BR-55HB SR Build along with sliced weapon tips (pic heavy)

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Greydragon89

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So this is my second sliced weapon build and I figured that I would walk through the process of making a sliced weapon for anyone who was interested in how to make one.

To start you’ll have to find plans for a sliced weapon, which can be located all over the 405th. For the BR-55HB SR I used files from this thread Br55-Pepakura-Model. Be sure to pay careful attention to the thickness of the material you are using for the build. While most call for the materials thickness to be 3/16 in some call for a 1/4 in.

After downloading the file print out the templates and lay them out on the material that you are working with. For my rifle I used a 3/16 in MDF sheet. As you are laying out the templates make sure to leave enough room so that if you make a mistake while cutting the MDF you won’t cut into the area you will be using for the weapon.

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Now that you have marked cutlines on your material it’s time to cut out smaller sheets to work with. Now while you don’t have to do this I would still highly recommend it since it makes it far easier to cut out the templates when they are on smaller sheets of the material you are using. Since I am using MDF I used a table saw to cut the sheets out. As with all power tools make sure to wear proper protection, such as safety glasses, ear protection, and gloves. The last thing you want to do is slice off a thumb.

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As you can see now we are left with sheets of wood sized just right for the BR-55 templates.

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As far as applying the template to the material you are working with there are three ways in which to do it. One is to adhere the template to the material using an adhesive as seen below. I found that spray adhesives tend to work best for this method. The benefit of this method is that the template is fused to the wood and therefore makes it easier to see exactly where you should cut. However removal of the paper can be somewhat difficult.

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Another way to transfer the template is to simply score it into the material you are working with. This makes it so that there is no need to spend time scraping or sanding off the template, but it also makes the lines harder to see while you are cutting.

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Lastly you can also cut out the template and then trace the design onto the material you are working with. The main reason I have not done this is because it not only requires more steps, it also means that you have to be extremely careful while tracing the design onto the wood to ensure a proper transfer of the templates design.

The next step is to cut out the template from the material you are working on. To do this I used a coping saw since it has a wide range of motion while cutting which allows for a multitude of cuts. In spots like the carrying handle I used a rotary tool to drill a small hole and inserted the coping saw into the hole by separating it as though I was going to change the blade, inserting it into the hole, and then reinserting the blade.

Now you can start assembling the slices of the weapon. Make sure to take your time and figure out the exact order each slice is supposed to go in since once they are glued together rearranging them will be difficult. To glue the slices together I primarily used liquid nail, but regular Elmer's glue works just as well. For this part clamps will be your best friend since they will be keeping the pieces together as they bond.

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Clips will also work well for this process.

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When the slices have been fully bonded together you can start to sand and trim the weapon. Odds are that even if you took your time one or two slices in the weapon will be off in some way. The simplest way to fix this is to sand things down if they are sticking out or to fill them in with bondo if they are recessed. Bondo can also be used to help smooth out areas of the weapon that are meant to be curved. Since you will be doing a fair amount of sanding make sure that you are wearing safety glasses and some form of air filtration. Often times a simple dust mask can keep you from breathing in most of what you are sanding off the prop. As with all steps in the process of creating a sliced weapon make sure to take your time. Don’t rush to sand or fill something in and occasionally take a step back from what you are working on to get a look at the bigger picture. Often we will hyper focus on one aspect of something and not realize that while we are fixing the problem on a small end we are creating a larger problem for the overall build. When sanding make sure to increase the grit of your sand paper or sanding blocks gradually. Jumping from 80 grit to 360 will only serve to wear down the 360 grit far faster than it should. I usually jump 80 to 120 to 220 to 360 depending on how smooth I need the prop to be.

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Next up is painting the weapon. There are plenty of tutorials on this so I won’t go to far in-depth. Make sure to use a primer before your topcoat paint and try to use one that matches the topcoat so that if the topcoat wears down it won’t be too noticeable. Also if you want to make something appear to be a plastic or synthetic I would suggest coating the area with spray on plasti-dip. Remember a good paint job can make or break a prop.

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The final step is weathering the prop. I use a combination of dry brushing and color washes for most of my props. Try to think about wear points on the gun where pain would start to flake or me worn off and concentrate your dry weathering there. As for color washes think about areas of the weapon that would be subject to build up of grime. (This website has good tips on how to weather props DH2)

Anyway this is the result for the BR-55.

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As you can see I took a few creative liberties with things like the scope to simplify the overall build. Hopefully you guys find this helpful in producing your own props.
 
Incredible build! Planning on making a costume with that (not so) lethal beauty? And though this is your second build, I just like to say Welcome! If your future builds are as good as this then I'm sure a lot of people will be taking a look in.

Seth
 
Nicely done! My only suggestion is that the front grip looks a little square and should be a little more round.
 
Thanks! I'm actually in the process of making a full set of ODST armor, so far it's going pretty well.

The way I have the weapon built it should make it pretty easy to round out the grip, but for now I'll leave it be till I get more time to tinker with it.
 
Looks great, but my only concern is that the fore grip isn't round. Isn't it supposed to have a round fore grip?
 
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