Darkon Viking Shield Tutorial

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this tutorial will teach you how to build a basic wood cored plastidip viking shield for use in darkon.

Tools:

• jigsaw
• drill with bits
• router with straight cut and round over bits
• Dremel Tool with Drum Sander
• Razor Blades
• scissors
• serrated knife (or Electric Carving Knife)
• Foam Brushes

Materials:

• 1/2″ Birch plywood (20″ circle)
• polyplank shield blank (30″)
• 2mm Foamie Roll
• Small Foam Sheet 6mm
• 2″ thick minicell (6″ circle)
• Plasti Dip
• Dap Contact Cement
• Gorilla Glue
• wood screws
• Tennis Overgrip
• acrylic paint
• wood stain (optional)
• Sealant (optional)

 

 

draw a 20″ circle for the outer edge of your core, and a 7″ circle for the inner ring of your handle area.

 

cut out your core, and trace it on your foam shield blank.

draw a line .5″ inside your handle area

using the straight cut bit on your router remove the foam for your core

glue the core into your foam using gorilla glue (follow the directions, it needs water.)

add as much weight as you can to hold the core in place while the glue sets.

once dry, clean up excess glue.

using your dremel tool remove the foam from the handle area in a bowl shape.

trace your shield onto the craft foam (you should be able to just fit a 30″ round on the roll of craft foam twice.)

cut out your craft foam with scissors or a razor blade.

coat both sides in dap contact cement, and allow to dry to the touch.

glue front on, then repeat for the back.

cut away excess foam covering the grip area.

cut a 8″ circle of craft foam for handle area

 

dap in place as smoothly as you can get it.

sand any creases smooth with the dremel tool.

glue edging strip in place and smooth the seams with the dremel tool.

 

 

cut two 8″ circles of craft foam, cut a 6″ circle out of the center of one.

glue the one with the center cut out around the handle area.

trace a 6″-7″ circle on a 2″ thick piece of minicell foam

cut it out.

rough to shape with a serrated knife.

sand smooth with dremel tool.

glue the boss to your second 8″ circle, and glue to the center of the front of the shield.

cut some 1″ strips of craft foam.

glue in place around the rim of the shield.

do the same on the other side.

cut out rivets from your thick craft foam sheet.

mark the rivet placing.

glue them on.

both sides.

sand rivets into dome shape, and edge seams smooth with dremel tool.

walk away and allow to dry for a few days before you begin the plastidip.

coat first with a light coat of spray, then alternate painting on with a brush, and spraying a light coat with the spray (spray coat should be applied while the paint on coat is still wet to help with leveling)

once plastidip is fully dry, paint with a medium grey acrylic paint to act as primer.

mark your handle where it touches the shield.

using the round over bit in your router, round the corner anywhere that the handle does not touch the shield.

 

mark and drill pilot holes for handle.

now stain handle with wood stain if desired.

paint base coats on shield.

once dry, apply black wash.

wipe off excess.

allow to dry.

wrap handle with tennis racket grip, and scew to back of shield with wood screws.

delay your trip to valhalla with your glorious new shield!