Props Halo 3/ Reach Shotgun

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jongrnl

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Hi every one. I have a quick question and would like what ever advice I can get. I missed me deadline to get my Master Chief costume done for Halloween so I decided I might take a break from that and work on something a little more fun. I've been wanting to build a shotgun that will magnetize to my back piece and I think I might have the experience to finally start it. I would like every ones opinions though before I start to make sure I'm going down a sensible path.

What I've been thinking about doing is make a shotgun out of pep, fiber glassing the outside and then try to fill the inside with expanding foam. I've never worked with expanding foam before but I know people that have so I'm hoping I can do it slowly enough to not bow out my piece. Once that's done, I can drill a small hole to get the magnets installed and cover it over with another small strip of fiber glass. Then I can add Bondo and add what ever other detail I can find. I found Wizard of Flight's blueprints and will probably base a lot of my detail off that.

Will this work or will the fiber glass be too much of a pain on the outside of the prop? I've also heard about ways to use layers of foam to make weapons and other enclosed props out of but I've never been able to find a tutorial that walked though that. Is that a better technique? What kind of quality do you get out of the different methods?
 
To answer a few of your questions: yes, fiberglass will be a real pain if you put it on the outside of a pepakura model. The hours you spent cutting and folding all of that cardstock will be completely wasted when all of the details get covered by your fiberglass. Expanding foam is an interesting material. The issue with it in a prop like this, is that it never really stops expanding. It will be nearly impossible to prevent it from bowing out your model.

I personally like layering Eva foam for my weapons, as it is generally convention-friendly, and can look very realistic if you take your time. I don't have a walk through, exactly, but if you look up "FlyinPhil's fantastic thread of foamy weapon goodness" I do explain my techniques and show some progress pictures.

There is no right or wrong way to build props, it depends on what you are comfortable with, and the time you put into it!
 
Hi every one. I have a quick question and would like what ever advice I can get. I missed me deadline to get my Master Chief costume done for Halloween so I decided I might take a break from that and work on something a little more fun. I've been wanting to build a shotgun that will magnetize to my back piece and I think I might have the experience to finally start it. I would like every ones opinions though before I start to make sure I'm going down a sensible path.

What I've been thinking about doing is make a shotgun out of pep, fiber glassing the outside and then try to fill the inside with expanding foam. I've never worked with expanding foam before but I know people that have so I'm hoping I can do it slowly enough to not bow out my piece. Once that's done, I can drill a small hole to get the magnets installed and cover it over with another small strip of fiber glass. Then I can add Bondo and add what ever other detail I can find. I found Wizard of Flight's blueprints and will probably base a lot of my detail off that.

Will this work or will the fiber glass be too much of a pain on the outside of the prop? I've also heard about ways to use layers of foam to make weapons and other enclosed props out of but I've never been able to find a tutorial that walked though that. Is that a better technique? What kind of quality do you get out of the different methods?

The expanding foam method /might/ work, I wouldn't try it on a full sized pep shotgun though, definitely do a few test shapes beforehand with different cardstock densities and fold patterns. If you had multiple injection points along your model and a thick enough cardstock it might be able to withstand the pressure of the expanding foam but making sure that every section is filled and not over-filled is going to be an interesting challenge.

I'd agree with FlyinPhil that layered EVA is probably the best way to go since you can maintain insanely high detail if you've got the patience while still being able to churn out completed pieces quickly without having to break the bank.

If EVA isn't the most friendly thing for you, I know that I'll be building a Halo 3 style shotgun in the next little bit if you need a hand with creating a pattern. Once I'm finished my current build I could start working away on the CAD plans.
 
Those are some great builds! Thanks for showing me that. I was thinking about the foam floor matts not the stuff you were using. I've never tried to make something that way before but it's worth a try!
 
Hey, sorry for the double post. I actually decided to start work on the assault rifle. I still like the shot gun but the old Halo 3 assault rife is one of my favorite weapons in the series. I read FlyinPhil's thread and really like the process he used to create his weapons. I'm hoping to emulate that method for my first go. In order to start I needed to create a foam backbone that I can then work the rest of the gun around. I took Wizard of Flight's blueprints, measured the length's of each side, what angles were used and what a suitable scaling factor would be to blow my weapon up to size. I would up using 7 inches for every inch in the blueprint.
GetAttachmentThumbnail


I then took pen to paper and sketched what I'm hoping to use out. It came out to be about 33 inches long. What do you think?

GetAttachmentThumbnail
 
Hey, sorry for the double post. I actually decided to start work on the assault rifle. I still like the shot gun but the old Halo 3 assault rife is one of my favorite weapons in the series. I read FlyinPhil's thread and really like the process he used to create his weapons. I'm hoping to emulate that method for my first go. In order to start I needed to create a foam backbone that I can then work the rest of the gun around. I took Wizard of Flight's blueprints, measured the length's of each side, what angles were used and what a suitable scaling factor would be to blow my weapon up to size. I would up using 7 inches for every inch in the blueprint.
https://attachment.outlook.office.n...-ae0e-d5a4422123f2&owa=outlook.live.com&isc=1

I then took pen to paper and sketched what I'm hoping to use out. It came out to be about 33 inches long. What do you think?

https://attachment.outlook.office.n...-ae0e-d5a4422123f2&owa=outlook.live.com&isc=1

So unfortunately I can't see your photos! But, a good way to check that scale would be to check out the halo wiki page for the 'in game' size of the weapons. Keep in mind, the sizes can be ridiculous for some of the guns there, but it's common reactive to scale those sizes down by 10-15% (sometimes more). For example, the needler that is being sold by GameStop (or engages?) for like $300 is waaaay to big. It looks great, but it is definitely too large... This is coming from a guy who is 6'7 and 6'10 in armor. So make the weapon fit you for the best look.

No one more thing I would have done with my weapon builds, is add a bit thicker of a dowel down the full length of the weapons. It will add a bit more rigidity to your model.
 
I would say that pepakura is probably the worst way to make weapons. I would suggest using mdf, wood, or foam instead. You can try pepakura, but in the end it'll probably be more time consuming and annoying to work with.
 
Keep in mind depending on what material you use, it can get pretty heavy. I know for cons I'd rather have a lighter foam prop than one made from mdf.
 
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