Letz Make a Paper Hidden Blade (Realistic!!)

Welcome to this paper Hidden Blade Instructable...

Hidden blade, most iconic weapon from the Ubisoft franchise Assassin's Creed. Fans including me would die for one. Unfortunately many fans around the globe can't own the official replica (toy) of hidden blade, due to shipping and tons of other troubles... And most tutorial online require 3-D printing or pep file components, which is not handy neither (in Hong Kong at least)...

Here is my little attempt to solve ths problem with a papercraft approach, the human pep...haha

This tutorial features:

• No pep files,
• No need to be a computer wizard
• Fully recycled materials... (low-budget)
• A short youtube videos tutorial
• and once you master the technique you can build whatever you like!!
• old-fashion and raw true paper craft experience..
• can be customize in any size and level of detail as you wish

What are you waiting for fellow assassins?

the project is a low budget one hang tight... (most of my projects are)

Materials:

• plenty of recycled paper boxes (tissue or cereal box)
• some draft paper for drafting and sketching
• double side adhesive tape(option)
• adhesive tape
• cleaned lollipop stick (optional)

Tools:

• scissors (normal scissors will do)
• cutters (optional)
• hot glue gun (you can any glue you like i like hot glue gun cus its fast and firm)
• pens, pencils, and markers

This is it for material and tools,

!!Caution!! scissors, cutter and hot glue gun could potentially be dangerous, use with care.

PPP (in case you are interested...)

Production pipeline usually compose of PPP, pre-production, production and post-porduction...

The process of pre-production is crucial for the project,

This instructable is based on the hidden blade seen in ACIV BF used by Edward Kenway, Mary Read and other assassins from the Golden age of piracy.

Conceptual preparation:

• Measure the length of your forearm
• write down the intended sizes and dimension of your hidden blade
• start googling reference fotos (deviant art and flickr are great too)
• draw or print a 1:1 (blueprints) for your blade
• come up with simple plan of constructing the 3d shapes and forms

Physical preparation:

• have a clean working table (which i fail all the time)
• unfold your paper boxes and estimate how many will be use
• experiment and playing around with unfold paper card board

Attached with sketches and work plans i did for my blade... for reference... feel free to make your own plan and sketch

p.s. My advice is to draw the sketch once, even if you find a very detail blueprint, make modification of your own... drawing your own sketch takes time, but really reveal a lot more details and realism... Make the production stage smoother and more efficient...

Sorry got you all excited, but we are not starting to build just yet...

The Hidden blade, namely features a retractable compartment to conceal the blade. There are countless approaches to this mechanism. For this tutorial, we're gonna cover the simplest way of doing it. (i am still working on different ways)

Hate to disappoint you guy, but this tutorial have only manually retraction... You are welcome to improve it and share with me...) you may see a scary hand draft in the preparation part, i try to make it simpler with this 3D block diagram...(its not a 3d model for pep file or printing)

Pls bear with me no rocket science involved, promised.

Paper is usually not the best material for mechanism due to its friction and too soft, so its worth while discussing this... friction can be minimize by reduce contacting surface area (using ring-rod mechanism) and softness and be overcome by more layers of paper (2 to 4 layers depending on the type of paper)...

Idea for the sliding compartment:

It is compose of three main parts, lower plane (A), the upper plane (B) and the blade (C). Parts will be connected with paper rings (red and purple). 1 ring should be attached to each end of A connecting to B. Rings can easily made with a long strip of paper card. Pay attention the space between the planes is slightly larger than the thickness of the blade(C). So that a simple sliding track (less friction) is form between the planes for C. Hopefully, with the help of the illustration it's easier to understand. but still this is not easy to explain nor understand, don't hesitate, feel free to rise any question in the comments below.

If you understand the idea of the hidden compartment, great!! If not, i may did a poor job explaining it, but it is not a big deal after all, just follow the photos here, throw in some creativity of your own, you will do just fine, that's how i did it...

I recommend building the hidden blade from:

• the base (biggest piece, like a mother board of everything else)
• glue the retraction mechanism in place
• seal the compartment with glue or tape (the box shape)
• finish up the overall look (the skull logo, buckles and all other details...)

I figured my pics may describe the process better than my words. So enjoy the fotos... feel free to ask me anything in the comment about the process. i'd loved to answer you guys...

When gluing anything to your piece, make sure not to glue the parts involve the retraction mechanism...

Make sure you blade can move in and out of desired rage at all time!!

OPTIONAL TIPS:

1. Even with small surface area ring design, the friction may still be annoying, i put some baby powder to lubricate the sliding track for even smoother performance...
2. Tapes are convenient, but try not to use it on outer surface, the plastic tape usually present very different texture to paper, even with paints on. (same goes with hot glue gun)
3. Add one or two thin bamboo stick or lollipop stick so that paper seems harder...

Unlike the Ironman project i did (pls check out if you haven't), i wanna color this blade and boost the realism...

i suggest to use waterproof paint, to prevent color fading and extend durability...

Coloring:

• spray paint or any paint you like...

• acrylic paint (the one i like)

Acrylic painting tips:

Honestly i am not v. v. good at paint job, but i've done enough to share a few tips on these brush metal texture...

• do a dark color tune as base color...(in my case very dark blue)
• use a dry brush to paint very thin coat of silver or gold
• leaving minor brushstroke is a good idea
• high light the edges and corners with a bit more silver (enhance the contour)

Other Post production advise:

• attach strip and little belts (to wear it around town...haha)
• improve the retraction mechanism (i am working on it too!)
• make a pair and incorporate them with full set of cosplay

I hope this instructable made sense to you, feel free to ask me anything you wanna know about my works... i will try my best to reply ASAP. Is this instructable too lengthy? Should i skip some details next time? more pictures?let me know...

Go ahead and build your very own Hidden Blade... share with me i would love to know...

Hope you like my instrutable, if you do pls vote.... i enter contest with this piece too...

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND SUPPORT...

pls comment and give suggestion below, constructive criticism is most welcome...