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Shade's Live Action Role Playing (LARP) List: Forums
Shade's LARP List :: View topic - Making latex weapons
Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 12:29 am Post subject: Delamination
A thought on delamination: How long do you usually wait between gluing the foam together and latexing the weapon? The instructions on the DAP call for 7 days for full strength. Perhaps allowing only one day cure time before applying latex is causing the glue to never fully cure in that the air tight seal of the latex is trapping the moisture iside the weapon. Have you tried making a batch of weapons, and letting them set for a week between the completion of the gluing phase, and the start of the latexing phase?
I'm not sure about my actual weapons, but the scrap pieces laying around that have not been coated with latex do not fail on the glue line. And so unless the glue is somehow weakening over time, perhaps the weapons aren't being allowed enough dry time between gluing and latexing...
I think the next couple weapons I make out of the remainder of the foam I have I'll allow to set for a week before latexing. It will be interesting to see how they fare compared to the 1-day cure weapons. _________________ Edgar(at)realmsoftracon.com http://www.realmsoftracon.com
Joined: May 02, 2002 Posts: 158 Location: New York
Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 5:33 am Post subject: Weapons...
Well the several hundred weapons I have made have gone together in almost any fashion you can think of One thing I noticed for sure was the seperation problem does not happen when I use the upgrade.
that includes a weapon that went from raw materials to combat in less than 24 hours. _________________ Nothing beats a friend like a rubber sword...
The first thing I noticed as I fought with these the first time is that even though their weight is approximately equivalent to a standard well balanced PVC weapon, they swing MUCH better. I was able to pull off blocks which I used to merely attempt to pull off. I'm pretty sure this is because the smooth surface of the latex moves through the air with less friction than a fabric cover.
I found out why in another thread somebody said that if somebody is selling wooden dowel latex weapons, walk away. One of my three weapons I made with a wooden dowel. It bent over on the first solid hit. I hope to extract the remaining dowel by cutting down the blade, and salvaging the foam and latex part by putting a fiberglass pipe into the foam. Hopefully the latex patch won't look too awfully terrible.
The two weapons shown have similar cores. PVC pipe constructed as per the weapon making guide (see page one of this thread). The handle side of the weapons have a metal pipe over the handle portion to assist in balance. I did that instead of the bar stock because I thought it would feel better in the hand.
The weapon on the top is made with blue camp pad. I also tried doing a blood groove in the blade. The camp pad appears thicker because I actually used five layers as I wanted to make sure there was sufficient padding on the flat of the blade.
The bottom weapon is plastazote.
Since these were first attempt weapons, I didn't go all out and make leather covers for the handles.
The pommels don't look as good as I'd like. I used blue camp pad for both pommels. I think when I smoothed it out the iron may have been too hot, and that's why you can see the glue layers through the latex.
One thing I don't like is the lack of a sizeable cross guard. Any good way to make a safe, rigid cross guard that can stick out more? Perhaps if I laminate strips of wood in with the cross guard shape (with the wood 1/2" smaller than the foam outline, of course)
Well, for now I think I'll stick with the blue camp pad. Once I get some membership going, we can pool money together to make some of the nicer plastazote versions.
Durability report will be a while in coming. (hopefully) _________________ Edgar(at)realmsoftracon.com http://www.realmsoftracon.com
Joined: Jul 12, 2002 Posts: 1060 Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 4:09 pm Post subject:
The latex surfaces look very good for first attempts - way better than mine. Nice job!
We use a denser foam for hilts (PE45 as opposed to PE30 for blades), and reinforce with glue-soaked fabric. Our hilts will stop blows from light weapons, and flex away from heavier ones.
The simplest possible hilt that I've seen on a professionally-made weapon looks like this:
This is a single piece of foam with a hole for the core. It's not great for parrying heavy blows, but it looks great and I've never seen one of these hilts break. I've seen replicas of real swords with hilts exactly like this, so it has some historical accuracy too. Being very slim, it makes the weapon look more real and well-proportioned.
Joined: May 02, 2002 Posts: 158 Location: New York
Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 10:11 am Post subject: guards....
The closer to real life you get with guards, the longer they last. For really strong guards I use hortizontal layers of blade foam, with the layers in line with the length of the weapon. Roman shapes work great with this design. The squat crossguard can take a lot of abuse, and as force comes in it is absorbed by the layers.
Use this method for my Dagorhir weapons, and that is about as much abuse you can muster out to weapons during foam combat. _________________ Nothing beats a friend like a rubber sword...
Joined: May 13, 2005 Posts: 64 Location: Netherlands
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 7:24 am Post subject:
Should not be a problem.
But it is highly advisable to use a more sturdy type of foam. We always use a much tougher type of foam for the guards, but I do not know the name for it. Sorry.
As long as you don't make the connecting bits of those 'wings' to flimsy by themselves it should work.
As an emergency fix; you could add a fiberglas/carbon core like the weapon itself, but without is much preferable for safety reasons.
Joined: Mar 06, 2005 Posts: 56 Location: Montreal, Qc, Canada
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 7:12 pm Post subject:
To TraconEdgar,
it s possible to do a latex hilt for this sword. You can make a sturdy one with an armature and high density foam around it. Or a soft one, with foam and some fabric reinforcement.
Someone just order a Zelda sword from us, I'll show you the picture once it is made if you want to. _________________ Professional prop maker
Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 11:26 pm Post subject: Project
I'll have to try that next year. In the meantime I'll experiament. Unfortunately, I have a very non-larp toy taking up all my money at the moment... anybody know how to make a crank shaft for a Kawi 750SX out of latex? _________________ Edgar(at)realmsoftracon.com http://www.realmsoftracon.com
Joined: Jul 29, 2004 Posts: 12 Location: Ellenville, NY (12428)
Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2005 7:56 am Post subject: Make your own
Once the weather turns and we can nolonger build castles and walls and caves.......we usually repair old weapons and make new ones for the Spring.
If anyone wanted to learn how to make a latex weapon (under mild supervision) in a shop that has plenty of the tools you need send me a note and I will schedule some time for it.
Unfortunately you will have to be in the TRi-State area (USA) as we will be working close to Middletown NY.
Also it takes more than a single visit to complete all the steps so if you are looking to make something specific [and take it with you] I will pre-make a couple of blanks the right size.
Joined: Feb 19, 2004 Posts: 106 Location: All over
Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 4:20 pm Post subject:
I just started picking up supplies for my first latex weapon attempt. I have a few questions on locating some stuff though I was hoping to get some help with.
First is plastazote. I will probably use camping mat for the first few tries, but I am still wondering where plastazote can be found. I see that it can be bought online easily enough, but I am wondering if it is sold in stores anywhere. What are its common applications?
Also the DAP. Where can I find this? Is it just rubber cement glue? Is DAP a brand name or a material?
I checked a local hobby store that sells kites but they did not have any fiberglass tubing so I am wondering if there is any other place I might find this.
Finally I am wondering about acrylic paint. Is there any other brand besides citadel miniatures that anyone has tested? I have a bunch of the stuff from painting miniatures but gamesworkshop sells that stuff at an insane mark up. Just curious if anyone is sure about another brand.
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One thing I noticed for sure was the seperation problem does not happen when I use the upgrade.
sorry for the double post... I thought the first one didn't get throught...
