spidermanna
New Member
Welcome to the 3rd tutorial. This one is mainly made from PVC tubes and polyurethane (poly) which looks pretty obvious. To be fair, there are 4 parts on this that were 3D printed, but then recast in poly. The handle was a bunch of work as were the T-tracks (at least initially). As stated before, it helps to have a lathe…
The first thing I did (before disposing of those awful fiberglass gauntlets), was do a LOT of research on both the EE-3 and the gun that it was made from, the British Webley & Scott M1 Flaregun. This gave me a lot of closeups of what the individual components looked like originally, as well as a clear diagrams of the parts that I could blow up to scale and use to trace out parts. The trigger guard was one of the four 3D parts that I printed and recast in poly (to make it easier to sand).
I used foam to make the buttstock. Its in two parts, left and right with a for sale sign in the middle to give it a flat bit to “butt” up against. To give it a somewhat wood look, scrape the foam with a wire brush. If you are lucky, they won’t get scratched out in the inevitable sanding you will need to do. The buttstock would be cast in silicone and cornstarch (SiliStarch) and made of fiberglass (only thing made of fiberglass I made on the costume and kept (I think). The handle grip is just several layers of PVC and clear sheet plastic (I would replace the inside outer layer later with aluminum to make it stronger). The barrel is just Schedule 40 PVC.
Initially, the receiver shroud was going to be made of fiberglass. However, I was really struggling to make it work with the jetpack, gauntlets, and helmet. I needed to go in another direction and it was at this time, I discovered a game-changing process which is to form poly into basically anything I want. To make the receiver shroud, I simply made a form (pressed wood and EVA foam thing on the left), mixed a bunch of 2-part poly, and poured it into the square I made. Instead of waiting for it to completely harden, I determined that if I let it set up for 10 minutes and then removed it from the form, I could wrap it around whatever I wanted and tape it down while it cured. The results were the two shrouds in the background. I made them oversized and trimmed them to shape. The PVC tube on the right is the template I used to form them. Notice how there is a 3rd shroud taped down, which is the one I eventually used. I used the two small PVC pipes on either side to smooth out the shape of the sides.
Seen with the shroud on and starting to start adding in the other parts of the barrel as well as the back of the receiver. The larger round parts are simply larger PVC tubes (which are either the extension sleeves or just bigger diameter tubes or both trimmed and rounded on the lathe. I also started making the inner barrel bits on the lathe (better picture of that coming up). I made a mistake and used irrigation-grade PVC which I think is heavier. With that and the poly-filled buttstock this blaster was probably heavier than it needed to be. On the top left are the EVA foam templates for the back end of the receiver under the shroud. I’m also working on the scope…
Making the T-Tracks that go around the barrel. This was a lot of trial and error to get to this point. In summary, the red and white template T-Track was taped to the PVC tube using double-sided tape. I then cast the entire thing in SiliStarch. Making the T-Tracks was a 2-step process of pouring a small bit of poly in the mold to make sure it doesn't leak out the bottom. Small amounts are less likely to leak a lot and will seal any holes (this wasn’t really needed after I realized I could add more SiliStarch to plug the leak on the bottom). I determined exactly how much poly I needed, mixed, poured half of it in, tapped the PVC pipe a lot to get the bubbles out, poured the rest in, and tapped it a lot more. Make sure to make the T-Track mold longer than it needs to be. To speed up production, pull them out of the mold after 10 minutes and lay them on another PVC pipe making sure they are perfectly straight. Let them cure and trim to size.
Here is the inside of the form. I initially used dowel rods as key signatures to make sure the SiliStarch cast was straight but I realized later I didn’t need them as I was pulling them out while they were still soft and making them straight on another tube while they cured (not pictured unfortunately—I need to be more aware of these things!) Notice the back of the receiver coming together!
Before and after the T-Tracks were installed. Make sure to dry fit these before gluing, and when you do, glue them on carefully one at a time. Better picture of the barrel. I took a piece of pressed wood and screwed in a dowel rod to hold the gun up while I was working on it. I still use it when I go to shows to hold the blaster up…
Progress so far. Note that I made the buttstock but forgot to take any pictures of the process. I was basically a 2-part (left & right) mold made from the EVA foam template. I made each side independently and glued them together but inside of the area where the handle area would be screwed into, I added T-Nuts for the screws to screw into. I then glued both sides together and added a lot of Poly to fill in all the sides and gaps—I added a lot of poly—more than I needed to which made it heavier than it needed to be. My bad…
Building both the scope and the ‘brass’ handle. Unfortunately, these are the only photos I made of that extensive process. It took a lot of attempts to get the handle just right. I ended up using a couple pieces of EVA foam (one for the outer edge and one for the inner grip). The inner grip was made by slicing thin crossed lines in the EVA foam and heating it with a heat gun which causes the cuts to open up. Then lay a tiny diamond made of a for sale sign on it and make a form in SiliStarch and cast in poly. Then just sand it. Like the buttstock, I put T-Nuts in the handle as well for the screws to screw into. The handle is picture at the base of the gun on the right. The scope front and back are just ¾”PVC over a ½” PVC and lathed to shape. Making the middle bit of the scope was a bit more labor intensive, until I remembered that I had one of these scopes on my 552 BDL Speedmaster in the basement, so I cast that for the middle part and the caps over the adjustment screws (not pictured…yet)…
So yeah, I messed up pretty badly. With the heavier stock the handle grip was very wobbly. Adding another layer or anything would have made it too thick, so I made a form out of plywood and routed out the outer layer of PVC to make room for the aluminum replacement plate (right). Notice the scope mounts which were just clear plastic pre-cut to shape, heated and bent to form around a ½” PVC pipe. I should have used the poly method I used for the shroud. If I make another one, I will do that…
Making some repairs to the oversized holes on the shroud. To seal the shroud up, I taped it up and poured little bits of poly in and slosh around until it filled in all the gaps and leaks. Then filled and sanded.
Couple of close-ups. Getting nearer to being done!
Here it is with the middle bit added to the scope. The trigger guard, hammer, and 2 V8 model parts on the stock are 3D printed and recast. The model parts were cast and pulled out after 10 minutes and shaped to the stock vs being flat and having a gap… Notice that I did not put the model airplane pylon on the side of the receiver shroud because I didn’t want to—I hated the way it looked so I made a conscious decision to not bother with it. No way I will get into the 501st now! Ready for painting!
Primed and first coat on—combo of gunmetal and black. Note the other bits. I did ALL painting at one time…with my homemade paint booth made out of the box my new hot water heater came in…
Painted the brass—shown before the weathering…
Yeah I actually took the time to make little lenses and tiny sleeves to hold them in place. They don’t really work unfortunately. No one in Star Wars ever uses the scope anyway…
Weathering done. Note the subtle rusting on the barrel. After spraying with acrylic overspray, I did a wash and then highlights with some drybrushed silver and scratched with steel wool throughout to give it a beat up look…
I think it turned out ok. I didn’t want to overdo it but tried to make it look as realistic as I could…(not that I know how one of these would look—probably like it weighs a ton, which this one does!)
And that is what it looked like before going to my first show in Columbus in Dec 2023. Note that I did replace the screws in the scope. I don’t put triggers on my prop guns mainly because I don’t want the inspectors to think it has any possibility of being real but also because I would likely break them off play with it all day in costume. The buttstock would later get warn away on the edges from rubbing on the gauntlet. I only put the rear V8 greebly on the inside of the buttstock cuz I honestly hate them. In retrospect, I wouldn’t put either of them on the inside of the buttstock (side not seen here) because they scrape against the armor. I had to put black duct-tape over it to keep it from rubbing more paint off! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this journey through the past. More to come…
