Death The Kid Beretta 92fs Pair From Soul Eater Manga/Anime

[F3nri5]

Hi

I haven't done any model 'stuff' for years. But my daughter quite likes Soul Eater, particularly the character Death the Kid. A love of Anime/Manga is something we share and to this end as a surprise I'm going to do a pair of beretta 92fs pistols as used by the Kid.

There is no great shakes to this project. I have purchased a pair of spring bb guns (HFC HA-118) from bbgun4less and have already stripped one down completely to begin. There are only four things to do to make the guns accurate to the Manga/Anime.

Create the 'teeth' on the gun barrel
fill the grip serrations on the slide and add the 'eye'
make and mount the shinigami deaths head on the grips
Respray the guns*

*The last is a technical no no. I'm in the UK and we have some very strict regulations thanks to a few terrible incidents involving ne’er do wells and guns. Firstly The Guns will be going in a presentation case. They are not for running around with and my daughter is of an age where this isn't what she would be doing. Also The colour scheme is going to be as per the Anime as seen on screen. I.E. 'cartoon' colours rather than the real world silver which I think they are represented to be.

One other thing I may try is adding decals of Liz and Patty to each weapon in a faint print. Liz and Patty, for those who don't know are the human form of the guns. They transform when required and the kid wields them......... It's off the wall stuff but very good!

So far I have used a razor saw to remove the 6 teeth (3 aside) glued them back in set back by 1mm. Filled the edge where they are now stepped to level the slide up again. Also filled the serrations in the slide where the 'eyes' will go. I've used milliput standard, my first time, got on quite well with it so far. The offset of the triangles for the teeth, particularly the third from the slide tip has interfered with the travel of the slide. To this end I am going to have to carefully file the third tooth inner face so that it is flush with the inner face again. It doesn't matter if the guns function but just for my own 'fussiness' I want to get it all right.

PICS!

 

[F3nri5]

Hi

Well The Prep is done on the slide. I had a little issue with the a couple of triangles coming loose under the onslaught of sanding and filing even with a shim filling the gap underneath whilst fettling. I'm using citadel glue but I think it's not quite aggressive enough for the plastic the gun is made of. It is sticking just not bonding as hard as perhaps the plastic in a model kit would.

Any Pointers to a more suitable glue would be appreciated.. The guns material is described as ABS on the website.

So with the fettling done the slide moves fully back allowing 'lock n load'.

The second gun will have the triangles thinned before refitting but better glue would still be an idea I think.

For the eye motif where the serrations are/where I intend to carve up a cd case insert so thats covered just awaiting my attention.

Today I popped into the local sewing craft shop and grapped a couple buttons. 20ish mm diameter slightly convex when upside down. The buttons have 2 sewing holes which I filled with milliput, slightly proud and cured with a hair dryer for speed. covered with a bit of masking tape and marked for the eyes, nose and teeth lines for the shinigami skull.

Drilled the eyes and nose. Scored the teeth then filed. Not perfect but the best I can do (I have a tremor). Next was to make a mold using the button as the buck. The mold is made from silicone caulk catalysed using soapy water (youtube is your friend). My first attempt went fine and only went wrong in my execution of the mold itself.

I made it way to thick and on realising this I pulled it apart which revealed air bubbles in the eyes and nose. Currently my second attempt is sitting in the kitchen. This time, once the silicone soapy water mix was made, the mold was built up slowly. A blob of silicone squished into each eye and the nose worked to ensure no trapped air then added more silicone bit by bit until the button was covered then built up the thickness. I've been as carefull as possible to work all the air out and once done pressed a flat plate on top so the mold is now 6 to 8 mm thick. Hopefully this will work. I hope so I only need 4 pulls from it.

Allied with this I need to make a jig to hold the grips. With a filler in the hollow of the back of the grip as I need to use a drill press, which I haven't got, to drill the mount recesses in the grips for the shinigami medallions. When held at a certain angle in the light you can see an artefact in the grips, a feint circular outline, where they possibly alter the mold to have the beretta badge or the diamond grip pattern.

PICS.

 

[F3nri5]

Hi

Here's the first grip badge. Not perfect. But as it's milliput squashed into the silicone mold not expected to be. Could I get away with standard 2 part epoxy glue? Pour from hieght to mitigate the bubble issue or just go with the milli? Comments are welcome

The milli was applied in 2 layers to ensure I got it pressed round the detail the last was the n scrapped and smoothed with water to level with the top of the mold. Like I say it works but I wont be getting any awards :-D

PIC

 

[JamesPurcell]

Nice, but I always hated the way he held them.
I'm sure I did see a scene where liz and Patty was actually written on the slides....

Ah yes, that UK gun Law.... Part of the reason that we are no longer able to buy a G1 Megatron toy :angry

 

[F3nri5]

Hi

Yes. But that was his.. Thing. That and folded corners on toilet paper :-D I will have to watch closely for the written naming. Could be an easier embellishment to pull off in the long run. Mean while I have four shinigami death head badges done. Some need a little filler just to tweak them to near perfect but overall I'm pretty pleased.

Just trying to source the loan of a drill stand or press to drill the grips. The jig to hold the grips is sorted, accuracy wont be an issue, so a slight pause whilst I get things together. Including some plumbers weld glue which should be a bit more fierce in the bonding dept. For gun #2.

I had to look up the G1. Pretty cool and I see, relatively (depending on locality and the laws therein, hard to get as well.

 

[F3nri5]

Hi
Well at last I have a drill stand of my own. Having asked around to no avail. Still £14 Inc. P&P from China is not bad and the new stand has done the required deed. First thing was to make a jig to hold the grips for drilling. To keep it simple I wanted to have the jig serve both hands without having to reset between them. So find the common centre and use the grips own screw holes the fix them down for drilling (simples).

Second prep was the grips themselves. Once more milliput was put to use beefing up the inner void of the grips where the shinigami inserts are to be sited. The surface was sanded and washed to aid adhesion of the milliput to the grip. A wheat bag was warmed up and the grips sandwiched in it to speed up the cure. Then the first grip was fitted on the drill stand. A 20mm forstner bit is in the drill and a little bottle of oil is on standby.

Start the drill, check for alignment and start drilling. Once I have the first circle mark stop drilling and put a drop of oil on the plastic. Start drilling nice and steady and stop once I can see a full circle of milliput. Swap grips and repeat. The only tweak to do now is sand the shinigami skulls down a tad from 21mm to 20mm to fit. The result is perfect I'm pleased to say. The skulls themselves need a little dressing before painting and fitting proper.