Hoplon Shield reconstruction project

[thesilhouette]

Brilliant stuff! Nicely done, can't wait to see more progress

[Roma_Victrix]

This has got to be one of the best threads on TWC. That's +1 rep to grouchy for excellent craftsmanship and presentation. This should probably become a sticky thread, in my humble opinion.

[Palmetto]

I just came across this thread. Nice work on the construction.

[TR00PER7]

Quick question, would there be any problem of just buying a large rectangular piece of ply wood and cutting out full donuts? seemed easy from my view but also more expensive due to a lot of excess wood.

[grouchy13]

Quick question, would there be any problem of just buying a large rectangular piece of ply wood and cutting out full donuts? seemed easy from my view but also more expensive due to a lot of excess wood.

yeah entirely possible, would save alot of work but as you say drive up the cost. You weed need to drill out a hole in the center radius so you could get started cutting with your jigsaw.

[Slydessertfox]

Wow, excellent project you got going here.

[General Maximus]

Marvelous work there, Grouchy!

I'll be following. I might also catch some hints on shield construction, since I had been planning to construct a Roman Scutum for some time.

[grouchy13]

Update

Sorry for the delay in getting some updates up and running, I've had a bereavement in the family so thoughts have been elsewhere.

To that end work has continued all be it at a slower place, where we have made progress is in the Outer Handle. The outer handle is made of rope, Being in the Royal Navy I have managed to source some decent rope to produce the handle. The rope I'm using is called 3 core, I'm going to use around 7-8 Inches spliced around two Brass washers, the Brass Washers will then sit within brass clips we've fabricated fabricating which will be attached to the Hoplon Body.

For those unfamiliar with Rope work, Splicing is simply attaching the rope to other pieces of rope or in this case the brass washers I have fabricated. To do this I gained the services of a sailor with over 30 years experience of rope work, He'll be cutting the rope so it is loose and the 3 cores of the rope can be attached through the washers, he;ll reassemble the rope with another splice so it is solidly attached to the washer as opposed to simply putting feeding it through the rope. To reconstruct the rope we'll be using what is known as a west country splice that looks like this,

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

In regards to the metal work required for the Porpax, primarily we've been concerned with producing the brass washers, We sourced a 1.5 Inch Brass bar. We then cut 2 x 10mm blanks which then were bored out with 10mm drill bit. My father then placed the blanks in a lathe and turned the outside and inside radius which came out at 22mm diameter, to finish the washers we then used a standard half round file to round of the edges. I aplogise for the lack of pictures as my father has been cracking on and not took any I manged to grab some just to illustrate the material we used, what the blanks looked like and how the washers came out,

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and the finished articles,

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Next jobs will be the fabrication of the clips to attach the rope handle, then splicing the rope to the washers. We'll look then into fabricating the Porpax, I'm sourcing some man made leather for the Hoplon interior this week. Once all the ducks are in row it will go like this upholstering the interior, attaching the Porpax and Rope handles, then the fun part will begin as we look towards painting the Hoplon face and Rim.

[Daily]

Awesome Grouchy. It seems all the "big work" is done and now its mostly in the details. That sounds so wrong but I hope you understand what I mean. Can't wait to see how it turns out!

[Emperork]

Well done looking forward to future updates.

[grouchy13]

Wow, excellent project you got going here.

Marvelous work there, Grouchy!

I'll be following. I might also catch some hints on shield construction, since I had been planning to construct a Roman Scutum for some time.

Awesome Grouchy. It seems all the "big work" is done and now its mostly in the details. That sounds so wrong but I hope you understand what I mean. Can't wait to see how it turns out!

Well done looking forward to future updates.

Thanks guys it's awesome to have your continued support, we're getting very close now!

Update

After a couple of weeks of continued work on the interior fittings I'm proud to say we're around 90% complete on the Brass Washers, more excitingly though I collected the Hoplon from the Upholsterers earlier today and I can say the results are spectacular, I gave the Hoplon to a local Upholsterer who specializes in producing high end VW Camper Van Leather Interiors. The Upholsterer website is here,

http://www.kreynoldsupholstery.co.uk/

Keith was super stoked when I presented the Hoplon for a quote and was keen to take on this unusual project, after a discussion of the construction method and him having a quick mess about holding the Hoplon we discussed the methods of Upholstering the Hoplon in Leather, for Cast I elected to use an imitation leather and left it in the capable hands of Keith and his team. A fortnight & a very reasonable £30 later, including materials & labor I'm proud to present the Upholstered Hoplon!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I think we can agree it looks amazing, To give you an idea of what the Brass Washers will look like I did a photo of what the washers will look upon the Hoplon,

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So with the Upholstering complete the next jobs will be to drill the washer holders with a 3mm hole in prep for fixing, give them a real good clean and polish in preperation for splicing the Rope between them. The Drilling and cleaning will be taking place this weekend with Splicing being carried out during next week, in the meantime we'll start on sheet metal work required for manufacturing the Porpax!

[neoptolemos]

By Golly!!!It looks amazing so far!
I bet the leather lining would have been a hard task.

[The Roman Republic]

I made a stand for my gladius, I wish I did a progress report on it, anyway it's looking fantastic keep going.

[grouchy13]

Update

Without further ado and no messing here's the Rope Handle!,

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hopefully get chance to do some fitting work this weekend, fingers crossed the Porpax may be complete too!

[The Roman Republic]

coming along nicely.

[General Maximus]

Wundabar.

[Daily]

At least that picture wasn't blurry.

Looking really well done by the way. You have to take tons of pictures when it is finished so we can look at it all.

[General Maximus]

Indeed. In fact, I think you could do a Youtube video trying it out and testing it.

[The Roman Republic]

Hopefully all is well?

[grouchy13]

Update

Sorry guys between TWR2 release, Work and TWC being a major pain in the ass the update rate has slipped of late however here is a bumper update.

So after the Rope Handle was completed we managed to complete some nice backing plates that will hide the fixings and give a nice decorative edge, these were made out of thin pieces of copper cut and to the desired shape then filled for burr's,

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and a look from further out,

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Work on the Porpax is moving ahead, copper has been cut in line with the template I showed a while back, on the outside edges we are using copper rod that will allow us to give the Porpax a curved edge, the Porpax looks abit rough at the mo but this is very much a work in progress, a couple of views then.

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and a view of the bending process with the copper rod,

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We also beat a couple of nails down on the head to give them a more man made feel, these will be used to hold the Porpax and rope handle base plates in place, this is a before and after photo with the ones we're using on the right.

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Perhpas most exiting of all is the rim has been cut and shaped and it looks awesome. The rim is cut from one solid piece, which we had to screw down (The reason for the holes) to ensure giving it a perfect radius. Some pics from both faces to give you a feel for size and look.

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and the interior,

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[IMG]Uploaded with ImageShack.com[/IMG]

Next up some serious fabrication on the Porpax to see that to completion, then it will be fit the interior pieces (another lengthy job), filling and sanding and joining the rim prior to paint!

So onwards and upwards!