ESB Gauntlet Scratch build

Malaxor · Apr 6, 2015

The next challenge with the left gauntlet was getting the top to marry up properly with the lower curve. Keeping in mind that the straight part needs to end up virtually flush with the outside of the gauntlet, as it will eventually hold the flamethrower, it became clear that the curved side ended up too wide for the top portion as it currently was built. Looking at some reference photos, you can see that the inside edge of the left gauntlet has a bit of a curve to it that begins on the upper section that marries up to the bottom curve where they meet.

To achieve this, I decided I needed to warp the inside edge of the upper portion outward quite a bit. I did that by custom making some ribs underneath that would push the inside edge outward. I hope you can see that in the following picture:

The left side of the gauntlet is pushed outward by the custom ribs (there are not templates for those), I just made them up myself, just large enough to get the outer edge braced outward as much as I needed it.
With that in place, I then began using the interior wood filler to seal the entire top portion.

I then added many, many layers to edge that I pushed out with the custom ribs to get the curve to look right on the outside. In this pic, you can see on the right side how there is over a quarter inch of filler built up over the cardboard to make the outer edge approximately right for this early stage. Note that you can’t build up this much filler at once…use multiple thinner layers, allowing enough dry time and sanding in between.

That's all for now...I'll try to the next set of pics together soon.

Triton · Apr 7, 2015

This is GOLD.

Triton · Apr 7, 2015

Malaxor, what kind of cardboard are you using, and where do you get it? I'm trying to do it with corrugated cardboard...but I think that may be too thick.

Malaxor · Apr 7, 2015

Triton, to do a build like this, 2mm cardboard has worked out best for me. It's stiff enough to build with, yet can be bent by misting lightly with water. In my case, I've used 2mm-thick Crescent Chipboard I could get at a hobby store. The only thing with this cardboard is that it is actually composed of two thinner sheets laminated together. I've found that it works just fine, though, as long as you don't get the cardboard too wet when bending and you don't go through too many wet / dry cycles.

For using cardboard, I suggest you do some searches on cardboard scratch builds here on TDH. There are plenty around and it's where I got a lot of my ideas and techniques. Many of the examples are helmets (including my own helmet scratch build), but the concepts for manipulating the cardboard are largely the same. One of the best IMHO, is Antman's 2nd cardboard helmet scratch build. Good Luck.

Triton · Apr 8, 2015

Malaxor said:
Triton, to do a build like this, 2mm cardboard has worked out best for me. It's stiff enough to build with, yet can be bent by misting lightly with water. In my case, I've used 2mm-thick Crescent Chipboard I could get at a hobby store. The only thing with this cardboard is that it is actually composed of two thinner sheets laminated together. I've found that it works just fine, though, as long as you don't get the cardboard too wet when bending and you don't go through too many wet / dry cycles.

For using cardboard, I suggest you do some searches on cardboard scratch builds here on TDH. There are plenty around and it's where I got a lot of my ideas and techniques. Many of the examples are helmets (including my own helmet scratch build), but the concepts for manipulating the cardboard are largely the same. One of the best IMHO, is Antman's 2nd cardboard helmet scratch build. Good Luck.

I actually decided to keep going with the corrugated cardboard last night. Yes, it's about 4mm thick...but we'll see how it turns out. I'm actually quite proficient modeling with it, so we'll see if it's too thick or not. It's free, so no harm there...and worse case scenario, it gets me familiar with the templates.

Triton · Apr 9, 2015

Malaxor said:
Triton, to do a build like this, 2mm cardboard has worked out best for me. It's stiff enough to build with, yet can be bent by misting lightly with water. In my case, I've used 2mm-thick Crescent Chipboard I could get at a hobby store. The only thing with this cardboard is that it is actually composed of two thinner sheets laminated together. I've found that it works just fine, though, as long as you don't get the cardboard too wet when bending and you don't go through too many wet / dry cycles.

For using cardboard, I suggest you do some searches on cardboard scratch builds here on TDH. There are plenty around and it's where I got a lot of my ideas and techniques. Many of the examples are helmets (including my own helmet scratch build), but the concepts for manipulating the cardboard are largely the same. One of the best IMHO, is Antman's 2nd cardboard helmet scratch build. Good Luck.

Malaxor...how do you prevent THIS nonsense with the 2mm cardboard?

( Red Arrow in Pic - Cardboard delaminates when bending etc)

Malaxor · Apr 9, 2015

Triton said:
Malaxor...how do you prevent THIS nonsense with the 2mm cardboard?

( Red Arrow in Pic - Cardboard delaminates when bending etc)

Oh man, that stinks! Generally speaking, it's probably a result of the edge getting a little too wet when bending combined with using a cardboard that is composed of layers as opposed to being solid (it looks like it may have as many as 4 layers). The only way to completely avoid it would be to try and find a solid cardboard that isn't made of layers. As I said, the stuff I'm using actually has two layers and I have been OK with it. I sometimes get a little bit of splitting, but usually only if I have had to re-wet several times. When using a laminated cardboard, it will be especially sensitive to the water, depending on the adhesive used between the layers, so it could just be that brand is especially sensitive (just a guess). You may be able to glue it back down if you get to the final shape, but if it's happening before you can get it molded, that's probably not going to work. I wish I could be of more help. Best of luck.

Triton · Apr 9, 2015

Malaxor said:
Oh man, that stinks! Generally speaking, it's probably a result of the edge getting a little too wet when bending combined with using a cardboard that is composed of layers as opposed to being solid (it looks like it may have as many as 4 layers). The only way to completely avoid it would be to try and find a solid cardboard that isn't made of layers. As I said, the stuff I'm using actually has two layers and I have been OK with it. I sometimes get a little bit of splitting, but usually only if I have had to re-wet several times. When using a laminated cardboard, it will be especially sensitive to the water, depending on the adhesive used between the layers, so it could just be that brand is especially sensitive (just a guess). You may be able to glue it back down if you get to the final shape, but if it's happening before you can get it molded, that's probably not going to work. I wish I could be of more help. Best of luck.

Darn...the only place I can find 2mm cardboard of any kind is from my local Michaels craft store.

Malaxor · Apr 9, 2015

I know the stuff I'm using I got at Hobby Lobby. It is grey and comes in 32 x 40 inch sheets. It might be called mounting board or chipboard. It's in the same section as the framing mats. But keep in mind it isn't perfect as it still composed of two layers, but if you don't get it too wet, it's worked ok for me.

toolguy301 · Apr 10, 2015

Another thing you can try to eliminate the separation is creating score lines to help with bending the card board. These would be on the opposite side of the direction you are bending. I tried the water method early on when on & had mixed results. I know that WOF's templates don't show all the bend lines but they can be easily added just evenly space them very similar to how pep files are. Another benefit of the score lines is if you coat with a resin it fills in these areas & adds some strength.

Triton · Apr 10, 2015

Yeah not really a fan of solid cardboard. The things I can do with corrugated card is amazing. But...it's likely too thick for much of this.

runFettBoyRun · Jun 28, 2015

This is an excellent guide - many thanks.

TheBloodyHanded · Jun 28, 2015

These are looking super great! The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is maybe using hot glue around all the edges. It may bind the fibers together and offer a bit of protection to future fraying.

runFettBoyRun · Jul 1, 2015

Did you get them finished?

Malaxor · Jul 1, 2015

I appreciate the interest. I have been working on them a lot and they are pretty much done except for some flame thrower details and painting. just haven't gotten all the new pictures together to Post. I'll try to get my current pics up this weekend.

Sent from my iPhone

NoahFett · Jul 2, 2015

This looks fantastic man! Can't wait to see them painted up. I had built a right gaunt out of cardboard a while back, but was never really happy with it. Your post has inspired me to build it again! Thanks for posting your work.

Malaxor · Jul 5, 2015

Hello all, I have been remiss in posting my latest progress for a while. Continuing from the last progress pics I showed, I next attached the two halves together. I decided to use a long hinge here. I know that some may not like that choice as it is visible on the inside edge of each gauntlet, but the ease of getting them on and off won out for me:

Right now I'm just using a single "loop" of some of the hinge excess secured with JB weld to hold the gauntlets closed. I may choose something different when it's all said and done, but it works for now.

Now, on to the flame thrower...

Malaxor · Jul 5, 2015

For the ESB flamethrower, there just isn't as much really hard info. From what I can tell across various versions I have seen, there's quite a bit of variability. Anyway, I did continue my use of the WOF templates to get me started. I then deviated based on what I think I am seeing in the reference pics...For the blocks that will actually hold the flamethrower, I used layers of cardboard glued together and shaped. Note that there are two more small pieces that will go on the top and bottom of the main block that I guess I forget to get in the picture (you'll see them later in a future post).

From there I continued my standard use of the basic wood filler to even out all the edges. Here I'm testing how the blocks will look on the back plate as well as marking where the flamethrower shafts will go.

Malaxor · Jul 5, 2015

Now, moving on to actually adding the flamethrower shafts. Here I decided to use brass tubing that I could get at my local hobby store. It is sold in telescoping sizes. Brass was more widely available in more sizes that aluminum. The aluminum sure would have been lighter, but I just couldn't find all the different sizes I needed. I'll definitely have to use some good primer, possibly a self-etching primer, on the brass when it comes time to paint them the proper color. Here you can see the base of each flamethrower shaft (I think these were 5/16") with the blocks that hold them in place:

The above picture is not glued in place (and it won't be until some of the painting is done, actually), just a test fit. To begin adding detail, I planned on creating rings of various widths around the main shaft. To do this, put a length of 11/32 tube inside a 3/8 tube (which fit together perfectly) along with some silicon adhesive to hold them in place. The silicon adhesive isn't a great bond, but I just needed to hold it in place for cutting. I then cut the thicker combined tube into short sections (another plus for a dremel):

Now because the inside of each ring was made of 11/32, it will exactly fit over the 5/16th tube I used for the main shafts, providing the detail I was looking for. Once each ring was where I wanted it to be, I used a bit of CA glue to hold each ring in place:

Next, I added the longer portion of the middle shaft and extended the length of the bottom shaft with 1/4" tubing. To get the 1/4" tubing to fit, an intermediate tube of 9/32" was required. You can't see the 9/32" tube as they are fully inserted into the 5/16" portion just for the purpose of holding the 1/4" that now extends from the middle and bottom shafts:

Malaxor · Jul 5, 2015

After I had gotten to this stage, the rest of the flamethrower parts were going to take some more thought. While I worked that out, I went ahead and began the finishing process on every completed part that I had. All the parts were filled with wood filler and sanded as smooth as possible down to 220 grit. From there, I applied multiple layers of white gesso to everything, inside and out. I then sanded this down to 220 grit. This step took forever.

When that was done, I then sealed everything again with a clear zinsser bullseye shellac, inside and out, and then sanded this down to 220 grit. The whole idea is to make everything as waterproof as possible.

Next I used a gray wet sand-able auto primer over everything. I initially applied three coats, and then did a *very careful* wet sanding (no matter how much care I have taken to seal everything, there's no way I would trust this to too much water) using progressive 320 grit, 400 grit, and then 600 grit. This let me see the millions of holes, dips, cracks, etc., in the finish. I used spot putty to fill those, sanded them back down, and then re-primed everything with 3 full coats. After wet-sanding all this down to 600 grit again, I am happy with the results:

So now I am working on the final attachment of the flamethrower to the left gauntlet as well as all the remaining details on the flamethrower. Once I get that done, I can finally start painting...

EDIT. Fixed picture that wasn't showing up before...

ESB Gauntlet Scratch build

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