Hoplite shield

[Oenos [Daedanauts]]

Posted this in Rule7. I'll probably make another one at some point and will take pics.

This is just the method we came up with for making big (36" round), domed, greek shields. There are things that can be done to make it better and more expensive, but these were acceptably solid and held together for a cost of about £40 each (probably a bit more if you're only making one). It's an experimental art - tinker as necessary.

For one shield you will need (there will be left over plastazote and glue and latex for other things):
1 1000mm x 2000mm x 12mm sheet of LD45 Plastazote (possibly more for the rim, if you're making lots get an extra sheet) - ~£15
1 1000mm x 1000mm x 6mm sheet of LD45 Plastazote ~£5
Optional: A bit of 3mm LD45 Plastazote for some 3D decor to cover up joins
2 normal tubs of decent glue (Evostik - NOT SOLVENT FREE) - or 1 tub and 1 spray can (cheap at Wilko's). ~£10
Some less decent, but easy-use glue (Evostik solvent free is what I used - but copydex or even PVA would probably be fine - it's mostly going to be a sort of filler) ~£5
Some thick (~3mm) leather offcuts and the ability to add a buckle - A 1" wide belt would be ideal. ~£whatever
Some thinish leather (~1.5mm) offcuts for reinforcing the grips - ~whatever
Some dead jeans - ~£0
Some thin, but not stretchy fabric - lineny stuff - ~£2
About 1litre of latex - ~£5 if you buy bulk
Paint - I used citadel boltgun metal and chainmail for a dark, dull metal shield
Isoflex special primer - costs about £12 for a tin that will do loads

To assemble:
-Draw 2 circles of 44cm radius on the 12mm plastazote and 1 on the 6mm platazote - cut them out
-Make a card template of a sort of thin thorn shape that is about 4cm across at the bottom and about 20cm long
-On each of your big plastazote circles go round your template in six evenly spaced positions and cut them out to make them look like weird flowers
-Cut your leather/belt to a size that will make a loop round your forearm and a loop around your hand
-On one of the 12mm flowers glue a rectangle of thinish leather to either side so that your grips will go through leather->plastazote->leather (I don't know how important this is - it's how I did it because I was worried about the grips ripping out - they didn't, but probably wouldn't have done anyway)
-Cut slits through the leather and pass the grips through - glue in place
-Cut 12 strips of denim from your jeans - about 5cm x 15cm
-On your grippy circle, glue each side of the six missing wedges together so you form a dome, glue the denim strips on like sellotape to hold it together (this is when it first starts to look awesome - allow yourself a little "squee")
-Once it has dried cover the entire outside of the dome and the inside of the other 12mm flower, somehow (glue in your arm hair - owee) attach them with the six cuts lining up and sellotape-denim layer 2's slits closed
-Once it has dried do the same with the top, 6mm layer but you don't need to denimise this one (it's now fairly solid and can take a hit - booyah)
-The edge will be kinda serrated when looked at laterally so draw the neatest circle you can, about 1cm inside the rim and trim the edge to make it even - try your best to keep this at a right angle with the ground if it were lying down - the rim will be attached to this
-The rim is a botch. Draw round an arc of your shield onto a bit of 12mm plastazote, make it 2" thick radially and cut it out. Use this as a template to make enough arcs that you can stick two together (24mm thick) and go all the way round the shield. The size of each arc depends on stingyness. If you make them 60 degrees (12 arcs, glued in pairs) you might be able to get them all out of your 1m x 2m sheet, but you'll have more unsightly joins. I used 120 degree or 90 degree because I have too much f*cking plastazote cluttering up my living room
-Glue the arcs together, using the dome as a guide (make it quite tight), until you have a groovy big ring (!!!) - glue this to the dome making sure the top of the rim aligns nicely with the top surface of the dome - there will be a bit of dome sticking out the bottom because the dome is thicker than the rim
-Trim the bottom edges of the dome to align with the bottom of the rim
-Unless you used laser guided cutting tools you WILL have horrible big gaps between the dome and the rim. Do not despair. Glue slivers of plastazote into the big gaps with the rubbish glue - fill smaller gaps with just glue.
-For strength and to cover up unevenness cut enough strips of lineny stuff to cover the entire under-side of the join between rim and dome - glue them on
-Your structure is complete but with nasty edges; tidy it up as you want. I have a drum sander on a drill that just loves to eat through plastazote. I also put 20cm triangles of 3mm plastazote to cover up the joins and make them look a bit interesting
-Then coat with 8-10 layers of latex (I do 2x clear, 4x grey, 4x boltgun metal) and paint if you like (I drybrushed with chainmail paint for a weathered look and we had a stencil of the Daedanaut cowskull - no, it isn't a crosssection of a lady's reproductive system)
-Isoflex (NOT in bright sunlight! It makes the isoflex go yellow!)
-Sew up the leather hand grip to fit the user

They looked like this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/the_daedanauts/4897402386/

Wow. That was longer than I thought it was going to be.

[Oenos [Daedanauts]]

Here's a link to pictures of the build process. Ignore cats and leather. I'll add descriptions one day. Maybe.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53182009@N08/sets/72157625499510167/

[Colin (Aegis Hellas)]

Dave - Where are you getting LD45 Plastazote for £15 a sheet (2m x 1m)?

[Oenos [Daedanauts]]

Dave - Where are you getting LD45 Plastazote for £15 a sheet (2m x 1m)?

Nowhere now

sjginternational.com did me a good deal last year:

1 x 15mm thick - £15.46 each
6 x 12mm thick - £12.44 each
3 x 6mm thick - £5.82 each
1 x 3mm thick - £2.91 each
(all before VAT and with £25 flat postage)

But that has gone up a lot recently. You could try them if you have a big order.

[Sponsored content]