Introduction: Guardian Shield From Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild

By Natasha Matthews
About: I am a maker from the St. Louis area. I have spent a lot of time playing video games and watching anime. I am finally jumping into the world of making things I like from these places.

One cool thing about Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild is how some of the gear glows. The Guardian Shield is one of those item. When I saw it in the game I knew I needed to make. This will also fit perfectly with my Breath of the Wild cosplay I plan to make this year.

Attachments

Supplies

pattern

10mm, 8mm, and 2mm EVA Foam

6mm Plastazote® LD45

Contact Cement

utility knife

knife sharpener

superglue

Hot glue

123 blocks

velcro

Adafruit’s Gemma MO

5V output Powerbank

alligator clips for testing

Neopixels Strip

hook up wire

soldier and soldiering iron

Helping Hands

parchment paper

Step 1: Make the Back of the Shield

Print and tape together Pater pattern. Number your panels. include registering marks to where the panels meet the center of the shield. Cut out the back base panels from 8mm EVA foam. Cut out 3 center panels and glue them together as well.

Step 2: Get Your Gemma MO Ready.

At this point I got my Gemma MO ready. We will use this to test each strip along the way and make any adjustment if needed. I really like the Gemma MO because you can use CircuitPython to make the lights do cool things and it is really easy to test with alligator clips.

I have the code upload to my GitHub account. This code is based on Adafruit's Logan’s Run Hand Jewel LED tutorial.

Attachments

Step 3: Get You Lights in Place.

Measure and cut out your Neopixels strips.For Neoplxels you can cut between the Gnd, Dat, and the Pwd pads on each segment. Cut out your wire leads and solder them to your Neopixle strips. I use hot glue at the and of each solders point to help secure each joint.

** A note when soldering to these strips. If you keep iron on the copper pad to long the pad will come off the strip. I found that out the hard way in this build. The last 3 pictures are indication of what happened. The lights kept of blinking but no in the way I programmed it to. ***

Hot glue the strips on the panels in the positions you want. I left the protective coating on the strips. I even took some sand paper to the covering to help with light diffusion.

Add 10mm spacers points on your panels. Hot glue parchment paper over the lights. I wanted these to be super diffused.

Step 4: Add the Top Layer

Trace and cut out the front panels from the Plastazote. Use 123 blocks to help line up both the light panels and the Plastazote. I used superglue to glue all these together. Test each strip along the way. This is the time to make any adjustments.

Cut out strips of 2mm foam and wrap the edges of the panels. This will help with the stability of the panels and prevent light bleeding out.

Glue the edges of each panel to the center points. Line up the edges with the registration mark on the center panels that were made earlier.

Step 5: Rising of the Shield Hero

Solder together the led leads. Grounds together, Data together, and power together.

I did this in a series. Not sure why, If you do in parallel it would be fine.

Step 6: Getting the Center Ready

I made another version of the center design what is bigger. It will help hide the glue edges and help with stability. I used 4mm foam for the raised pieces and a foam dowel to make the rivets.

I also wanted to added lights here to. Poke a hole in the center to run your wire through.

Step 7: All About the Back

Make a bigger cover for the back just like we did for the front only with is be plain.. Poke a hoe and feed the 3 wires through and glue one the back. I did have to and more strips along on edges. I and some gaps where the wires were exposed.

Make a pocket for the battery and make a strap from EVA foam and velcro. I used 10mm foam for the batter to sit on and 2mm foam to keep it in place.

Make handles out of 10mm eva foam. You may need to double up near the edges for more security.

Solder the wires to D2, Gnd, and Vout on the Gemma MO board.

Last make a cove to protect the Gemma.

Step 8: Get Ready for Paint

At this point it is best to heat seal the foam and get it ready for paint.

For the paint job I am going to try something different. I feel I should put that in its own instructable. Keep in eye out for that. It will be coming soon.