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Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

Seems like even back then you were ready to make prop replicas and more then just bladed weapons. It would have been a good time to have created a sub-company that made other props so they weren't focused on selling through just knife and sword retailers. Definitely. UC was already selling to the c...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

Kind of a missed opportunity to not make the Temple of Doom machete though, no? I'm sure we would have sold a few, but I think that would have bombed quick. It was not really his machete. He just grabbed it and used it in that one scene. Plus, I hated that movie :) Prop replicas of the head piece t...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

Edit: I just looked at it. Which prop is that based on? Obviously, it's not the one Indy cuts the bridge with. Is it from Temple of Doom? Or is it an "inspired by" type knife (in other words, not an actual replica)? Was it funtional? It was not really based on anything. That was back in t...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

Kit, I've always wondered just how many of some of these swords are out there. Not sure if you can, but do you have a rough idea of how many official UC Anduril swords there are out in the world? When I ran the LOTR program at the old UC, we made around 20k from the time it was released until the e...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

I didn't expect the Strider knife to be back in stock so soon. I've been counting the days for his scabbard to be in stock but I guess I can hold off for another month before ordering :) So soon? It's been out of production for 15 or 16 years :) Hopefully there won't be any snafus like the last two...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

I'm curious as to how much of an increase in shipping it would be to have the bow made into two pieces vs one. Are we talking double, or triple the price compared to say a sword? The sales for steel swords vs polyresin prop replicas are night and day. Anduril is considered extra large and gets hit ...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

Has there ever been a polyresin piece that needs to be assembled by the end user where 2 pieces need to connect like this? I can't think of one. No, UC has not done anything like that before. I tried it for one of the Hobbit replicas, but their factory could not do it. Now they think they can. We w...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

Wow, that's a difficult challenge! I know it's a large piece almost 70 inches tall. But there really isn't a very good place to put a seam, no handle to separate the 2 halves. All things you are all very well aware of, and probably facing the same issue on the Gil-Galad shield. There is actually a ...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

We hear "in development" but I'm sure that can mean all sorts of things. From drawing up plans to see if something is actually viable to produce and even making a prototype, to just talking about it and nothing ever going forward. I don't know about anyone else, but when I say in developm...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

Strider's knife, scabbard, and the Boromir dagger are definitely all coming. Hopefully shipping around Spring. I think the G staff is in production now. MC Anduril has been in production for a while, but that is a lengthy process. Hopefully those will be in before the end of Summer. No timeline for ...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

That lools really good, but it really feels like the pole is about a foot shorter than it should be. Such a shame they couldn't have made it longer, but shipping is expensive enough as it is. :'( The length is only around 7" shorter than the prop. I scaled the whole thing down, so it is all pr...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

Is it a case where the factory takes it upon itself to make these changes after the fact for a more feasible way to mass produce, or is someone at UC that makes these calls to okay changes? No one at UC made or authorized that change. For whatever reason, the factory did it on their own, or whoever...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

I noticed that BudK has updated their photos of what looks like a production piece and the finish is different from what Kit originally showed as well as what is on the UC website. I saw one last Tuesday. It's made in the same factory that made the original, but it does have a very different bade f...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

That's awesome. I'd definitely be in for one but I'm curious to see if the pommel loses much detail in the lost wax cast. It shouldn't right? That depends on the quality of the lost wax casting and the finishing/polishing. I posted some photos of a sample with lost wax brass castings here. The cast...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

Ronin wrote: Sun Dec 10, 2023 12:28 pm I was looking at this picture specifically. It looks like the branches are casting a shadow though I might be mistaken.
No, I think you are right. I missed that one. Maybe it is just the unpolished surfaces behind the tree it in the other photos making it look one piece.

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

Wow! That display is stunning! I like Noble version but this is on another level. If UC had actually gone forward with their version of the crown back in the day, I am not sure the quality would have been any better than what Noble made. The display would have been better IMO, but even looking at t...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

Edit: The tree on the PureArts does look rather unsightly now that you mention it. It looks like it was soldered on. It's weird, in some pictures it looks like a separate piece from the crest and in others it looks like it's part of it. It's like we're looking at two different prototypes. It looks ...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

I noticed the hammer marks right away and that alone puts it over the NC crown for me. I just wish they had done the reverse on the front too. That's part of the look of those feathers, and it's missing on both replicas. Both are also missing the smaller gauge twisted wire in the wire rope edging. ...

Re: New Weta everywhere you look!

Some photos I've never seen before like, unweathered Nazgul blades! Thinking back on this, it does not make any sense that they would have assembled the Ringwraith swords, then etched the pits and corrosion. Most of that would have been done to the individual parts before assembly. I think these ma...

Re: New Weta everywhere you look!

An awesome 40 min slideshow with tons of BTS photos of the trilogies production posted by Weta on Youtube! Some photos I've never seen before like, unweathered Nazgul blades! There were quite a few photos I have never seen in that. I wish there were more of the sword and armor shop and the primary ...

Re: New Weta everywhere you look!

Man, when you see these 2 side by side, it's like an old worn out VHS image compared to a UHD 4K picture. Great analogy. Granted, the lighting on that Weta photo is really good and the photo of the Sideshow Aragorn was probably shot with a flash, but the difference is still night and day IMO. Based...

Re: New Weta everywhere you look!

Surely you kid? :crazy: Ha ha. Don't doubt me. I bet there are streaming LED strings in the sunset too, to make it appear the clouds are moving :) As for Aragorn, he does look great but I'm not yet convinced he looks so much better than the original to warrant the expensive upgrade. Other than the ...

Re: New Weta everywhere you look!

I can't think of anywhere LEDs would be needed on this environment, and I hope they can restrain their impulse to add any. Translucent sky in the background lit by LEDs from within to simulate the sunset? I was more interested in this one. https://www.wetanz.com/us/shop/classic-series/king-aragorn

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

I'm just curious how the crown compares to the Noble Collection one. The description states that it's a "movie-perfect metal replica" but I think we've all learned to take such claims with a moon-sized grain of salt. I am happy to see that Minas Tirith finally got some flood lights to ill...

Re: United Cutlery's - The Hobbit - Movie Props!

This is the clearest photo I was able to find of the hero sword caught on camera. That's just one hero sword. There were several, and the rune positions were different depending on the prop. That's why I said neither replica is wrong, since both versions appear in the films. It just depends on whic...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

When you have to do large size pieces like this one do you have a large HVLP setup at home, or just build up layers with an airbrush? No HVLP setup. Just use a couple of very old airbrushes. I used to use them all the time but these days I only get to fire them up a few times a year. I'm usually ju...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

Just to give you an idea of the stages these replicas go through, here is a factory progress graphic I made for UC earlier this year, before the final was approved. The ones on the right are after I had them start over and sent a paint sample. They are typically not this frustrating, but this one wa...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

Was the paint master done by you Kit? Or is done at the factory and sent to you for final approval? The original was done by me. I'm pretty sure the one in the photos I posted earlier are of the factory copy that I approved. Here is a shot side-by-side. The one on the left is what I painted, factor...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

Thank you for the information. I wasn't able to access the images that you posted here for some reason (404 error) Strange. I just tried the links in 3 different browsers and I don't get a 404 error. Those were just links to the url on my website. The images are huge, so I did not embed them in tha...

Re: United Cutlery's - The Hobbit - Movie Props!

Hi Kit, I can confirm that the MC Glamdring is the only one with the error (ie runes reversed/on the wrong side). So ironically the cheaper regular glamdring is actually hero prop accurate after all!!! Since Weta made hero props both ways, neither one is really an error. I'm sure Peter has the the ...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

I received one of the reissues without the numbering, and I was wondering if you could elaborate at all about what the missing paint steps were that you mentioned. All the gold on the vines should have had a semi transparent wash of brown over it, a brown wash filling the crevices all around the ra...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

Someone fell asleep at the number stamping machine? There's some poor factory worker out there right now with a couple of Elf Helm edition numbers permanently stamped on his forehead. :crazy: Probably. They were supposed to be hand numbered, as they have done in the past. There were also several pa...

Re: The Expanse

Has anyone of you read the books?... If so what so you think of them? and also how does the dramatization hold up to the book version? The books are excellent, and well worth a read. The tv show follows them closely in some parts, varies in others. In some ways I like what they did in the show bett...

Re: The Expanse

I pre ordered it as soon as it was announced. The final season was a bit of a let down, but It's still one of my favorite sci-fi shows of all time, second to BSG.

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

I think that was one of the many screw ups where the factory made far more products than the edition, so UC made a "new" version to fix it. There were 3 or 4 of them, which prompted the "no more new limited editions" policy. At least for new items, but it seems even completing th...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

In all seriousness though, I don’t suppose there’s any reasonable way to determine what the SN should be? Not a big deal since I plan on holding onto it, but it may make a difference down the line if ever I were to part with it. I have no idea how they are going to fix that issue. I hope they are n...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

Are those the surface conditioning scotchbrite belts? Or more of the traditional cotton buffs with a polishing compound? Most of the LOTR blades have a satin finish, which is done with a series of coarse to fine scotchbrite type belts or wheels. For a mirror finish like this one they add additional...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

Why you gotta be that way, Kit?!? :crazy: OK, ok. It was the Sauron sword. Nah, just kidding. Oooooh. Can you at least hint if it's a bladed prop or not? :P No, not a bladed prop, but it's something I think a few of you will want. Over a year from being available, so nothing I can talk about yet.

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

Someone did send me these yesterday and also asked why sometimes the grinding marks go horizontal or vertical on the blade, my only guess was based on how they were ground, but is there ever any post sanding done on these by hand? This dagger looks to have had some. Hand held polishing on a belt po...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

That's looking really nice! :thumbs_up Always interesting to see what's in the background just lying around. Looks like at least two Boromir swords with identical scabbards? Pity we'll never see those, unless there's a surprise in the works? In the second photo, you can also see something with a ra...

Re: LOTR movie trilogy 20th anniversary

Recutting the whole trilogy with extended footage as a series for Max would be ideal, but I just don't see Jackson doing that or WB paying for it. I don't care if they cut some of that stuff into longer versions of the films or not, I just want to see those scenes in some kind of finished form. A 25...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

Kit, for the Lorien knife (which also seems inevitable, thanfully), you mentioned possibly no display? This would be a first for UC. I hope it does come with one.... please. I'd love if there was an option to display two knives on one display but I think it's highly unlikely. Will probably have to ...

Re: United Cutlery's - LOTR & The Hobbit - Movie Props!

Drew did another poll on the LOTR Facebook, which is more general LOTR collectors, not just UC collectors. This time he restricted it so pollers could not add items and skew the results. As of now, here is where it stands. 27.5% - Haldir's Sword 26.1% - Sword of Sauron 15.5% - Merry and Pippin's Lor...

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