Work in progress (Apocalypse)

So I've been working on the Apocalypse for my 2006 version of FFVII:AC Cloud Strife. I had already made two buster swords by the time the movie did come out and was shocked/happily surprised when the new 6-pack sword showed up.

I started off with a basic idea from the movie and had to first engineer a set of arms to make the sword open and close. O_o that took the longest time!!! As you can see, it paid off. The opening mechanism is made of hand-carved pieces of basswood. The main blades are made of stiff polyeurathane posterboard (the elmer's kind you use for science projects), the internal latice is made of really thick cardstock I found.


<--closed/open-->
Other details and final structures are in the photos here. I only have my set of trusty razor blades, my ruler(super important!), my plans sheet, a trusty glue gun, and a dremel to build this perdy sword, so there are tons of imperfections. There are a few dowels stuffed hidden in there to keep the blades stable. I think it's a little messy, but I figure if it looks good at 3-5 feet, it's cool enough.


<---bearly fits in photo!!!--->

I have yet to finish actually connecting the blade to the hilt, getting the guard to work, and painting it. I figure it oughta not take too long, but the paint drying might take a while. I want to try Amethyst Angel's plastic sheeting method on Apocky here, but I think maybe if I make another one I'll try it. I'm just too deep into the process to get it covered properly. The hardest problem was actually getting everything to fit inside the blades. I spent many an hour stuffing as much card cutouts inside testing to see that the sword still closed properly.

If anyone has questions about it or anything, feel free to comment. I might make a tutorial if I have time. Honestly, it's kinda fragile because it's made of posterboard and smashes quite easily. I really just made it for showing at Fainme 2k6 and AX06 to walk around a little while. It won't hold up to 'convention contact' for very long. Some art just isn't meant to be durable.

^___^ I'm proud of my blades! wheeee