Vanu Sovereignty Forceblade:

This one is from my own personal collection, a reproduction from my favorite mmorpg, Planetside (TM).

Construction Notes:

If you want a hard to find weapon crafted for a convention or party email me the details and we can work out a price: mike@fantasyprops.com

I love the online futuristic war game Planetside (TM) by Sony (I'm "762" on Emerald server, "Shootfirst" on Markov server, join me online :). The Vanu Sovereignty have some really neat looking weapons, one of which is the 'Forceblade'. I wanted to have my very own so I set about making this one.

I start by drawing the knife on polystyrene (that pink styrofoam from Home Depot). Next I trace my drawing and flip it to transfer the exact image on the reverse side. Next I carve the foam down with the utility and exacto blades. After I get it done I seal it GOOD with plastic primer and slather on the Bondo filler (2 part polyester based resin). This stuff is stinky and dries fast, so be ready. It's also volatile to the foam which is why you need to seal the foam well. It's tricky to work with so I'll put some additional notes in the "how to" section. When it's all covered with about 1/8" to 1/4" of bondo putty you sand it all down nice with sandpaper and dremel. The finished blade is very light and reasonably durable. The bondo is hard but not brittle, crack and chip resistant, and keeps some flex. You can't be smashing it around but it will tolerate being dropped. lastly, I create little bondo hex-head bolts for the blade and cast some resin 'gems' for the handle.

At this point you can either just paint the blade and call it a day or you can plaster cast it to make a resin blade. Resin is very hard but can be brittle and will likely chip if dropped on a hard surface.

Tools: 1" Polystyrene sheeting, retractable utility knife (6" blade), exacto blade, several grits of sandpaper, dremel tool, Bondo filler, 100% silicone/dispenser gun, allen wrench, spray plastic primer, clear casting resin, transparent casting resin coloring, tracing paper. (optional: plaster, modeling clay, vaseline, casting resin).