Another component to our "We Are ODST" live action ODST costume group is the SMG. This is sort of a hybird, though, as it began as a game-version of the SMG. Of course, the differences between the game 3D model and the live-action model are negligible for the main body portion of the SMG. However, the main differences are in the scope and the barrel.
As I said, this began as a game version of the SMG. So I took the side view of the gun, scaled it to what I thought worked well, printed it out, and traced it onto some MDF. Building began there. Details were sculpted directly into the MDF with my dremel and some other hand tools, and other details were added with 2mm Sintra plastic added to the MDF. The barrel you see pictured here is the beginnings of a game version of the barrel, which was scrapped in favor of the live action version.
Then the gun was molded. For some reason I couldn't find any photos of the mold itself, but here are some photos of the mold preparation. It's a two part Smooth-On silicone mold, and each half is poured in and allowed to cure separately. Then the two halves of the mold are put together and taped up, and then we use the pour spouts to fill the remaining cavity of the gun. That way we can minimize air bubbles in all the details and only have to worry about filling stray bubbles on flat, detail-less surfaces.
Castings are made from solid fiberglass resin with micro bulb filler (thought on this particular casting, the greeblies were Smooth Cast Onyx resin). The castings aren't terribly heavy, thought it's what you might expect of a real firearm of this size. The rear sight is screwed into the top, and the scope and the magazine had to be pinned due to their larger sizes and the surface details preventing screws. The pins are just sections of metal clothing hangers cut and drilled into the parts allowing for deep setting glue.
The barrels for our group are being hand-made out of PVC and sintra. The detail on the movie-style barrel varies greatly from that of the game. However, due to lack of high quality reference materials on the movie SMG, a rough design was built mimicking the grainy details I can make out of screen shots and ECCC photos.
Finished photos:
Enjoy!
As I said, this began as a game version of the SMG. So I took the side view of the gun, scaled it to what I thought worked well, printed it out, and traced it onto some MDF. Building began there. Details were sculpted directly into the MDF with my dremel and some other hand tools, and other details were added with 2mm Sintra plastic added to the MDF. The barrel you see pictured here is the beginnings of a game version of the barrel, which was scrapped in favor of the live action version.
Then the gun was molded. For some reason I couldn't find any photos of the mold itself, but here are some photos of the mold preparation. It's a two part Smooth-On silicone mold, and each half is poured in and allowed to cure separately. Then the two halves of the mold are put together and taped up, and then we use the pour spouts to fill the remaining cavity of the gun. That way we can minimize air bubbles in all the details and only have to worry about filling stray bubbles on flat, detail-less surfaces.
Castings are made from solid fiberglass resin with micro bulb filler (thought on this particular casting, the greeblies were Smooth Cast Onyx resin). The castings aren't terribly heavy, thought it's what you might expect of a real firearm of this size. The rear sight is screwed into the top, and the scope and the magazine had to be pinned due to their larger sizes and the surface details preventing screws. The pins are just sections of metal clothing hangers cut and drilled into the parts allowing for deep setting glue.
The barrels for our group are being hand-made out of PVC and sintra. The detail on the movie-style barrel varies greatly from that of the game. However, due to lack of high quality reference materials on the movie SMG, a rough design was built mimicking the grainy details I can make out of screen shots and ECCC photos.
Finished photos:
Enjoy!
