From CosplayWiki

Contents 1 How to make a Hylian Shield 1.1 Materials 1.2 Tools 1.3 Procedure 1.3.1 STEP 1: CUTTING AND SHAPING THE FOAM 1.3.2 STEP TWO: THE PLASTIC 1.3.3 STEP 3: USING YOUR WONDERFLEX 1.3.4 STEP 4: DRILLING AND INSERTING THE BOLTS 1.3.5 STEP 5: ATTACHING THE DECALS 1.3.6 Step 6: Making the "claws"

How to make a Hylian Shield

Materials

• 2" rigid pink home insulation foam
• a large sheet of plastic or two sheets to cover both sides of the shield front and back I've used two different materials for this part of the shield first Plexiglass that I found at Hobby Lobby and then for my second shield I used counter top which has a nice smooth surface but when you cut it its almost like really thick cardboard. Finding the right plastic is largely up to you. There's a new plastic that I saw at Menards (Midwest hardware store where I work) that comes in different thicknesses. If you have a Menards go to the Millwork department and ask them where there plastic sheets are. I'm sure Home Depot also would have something similar. Basically you need a plastic that is slightly flexible because you are going to have to curve it and glue it in place. The styrene plastic that Amethest Angel uses also would work for this part. The counter top that I bought was 10 dollars, and the two pieces of plexiglass were 5 dollars each so give or take 10 dollars for this part of the shield.
• Wonderflex - You will at least need three feet of it to give you enough to work with
• Leather belt - Thrift stores are also a good place to check. This is for the strap on the back to hold it to your arm. (This part of the Hylian Shield is not accurate to the game. In most art work there is one leather strap and one metal handle to grasp onto. If you choose to make it more accurate and go with the metal handle I suggest using a door handle for that part. Keep in mind I have not tried this and it will make your shield much heavier).
• 3 ½ inch carriage bolts - For the bolts on the front of the shield and to secure the leather straps. These can be found in a pack of 42 for under two dollars at most hardware stores.
• Duct tape

Tools

• Something to cut the foam with Jigsaw or Hot-wire foam cutter are suggested
• Power drill
• Exacto knife or box cutters
• scissors
• C clamps
• Sharpie
• 5 minute epoxy - 6 to 7 containers & make sure it can hold plastic.
• Bondo - this is an optional material to use
• Plastic paint primer
• Spraypaint

Procedure

For the "claws" for lack of a better word that border the Triforce I carved out of foam and then applied bondo to them to make them hard. If you choose not to use Bondo and not to make those claws 3D you can just cut them out of the remaining plastic or use an aluminum sheet.

STEP 1: CUTTING AND SHAPING THE FOAM

Once you get your sheet of Foam place it between two saw horses, on a table or anything and with a sharpie draw out where you are going to cut. It is important to have a good reference picture on hand so you make sure you're cutting the shield out in the right way. Make sure also that the Shield is proportional to your body.

Your shield is now flat but the base is there. Now to get the curve of the shield take your saw and make a clean slice right down the middle of your shield from top to bottom vertically. You should now have two halves of the shield. At this point put the two halves together at an angle so there is a v shape missing out of the middle. Put a strip of duct tape along the back of the shield to keep it relatively in place. Now cut out a sliver of foam and wedge it into the v shaped area so that when you push the two halves together they are braced apart they should be pointed now at a 45 degree angle from the middle. Now that you have your curve set up take your roll of duct tape and tape ever single inch of that foam. This accomplishes two things. First it makes the shield sturdy so that the two halves wont fall apart, and second it protects the pink foam from the glue that you will be applying next (certain chemicals in glue and spray paint eat pink foam so be careful with any prop you make from it).

Once you have finished duct taping your shield should look like this (I had already cut out my designs at this point that is why they appear in the photo they are not glued on yet.)

Now that you have dealt with the foam you are ready to move onto step two affixing the plastics.

STEP TWO: THE PLASTIC

Obviously you do not want a shield made of duct tape…if you do you can be done lol…therefore it is now time to place your sheet of plastic over top of the foam.

Take whatever plastic you decided to use and place it over the shield, trace out the shape of the shield onto your plastic with a sharpie and then cut out that shape for both the front and back of the shield. Now depending on what type of plastic you use you can use different tools to cut it. There are actually plastic cutters for sale at some hardware stores that give you a clean cut. Other tools you can use are either a box cutter, or a scissors. Find a tool that works best for the plastic you have. For this part if the edges aren't neatly cut don't worry about it the wonderflex will cover all the edges.

Next take three bottles of your epoxy glue and squeeze all the glue onto a pan. Stir it up with a large Popsicle stick or spatula of some sort (whatever you use know that you will have to dispose of it when finished.) Then smear it all over the front of the shield. Remember this is 5 minute epoxy so now you'll have to act fast. Take one of your plastic sheets in the shape of your shield and place it on the epoxied foam shield. Make sure to press down on it as hard as you can to make it adhere to the curve of the shield. It is best if you recruit some friends of family members to help you during this process or to use your C clamps to clamp the sides. Try to apply pressure evenly on the plastic. If you feel a warm sensation under the plastic don't worry this is just a minor chemical reaction as the glue sets on the plastic.

When you are finished with the front of the shield do the same for the back.

STEP 3: USING YOUR WONDERFLEX

Before you begin with the wonderflex I suggest painting the front of the shield. Remember to prime the plastic before painting it so that your paint won't chip off later. Give the front of the shield a few coats of primer followed by a few coats of blue paint. After you let it dry for at least 8 hours you can begin step 3 the wonderflex.

There are many ways to use wonderflex but it is up to you to find the best way to make it mold to the sides of the shield. Before any of that though you must cut out your pieces. Take some newspaper or construction paper and make a pattern on there first so you make sure not to waste wonderflex. You should cut out four separate pieces of wonderflex one for each side left and right and then two for the top part of the shield.

Make sure the paper can fit around the sides of the shield and if it can then you can cut out the same pattern on the wonderflex. If you mess up and the wonderflex doesn't fit perfectly you can always cut out more or stretch it a little, but don't rely on that try to do it right the first time.

Heat up your edges and begin pressing them to the sides of your shield. It is best to match up where they edges should be on the front side of the shield so the front looks perfect. Wonderflex is self adhesive so once you heat it up using a heat gun or a hair dryer (Those are what I used and probably best for this type of project) you can press it down onto the plastic and it should stick. Let it cool and it will be stuck to the surface.

Now take the flaps of wonderflex that are sticking out and slowly pull them over the edges. Try your best so smooth out the ripples on the sides and back of the shield, but as you can see on mine I didn't get them all out either. Heating it as you go it should stick to the sides and back and come out looking like this.

Now that all the wonderflex pieces are adhered to your shield you can paint the back of the shield a solid silver color.

STEP 4: DRILLING AND INSERTING THE BOLTS

You already have bought your carriage bolts to add realism to your shield and now its time to add them. With your sharpie, paying close attention to your reference pic, mark dots where you want your bolts to be. Then take your power drill and drill into your wonderflex and foam make sure to only go in a little ways enough for the bolts to fit snugly in but not too far so that the drill comes out the other side. Also make sure your hand is level when drilling other wise your bolts will be at an angle and won't go in as easily.

After drilling all your holes push in the carriage bolts with your thumb or if they are having a hard time fitting in use a hammer. Another thing you can do and something that I'd urge you to do when attaching the leather straps is dip the threaded section of the bolt in glue so that when it has sat in its hole for awhile it will be stronger and wont fall out ever.

Now is also a good time to attach your belt. Cut the belt how you want your straps to be and mark where you want it on the back of the shield.

STEP 5: ATTACHING THE DECALS

Use your reference picture to determine the design and size of the decals on the front of the shield and trace them onto a sheet of plastic. You can paint on the phoenix or cut it out of plastic as well I choose plastic because I thought it was easier. For a more accurate look try making the Triforce and triangle raised up a bit. I cut my decals out of wonderflex so they are not very 3d I might redo the triforce and triangle over again in the future.

After you've drawn the decals onto your plastic cut them out prime and paint them there respective colors (Gold or Yellow for the Triforce and triangle, and Red for the Pheonix). When they've finished drying glue them to the shield. You can either use epoxy or crazy glue for this. On my first shield I used epoxy but while doing the second one on commission I used crazy glue which worked out better because it dries in seconds and if you mess up its easier to peel away and try again. Epoxy can also be too messy.

You're almost done!

Step 6: Making the "claws"

For lack of a better word I chose to call the two metal pieces that border the triforce claws. These can be made one of two ways. I will start with the way I made them.

Take some extra insulation foam, preferably 1 inch thick or smaller and cut and sand out the design. When finished you can either use fiberglass cloth and resin to make it solid or try to bondo right over the pink foam. I did the latter and it worked in the end but the bondo has trouble sticking to the surface of the insulation foam so if you can coat it with something else that would probably help. After this sand down the bondo back to the originally angled design and prime and paint. *NOTE* Bondo is an extremely toxic substance when sanding it make sure you use proper respiration mask and goggles. I use a gasmask when working with it. I made the mistake of not wearing eye protection once and now I think I have a permanent line of red on my eye. If you don't believe me read the back of the can.

The second way to make the claws and the simpler less toxic way is to make them non three dimensional. To do this get some aluminum coil and cut out the shapes and glue or bolt them to the shield. When looking at reference pictures for Super Smash Brothers Melee the shield looks closer to this design of the claws.

And that's it! You're finished!