I joined 405th because i am extremely interested in creating replica pieces from the halo universe. Not neccesarily wearable or usable, but as close in size and detail to in-game versions as possible. My first project was going to be a full set of non-scaled Mark VI painted to match the chief's, but alas, for now fiberglass is "too dangerous". And yes i am familiar with the phrase "start small" and decided to disregard it.
I began searching to find what else i could recreate from the halo universe that would get me some experience with materials and look amazing. I decided i would make an assault rifle. Whichever was in halo 3, an MA5C i believe. But i have never built a gun before and was at a loss how to do so. I had seen a few posts working with insulation foam and decided it was a suitable safe medium to work with, so i downloaded and printed wizard of flight's weapon blueprints for the rifle.
Then the thinking started, i do not have a cnc machine, but i want this to be a very accurate replics, what can i do? Well i had an old (really old) projecter laying around that had been used for painting murals at one ppoint so i decided i could project the blueprints onto the foam. I measured on the foam a box the same size as the finished assault rifle and then adjusted my projecter so that the blueprint fit perfectly in the box. Next i traced it with a sharpie, flipped the foam over and traced the other side. The only trouble i ran into here was distorions of the blueprint, and it was very frustating to try and line up the image with my foam.
Next i roughly cut the foam to a manageable size around the design (i think i used a hacksaw), then i cut out the outline with a scrollsaw. I was very lucky, i had selected 2 inch thich foam and the clearance between my scroll saw table and blade arm was probaly less than 2 1/16". this was something i should have checked before hand but didn't.
Now with my assault rifle shaped block of foam i have to shape it into the 3d gun. I tested many methods on scrap foam, including files, dremel, and sandpaper, but was only satisfied with the sandpaper results (the others were to aggresive for the level of detail). I began shaping the top of the rifle with a simple sanding block, and then i started thinking again.
I needed a way to sand the side details of the gun, which were very complex. i tried glueing sandpaper to various sizes and shapes of wood, which worked okay,but i would rather not ruin my piece just yet.
If anyone has done this before please any help and/or criticism would be very welcome. Also alternative methods are welcome. I am not against starting anew. Any comments or questions will be answered. Sorry about lack of pics, i did not take any during the process.
I began searching to find what else i could recreate from the halo universe that would get me some experience with materials and look amazing. I decided i would make an assault rifle. Whichever was in halo 3, an MA5C i believe. But i have never built a gun before and was at a loss how to do so. I had seen a few posts working with insulation foam and decided it was a suitable safe medium to work with, so i downloaded and printed wizard of flight's weapon blueprints for the rifle.
Then the thinking started, i do not have a cnc machine, but i want this to be a very accurate replics, what can i do? Well i had an old (really old) projecter laying around that had been used for painting murals at one ppoint so i decided i could project the blueprints onto the foam. I measured on the foam a box the same size as the finished assault rifle and then adjusted my projecter so that the blueprint fit perfectly in the box. Next i traced it with a sharpie, flipped the foam over and traced the other side. The only trouble i ran into here was distorions of the blueprint, and it was very frustating to try and line up the image with my foam.
Next i roughly cut the foam to a manageable size around the design (i think i used a hacksaw), then i cut out the outline with a scrollsaw. I was very lucky, i had selected 2 inch thich foam and the clearance between my scroll saw table and blade arm was probaly less than 2 1/16". this was something i should have checked before hand but didn't.
Now with my assault rifle shaped block of foam i have to shape it into the 3d gun. I tested many methods on scrap foam, including files, dremel, and sandpaper, but was only satisfied with the sandpaper results (the others were to aggresive for the level of detail). I began shaping the top of the rifle with a simple sanding block, and then i started thinking again.
I needed a way to sand the side details of the gun, which were very complex. i tried glueing sandpaper to various sizes and shapes of wood, which worked okay,but i would rather not ruin my piece just yet.
If anyone has done this before please any help and/or criticism would be very welcome. Also alternative methods are welcome. I am not against starting anew. Any comments or questions will be answered. Sorry about lack of pics, i did not take any during the process.
