Customize Your Knighthawk Armoury LARP weapons!

Contents:
Hand-Painting
Fortify Your Weapon
Using Clear Plasti-Dip
Customizing Calimacil Weapons

This section will be expanded over time, as more and more people customize their Knighthawk Armoury latex-foam weapons and share the process and their results with us.

There are several reasons that you might want to customize one or more of your KHA weapons. The first reason is simply to make it more yours; and to put your own personal stamp on the weapon. Perhaps you are a worshipper of Tyr, the God of Justice, and want to add the Scales of Justice onto your weapons. Perhaps you are a Member of the Society of Chaos and decide to proudly announce your affiliation by having the Arrows of Chaos emblazoned on your weapons and shield.

The next reason to customize one of these beauties is to differentiate your weapon from everyone else's weapons. It does make it easy to identify your weapons when, after you escape, you sift through the pile that was collected when your entire team was captured by the Invincible Stone Trolls of Dagroth Mountain.

Hand-Painting

Please note that due to heavily increased customs security requirements, Calimacil is no longer selling their paint pots.
What we have left in stock is all that is available, and once they're gone they cannot be replaced.

Note that Calimacil has recommended two other sources of paint, Privateer Paints, and Games Workshop Paints.
In addition, you can use nail polish thinned with standard nail polish remover to paint your LARP weapons. The end result looks great, but does not move as well as some of the flexible acrylic paints.

Any paint that does NOT include copper as an ingredient will work, but we recommend flexible acrylic paints to accomodate the movement that occurs with LARP weapons.

This is a quick video tutorial put out by the good folks from Iron Fortress to show how you can paint your latex-foam LARP weapons. Having a custom paint job done on your weapon can be costly, so why not have fun and do it yourself?

In the video, the engineer discusses the various types of paint that can be used on these LARP weapons, then demonstrates how to use Plasti-Dip to seal your work.
Note: If the video seems to be taking forever to load, simply click on the START arrow to get it to start playing.

Here's a reference video that has soome great information: Video: Painting and Plasti-Dip

Lloyd wanted to spruce up his Crusader. Since he had a great deal of experience painting lead miniatures, and since he has a good, steady hand, he decided to hand-paint a Fleur de Lys onto the pommel of the sword. He also highlighted the unpainted, "bronze" portion of the hilt and the handle.

The end result looks great! Here's what he did:

Lloyd used a regular acrylic paint for the monogram on the pommel. In this case he used metalic blue and dragon gold, then topped off the image with burnished gold; the brand of paint he used was Citadel.

Next, Lloyd highlighted the "bronze" potions of the handle and the guard, as well as the unpainted portions of the pommel, with metallic wax - using the old D&D character wax "Dragon".

Then he sprayed Testor's gloss coat over the pommel at close range. After that dried he then used Testor's matte coat - applied from farther away on the handle. When you do this BE SURE to cover the handle to prevent the spray from hitting it.

He then allowed everything to dry thoroughly; this took about 24 hours.

Finally, some basic maintenance was applied to the sword. He sprayed the entire sword with a light coat of silicone spray, and wiped off the excess. Two days later he applied another light coat, wiping off the excess as usual. The following day the weapon looked great and was ready for use!

IMPORTANT: NEVER use a copper-based paint, since the copper will erode the latex in your Knighthawk weapon! Look at the ingredients of the paint you are contemplating using, and if "copper" is included then do NOT use this paint on your latex-foam weapons!

Note that several people have recommended Liquitex paints for painting these latex-foam weapons, as it is a flexible paint and thus can move and flex with your weapon.

Fortify Your Weapon

There's a group in Atlanta, Georgia led by a guy named Magus that has been using our products for over three years. They've done a lot of experimentation and have very generously shared their hard won knowledge with us.

The main problem with these products is that the hilt is pure foam and is not intended to be used to parry. However, accidents can happen and in some cases such an accident can snap the hilt.

They came up with a way to strengthen the hilts of these weapons. As a bonus, this process also foritfies the blade if you apply the process to the blade! This is particularly good for the Ex-Caliber line of products, and it works very well on the Calimacil handles. This process will make the weapons MUCH more durable, and even more waterproof than they are already. Note that if applied to the blades, it will make the blades a bit harder than normal.

Step 1. Clean the weapon.
You want to be sure that the weapon is clean and that all of the enhancements that you want done to it, including all painting, have been done.
Step 2. Preparation
Get the following items:
- One can of clear DIP; available from your local home center
- One can of Naptha, from the same place, to use as a thinner for the DIP
- A tray to mix DIP and Naptha, at least 2 inches deep
- One cheap 1.5 inch wide paint brush with nylon bristles
- A sheet of platic to cover your work area
- A wooden mixing stick for paint
Step 3. Begin Fortification
In a WELL ventilated area, put the plastic sheet over your work bench/table/area.

Pour about one cup of DIP into the tray and mix in an equal amount of Naptha. Keep the Naptha easily available.

Stir until the goop is well blended

Apply a THIN coat of goop onto the blade and/or hilt & pommel of the weapon using the nylon bristle brush. If you are fortifying a shield then paint the edges and the exposed surface area.

Check the consistency of the goop each time you dip the paint brush into the tray. This is important because you want the goop to maintain the 50-50 mix of DIP and Naptha - but after a few minutes, some of the Naptha will evaporate from the goop.

If necessary, add more small amounts of Naptha to the goop until it reaches the desired 50-50 ratio. Mix thoroughly.

After the first thin coat of goop over the weapon has been completed, WAIT for 15 minutes.
Step 4.
Make fresh goop and repeat step 3 to apply another THIN coat to the weapon or shield.

Allow the item to cure for 24 hours.
Step 5.
Enjoy your reinforced and fortified weapon or shield!

Using Clear Plasti-Dip

Here's another video tutorial on using Plasti-Dip on your latex-foam LARP weapons! This video also created by the good folks at Iron Fortress.
Note: If the video seems to be taking forever to load, simply click on the START arrow to get it to start playing.

By the way, I tried using a spray can of Flex Seal. EPIC fail. The material comes out of the nozzle of the can at nearly the speed of light, and the quantity of the material ouput is extreme. Don't use the Flex Seal on your LARP weapons.

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