will be the "left" half of the weapon. When I attach the two halves together, the full weapon will be there, split down the middle. I know super glue or other forms of adhesive are popular for attaching things, but I do not know if that will work on the scale that I am looking at.

And secondly, once I have the basic foam weapon built, is it going to need a form of hardening like fiberglass resin on the outside or will the foam template itself be sufficient in terms of toughness? All of my work in the past has been in Pepakura, so foam is a new medium to me. If you have any thoughts, feel free to throw them my way.

The Bloodborne trick-weapons I am going to work on are as follows, in the order I plan to do them:

The Saw Cleaver, a weapon with one very jagged side used in close-quarters combat, and a smooth-bladed side when it is unfolded for slightly longer range with broad, sweeping attacks.
View attachment 15019

Click to expand...

First off, these guys may have a few tips you can use! http://squidbotcosplay.tumblr.com/

As long as you add some sort of inner skeleton, the pieces should be able to hold their shape. Personally, I recommend fiberglass rod, or pultruded carbon fiber.

Sithslayer78 said:

First off, these guys may have a few tips you can use! http://squidbotcosplay.tumblr.com/

As long as you add some sort of inner skeleton, the pieces should be able to hold their shape. Personally, I recommend fiberglass rod, or pultruded carbon fiber.

Click to expand...

I had originally meant to also ask for ideas on how to make the blade move and stay in each position, but it looks like you have solved my problem without me even asking. You, sir, have my gratitude for linking me to that page, and the cosplayers on that page have my gratitude as well.

So, the handle for the Saw Cleaver has be outlined. The cuts are not the smoothest, but it won't matter, as the handle will be shaved down to be cylindrical. Next up, the actual blade's outline.

Got the foam outlines of the blade done now. Got plans for the internal skeleton of the weapon to keep it more rigid, but need to actually go get the parts I need to build the skeleton. Will probably also grab the parts for the lever mechanism at the same time to have those pieces at the ready. Once the skeleton has been installed into it, I will start actually shaving the foam down to make it the correct shape. Feels like progress is really slow, but I have far less time to work on this during the weekends, so hopefully it'll gain speed in the next few days.

Not sure if you've got a material picked out already but I know for a fact that Squidbot used masonite for their rigid skeleton.

I have not acquired the parts for the skeleton yet, but I will definitely look into masonite before I do. Thanks for the info.

Edit: So, it looks to me like masonite is rather easy to acquire, so I went and got that instead. I also have all the parts I need for the lever mechanism, and what I needed to shave down the foam. Should be no more hinderances getting in my way now.

So, an update on the build: i have gotten the blade reinforced and attached into one, solid piece, but have run into a little bit of an obstacle building the lever system and reinforcing the handle in general, but have got a few thoughts on how to overcome this. Despite getting the design of the lever system and the reinforcement material from Squidbot, the idea of this build was to do as much of it as possible purely off my own intuition, so i don't want to rip everything from their build. Anywho, once i figure this one out and get the lever system built, more pictures will be coming.

So, the Blade has been sealed, primed, and painted to appear metallic. The handle has been reinforced in a few places and will soon be wrapped in bandage gauze for the most part. The two have been temporarily attached for the picture and as soon as I add the lever mechanism, the build will be essentially finished.

There's a guy on Youtube, I think his name is something along the lines of epicfantasy *I'm sorry I'm so late xD*
But he shows how to make it with foam boards. He also has a free template. Now warning the locking mechanism is different, unlike the game's version.
But he beveled the actual fangs on the blade, and added glue and modge podge to help it from weathering and being ruined..
Just an idea for you! :3