Castlevania Combat Cross

I wanted to make something cool as a gift for my best friend, who has been very supportive and encouraging of my prop making hobby.  A few years ago while trying to decide on a new project, he suggested the Combat Cross as a project, and I finally  made one as a gift for him.

After getting a few reference photos from the internet and figuring out the scale, I souced some of the parts from pvc tubing of the right size and diameter. For the large spikes, I built a box around some pvc tube and filled the negative space with some smoothcast resin to make square tubes.

I then made the pyramid shaped end pieces out of sintra

I put it together and made the raised parts with Smooth On's Free form earth, which is pretty much identical to Apoxiesculpt.

I made a prototype plaque-thing-detail-thing from sintra and cast 2 copies to be more durable and be the same on both sides.

I started on the top part, which detaches from the base and is attached by a chain. I once again made the spikes from sintra and cast them in Smoothcast..

Whenever I cast something in the shop, I often have a little resin left over which I will pour into a plastic cup. I will keep doing  this until eventually the cup is full and when I need to lathe a part, I just peel off the cup and chuck it in the lathe ! I used one of these to make the handle spike, getting the round shape right first and then adding the facets with the belt sander.

     The spike is attached to the handle by gluing a piece of a smaller diameter tube that fits perfectly into the handle, to the bottom of the spike. I then filled the smaller tube with resin, making it able to plug the spike into the handle like a lego.
    
      Finally, I attached the plastic chain to the spikes, and to a slide that slides up and down inside the handle, stopping at the top.

I bought some leather strap from Joann's for the handle, but it was stiff and new looking so I had to distress the leather. I rolled it, folded it, twisted it, and even whipped a maple tree with it to get it softer and distressed, and it worked !

 I had never tried to do the level of weathering that I tried on this project, I learned some new things and went through at least 5 paint jobs ! I finally came up with a prop I am proud of. Thanks for reading !