Read on to see how I created a sword worthy of a Cosmic Enforcer…
Zodac is one of my favorite Masters of the Universe characters,
and the Masters of the Universe Classics version is for my money the
definitive version of the character.
But, even as a kid I felt Zodac was lacking in accessories. His gun
is simply not that impressive when compared to the larger, more
impressive weapons the other Masters wielded.
But what weapon would be worthy of a cosmic enforcer? A bigger
gun? Redundant. A mace? Too crude. An axe, better but still not
right.
No, it had to be a sword. A mighty blade to cleave a path between
good and evil, and maintain cosmic balance. I dug around in my parts
bin and found various blades that worked alright (Mattel’s King Arthur
and the Knight’s of Justice and Playmates’ Superhuman Samurai Syber
Squad yielded decent ones) but nothing was quite exactly what I wanted.
I wanted something with a futuristic feel, but still a traditional sword. Something between Excalibur and a Lightsaber…
So I decided to make one. I knew I wanted a broad bladed, heavy
sword. And I wanted to incorporate the feel and motif of Zodac’s
armor. So I set about sketching some rough designs and then fabricated
a master out of sheet and rod styrene and a bead for the pommel:
The sketches were really just rough ideas, I prefer working in 3D so
that’s where the real design came together. I wanted to incorporate
Zodac’s 3 pronged logo (I like that it represents the 2 extremes of
good and evil with the cosmic balance in the center.) I then added the
3 circular indents from Zodac’s armor, again reflecting the idea of the
trinity. The handle I wanted to be reminiscent of the grip of his
pistol, with a rounded pommel and ribbed grip.
I was quite happy with the master first time out, and it worked nicely with the figure. So it was time to cast the sword!
I constructed a Lego mold box, added a spout and vents and cast a silicone mold.
Once the mold was ready it was time to test cast! Initially I
thought at the time that I’d make a silver sword, so my first cast used
silver powder in the clear base resin:
It cast well enough, though I noticed I needed 2 more small vents at
the corners of the section w/ the circular indents to eliminate some
trapped air. The silver powder gave the resin a nice iridescent look,
but the the swirl pattern was a bit random and the blade was a bit too
translucent.
So I tried some more:
The second casting had silver powder mixed with some black and white
dye. This made the silver more even and opaque, but less metallic.
The 3rd version was inspired by MOTUC He-Ro’s prototype sword. I
realized that the idea of a starfield trapped in a smoky clear blade
would be perfect for Zodac! Something between a Lightsaber and a
traditional sword, exactly what I was looking for. A bit of silver
glitter and black dye added to the resin did the trick perfectly!
I also discovered a great bonus! The clear casting let the 3
pronged logo on either side of the sword act as a window or sorts!
So Zodac finally has a sword worthy of a Cosmic Enforcer!
I had a lot of fun with this project, and it’s been a long time
since I created an item totally from scratch. I’d love to do more
MOTUC accessories, mabye even create a "Weapon’s Pack" of all original
designs…
So dear readers, if you have any big ideas for original MOTUC weapons and accessories, let me know!
And if you’d like a casting of the Master Blade of the Empyrean you can send a request to:
spymagician@gmail.com Just put "
Zodac’s Sword" in the subject line!
‘Til Next Time!
SpyMagician
Tema: Re: Custom de Motu 
Miér Jun 24, 2009 5:36 pm
