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[Syko Voss]

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...

[Havelock]

 

Nice start, vod!

[Hik'aari]

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

[Korran Orainn]

Nice work Vod! I do love a good scratchbuild!

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]

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]

Nice work Vod! I do love a good scratchbuild!

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

[Syko Voss]

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]

This is looking really nice, ner'vod.  I'm impressed and loving watching the progress you're making.

[Korran Orainn]

Excellent progress Vod! You're patience and extra attention to detail is paying off. Kudos!

[Hik'aari]

They look brilliant so far. Carry that on for everything and it will be a high standard indeed

[Reyn Vok'chi]

Well this is embarrassing, after putting it off for ages I started building a single 34 a couple of days ago 
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)

[spideyplumhead]

looking good so far ...will keep an eye on this as was thinking about building one only the other day ...feeling inspired

[Syko Voss]

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]

Very nice  8)

[Syko Voss]

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.