I got a ton of requests for this so here it is a miniature version of captain America’s shield, and yes, you can throw it 🙂
Miniature Captain America shield build
This is actually quite a simple build. The basic shield is best made from a 1 mm scrap of mild steel plate, but I used scrap titanium from eBay just because I had never worked with it before and I really fancied a go. It’s also Earth’s answer to vibranium 🙂 Either metal will heat and bend fairly easily with a cheap gas torch, it may even be possible on a gas hob but I didn’t try it. To form the dish shape I used a metal coach bolt as a former, but if you have a ball peen hammer that would also work great as a form to hammer against. About 10 – 20 mins of heating and tapping as seen in the video will do the job.
Mild steel cuts with a dremel easily, but the titanium really didn’t, it did cut quite well with a good metal blade and jigsaw however. Titanium also does not like being sanded, it really is as tough as old boots, so once it got to a look I was happy with I didn’t bother to sand any of the slight imperfections out of the front finish. I actually kinda liked the slightly mottled forged look, so rather than persist and struggle to make it smooth but thinner, I called it a day.
Mini shield handles
I decided to have the rear handles fold in and out, it just seemed nicer. To give the rear of the shield a nod towards the movie version of Captain Americas shield, I decided to use a scrap of 0.5mm Aluminium (aluminum) to make the angled shapes, then fix some small brackets onto them with JB Weld or an epoxy metal. I did think about using silver solder as I did making my mini wolverine claws, but I wanted to keep this build as simple as possible. Some left over wire made the handles themselves and they latch onto small neodymium craft magnets held on with superglue.
Decorating Cap’s Shield
The paint job was a choice between simple Acrylic paints and the more expensive spray cans. luckily I had some paint left over from when I made my full size Captain america shields, so I used that. Using spray cans does provide a nice finish but 24 hours of drying time was required in between the two coats of paint, AND the protective lacquer. In the video I show nail varnish and automotive clear coat lacquer because I know they work. I did however try some water soluble wood varnish off camera as a test and it worked great.
Throwing Captain Americas Shield
Even before I started work on this project I knew I wanted to throw it, and I have to say with the right technique it does fly really well. I would imagine that mild steel would fly further because of the extra weight, whether it would bend on heavy impact I don’t know, but the titanium seemed to hold up fairly well. At just over 2″ or 50mm It doesn’t really have the size or weight to stick into timber, but against polystyrene and insulation board it was really fun.
Mini Captain America shield template
The above project is aimed at adults for education and entertainment purposes only, not to replicate. Anyone doing so takes full responsibility for their own actions.