God of War: Leviathan Axe
When the 2018 God of War game for the modern consoles launched, as a long time fan of the series I knew that I’d soon be ears deep in building a lot of Viking-esque props. Little did I know the what kind of rabbit hole I’d be falling down into over several years.
”The Leviathan Axe is introduced as Kratos’ main weapon throughout the Norse Era. Specifically forged by the blacksmiths Brok and Sindri to fight off the power of Mjölnir, the Axe has been granted to the Guardian before the latter offered it to Kratos prior to her death.”
Digital Sculpting
The intricate filigree and detailing around the handle made for quite a challenge in Rhino. Surface models tend to be a little easier to modify should changes need to be made so I tried to keep everything as a NURBs surface for as long as possible. The wood grain texture and carving on the handle is a bit more than Rhino can manage so for this piece I hopped over into Zbrush for the heavy lifting.
Once the modeling was complete all of the parts were assessed for fabrication needs and internal pins and socket tolerances were added to make things run smoothly.
If you’d like a copy of these models to build your own axe, check them out here - Leviathan Axe models on Etsy
Prototyping and Fabrication
The prototype was fabricated using a combination of FDM and SLA printing. For the head piece mold I used a new at the time product called Mold Max 27NV (no vacuum). The viscosity of this material was very low which made for a great mold pour, but I did notice a good bit of shrinkage over time. Couple that with the abysmal tear strength after a few months and I was back to matrix-molding the head. For fun I played around with doing a few tinted clear castings with the intention of embedding lights to have the axe head "glow” like it does in the game. Hopefully I’ll find some time one day to revisit this project and make this happen.
Finishing
The base finish of the metal pieces on the axe was done using a cold casting blend of aluminum and nickel powder. Once buffed with 0000 steel wool and polished with Mother’s Mag metal polish the shine and luster of the part really comes through. Additional details on the handle are cold cast in brass to mimic gold accenting.
The gems were pressure cast in a water clear resin tinted blue and then buffed/polished to a high shine.
Do a bit of weathering, add some leather wraps to the handle and you’ve got yourself a legendary weapon from the Nordic land of mythology!
Final photography for the piece was captured by the incredibly talented Kyle Matthew of World of Gwendana.
