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[Bfahome]

Video shows unmodified Whipblast for reference, then a Whipblast at the current stage of modification.

I bought two of these Whipblasts over the summer because they seemed fun and interesting, and might make a good costume prop.  Never intended to use them for any actual Nerfing, because they're fun but also extremely impractical in terms of functionality.

So I've gone and gutted one, took out all the internal mechanisms so that it's basically just a shell.  There were two rotating "shields" on it, too, so I took those off and filled the holes (with the caps from milk jugs).  Glued a part of the inner barrel to the tip to act as a better "muzzle" but haven't yet filled in the dart holders on the front.

Definite plans include the requisite logo removal, filling of screw holes, and painting, but I want some feedback on what else might help to spice up the look a bit.  Also wondering if the "whip" function (which originally drew back the plunger rod, but now does nothing) is too out-of-universe or impractical, because it's so fun that I want to keep it.

edit on 10/4/15: Topic expanded to include Scout modification, because I think it shows as much if not more promise than the Whipblast.

10/19/2015: This is just going to be my armory topic for all my weapon planning now.

[Bfahome]

Fill ALL the screw holes!



Eventually I'll be epoxying it together once it's all or mostly painted.  I also hacked off a bit of the back and the front, partly because I didn't like them and partly to test my new mini hacksaw.

[Bfahome]

Coat of primer.  Probably do one more tomorrow, and then paint!

[The Bearded Mando]

I started with a different boomco gun. http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=98762.msg1423202#msg1423202
don't know what kind of mechanical parts are inside, but the stuff in mine made good greeblies.
your's is still recognizable as the original. might have to do a bit more work on it, but i'm a newb. 

[Bfahome]

Decided to cut some more off a couple of days ago:



I also got a small Dremel yesterday, so that should make things easier.  I also got a friend's old Nerf Scout IX-3 and I'm starting work on that, since it matches the boxy look of some blasters.

[ConDar Ward]

I look forward to Seeing Where this Goes ....   

[Bfahome]

Some more work on the Scout.  Drilled out the "vent" holes in the slide and in the shell underneath and puttied over a few vents and greebs.

Despite the fact that I started with the Whipblast, I think this may end up being the blaster I use.  It's got the boxy look and it's small enough to fit with the melee-focused build I want.

[Bfahome]

Okay, new thread title.

How about some swords?



… and knives?



All going to become vibroweapons.  Now I just need a good way to link the swords at the handle so they can become a double-blade when I want them to.

[Bfahome]

Here's where I'm at with the pistol right now.  Needs some more sanding to even out the surface where the putty went, but other than that I like how it looks.

Question, though: can I keep the grip like it is or will I have to change it?  I kept it pretty stock so it might still look too Nerfy, but I'm not sure.

[Ka'ra Pitat Woorkem]

If I were to add my two cents in, I'd almost suggest cutting out a small section of material near the rear of the pistol grip itself, and install a D ring into it for a chain or some kind of tastle.  Also, might want to add some putty or some kind of additional layer to the grip itself if you can for style, and then wrap it with with cloth.  Though, that might be a little too cliche.

[Bfahome]

Nabbed some small PVC pipe from work and made handles for two of the blades.  They're modeled here on the daggers, but I'll probably be making two more identical ones for the swords as well.

I'm going to use the pipe I have left to be making an electrostaff, with a couple of Buzz Bee Tommy 20 barrels as the electro bit.  Originally I was going to use them as jetpack nozzles, but that was when I mistakenly believed that some form of jetpack was required, and I've since realized my mistake and decided against having any backpacks.  Need to leave room for all the blades back there!



My plan is to fill them with some kind of translucent foam or something, and then use a bunch of LEDs to make it flicker and "zap".  I bought a cheap LED flashlight from Harbor Freight a while back, and I've found after gutting it that the LED matrix fits almost perfectly in the barrel, so I'm thinking I'll use that to light it up on "crashes".  It, and other lighting effects, will be activated by three vibration triggers running to a Trinket in the staff; hopefully, the "slow" switch will be able to sense when I'm swinging the staff so I can maybe work in some sound effects, while the medium and fast switches will be there for hits and clashes.  I've got a code that seems like it'll be good for the random "sparky" look, so the real trick will be setting the hardware in such a way that also makes it look good.

(I'm just getting too many ideas for what I want in this kit.)

[Bfahome]

So here's what the end of the electrostaff will look like.  Got the foam inside, which also holds it together nicely for the time being.



Here's the gist of how it'll be wired.  I glued a plastic stake into one of the barrels (had a nice round flat head on top) and I'll be running wires through the hollow core.  I've cored a bit out of the foam cylinder, but more will have to go to make room for LEDs and, depending on how I do it, the vibration triggers and other electronics (which I now have).

[Bfahome]

Been working on blades.



I think this is basically going to be it as far as shape goes.  I just need to fill the handle with epoxy or something to absolutely secure the blade (there's a screw driven into the base of it that extends inside the handle, which would be encased in the epoxy) and then smooth it down and get the shape looking good.  And then repeat for the other sword and the two knives.

(It's fun to twirl.  Should be interesting in a full kit.  Just hope I don't take out my rangefinder with it. )

[Bfahome]

Whoops hiatus.

Started the process of painting them.  Primed here:



Got a good bit of nice blue leather from a fellow prospective Wampa at the semi-recent armor party so I plan on cutting strips of it to do handle wraps, probably on the blaster pistol as well.  So that should look interesting, hopefully.

[Bfahome]

So I got primer all on both of the swords now.



Painting the handles black just as a base and then going to add the leather wrappings on that.



Cut out a couple of test wraps.  They look pretty okay, probably going to cut some better ones out using an actual straight-edge for the finished product.

[Lane]

Cool idea for the staff.

If the current sensors do not work out well there is another option. The Custom Saber Shop sells swing and clash sensors. They also have what they call a power extender, a relay module that takes 3.3v input (max 5v) and switches a high power circuit like a 3W LED, often used for Flash on Clash on sabers without high end sound cards. If you want a brighter staff (powerful LED) I would swap out the foam for a frosted acrylic tube.
 
Note: sensors and power extender located in the sound section of their store.

[Bfahome]

Cool idea for the staff.

If the current sensors do not work out well there is another option. The Custom Saber Shop sells swing and clash sensors. They also have what they call a power extender, a relay module that takes 3.3v input (max 5v) and switches a high power circuit like a 3W LED, often used for Flash on Clash on sabers without high end sound cards. If you want a brighter staff (powerful LED) I would swap out the foam for a frosted acrylic tube.
 
Note: sensors and power extender located in the sound section of their store.

I think those are roughly the same thing as what I got.  I probably (hopefully) won't need anything else to make it if I end up making it, because it's a short length to light up and I'm also thinking that a sort of "tree" of LEDs inside it would be what I'd go with, because I'd want it to look like there's energy crackling around inside it rather than having the consistent homogenous glow of a lightsaber.

I've also sort of put aside the staff/baton idea to focus on the main kit bits for now, which means:



Here's one of my swords.  I don't have any good metallic silver (the "hammered metal" stuff looks like junk on this) so I tried a metallic gold I had.  Gold is an acceptable color for blades, right?  Even if so I'll have to see how it matches with the rest of the kit.  I need some good silver anyway for my helmet.  Also, the handle on this one has its final leather wrap:



Difficult to see because it's a fairly dark blue but I think it looks pretty snazzy in person.  I basically consider the handle portion to be finished at this point, I just need to duplicate it on the other sword (which I'd tried painting with the hammered metal silverish paint, looks bad) and sand down all the junk the paint exposed before re-painting both.

Suppose I should assemble the daggers at some point, too.  Hm.

[Bfahome]

Minor setback, in that I've found my way of attaching the handles had left them loose and the non-wrapped one was beginning to come loose.

Sooooo I ripped both blades out of their handles and redid it.  Same way, but with slightly deeper "anchoring".  Hopefully this time it'll work.

[Tier]

Nice work on the swords.

[Bfahome]

Fixed 'em up real good.



Suppose it might be time to think about the knives, then.

[Bfahome]

Hey I'm doing some more things here too.



Decided to cut off the bottom front of the Nerf Scout to take it further away from the nerfy look, plus I like the way this looks a lot better.  Need to sand down and cover up that giant hole now, and work on the handle a bit at some point.

[Bfahome]

Did a lot of templating today.  One of the things I did was to mock up a holster for my blaster.



And that's pretty much it.

[Bfahome]

Halloween is almost here and that means soon I won't have to dump all my costume time into Spirit.  However I have been having a lot of ideas about my armor style and weapons.  I want to make a variety of weapons that I can use in different situations.  And I want them all to be fairly unique and not blasters.  So I have my swords (and daggers eventually) and I just decided to sketch up a rough design for a bow.  I have some pretty bonkers ideas for making this seem cool, so it's a secondary thing for now, but still something I'm tossing around.

[Dac'Gar Ordo]

The sword looks great! You are surely on a roll with the weapons