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[rancor07]

Hello Vode,

So a friend had a rotary tool that he let me borrow. Today I broke it out for the first time on the Sniper Rifle since I don't have much else I can really work on at the moment.

As you'll see, the basic idea is a late crusader era sniper rifle inspired by SWTOR..thinking something along these lines:



but with my own twist on it.

I've already gutted the gun, but hadn't had any tools to start working

So, I started out by sanding down some of the bumps. Some of them were part of the mold and have left holes which i'll have to fill up with bondo or find creative ways to incorporate them into the build.


 I'm going to add sintra plates over the holes left by the two nerf elite shields, which i might also add connectors for the "coolant" idea I'll pitch a little farther down.


Next, to make the trigger area less Nerfish I sawed off the bottom attachments, which i'll fill with bondo and sand smooth.

At home depot I got some PVC fitting to make the muzzle of the rifle



Now, one of the ideas I had was to have the rifle require some sort of coolant system. This would both help cover up those long lines on the rifle, plus it would probably look cool. While sanding, I took too much off two of the bumps, which left two holes by the access port...so I decided to see how it'd look with some coolant lines.



I had to secure it with tape, so it looks kinda weird, but I think that the idea is at least worth looking into. I'd also make the hose opaque or put some sort of liquid looking paint on the inside to give the image of coolant. Feedback on how I should approach this would be appreciated 

Here's what I'm thinking of attaching to it when all is said and done



The secondary barrel is the original barrel from the gun with the side rails removed. Obviously I'll build some kind of enclosure for it.
The scope is made from parts from the compression chamber and other various other parts from inside the gun.


As for next steps, I want to modify the stock since it's much too short for me, but am not sure yet the best way to go about it. I've been thinking of finding a crutch and shaping that for the stock, or looking at some airsoft gun stocks...any suggestions?

I'm going to extend the sintra from the enclosure on the secondary barrel and add my own layers of sintra along the body to de-nerfify it even more.

How does it look so far?

[Deimos Ordo]

Overall I like this so far, though Im not really a fan of the clear tube on the side, maybe consider a colored tubing or coiled wire?

[rancor07]

Overall I like this so far, though Im not really a fan of the clear tube on the side, maybe consider a colored tubing or coiled wire?

I was planning on filling the tube with something giving the appearance of coolant, in a color like blue or green. Would that compensate or does the fact that you can see the fluid inside detract from the look?

[Echo Darklighter]

I was planning on filling the tube with something giving the appearance of coolant, in a color like blue or green. Would that compensate or does the fact that you can see the fluid inside detract from the look?

I get the feeling it'd detract from the Swarzi-ness of it.  It's a little too "general sci-fi," and kinda starts to miss the point.

Well, vod, you're doing a brave thing modding a Nerf gun, and I wish you the best of luck.  I need to say, though, mod the body a little further before you go monkeying with extended barrels and such.

[rancor07]

I get the feeling it'd detract from the Swarzi-ness of it.  It's a little too "general sci-fi," and kinda starts to miss the point.

Well, vod, you're doing a brave thing modding a Nerf gun, and I wish you the best of luck.  I need to say, though, mod the body a little further before you go monkeying with extended barrels and such.

I didn't really see many other options. I don't have a workbench and the only power tools I own are a heat gun, a dremel, and a drill. Modding plastic seemed to be the way to go.

I bought some poster board to work on the sintra plating to go over the body and I think i'm going to cut off the mag receiver and pull the secondary barrel to take up that space, that should remove that whole section's nerfness...I'll probably chop off the stock too just so I don' t have to do it later.

[rancor07]

Updates,

So i gave up on the coolant idea. I'll find some ribbed black tubing or something to run at the access port and call it good 

I thought the secondary barrel was too low and that the gun still looked too nerfy...so I cut off the mag receiver area. The secondary barrel still didn't fit right, but I noticed that if I turned it upside down, the tactical rails made a pretty decent fit





With a little bit of bondo and epoxy i think that might just do the trick. There's still a little gap between the secondary barrel and the main barrel...I was debating whether a couple of rocket darts would fit in there.

I also cut off the stock figuring I needed to anyway, and now I have lots of room in the butt of the gun to put something fun...any ideas?



Finally, decided to try my hand at bondo for the first time...what an adventure. I filled in the two holes left from sanding the bumps on the nerf gun and the long rails. I ended up getting it everywhere because some got stuck on my fingers...glad i wore gloves.

But, at the end of the day we have our end result

Left Side:


Right Side:


To Do:

Posterboard mockups for Sintra plates

What can I put on the foregrip that won't cost a fortune? I like this look, but it's much too expensive


Find a stock. SWTOR photo suggests something like this, but I dislike the idea of spending $50 just for a stock

[rancor07]

So today I spent some more time working on the rifle. My bondo work came out OK, but there were definitely areas where I would have to go over it again. Fortunately it looks like my sintra plates will cover my bondo work.

I also sprayed it with primer to see what needed to be sanded down. I've gotta say the primer makes a pretty big difference to the look of the gun.

Here's the work so far with the posterboard templates taped on. Thoughts?



To Do:

1. Create a cover for the secondary barrel

2. Find a stock. I've found two that seem to fit the bill. Which one looks better?



Or



Thoughts, opinions?

3. Modify the foregrip to something like this

[Dun'merkin]

Second stock IMO

[Echo Darklighter]

Second stock IMO

Agreed.  The first one is far too recognizable as an AR stock.

[Avidem]

Well this piqued my interest.

[rancor07]

Ok, it's been a while since my last update.

I modified the barrel with some PVC adapters...this should make it easier to haul around as the barrel can be detached...and I guess I could get adventurous down the road and make an assault rifle barrel too. I also found a nifty adapter that fit perfectly for the scatter blaster and ties it into the rest of the gun well



I took apart the working parts from the nerf weapon and was able to repurpose them into a scope with some PVC inside. The PVC pipe was a little too big for the scope rings so I had to hit them with the heat gun to make them fit. I'll probably cut another piece of pip and put it between the scope rings just to liven it up a little bit.



I was able to find some corrugated straws that will work well for some tubing in the access port and on the back of the weapon. I still have to pain them black though.

I found out that a guy I know works at a sign shop and was able to convince him to get a sheet of sintra for me. Probably didn't save me any money (was almost $60), but he should be able to cut it down for me. Hopefully that means that I can do the sintra plating and start work on my armor soon too!

I tried finding an M4 folding stock at 2 different airsoft stores, but to no avail...having pretty bad luck finding that thing.

Here's what this beast looks like so far.

[Straka Zulu]

Lookin' good, vod!
As for the stock, would this work?
http://www.airsoftmegastore.com/239-jg-full-metal-m4-style-tsf-tactical-folding-rear-stock.aspx

[Daonan]

You know what isn't a completely terrible idea is the Nerf Longstrike stock. I've got two of that rifle, and they and I are discussing how to make my own shiny sniper rifle.
http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2010/085/0/f/Nerf_Longstrike_by_katze316.jpg
http://dartstrike.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/nerf-longstrike-accessories.jpg

[rancor07]

Lookin' good, vod!
As for the stock, would this work?
http://www.airsoftmegastore.com/239-jg-full-metal-m4-style-tsf-tactical-folding-rear-stock.aspx

Yup, that's what I'm lookin for. Too bad it's out of stock there too 

You know what isn't a completely terrible idea is the Nerf Longstrike stock. I've got two of that rifle, and they and I are discussing how to make my own shiny sniper rifle.
http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2010/085/0/f/Nerf_Longstrike_by_katze316.jpg
http://dartstrike.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/nerf-longstrike-accessories.jpg

Yeah, that stock doesn't look bad. My only concern is if it would be easily recognizable as a nerf...plus I don't own one and don't know that I could convince my better half to buy a whole gun just to rip off the stock...at least with this nerf I used the whole thing 

[Xyyyr Black]

Ohhhhhh that's one sexy gun...

[Daonan]

Check out Craigsilst. I just bought a big box of nerf guns with 2 Longstrikes for $20 from a guy. Also, why bother with an airsoft accessory? Just buy a real M4 stock. Bravo Company makes this one: http://www.bravocompanyusa.com/Mil-Spec-M4-Stock-p/stock%20only%20m4%20black%20-%20gen2.htm . You can score decent deals from pawn shops, too. There's very few times when building a replica weapon that actual weapon parts will steer you too far wrong.

[rancor07]

Haven't posted on this for a while, mainly because comicon is next week and I've needed to spend the time on my armor.

Here's where we're at now:



This is without the barrel extension obviously, gives it more of an assault rifle look. For the metal layer, I used the rustoleum hammered silver paint. It caused the top coat to crack in places and gave it a neat weathered look. Still have a lot of work to do on the butt, but it's progress. Hope to have it done by comicon, but we'll see how that goes.

[Obalon]

As someone who is done with weapons already I have to say I like it. I concur you are BRAVE for modding this. But it's looking good. Must say the bottom bellow the barrel not digging it. Maybe replace with a stand tripod thing. Paint job is good and I agree a little more, scope will be easy to find. Good luck!

[rancor07]

So lots happened since the last post and in my haste I didn't take many pictures. Basically I added an insert valve on the side of the gun where one of the holes were, filled in the other holes with loctite repair putty, sanded it smooth, and painted the new stuff.

While trooping at ComiCon, there were many requests for photos and even more comments on the gun. Looks really good with the rest of the ensemble.

I still want to figure out a sling for it and put some more detailing

[Niabi]

thats looking great vod