Team Fortress 2 Medi gun build

[albinobat]

This is my first serious build.

I am a big tf2 fan, My favourite class is the Medic and since I'm getting into cosplay, I decided to dress up as him for the Armaggeddon Expo in NZ This year.

My main focus is going to be on the medi gun prop, I've spent 2 months researching and looking at tutorials, I am finally ready to start the build so I thought I would use this thread to show my progress.


Reference pictures:

credit to dragehest for this one



I am planning on making it mostly out of EPS foam and coating it with resin for a strong, lightweight finish.
Cutting the pieces as soon as I can get enough EPS foam.

Any help or suggestions will be appreciated, Don't have a huge amount of experience with this.

 

[SkunkonToast]

Good to see you've done some research dude. I will be eager to see how this turns out. I was always at my best as the medic class, man I love that game I may have to go and play it right now.

 

[drjag]

It looks to me like you could use PVC pipe for a lot of the build, especially the front half of the gun. You could use various PVC fittings like a PVC reducer for the end of the front barrel where the massive opening is.

 

[RunningBlade]

All I see, when I look at that handle, is a child's toy mower.

 

[albinobat]

It looks to me like you could use PVC pipe for a lot of the build, especially the front half of the gun. You could use various PVC fittings like a PVC reducer for the end of the front barrel where the massive opening is.

I have got some pvc pipe for the front half of the gun, guess I should have made it clear that I'm only doing the more complex shapes in foam :$

 

[albinobat]

Started the carving today.

First I made a life-sized cardboard cut out to get a sense of the size


I decided to create the bottom handle first, I use a hotwire scroll table to cut out the basic shape, then I sand it down to give it smooth edges


To make the bigger parts I need to glue the foam together to get thicker pieces, most of the glues I have either like to eat through the foam, or not stick at all, So I will continue as soon as I get some proper foam glue from the craft store.

In the meantime I will work on sewing my outfit

 

[albinobat]

I guess you could say it's starting to come together

Would recommend hotwire tools for any polystyrene based builds :thumbsup

any tips on holding the pvc pipe in place?

 

[albinobat]

Due to illness I have not been able to work on this project as often as I would have liked to the past couple of weeks

I think I'm ready to start the resin coating soon

 

[albinobat]

First coat of resin done. Needs a lot of sanding but I'm still glad how it turned out

Next thing to do is secure the pipe and add some more details.

Wondering if I should secure the pipe using glue or screws, any suggestions?

 

[albinobat]

Bought a small detail sander to smooth it out and added a second coat of resin

I love the feel of it.

Almost ready to start painting

 

[albinobat]

Started work on the medipack

 

[albinobat]

Been a lack of updates since I've been focusing on many things at once

The parts have been primed now and will take up to a week to fully set. In the meantime I am keeping them together on a spare bit of pvc pipe


Also been working on the oxygen tank? on the medipack



deadline is in 2 1/2 weeks so I really need to push myself

 

[albinobat]

Started on the details with eva foam today

It's starting to take shape and I'm really happy with it

 

[albinobat]

Finally got to paint it. The parts were spray painted and then I used latex on certain areas to give it a better grip.
Took apart an old vacuum cleaner for the hose


Should get it finished within a week

 

[albinobat]

Lights are in now

 

[Willbo]

Hey. Really love what you've made. Probably a long dead thread but worth a try. I was wondering if you could tell my what tools you used/recommended and possibly the dimensions if you still have them. Thanks

 

[albinobat]

Hey. Really love what you've made. Probably a long dead thread but worth a try. I was wondering if you could tell my what tools you used/recommended and possibly the dimensions if you still have them. Thanks

I drew the patterns in CorelDraw to scale using these images for references:

I then printed them out on an A4 sheet of paper and traced them onto scrap pieces of styrofoam, then I cut the pieces out with a hot wire scroll table https://hotwirefoamfactory.com/ and glued them together with styrofoam safe glue.
I brushed on epoxy resin to give it a strong and lightweight shell and primed it with a plastic primer so I could spray paint it.
I used more epoxy resin to glue the pieces to a pvc pipe, and added details by wrapping strips of eva foam around the pipe (which I also coated in resin).
I finished off by attaching the lever with a huge bolt, then attaching one side of an old vacuum hose to the back and the other side to the medipack (to work out the dimensions of the medipack I just assumed that the tank on the side was the same width as the pipe (9 cm) and worked from that using these references http://imgur.com/a/Lfc1C

I think I may still have the patterns on another computer, would let you know if I find them.

I never really posted the finished picture so here's the best one I took (was before I added the switch and the medipack harness, at this point I only had a couple of days left and no time to take pictures):

 

[Willbo]

Thank you very much!