Grand Marshal's Claymore

So the Grand Marshal's Claymore was my first really "big" project from a game where I really wanted to go all out on it.  From the popular MMORPG World of Warcraft, the Grand Marshal's Claymore if I were to make it to actual scale would be able 6 1/2ft long, so for ease of use, crafting process, and overall realism of the project, I decided to scale it slightly down to 4 1/2 ft. 

This is how the project started.  I did all my math, measurements, and drafting which in total probably took about somewhere in the ballpark of 5-6 hours to get everything perfect.  The interesting part about this project is that it was actually created and made out of an oak stair tread because it was the perfect size for what I was looking for!

Once Dane and I had cut out the initial shape of the sword we had to take some obligatory "badass" pictures of us with the sword. If you want to see a video of where I cut out the angle of the blade you can watch it Here!

This is the initial base coat I used on everything with the exception of the hilt.

Next came one of the parts I was dreading, the detail work.  I am not necessarily the most patient person, which made this part the most difficult for me.  Using tracing paper, we created the outline of the emblem on the crests which were made out of soft poplar wood.  Once the outline was finished, I had the difficult task of painting not once...twice...three times... but four times!  I am not a painter but I have to say that I think it turned out AMAZING once i put the final gloss on!

These are just some small details used under the emblem to create some 3 dimension and depth to the sword sanded down from small oak hobby boards.

 From here on out I didn't take too many pictures except for when progress was made.  You see the initial blade detail paint as well as the finished crest and blue depth work. The hilt was still in detail production at this point.  If you want to see the sword at this point you can view it in video form here and here!

In order to get the "taped" handle of the sword from warcraft, I simply base coated the handle in a light blue paint.  Once that dried, I taped it up and painted over it all with painters tape.  Creating a very nice and clean spiral on the handle simulating grip tape.

With all the detail work done I finally got to put the entire thing together which ended in this beautiful piece of Warcraft history!  If you want to view the pieces come together in the ultimate end result as well as me making a fool of myself by playing with a giant wooden sword you can view it here!

Overall, I learned a LOT about these kinds of things from doing this project being that it was my first real replica.  I had a blast doing it and I hope you all enjoy the end result as much as I did!  If you want to see any more of my projects be sure to check back to this page of go check out my Youtube channel at www.Youtube.com/BGDominate