LARP Weapon Construction - Introduction

I use a cheap nylon kitchen chopping board

Not essesntial, but they're just more robust than plastic ones

For marking out your work on foam

They're nice and sharp and come in packs of 5. They will lose their razor edge fairly quickly, so throw the blade away as soon as it ceases to slice through the foam easily. You really don't need expensive surgical scapels or anything fancy (expensive).

This is only necessary if you want to get a nice wood grain effect on hafts or for doing fullers on blades. If you are forking out for one, get one with adjustable temperature and a nib that you can remove. Practice on scrap foam first to get the amount of pressure you need to apply and the speed at which to move the nib right. You MUST be consistent in both otherwise you'll either melt too much foam, or not enough and the finish won't be even. Also beware the fumes given off by the melting foam - they are nasty and probably carcinogenic.

This is a tool for cutting out disks of various diameter from foam (and leather)

For painting on latex - I found that latex doesn't form into clumps so much on nylon bristles

For painting isoflex - the cheaper the better because after applying 1 coat of isoflex, the brush will be useless and will need to be thrown away. No amount of turpentine or other solvents seems to clean isoflex off.

This is the recommended foam for making weapons. Available in 1m x 1.5m sheets and a variety of thicknesses (e.g. 3mm, 5mm, 6mm, 8mm, 15mm, 40mm). For swords and hafts, 8mm will be fine. For fine detailing or small bladed weapons, smaller thicknesses are more appropriate. A 1x1.5m sheet will make a LOT of weapons.

This is a softer foam that should be used for mace spikes and other blunt striking edges. Also available in a variety of thicknesses.

Available in a variety of thicknesses (6mm, 8mm, 9mm, 12mm, 16.2mm). Skian Mhor can supply this in lengths of up to 1.5m - you have to ask.

Availble in a variety of thicknesses (12mm x 8mm, 15mm x 3mm, 6.35mm x 6.35mm). Skian Mhor can supply this in lengths of up to 1.5m - you have to ask.

This is just as strong as fibre glass, but much much lighter... and consequently more expensive. Available in a variety of thicknesses (6mm, 8mm, 10mm, 12mm). If only they made this stuff in bars 12mm x 8mm.....

Available in a variety of thicknesses

There are two uses for this stuff:

• I use 19|12.7 inside 25.4|19.4 tubes glued, one inside the other and pinned to the core, for weighted handles for swords and axes and stuff.
• For polearms and spears, I personally use 16.2|12.2 tube - it is plenty strong enough to take a beating and much lighter and less flexible than a long section of 16mm rod.

The staple LRP adhesive - the solvent based stuff in tins (250ml would do a couple of weapons and 500ml is a sensible size for doing several jobs). However, I have noticed that they recently changed the formula so now it dries very quickly on contact with air. This basically doesn't give it a chance to sink into pores of the foam and the resultant bond is not as strong. I have yet to find an alternative. When using this stuff, just make sure that after you've pasted the evostik on, it's dry to the touch before sticking the two layers together. Otherwise it won't bond properly and you'll find your weapons delaminating very quickly.

Well they wouldn't be called latex weapons without it... Available in 0.5 and 1 litres. I usually apply between 8-10 coats using nylon bristle brushes. I mix a little bit of black acrylic paint into the base coats - this seems to stop it from 'blobbing' so much. Once you've finished a coat, immediately clean your brushes in turps or white spirit - leave it in there for about 30 minutes, and then take a wire brush to it. This scrapes out all the chunks of latex that form. This way you can extend the life of your brushes 100 fold (although eventually you will have to throw them away).

Two other tips which I haven't personally tried are:

• When latexing is to rub washing up liquid into the brush before you start latexing. When you have finished, you can wash the brush out in piping hot water fairly easily
• When mixing in black into the latex for base coats, some people alternate coats by mixing in white so that you can see where you've missed more easily. (I find that when you mix in just black, the mixture turns a grey colour but dries black so it's fairly easy to see where you have missed. Also, the number of coats you need to apply pretty much guarantees that you'll get even coverage over everything anyway).

I use black, silver, gold and brown (for wood effect). For the final colour coat, some ppl mix the acrylic paint with latex and paint it on (be advised that there is a certain compound in some metallic paints that rots latex - although I can't remember what it is). I paint the acrylic directly onto the dried latex using drybrushing techniques.

This is truly nasty stuff - do not use indoors. You'll need a minimum of 3-4 coats of isoflex over the latex. It's quite watery and will take about 4 hours to dry, but it still feels tacky. Be advised, NEVER let 2 weapons coated in isoflex touch... it bonds to itself pretty much instantly, so when they are drying keep them well apart. Also, each coat will eat 1 brush. No amount of turps or any other solvent cleaner will remove it. Just throw it away once you've finished the coat. This goes for your clothes, the carpet, your fingers, etc... Because isoflex is so watery, you'll find that it forms drips on the ends of weapons whilst they're hanging to dry. I use small (very cheap and disposable) kiddies paint brushes just to spread the drop back up the blade edge. As it dries, the isoflex gets more and more viscous so after a point you won't be able to redistribute the excess isoflex.

Keep the tin sealed (or better yet decant it into a disposable empty glass jar with an airtight lid). This should extend its shelf life, but within about 5 days it'll turn into a block of hard rubber no matter what you do. You'll have loads spare, so I usually give all my weapons another coat of isoflex - so if your mates have weapons, give their weapons an extra coat or two 'cos you will have loads spare. This just prolongs the life of weapons.

After you've finished all the coats of isoflex, you'll need some kind of lubrication to prevent the weapons from sticking to absolutely everything. Some people use talcum powder. I use the oily grease you get from running your hand through your hair and rubbing it onto the weapon - I know it sounds nasty, but it works a treat. Just don't sniff any of my weapons. ;)

For putting the finishing touches to weapon handles. Le Prevo sell bags of suede offcuts cheaply. Just give them a call.

I use this stuff for reinforcement of blades and hafts - this is described later in this article.