Halifax's Power-Scimitar tutorial - (PICTURE HEAVY!)

[TheHalifax]

Hello Brothers, hopefully this tutorial will provide clear and easy instruction on how to make a Power-Scimitar. I apologise for the poor quality pictures but all I have at the moment is the camera on my phone. Please appreciate that this is the first tutorial that I've done so it may not be as clear and concise as you are used to.

 

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h222/halifaxmark/Facebook/V%20Legion%20%20HeresyEra%20White%20Scars/PS%20tutorial/006.jpg

 

To begin you'll need the following bitz, tools and materials:

 

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h222/halifaxmark/Facebook/V%20Legion%20%20HeresyEra%20White%20Scars/PS%20tutorial/018.jpg

• Plasticard - 1mm or 1.2mm thickness is ideal for this, the imperial equivalent is 18SWG or 20SWG.

• A SM close combat weapon arm - This will provide both a scale to match your PW to, and a donor hand. Here I've used a chain-sword arm from the 40k assault squad sprue.

• A template weapon - Here I've used the scabbarded sword in the 40K Khorne Berzerker box as it's the correct size and shape.

• A thin-tipped pen or pencil - This is for drawing around the existing weapon; the thinner the tip, the easier and neater this will be.

• A 6" steel rule - A steel rule will allow you to cut the Plasticard neatly and safely.

• Modelling Knife - Whether it's a Staley knife, a scalpel or an exacto blade it needs to be sharp and suitable for cutting through Plasticard.

• Tweezers

• Superglue

• Green Stuff

 

Stage One.

 

Begin by cutting a piece of Plasticard sheet that is wider and longer than the finished weapon is going to be. As well as giving you room to draw around it, this will allow you some room to correct mistakes.

 

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h222/halifaxmark/Facebook/V%20Legion%20%20HeresyEra%20White%20Scars/PS%20tutorial/019.jpg

A SM chainsword arm provides a guide to scale.

 

Stage Two.

 

Place your weapon template onto the piece of Plasticard sheet and draw around it. For this part it helps if the template weapon is blu-tacked down to prevent it from moving while you draw around it. Try to keep the tip of your pen or pencil as close to the corner as possible to make the outline as neat and accurate as possible.

 

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h222/halifaxmark/Facebook/V%20Legion%20%20HeresyEra%20White%20Scars/PS%20tutorial/022.jpg http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h222/halifaxmark/Facebook/V%20Legion%20%20HeresyEra%20White%20Scars/PS%20tutorial/026.jpg

 

Stage Three.

 

Next you can use your rule and pen or pencil to carefully neaten up the outline on your Plasticard before proceeding to carefully cutting it out; you may want to cut approximately 1mm away from the line to give yourself some room to correct mistakes in the next step. If you have difficulty cutting curved shapes with a straight blade then use a suitable pair of scissors instead. 

 

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h222/halifaxmark/Facebook/V%20Legion%20%20HeresyEra%20White%20Scars/PS%20tutorial/027.jpg

 

Stage Four.

 

You should now have something that resembles the finished item. This stage will probably take the longest time to complete and having patience and care here will really pay off.

 

Start by smoothing the edges of the Plasticard so that they are flat and square to the sides of the weapon. I achieved this by using the same method that I'd use to remove mould-lines on a plastic mini; by setting my hobby knife perpendicular to the length of the Plasticard and gently drawing the blade along it, moving away from the body. If this method doesn't work for you, try using a small piece of fine grit sand or emery paper instead.

 

Once you have neat edges you can begin putting a bevelled edge onto the Power Scimitar's blade. To do this I used the same methods that I used to neaten the Power Scimitar but set the hobby-knife's blade at 45' instead..

 

Try to take your time and not rush here, add a little bit more depth a little bit at a time so that you don't over do it and mismatch the thickness' of the bevel.

 

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h222/halifaxmark/Facebook/V%20Legion%20%20HeresyEra%20White%20Scars/PS%20tutorial/034.jpg

The Power Scimitar's edge is hard to define here, but it is visible.

 

Stage Five.

 

Now that you have a neat blade you need to put it in the hand of your mini'. Start by deciding how long you want the blade to be, using an existing weapon will provide you with a good indication f the scale you might want to use. Once you've decided on a length make a small pen or pencil mark to indicate where you want to make the cut.

 

You can do this neatly by squaring the steel rule's edge against the back-edge of the Power Scimitar at the pen or pencil mark that you've just made and carefully marking a line; doing it this way will stop your Power Scimitar's blade looking crooked once it's in place. 

 

Now cut the Plasticard and think about the type of hilt that you ant to sit below the blade. I prefer a simple rectangular style hilt and to make this I simply further trimmed the leftover portion of the Power Scimitar until it was the right size.

 

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h222/halifaxmark/Facebook/V%20Legion%20%20HeresyEra%20White%20Scars/PS%20tutorial/040.jpg

 

Stage Six.

 

At this stage you can carefully remove the donor hand's weapon and glue the new hilt and blade in place and be done with it, but if you'd like to add a little more detail and make it a bit more robust in case of any drops or falls then keep reading. 

 

As the sword hilt and blade are going to be joined together by such a small area, I decided to carefully pin the components together before pinning them to the donor hand. I did this by very carefully drilling through the hilt and 2-3mm into the hand and the blade, making sure that I used a drill bit and piece of paper clip that were both thinner than the Plasticard that I'd used to make the Power Scimitar's blade.

 

Dry-fitting the component pieces together before you glue them will let you know how they'll look when finished and allow you to correct any mistakes.

 

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h222/halifaxmark/Facebook/V%20Legion%20%20HeresyEra%20White%20Scars/PS%20tutorial/044.jpg

 

Stage Seven.

 

We now have a pinned and glued Power Scimitar, next we'll add the elements to the side of the blade that are usually found of Power Weapons of all types.

 

To do this I used 0.5mm Plasticard rod. I cut two lengths, one short and one long and then rubbed them on a small piece of 320 grade emery paper until they were nearly half their original thickness and flat on one side. Doing this allowed me to easily glue them onto either side of the blade using super glue and a pair of tweezers. It also makes them look more like they're a part of the blade as they are flush to the side of it.

 

To add the little bulbs at the end of the elements you can use a thinly sliced section of Plasticard rod or Green Stuff; I chose Green Stuff and spent a little while trying to roll balls small enough to match the scale of the blade and look correct. I waited for the Green Stuff to cure and harden a little before I glued them onto the blade with super glue and tweezers.

 

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h222/halifaxmark/Facebook/V%20Legion%20%20HeresyEra%20White%20Scars/PS%20tutorial/046.jpg

 

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h222/halifaxmark/Facebook/V%20Legion%20%20HeresyEra%20White%20Scars/PS%20tutorial/048.jpg 

 

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h222/halifaxmark/Facebook/V%20Legion%20%20HeresyEra%20White%20Scars/PS%20tutorial/006.jpg

 

Conclusion.

 

Again, I'm sorry about the poor quality of the photo's but I hope that they and my explanations are detailed enough to allow you to make your own Power Scimitars. 

 

If you have any further questions please feel free to ask me here.

[geektom]

Brilliant! I will be blatantly copying you, sir!

[Olis]

Excellent work, brother. A tutorial well worth looking up. :tu:

[Brother Aiwass]

Very cool, you make it looks easy!