Full-Metal Buster Sword (Advent Children/Crisis Core Redesign)

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  • This was a project my father and I had started on several years ago. We'd gotten most of the detail work done ages ago, and then it just sat in a corner for the longest time. I'm living on my own now, and of course this thing came with me. I'm trying to devote more time to props, and this beauty's just begging for some paint.

    When this blade was started, I was basing everything off of the game. Measurements were based on the FF7 concept art. With Cloud about 5'7", the Buster scaled to an almost even 6'.

    [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/zlpQcQZl.jpg[/IMG]

    After getting the base blade built, I then noticed this scene in Advent Children:

    [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/aNKKGON.png[/IMG]

    The Buster Sword had been redesigned! Luckily, most of the details copied over to the previous measurements without fuss.

    There wasn't a whole lot of reference at the time (neither Crisis Core nor the Advent Children Complete Blu-Ray release were available), so I had to scavenge the groove details off images of Square Enix props and figures.

    [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/e1vtnMOl.jpg[/IMG]

    Aaand eventually we got something built.

    [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/K19Cnw0l.jpg[/IMG]

    The Buster Sword's fabricated almost entirely out of aluminum. It gives a nice heft to the blade without being near-impossible to lift. Most of the smaller folks I know have trouble lifting it by the handle. The bigger guys can hold it up, but it's still very unwieldy. She only weighs in at 12lbs, but with most of the weight past the handle, she's a tricky thing to maneuver.

    The last major fabrication point was sculpting on the wing details on the hand guard.

    [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/C2LCegCl.jpg[/IMG]
    (Not pictured are the riveted details that came after)

    Right now I'm just smoothing out any rough edges and filling any pits and gaps with bondo. Current plan is to have her prepped for paint by the weekend.

    I'll update with more photos once I've the time in sunlight. In the mean time, here's a video of a couple of guys goofing off with the blade.

    [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzn4hlhCdZY[/url]

  • That thing is freaking sweet dude!! You have no idea what I would give up to have that..lol But on your body size (if that's you in the vid) it's a little small. It looks a tad short on you and a tad skinny (meaning width when looking at the side of the blade). But over all, I really like the detail you have in it. Very accurate

  • Yeah, once I had the Buster in hand, I realized it was a bit smaller than I expected. I think the trouble is that Cloud makes it look a lot bigger, since he's a bit on the shorter side. Guys like Angeal and our goof in the video, though, who are closer to 6ft, tend to make the Buster look a bit smaller than we'd think.

    [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/mT1iXy7l.jpg[/IMG]

    The blade is indeed a bit thinner than its Crisis Core game model. Part of that was lack of available reference at the time, the rest was wanting to build a manageable prop. 12lbs doesn't sound like a lot, but this thing is -really- heavy, and I hear, historically, most great swords didn't exceed 10lbs.

  • You totally got a point there..lol But that's all because of the ONE thing I hate about animation the most..Nothing is ever correct haha Like it looks like that on Angeal when holding it like that, but in the cutscenes where it's on his back, it looks quite a bit bigger lol Same with Zack. However cloud we can't talk much about because he's only next to it ONCE in CC and ONCE in the movie (which he is different ages and a little more muscular then CC). Then the original VII is horrible graphics so you wouldn't be able to tell..It's SUPPOSE to be the same sword, but that was before they decided to give it awesome detailing that they couldn't do in the original.

  • Wrapped up the detail work on the Buster last week. I was missing two little panels on the blade's edge, but they're attached now. Did a bit of sanding to smooth the wing details on the hand guard.

    [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/8a2htmIl.jpg[/IMG]

    Called in a favor at the local sign shop to get the sword coated in epoxy primer, otherwise the paint would have trouble sticking to the aluminum. They were cool and even added a semi-gloss black coat. I'll use the shine to help me find and work out any imperfections before the real paint work.

    [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/ScT4o5il.jpg[/IMG]

    I've already started puttying up the pits and sanding down any high areas. Shooting to have that done with a coat of etching primer this weekend.

  • It's funny what a coat of primer will point out. Working on the blade, I discovered just how badly the entire structure had warped. I had a chat with my old man about where we should take this, as this is just as much his project as it is mine. At one point we'd even considered salvaging as much of the handle as we could, scrapping the blade, and building on top.

    Eventually we decided that we were going to get this piece completed as well as physically possible, and went about pounding the blade as straight as we could. Plenty of resin to handle cracks and bondo to smooth the waves, and the blade's starting to come back together.

    [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/VbRKgN3l.jpg[/IMG]

    The plan at this point is a worn-and-torn paint scheme to represent the way Cloud (ab)used the sword in Final Fantasy VII.

  • Rushing this piece out for a con this weekend. First coat of paint n wear's been applied:

    [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/NbKF7z6l.jpg[/IMG]

    I'm letting the paint sit for a while, then I'll mask it off to paint the gold bits and clean up the blade's edge.

  • Buster made it to the con, along with a quick-build SOLDIER Sword and an over-night SOLDIER uniform.

    (I didn't snap any photos myself, but the below images are used with permission from some nice con attendants)

    [URL=http://imgur.com/zNBWBRS][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/zNBWBRSl.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

    The outfit isn't very accurate or well put together, but it was really just an accessory to the sword. I'll revisit it at a later point.

    [URL=http://imgur.com/8F0kZWh][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/8F0kZWhl.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

    The Buster took a fall at the con that damaged the tip, and the paint was rushed. I'll be repairing the damage and reworking the paint before I call this one "finished", but at least the piece is finally in color.

    The Buster Sword was really too heavy for most folks to swing around, but lots of folks had a blast with the SOLDIER sword:

    [URL=http://imgur.com/QsL5kKG][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/QsL5kKGl.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

    [URL=http://imgur.com/Hv43FlW][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Hv43FlWl.jpg[/IMG][/URL]