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Plasma Rifle Update 4
Posted: Monday, July 26, 2010 by Ryan Palser in
4
So I'm back again with another update. The rifle in very close to completion. Now that the main framework is finished, it is time to move on to all of the detailing. And there is a lot of it. I started on the back of the rifle. The rear canister was the best place to start. It was cut out of MDF with a thin sheet of styrene on the sides to create the raised yellow labels.
And a shot of it painted with all the connection points attached.
And finally a shot of it in place with the wiring installed.
The next big step in the build process was to create the 6 canisters along the top of the gun. I decided to try and save time by not creating 6 of them. Instead I created just one and then molded and cast it.
This worked out pretty well and it allowed me to simply add the textured pattern to the lower part of the canister out of clay. Here is the shot of the molding process.
I then cast all 6 out of smoothcast 300. After the plastic was dry, I took 2 of them and cut out a section from the middle to make the small canisters on the right. The whole process went really well and with the exception of a few bubbles on a few of the pieces, I'm very happy. After they were painted a combination of metal and black I attached them to the gun.
Also pictured in the image above are the connection points for the white tubing that covers the sides of the gun. These are just copper plumbing fitting connected to the surface of the gun. They connect to a lower panel that joints up the the lower canister.
This shot showed these lower connection points pretty well. Below this is the large canister. This was created out of 2 3-inch PVC caps that I glued together and smoothed out the seem. The shape of the caps worked out perfectly and the canister. It was painted yellow and the decals were added. It looks great.
The handle, believe it or not is important part of any gun. Like the AER9, I created it out of MDF and sheet styrene. This was then attached to the front of gun.
The next update should come in the next week or two as the rifle is almost finished. I have attached on the white tubing on the sides of the gun and added on the decals. There is one final electronics piece to create and then its on to the weathering. I have also created a stand for the gun to sit on just like the AER9. As usual there are more photos over on my flickr site so go check them out if you haven't already. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter!!!
And a shot of it painted with all the connection points attached.
And finally a shot of it in place with the wiring installed.
The next big step in the build process was to create the 6 canisters along the top of the gun. I decided to try and save time by not creating 6 of them. Instead I created just one and then molded and cast it.
This worked out pretty well and it allowed me to simply add the textured pattern to the lower part of the canister out of clay. Here is the shot of the molding process.
I then cast all 6 out of smoothcast 300. After the plastic was dry, I took 2 of them and cut out a section from the middle to make the small canisters on the right. The whole process went really well and with the exception of a few bubbles on a few of the pieces, I'm very happy. After they were painted a combination of metal and black I attached them to the gun.
Also pictured in the image above are the connection points for the white tubing that covers the sides of the gun. These are just copper plumbing fitting connected to the surface of the gun. They connect to a lower panel that joints up the the lower canister.
The handle, believe it or not is important part of any gun. Like the AER9, I created it out of MDF and sheet styrene. This was then attached to the front of gun.
The next update should come in the next week or two as the rifle is almost finished. I have attached on the white tubing on the sides of the gun and added on the decals. There is one final electronics piece to create and then its on to the weathering. I have also created a stand for the gun to sit on just like the AER9. As usual there are more photos over on my flickr site so go check them out if you haven't already. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter!!!