Prop Making: Scythe

Costume play (cosplay) has become a personal hobby in my spare time. One process of cosplay that I spend time on is prop making. I first started with smaller items and over time I have developed my skills to create larger props such as the Scythe.

Opportunity

Generally, the characters that I chose to cosplay are ones that I like, and therefore motivate me to try and make it something that I'd enjoy to cosplay on the day. For this particular one, It was quite a simple costume but I wanted to make it catch the eye, and decided to include the characters Scythe.

Creating the prop gave me a chance to further develop my prop making skills and also use the 3D printer also.

Solution

When I first started the creating process of the scythe, there were two important steps to do beforehand.

The first step was because this prop is being created specifically for a convention, the guidelines provided by management had to be followed. The guidelines that applied to my prop included:

No longer or wider than 2 metres.
No weight limitations, just be aware of others.
No sharp areas.

Next, was to scale the character and her scythe to human proportions. The character's height is 143 cm, however, the scythe did not have an exact measurement, so I had to base the measurements on models or photos. It seemed as though the scythe is 30 sm cm higher than the character, resulting in the estimated height being 173 cm.

I then had to scale these measurements based on my height, which would result in the height of the scythe being 198 cm. Now in terms of human interaction and based on the environment the prop was going to be in, I decided to shorten the overall height (166 cm tall) and ensure that the whole scythe would be light enough to carry around for two complete days.

Process

Cut a PVC pipe to a smaller size using a Dremel.

Joined the 1 metre PVC pipe to the smaller part using a 45-degree PVC elbow joint to create the bent look.

Traced out the shape of the Scythes Blade and placed it near the PVC piping feature.

Gained feedback from others to see if human proportions seemed correct.

Cut the traced-out Blade shape into 4 different parts.

3D printed a diamond for the cardboard blade components to be glued onto (placed towards the back of the scythe where it can hold weight). This forms its shape.

A PVC snap clamp was then hot glued onto the diamond. This was so the PVC piping had supports when attached to the blade.

Attached the blade and PVC staff piping together to see the human scale proportion.

Gained feedback from others regarding human scale.

After refining further, I hot glued the PVC pipe that was attached to the snap clamp together.

Started 3D printing the bottom spike of the staff.

Sanded down all surfaces and applied white primer to begin the painting process with acrylic paint.

Applied 2-3 coats of appropriate coloured acrylic paint with smooth strokes.

When the spike was complete, hot glued and super glued it to the bottom of the staff.

After all the components were dried, the Scythe was sprayed with a few layers of clear gloss to lock in the colour and refine it.

Further Comments

The angled component of the staff is not exact to the characters model, however looking to improve this in the future.

The back part of the Scythe's blade did not line up correctly when glued

around the diamond. This is probably due to the cardboard not

being exactly alike when compared next to each other. However,

this area was going to be covered with other cardboard components.

It would be beneficial to use spray paint instead of acrylic paint

to gain an immaculate and precise look.

The Scythe was overall quite large, however, it was easy to maneuver

due to it being lightweight. The different components stayed in

place for a full days use at a convention, however, on the

second day small parts did start coming apart and needed

quick superglue fixes.

After the convention, the needed to be some fixes such as the paint coming off in different areas and components were loosening. So I had sanded down the paint reapplied a fresh coat and fixed any loose parts. It was also designed so that I could dismantle it and store it away in a smaller size.