Boromir's Shield: Boss
United Cutlery planned an official replica of Boromir's shield but went out of business before it could be made. I was really looking forward to getting one so I'll make one myself.
I glued together two 3/4" pieces of MDF and lathed the boss (The metal center of the shield).
I used Aves epoxy putty to carve the wings.
I carved one star using the same method and then molded it in silicone. I cast copies of it in resin and then glued the pieces to the MDF.
The final primered boss.
Since the boss needs to be hollow, my plan was to make a mold and then make a slush cast in resin. I used clay to define the edge thickness.
I poured a layer of silicone over the boss.
I reinforced the rubber with pieces of cloth.
A plaster mother mold was cast over the rubber.
I slush cast a layer of resin into the mold and then a layer of resin with chopped fiberglass strands.
I needed to build an edge so the boss could be attached to the shield. I built up a barrier with clay and then poured resin into the edge.
With the clay removed, you can see the edge lip.
The resin boss demolded. I had some dents where the mold was too thin and pulled away from the mother mold. I filled some of them with filler putty but left a few because they looked like battle damage!
The final painted boss. I started with a coat of primer and then a coat of gloss black. The silver is Testors Metallizer Stainless Steel and the brass is enamel brass (which looked too copper) with a thin coat of gold. The whole thing is weathered with a solution of india ink and rubbing alcohol. It's sitting on a black plastic turntable.
Next comes the hard part...the shield itself!