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 Completed Worklog w/ pics: Twin Scratchbuilt Westar 34s and Comlink Prop

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Syko Voss


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While waiting for a large delivery of Foamex (Sintra) I decided to make a start on a couple of Westar 34s for my wife's gear.  (Was going to make a single one, then realised that building two simultaneously wouldn't be too much more effort.)

Intention is to build something approximate to Jango' s blasters using the same style grips, but make the barrel a bit more 'original trilogy'.

This is my first scratchbuild, but I thought I'd document the process...

Started with the Wizard of Flight Westar 34 templates...

Using 5mm MDF, I created a couple of templates - one for the outsides of the grip, one for the middle of the grip...



And cut them out with a jigsaw...
Two outside grip pieces sandwich the middle piece - the middle piece, I added a tab to that will eventually slot into the barrel...



In anticipation of cutting the shaped slot out of the centre of all the grips, I decided to drill a few holes roughly in the centre of the grips to make it less work to cut the entire slots when the grips were assembled.

I also realised that I could make the trigger guard and t-shaped stand that projects from the bottom of the grip from Foamex (Sintra) and paint them to look like metal so referring back to the WoF template, I cut out pieces for those...




Cutting the various shapes individually with the jigsaw meant that they were all a little bit off, so I bolted the 4 outside pieces together...



...and attacked them with a Dremel...



After that, I cut into the middle sections to accommodate the new Foamex (Sintra) parts and glued the MDF sandwiches together...



The pieces are now sitting under a big heavy weight while the glue cures overnight.

Next step will be to Dremel the handles into a single profile and use some P38 (Bondo) to build up the areas where necessary...



« Last Edit: Oct 04, 2015, 04:05 PM by simorph » Logged

Havelock


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Re: WIP Twin Scratchbuilt Westar 34s (first blaster build!)
« Reply #1 on: Jun 16, 2015, 07:15 PM »
 :o

Nice start, vod!

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Hik'aari


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Re: WIP Twin Scratchbuilt Westar 34s (first blaster build!)
« Reply #2 on: Jun 17, 2015, 02:58 AM »
Looking good. Where in the UK did you order your foamex from? I am collecting up links to various suppliers whilst I research

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Korran Orainn


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Re: WIP Twin Scratchbuilt Westar 34s (first blaster build!)
« Reply #3 on: Jun 17, 2015, 06:20 AM »
Nice work Vod! I do love a good scratchbuild! :D

Looking good. Where in the UK did you order your foamex from? I am collecting up links to various suppliers whilst I research

Not sure if you've seen it already Vod'ika, but this thread may be of use? :)

Syko Voss


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Re: WIP Twin Scratchbuilt Westar 34s (first blaster build!)
« Reply #4 on: Jun 17, 2015, 07:10 AM »
Small A4 sheets of 5mm Foamex - best offer I found was: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/230888994899?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&var=530102859857&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I now have a nice big stack of A4 sheets (which will be find for most of the rest of the kit)

In planning the helmets though I had to buy a large 1mx1m sheet of 5mm Foamex so that I can cut helmet wraps in one piece - best offer I found for that was:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/160507343341?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Postage prices are a pain, but it was still cheaper/larger than going elsewhere

Hik'aari


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Re: WIP Twin Scratchbuilt Westar 34s (first blaster build!)
« Reply #5 on: Jun 17, 2015, 07:29 AM »
Nice work Vod! I do love a good scratchbuild! :D

Not sure if you've seen it already Vod'ika, but this thread may be of use? :)

I had thank you Koran, but I am always interested if people have found other suppliers off of this list.

Thanks for the info Simonrph

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Syko Voss


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Re: WIP Twin Scratchbuilt Westar 34s (first blaster build!)
« Reply #6 on: Jun 17, 2015, 05:20 PM »
Okay...next phase...

Drill/route/Dremel the slots in the handles and sweep the Dremel and Mouse Sander around the outside to start pulling everything into the same profile:



Then apply first lot of P38 (Bondo) to all the places that needed it, including building up the outside profiles on the handle where I'd cut out a bit too far...



Two more rounds of P38 and holding the two grips side by side rolling the side of the Mouse Sander over the profiles to get both grips into the same profile and to smooth out all the P38.

Assembled the Foamex (Sintra) T-shaped pieces with super glue and Dremeled off the edges.

Finally gave the MDF grips their first coat of grey primer so I can start viewing them as single objects, not sandwiches of MDF:



Must admit, I'm glad I started this way - deliberately picking something a bit challenging that's forcing me to get used to my new tools and the new materials such as Foamex and P38.  (And, damn, doesn't that filler dry quickly!)

Next steps - fill and sand the T-shaped pieces, start planning the barrel assembly and take a look at the grips again see if they need more filling before I start to work them some more.

Havelock


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Re: WIP Twin Scratchbuilt Westar 34s (first blaster build!)
« Reply #7 on: Jun 17, 2015, 11:38 PM »
This is looking really nice, ner'vod.  I'm impressed and loving watching the progress you're making.

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Korran Orainn


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Re: WIP Twin Scratchbuilt Westar 34s (first blaster build!)
« Reply #8 on: Jun 18, 2015, 04:20 AM »
Excellent progress Vod! You're patience and extra attention to detail is paying off. Kudos!

Hik'aari


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Re: WIP Twin Scratchbuilt Westar 34s (first blaster build!)
« Reply #9 on: Jun 18, 2015, 05:52 AM »
They look brilliant so far. Carry that on for everything and it will be a high standard indeed

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Reyn Vok'chi


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Re: WIP Twin Scratchbuilt Westar 34s (first blaster build!)
« Reply #10 on: Jun 18, 2015, 03:06 PM »
Well this is embarrassing, after putting it off for ages I started building a single 34 a couple of days ago  :laugh:
Oddly enough, I'm starting with the barrel as it was a lucky find that finally got me inspired.
Yours are looking mighty fine and I can't wait to see more, especially what you come up with for the barrel  8)

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Syko Voss


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Re: WIP Twin Scratchbuilt Westar 34s (first blaster build!)
« Reply #12 on: Jun 22, 2015, 06:09 PM »
Next stage was to round off most of the corners on the grips.

Handy tip - having primed the MDF, running the Dremel around the edges was really, really easy to do - hold the Dremel at 45 degrees and keep an eye on the thickness and position of the line of MDF you're cutting into.

After that, sand down with various grades of sandpaper to create the rounded edges...



More coats of primer and sanding...
Then, the question of the little metal bars that go through the bottom of the grips and the small metal domelike button that sits above the trigger had me puzzling for a few days...
Until I realised I could use the cutting and grinding bits of the Dremel to cut the blank bit of a bolt to the length I needed and then grind the ends into domes - easy! (but with lots of baddass sparks)



Finally the construction of the barrels begins - using 15mm and 21.5mm PVC pipe.
Only problem was that I needed an inbetween size too - my solution - Dremel a slot a few millimetres wide down the length of the larger 21.5mm and squeeze it inside the 21.5mm pipe - this will allow me to have a backing for the slots in the barrel as well as connect up the piping to the back of the barrel.



At the business end of the barrel, I realised that the end of a plastic drinks bottle was the same size and slope as a key part of the end of the barrel in the plans, so I'm packing that with a piece of foam and going to build over it with filler.

On the other end - the signature trapezoid shape that holds the barrel to the grip, I'm making out of 5mm Foamex (Sintra.)
After much experimentation I discovered the best way to work was to cut a square of foam, mark up the cutting lines, heat it and bend it around the barrel.  That done, I then cut it with a knife and sanded it.

I had tried to pre-cut the trapezoid shape and then bend it, but found that the heating process caused the edges to 'bloom' slightly and the resultant shape looked more 'foamy' with soft edges instead of the precision cut look I wanted.

So, yes, lots of little bits to make, connect up and do, but there's the latest progress on Nikjay's blasters.  And as you can see in the background, we've started work on the helmets too.

Reyn Vok'chi


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Re: WIP Twin Scratchbuilt Westar 34s (first blaster build!)
« Reply #13 on: Jun 22, 2015, 06:39 PM »
Very nice  8)

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Syko Voss


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Re: WIP Twin Scratchbuilt Westar 34s (first blaster build!)
« Reply #14 on: Jun 23, 2015, 04:32 AM »
Thanks Reyn!  Any feedback/advice from you guys on the App Team most welcome - trying to be as meticulous as possible on our gear - my aim is to make our stuff as close to movie prop quality as I can - to really make it look like we could stroll on set and look the part.

Have decided to do a bit of testing on getting metal to look right, so am going to build some small hand props (like grenades, flares, etc) to experiment with metallic paint and Rub'n'Buff before I commit to adding a paint job to these or our helmets.

Havelock


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Re: WIP Twin Scratchbuilt Westar 34s (first blaster build!)
« Reply #15 on: Jun 23, 2015, 12:15 PM »
All I can think of to say is "very nice work - as usual - my friend."

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Syko Voss


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Re: WIP Twin Scratchbuilt Westar 34s (first blaster build!)
« Reply #16 on: Jul 02, 2015, 04:52 PM »
Not updated for a while - been working pretty much every evening on the blasters but have been finishing so late that I didn't have time to post.

Suffice to say, things have come along rather well.

Looking at the back of the barrel I created the ridged end cylinder from a piece of PVC pipe that I used a mini hacksaw to cut slots into (tried a Dremel - far too easy to go off course.)  To pack out the PVC pipe I used a section of the same pipe but with a slot cut into it to allow it to be squeezed inside, and then a strip of plastic from a plastic bottle to fill in the last millimeter and guarantee a snug fit.

For the back end, I found a component inside a plastic soap dispenser fit the bill perfectly, and realised that the rounded metal screws that I'd ground down earlier made good piece to finish the end with (as well as adding extra weight to the back end of the gun.)



I created middle sections of these pieces using the same methods and used the miniature hacksaw again to cut slots around the pipe since the Dremel chewed it up and was harder to control (oh, for a lathe and a drill press!)

It was then that I realised I could be really smart about how I was going to attach the grips to the barrels - one that would make the connection to the grip sturdier, but also would allow me to be able to paint the barrels separately from the grips and then assemble the parts at the end...

I cut a slot into the tab I'd created on the top of the grips so that when the barrels' two halves are slid into one another the pipe that forms the back of the barrel locks the grip into place.

I was always a concern that we might suffer from Convention Floor Barrel Droop, but with this solution the barrels will lock onto the grips and stay there without glue!



At the business end of the barrels I did a bit of creative jiggery pokery...

One great thing I've discovered of the course of this build is that lots of household objects are constructed with similar dimensions...  So, the barrel tips were created using another component from a plastic soap dispenser bottle that slotted perfectly into the barrel end...



...and I discovered that the slope of the blasters in the WoF templates was the same as the slope on the neck of a plastic drinks bottle, so I cut it off at the right places, slid it onto the barrel, packed the shape out with different sized rings of Foamex (Sintra) and some hot glue.

(The really good thing is, things like plastic soap dispensers and bottles are really common in the household waste so getting two of something for both blasters was not a problem.)

I then slathered the ends with P38 (Bondo) in my biggest gamble on the project since cutting out the holes in the grips....



I don't own a lathe, so the test was, could I sand down the barrels by hand...?

I sat with a mouse sander in a fixed position, held the barrels at the correct angle and, laying them on the sander continually rolled the barrels around...

The results were rather satisfying and meant that my backup plan of cutting the ends off and coming up with a more conventional cylindrical barrel end became less likely...



Two rounds of filling, spraying with primer, wet sanding down (with 600 and then 2000 grit) yielded some pretty solid results.

I also realised that I wanted to neaten off the back of the barrel ends, so took some plastic rings (the bits that get left behind when you unscrew the cap) from some plastic bottles stuck them on and then back-filled them with P38 (Bondo)...



I have decided not to even attempt to drill the holes that go around the Westar's barrels though - I don't own a drill press so there's no point in even trying to drill 6 straight holes into such near-vertical slopes without ruining my work.

I'd been thinking about giving Nikjay's guns some individual character - a bit of backstory, if you will - it would be one thing for her to dual-wield a couple of identical blasters, but much more interesting if they were somehow different.

I decided that one of the blasters is hers, and pretty well-maintained - the other is a much older blaster taken as a trophy from a defeated enemy - a Trandoshan, for want of a more baddass race for my darling wife to mercilessly slaughter on some Outer Rim world...

To create these differences I kept the slim barrel end on one blaster, and for the other, the older blaster I cut it off, giving it a more brutish character.
I decided to add a kind of tactical rail to the blaster too - this I raided the wardrobe for, cutting off one of the arms of a plastic trouser hanger, and with a bit of sawing, Dremeling and a couple of drilled holes I glued it to the top of the barrel



Taking the idea even further, I took apart a couple of biros and created a cylindrical structure to fit along one side of the rail (and to make the blaster feel asymmetrical) - from bottom right to top left, the end of the structure is a small metal peg that holds an IKEA shelf up, pushed into the end of a cut-down pen barrel, with the push button from the top of the same pen taken out and flipped around and stuck into the barrel, and finally a piece of thick wire, bent into shape and pushed into a hole in the barrel.  (I coated both bits of metal with latex masking fluid so that after painting I can strip it off to reveal real metal on the guns.



A final detail on the same side involved taking another part from the inside of the same pen, jamming into the slot on the side of the gun at an angle and using another plastic pen part to create some internal detail - I scratched up the Foamex (Sintra) behind it so that when I distress it it should look like some venting port that's been belching out heat over the years.

The piece on top of the trapezius shape was cut out of Foamex (Sintra) and aggressively sanded with 2000 grit so it came out super-smooth and angular.

So here's the state of the two guns - before the final bits of filler were sanded down on the bottoms of the barrel, with masking tape on the metal ends on the back of the barrels (again, so I can have pieces of real metal on the gun along with all the fake stuff...)



One other internal detail - I've packed the thin pipes that make the back ends of the barrels with a couple of heavy nails secured with hot gun - this will help to counterbalance the weight of the barrels as well as giving the props some weight.  I read a piece the other day on Gizmodo about Beats Headphones having deliberately heavy parts in them to make you think that they're a premium product which made me think about ways I could make these blasters feel more substantial than a few bits of MDF and PVC.

So the blasters have now been hit with two coats of Adhesion Aid, one coat of Matt Black spray...and I've now run out of Matt Black spray so it will be a few days before I can go back to them and finish them off...

METALLIC FINISH AND WEATHERING EXPERIMENTS
In parallel to this, I've also been experimenting with ways to get a decent metallic finish and practice weathering.

So I'm building myself some kind of grenade-type belt carryable accessory out of a contact lens solution bottle, some washers and bits of stuff I found in the garage and a piece of shaped Foamex (Sintra)

Far and away the best finish I've found is Matt Black paint with Rub'N'Buff silver and gold rubbed on - I tried metallic paint, and it...looked like metallic paint.  Rub'N'Buff looks like METAL...



I aggressively rubbed the Rub'N'Buff to get it to cure and then hit it with a coat of spray acrylic varnish (I understand other types of varnish cause Rub'N'Buff to lift) and found that it didn't dull the surface (the brand of spray paints I use here in the UK are made by Hycote, mainly because they're dirt cheap on Amazon.)

In the above shot, you can see I've added latex masking fluid and some salt crystals (spray with hairspray, sprinkle on rock salt) in preparation for painting the Foamex (Sintra) piece.

I've since sprayed the piece with grey primer, rubbed off the masking fluid and salt, reapplied more masking fluid and salt, and now it's sitting in the garage looking like this under a couple of coats of white paint that I'm waiting to cure before I give it a good scrub tomorrow to see if the multilayered weathering is going to work...



So that's me and my epic post.  ;D

Off to wait for my black spray paint to arrive so I can finish off the Westars, continue with my Weathering/Metallic Finish experiment and start planning for my gun - based on this design...  ...with a plan to add a Boba-style extended stock to it.  I foresee lots of MDF cutting and big pieces of PVC pipe!

















Reyn Vok'chi


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Re: WIP Twin Scratchbuilt Westar 34s (first blaster build!)
« Reply #17 on: Jul 02, 2015, 08:03 PM »
Great work so far, I'm very impressed. Can't wait to see more  8)

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Havelock


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Re: WIP Twin Scratchbuilt Westar 34s (first blaster build!)
« Reply #18 on: Jul 03, 2015, 01:33 AM »
Nice, my friend.  Very, very nice.  I've been looking forward to some updates from you for awhile.  So...thanks!   :D

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Hik'aari


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Re: WIP Twin Scratchbuilt Westar 34s (first blaster build!)
« Reply #20 on: Jul 03, 2015, 03:13 PM »
Another very impressed follower as well.

What is it you do for a living? You seem very well versed with creating and painting (especially your recent work you posted up)

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Syko Voss


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Re: WIP Twin Scratchbuilt Westar 34s (first blaster build!)
« Reply #21 on: Jul 03, 2015, 06:37 PM »
Thanks guys - by day, and night, I'm an artist, video game designer (and occasional programmer).

You may have heard of or played something I've made over the years (Harry Potter, Need for Speed) - here's my website: http://www.simonphipps.com/

When I saw Star Wars in '78 (aged 11) the movie blew my mind and I spent a good number of my teenage years kitbashing until I discovered computers and started making games for a living.

In my spare time I paint and draw but this Mando project (inspired by the fact that my wife, Jayne [Nikjay Voss here on the boards] got us tickets for SWCE next year in London) has taken me back to those many years in the shed at the bottom of the garden gluing together kit parts trying to make my own spaceships.

Syko Voss


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Re: WIP Twin Scratchbuilt Westar 34s (first blaster build!)
« Reply #22 on: Jul 03, 2015, 06:44 PM »
very nice its amazing what can be achieved with house hold objects and a bit of creativity
Back at you, Spidey - very impressed, with your Boba blaster - going to attempt similar for my gun once I've gotten Nikjay's twins sorted out,.

Syko Voss


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Re: WIP Twin Scratchbuilt Westar 34s (first blaster build!)
« Reply #23 on: Jul 04, 2015, 11:55 AM »
Okay, so here's the results of my weathering experiment...

I fixed the stripped off all the salt and masking fluid, put a couple of strips of masking tape down, reapplied masking fluid to the exposed metal and painted a yellow/yellow ochre strip down, stripped it all off and gave the whole Foamex (Sintra) piece a coat of spray Acrylic Vanish.

Something I discovered was that the artist's masking fluid was really difficult to find under the coat of white paint (since it's so very, very thin) so while the rock salt glued on with hairspray was a doddle to clean off, I ended up having to put the whole armour piece under the tap (faucet) and scrub it with a pan scourer to get it all off.  As a result, I probably stripped off even more paint than I intended...  Also, looking up-close, I couldn't find many areas where my faux primer showed through - in working so hard to take the masking fluid off, I may have lifted that as I scrubbed.

In future, I'm going to try the 'toothpaste' method of masking since that looks easier to clean off and easier to see (since the artist's masking fluid dries pretty clear and it's hard to work out where you've put masking as you're painting it on.)


I then attached the 'armour' piece to the back of the metal body, with a piece of metal mesh from an old sieve to make the slot look like a speaker, and, to finally top off, took a rubber washer piece (I think a bit of some plumbing spare that I found in my toolbox) pushed a piece of sieve mesh inside it and hot glued it to the top of the body.

I then decided that this bunch of bits would work great as a 'Long Range Comlink' (if anyone asks in future what the hell it's supposed to be on my belt)



Cut to this afternoon and my first attempts at putting the techniques I've learned from the Adam Savage Demonstrates Weathering Tricks video.

First up was to wet the comlink down and attack it with Black, Burnt Sienna and a small amount of Yellow Ochre acrylic paint...



...leave it for 1 minute and then rub it back - cleaning it off as much as I could in a few areas, leaving other areas (and all the more inaccessible places) more dirtied down.

After that I targeted a few areas with specific dabs of colour: an impact mark on the armour filled with black, a drizzle of oily Black/Burnt Sienna on top of the run that was left behind when I glued the button on the front with too much superglue and some dabs of rusty Burnt Sienna in a few corners - especially on the edges of the speaker and mic mesh, which really worked to make them look far less pristine.

One final touch - I made an Espresso, splashed a few drops on in a couple of key places (and drank the rest)€ as per Mr Savage's 'secret sauce' from the video, and then had one final idea...

A sprinkle of cinnamon...

I dabbed some Burnt Sienna into some places where rust might accumulate and dusted on some cinnamon from the cupboard - perfect dust/rust!!  It clumps beautifully around the paint and really worked well when dusted onto the speaker and mic grills...



So all-in-all quite pleased with my first attempt at weathering.  Going to make another small prop and try toothpaste for masking fluid and sprinkles of flour in addition to rock salt for chippings.

The only downside I can see to my plan of becoming one of the most merciless bounty hunters this side of the Outer Rim territories now is that using this new rather yummy and aromatic approach to prop making, I might have to rename myself "Synna Bonn"  :laugh:

Still waiting for the black paint to arrive so I can carry on with the Westars, so going to start building my other gun and will create a new thread when I've got something to post on those...

Havelock


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Re: WIP Twin Scratchbuilt Westar 34s and Comlink Prop
« Reply #24 on: Jul 04, 2015, 01:14 PM »
Absolutely beautiful work, vod.

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"Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness."  - Terry Pratchett
Have you explored all that the Royal War College of Mandalore has to offer?
 


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