Suggestions for spray paint

Real swords are out of the question - not only are they dangerous (even the blunt ones), they'll very costly, except the cheapest ones, which are that price for a reason.

As for live action roleplaying swords, the only realistic ones are made using both foam and latex, and are available in Europe only. I live in Canada, and one British pound is more than double one Canadian dollar. The cheapest latex sword I've found runs 25 pounds, which equals over 50 bucks, plus shipping, which the seller said would cost a LOT to ship to Canada. Plus taxes, et al.

So, I have only two viable alternatives - make the swords myself or use wooden training swords and spray paint them.

If I try to make a live action roleplaying sword, by the time I get it looking as well as the ones for sale, I'll have wasted a lot of money.

Hence my dilemma. What I've decided to do (or at least try) is cast/mold the sword, similar to the way Crazy Lou did his handguns and grenades on his site (sorry, I'm not sure which term to use, or even how to do either of them - hopefully I can figure it out before shooting starts in the summer). These swords won't be suitable for combat and so will be used for the extras' weapons.

I've re-worked the story so that only three characters have any significant battles with the sword - I want to use the wooden swords for these three weapons. It's been suggested that I spray paint them with aluminum silver spray paint to simulate the metal blade.

My question is, will this make the wood look convincingly real, or will it look like I painted it? Also, what about the glint/shine? Should I use varnish for that, or some other product? And finally, does anyone know of a particular brand of aluminium silver spray paint that is the most realistic looking?

the silver paint i used on my prop knives (look at the pages again if you missed them) was "brilliant silver" by darice. (doesnt look so hot in those pics) i get it at pat catans down here for a couple bucks for a 10 oz can. it'd look great for background weapons.

some acrylic paints look ok too, and airbrushed they go on smooth and even, but some contain a "mother of pearl" type look to them.

to paint the sword sand the wood super smooth then seal it with a coat or two of primer to smooth it out a little more, although the woodgrain is probably not going to be seen anyway, also dont forget imperfections are good to have, dents chipped edges...they add character

if you're makeing latex props i'd mix it in the first (or outtermost layers, touching the mold) couple of coats of latex, or you could paint it on in a pax type mixture (but it'll cost more, since you need to buy a makeup adhesive like pros-aid )

as far as making the molds and stuff, see the recent gun mold post, email me, or get thurston james' "propbuilders molding and casting handbook"

you'll need to have a sword to mold, can either mold a sword you bought (ehh, i didnt say that) or make one from wood to mold (much more satisfying )

later
Tom

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What everyone seems to forget is that once we look past race, religion, gender, and all that, everyone on this planet is first and foremost...

...a PERSON

The good news is that the silver paints available today are much better than they were in the past. The bad news is that you still can't get a truly mirro-like chrome with paint if that is the look you need.

If you don't have to have a mirror look you're in good shape.

A mirror chrome look is a tough thing to achieve. I have a magician friend who spent a lot of money testing every brand of chrome silver spray paint trying to create a chrome look prop and found that while some of them look a bit better than others, none retain the true chrome look for long.

Chrome spray paints deposit tiny flakes of metal which are held in suspension (parallel to each other) on the surface withan electromagnetic field. Even when the paint is dry, touching the surface or disturbing it otherwise disrupts the field, causes the flakes to tilt a bit randomly, and ruins the near flawless mirror chrome look. It still looks nice and shiny, just not exactly like a polished steel or chrome surface. A few brands warn you that this will happen and advise you to use their special clear coat to protect it, but these disrupt the surface as well! It looks fantastic at first, but as soon as you start handling it...

The upshot is that good old fashioned "silver" aluminum spray paint will give an aluminum look, and the various chrome paints (including arts & crafts acrylic paints) will give fairly nice and shiny surfaces, but you won't get a true, smooth chrome silver look without constantly repainting the prop or having it flash chromed. You may be able to locate a small local shop that flash chromes plastic. This plates silver mylar onto the surface of the plastic, just like the chrome parts in a car model kit.

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Jeff F - Moderator
Magic and FX
Amazing the Masses

I think I may indeed be able to forfeit the mirror look, as I believe in the close-ups of the sword I can rotoscope the shots and add a glint in Photoshop (the most basic being the variation of the lens flair, but I can go more in-depth than that to make it more realistic).