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‘Odin Makes’: Build Your Own Captain America Infinity War Shield!

Hello, fellow aspiring prop builders!

One day after school, I was looking to craft something, and I was looking for inspiration on YouTube (TIP: for every beginning cosplayer/prop builder, this is your go-to place to start your crafting adventures). Then, I finally saw it- a way to make the Captain America Wakanda shields out of foam, without the use of machinery that I (and a lot of beginning cosplayers) don’t have.

Odin Makes is a YouTuber to keep an eye on. Below, you have the tutorial, which explains what you need to do to make your own vibranium shields.

First things first, always see what you need before you start crafting. Chances are you won’t want to quit once you’re in your flow to go and buy extra supplies. Here is a list of what you’ll need, provided by Odin:

Materials used in this video:

Home Depot:

  • Spray paint – clear coat
  •    Plasti Dip spray paint

ACE Hardware:

  •    Contact Cement – Red label Weldwood cement by DAP

Harbor Freight Tools:

  •    EVA foam floor mats

Local Craft stores:

  •    Acrylic craft paints
  •    3mm & 5mm black craft foam (EVA)

The second thing you want to do is print out the template that Odin provides for you. You can find the template in US size and A4 size. Once you have your pattern, take your cutting board and a sharp razor knife, a ruler and your pattern to cut out the shapes. After that, you put your pattern on your floor mats and cut them out! Make sure to look at your pattern; Odin was kind enough to tell which cut out shape needs to go on what foam plate or floor mats. Also, make sure you don’t make a straight cut in the middle of the shield. It doesn’t bend too easy if you do, and once you cut it with an angle, they’ll bend nicely!

The diamond shape in the front is cut out from 5 mm craft foam (see pattern), cut in half and glued back together just like the first two pieces.

Then it’s time to cut the smaller pieces on the 2 mm craft foam (if you didn’t do that already) and it’s time to decorate your first shield!

All the pieces are just one layer on top of the floor mats, however only the square parts in the back are not.

Once those pieces are cut and glued, cut a trim for the edge of your shield to finish the base.

The great thing about this tutorial is that you have many reference pictures and screenshots from trailers that you can use while you’re crafting. It’s how Odin was able to make a pattern for the inside of the shield. This way, you can make your left shield and right shield unique, as one side of that diamond shape has teeth to one side of the shape.

Next up is the fangs! For this one, we need to build layers on top to make the fangs before we glue them on the main shield.

Next one up is the shapes on the inside. Grab back towards your pattern and cut those out on 3 mm foam.

Odin Makes Tip: If you are gluing big pieces of foam together, make sure you don’t stretch the foam. You don’t want to have foam stretched out on the side of your shield, the tension will warp the shield, or you’ll end up having creases in your foam.

Next important part of your shield, is the straps on the back! For this Odin bought a leather belt, he found in a thrift store (those shops are your best friend for cosplaying!). He cut those up to fit around his arms and makes slits in the foam (careful, don’t cut too deep, your belt will poke out at the front if you do). These will be attached to the back once you painted the shield.

Once done, it’s time to paint. We recommend you to watch the video again to get some tips for the painting part. Step 1 should always be that you put a layer or two of plasti-dip on it! It’s a great base coat, and this way you’ll seal all the edges in the foam.

And there you go, you have your own Captain America shields! Don’t they look great?

If you’re up to the challenge, show us your made foamium shields in the comments below!

 

If you want to know more about Odin make sure you follow him on his social media pages or become a Patreon for his YouTube channel.

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Credit Images: Youtube Odin Makes: Captain America’s new shields from Avengers: Infinity War (spoiler-free)