It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog update. I’ve been busy, I promise. Just too busy to sit and write a build log. So, in the spirit of playing catch up, here is The Batsmasher.
This is the second of, what I hope to be, many commissions from the talented ~RedxHarlxoxo. Harley has many weapons, and one of my personal favorites has always been her huge hammer.
When I was asked if I could build that, well of course I said yes (I always do, don’t I). How hard could it be?
The core construction was easy enough. A large concrete forming tube and a section of pipe running through the middle. This pipe was to guide and secure the wooden handle.
The handle slid right in and simply screwed onto a bolt at the top.
This kept the whole thing light.
I sealed the whole tube with a few coats of fiberglass resin. This helped to hide the spiral running down the tube.
There was some confusion with the paint, that led to the first of several set backs.
Please not the color says Kona Brown.
Opening the can revealed:
PURPLE?!?!
Turned out this was one of those voodoo/witchcraft paints that goes on purple and dries brown.
To cap the ends, I used EVA foam that I carved a wood like pattern into and glued them in place.
Now for more purple/brown paint.
And I now have a giant Tootsie Roll. Great.
Several hours with the airbrush later, I was getting something that looked more wood and less candy.
After a while, I finally got the paint right, only to screw up parts of it later.
Next we have the tension bands and rivets to hold it in place. This was a fun little trick that turned out better than I expected, but the glue ruined some of the paint.
Some touch up and repaint, and it looked much better.
And I really need to get a better shop camera. Sorry.
The next set back came for the ^$%@&$*$%^!!! handle. It was too long to ship in one piece. Making a sectional wooden handle is not something I’m good at, and proved again when I busted the wooden handle trying to fix it.
I didn’t want to, for various reasons, but I had to go back to my old friend PVC pipe. It could be sectional easily, but I had to keep it from looking like pipe.
I took one section and permanently installed it inside the hammer, leaving a coupling section out for the rest of the handle. The other two pieces were also joined with a coupling…a heavily modified coupling.
In the end, I am really pleased with how this turned out. Yeah, I’d do some things differently if I built it again, but that’s true of almost everything I build.
Did I mention I came in just under 6 feet tall?
