TOYBIZ THOR/CONAN
SWORD CONSTRUCTION
UPDATED 06/07/05
 

Thanks to Kitman for the box pic

 
The original model had Thor raising his hammer to the sky. I needed to change that to a sword being thrust down.
So, first I had to modify the hand holding the item.
I cut the top and bottom off the hammer. Discarded the head, removed the strapping from the bottom, and glued it to the top of the hand. That gave me the hilt of the sword.
Next, I needed something to make the sword out of.
My first attempt was with a toy sword.
I found one about the right size for this kit.


Then I cut it down because I only needed the middle section.



I then, drilled out the part. Inserted a nail for support, and added a bunch of putty.

Unfortunately, when I tried to sand it into shape, it broke when I got close to what I wanted.
Just not enough putty left on the plastic to have any real grab.
Time to switch gears and come up with a new plan.

 
A popsicle stick.
I took a stick, drew the center line down the middle of it lengthwise.
Sketched out one side of the blade.
Use my dremel with a sanding drum, and sanded down to that line.
Then I laid that stick on top of another one and re-drew one side, flipped it over, and drew the other side.
Again I sanded down to the lines and got this.
Then I sanded along the length of it to taper it down to look like a sword. Leaving it high in the middle and coming to and edge.
After that, I sanded with 150 grit sandpaper, then coated with putty.
I then sanded that with progressively finer grades of sandpaper.
Used about 3 coats of metalic silver paint, buffing between coats to really get it smooth.
Then a final thin coat of gunmetal gray, allowing some of the silver to show through.

Then I glued it in place with 2 part epoxy.
 

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