Making Gladius

[ChaosLord Leon Enaek]

Hi guys, quick question;

 

Is there an easy way of converting a Gladius for a Space Marine without grabbing hold of an Honour Guard Champ or standard Bearer?

 

Thanks in advance :)

[winterdyne]

Not that hard to sculpt out of plasticard.

[ChaosLord Leon Enaek]

Thanks ^_^

 

Any chance of a tutorial or general hand in that area for a fellow with no experience with plasticard?

 

:P

[winterdyne]

I might do a little tutorial for this at some point but here's roughly what I'd do:

 

Start with a piece of paper. Fold it in half and draw half the sword shape (divided from tip to pommel).

 

What makes a gladius look like a gladius is a short, wide blade coming to a tapered point.

 

The quillion itself is usually only very slightly wider than the blade, sometimes curved slightly.

The hilt (handle) is usually fairly long in relation to the blade (a real gladius is a short, stabbing weapon). About one-quarter to one-third the blade length is a good idea.

 

The pommel is usually fairly large - as mentioned this is a stabbing blade and so manueverability requires the weight of the blade be offset by the weight of the pommel. Sometimes a short back-spike is present. Shape wise, the pommel is more often than not round, slightly flattened and attached to the tang (blade spur running through the handle) by means of a nut on the end.

 

Once you have a shape you like cut it out and use the unfolded piece of paper (now a full sword shape) as a template to mark out a piece of thin plasticard. Cut this out and use greenstuff to build up the blade thickness. Gladii are usually diamond-section blades so this is pretty easy - smooth out towards the edge. Do one side of the blade and allow to cure before doing the other. Cut off the template handle and crossguard. The handle and crossguard can be made from second pieces of thicker plastic rod and plasticard respectively, with a blob of greenstuff for the pommel. Use the template you drew to scale the pieces and attach firmly to the blade.