How to Make Captain America's Shield - Civil War

Stark, I need a new shield. Okay. How about this one? No, no, that's just a prototype. What's it made of? Funny you should ask. Materials for this prop include a hula hoop, cardboard, duct tape, aluminum tape, two inch brass fasteners, poster board, red and blue acrylic paint, brown duct tape, scissors, a ruler, and a pen or pencil. First, you'll need four strips of cardboard, each three feet long and about two inches thick. Roll up the first strip to give it a curve. Place the hula hoop on your table with a four inch spacer in the middle. I use tube tape rolls. Bend the end of the cardboard strip around the hula hoop and duct tape it in place. Run the strip over the spacer and pull it taut around the hula hoop on the other side. Keeping the strip tight against the spacer is essential to forming the dome of this shield. Duct tape the cardboard in place. Roll the second strip of cardboard and place it perpendicular to the first, creating a cross. Duct tape each end around the hula hoop, again making sure it's taut against the middle spacer. The third and fourth strips should form a second cross above the first so the shield looks like a pizza. Next, you'll notice that each layer is higher than the one underneath. To balance them out, you'll need to cut small strips of cardboard and build up to the height of the highest layers. Add cross beams between the middle of the shield and the outer hula hoop for stability. Remember that cross beams count as adding height. Wrapping the cardboard around the hula hoop also adds half an inch to the outer edge, so you'll need to duct tape spacers all around the edge as well. This next part is absolutely critical. Use scissors to poke a hole through the cardboard layers in the middle of the shield. Stick a brass fastener through the hole and secure it in place. According to my very reliable parents, this will make the cardboard dome keep its shape because physics. Run a strip of brown duct tape under the shield and anchor it to a couple of your middle braces. Leave a gap between the shield and the tape. This is going to be the strap. Cover the adhesive side with another piece of brown duct tape. Repeat the process on the opposite side. Lay a piece of poster board over the shield and draw a triangle from the middle point down to the curved edge of the shield. Cut the triangle out and duct tape it in place on the shield. It may be necessary at points to cut nicks in the poster board to get it to lie flat. Repeat the process for the rest of the shield. It's okay if the poster board doesn't always match the edge. It'll be covered anyway. Cover the entire shield in duct tape, wrapping it tightly around the outer edges. Cover the entire shield in aluminum tape. I would say this is optional. I just prefer the look of aluminum to duct tape, and I think the aluminum holds paint better, but your choice. Measure a 3 inch thick stripe all around the shield. Inside this first stripe, draw a second and third stripe each 3 inches thick. Draw a star in the middle portion of your shield. I used marker to make it more visible in the video, but I'd recommend a pencil when drawing. The paint didn't hide the marker ink. Paint your first and third stripe red, and your middle circle background blue. If you mess up the star, you can always modify it by reapplying aluminum tape. And there's Captain America's mighty shield! What do you think, Peggy? Whoa, whoa! That's made of cardboard! What is wrong with you? Ready? Oh no! Oh my gosh. Don't take me to the river. Don't drop me in the water.