Props ventrue's MA37 Assault Rifle (WIP)

ventrue · Nov 10, 2010

I've announced this project in the other thread almost two weeks ago - and then got hit by the flu, which stopped about all the momentum I had. But here it is finally, my first rifle.

Ideas I plan to incorporate:

Realistic looks, of course
A little weight (Don't want it to be blown away by the wind )
Modular design (Makes repairs and building easier... I think)
Backpack-mountability
Working display and ammo counter. I have a PIC lying around, and this looks like a good opportunity to actually use it. (Edit: PIC is scrapped, I switched to the other side and will be using an Arduino.)
Working flashlight, but with a switch near the grip and without using a Maglite.
Several lights on the side, I'll deviate from the reference material here.
Sound (No idea how to do that yet)
Recoil simulation (Some idea how to do that)
Smoke simulation (Not sure yet if that's a good idea at all)

Now, you know me, my first attempt always fails at least partially, and so it did this time. I tried pepakura (model by Rid3r), and the plan was to build it in sections that I would harden separately and then put together. It didn't turn out too bad and with some putty and a Dremel this could definitely be turned into a good looking prop, but there's no fun in assembling it whatsoever.

So while I was using some popsicle sticks to reinforce flat areas, I came up with a completely different idea that, to my knowledge, nobody has used yet. And... I think this is going to be awesome. Or at least I hope so ;-)

Pictures: Some pepakura subsections, sections, reinforcement, a battery placement test and the mysterious teaser pic (wohohooo!) of what I'm up to next. And I bet it's not what you think! :-D

alix965 · Nov 10, 2010

Very nice. I like the list of features. It's like looking at the stickers at a Farrari showroom.

I especially like the soft focus lens you used for the beauty shots of your progress. I'm sure you'll not fail the first time this time around. All win.

tha finch · Nov 10, 2010

I like the popsickle stick idea to reinforce the structure, good idea!!! Looking pretty good so far!
Keep us updated on progress!!!

Road Kill · Nov 10, 2010

what i do is put a lot of cardboard inside to reinforce, but very, very nice MA37 man it is looking really good and clean pep work

ventrue · Nov 10, 2010

Progress: Not really progress, but I'm feeling very creative tonight, so I've started to play around with my new building material a bit. You've already seen it: 3mm by 3mm modelling pine slats. My new plan involves more fun, more wood, less paper and a bit more scratchbuilding. If you look at the pics below, you'll probably see what I have in mind. Using a Dremel might give cleaner results.

Pictures: Just some random experimenting.

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alix965 said:
I especially like the soft focus lens you used for the beauty shots of your progress. I'm sure you'll not fail the first time this time around. All win.

Haha, so it's called "soft focus" now?

This "feature" is probably the result of the camera's inability to properly to focus, combined with my shashashaky hands and a bright desk lamp ;-)

tha_finch said:
I like the popsickle stick idea to reinforce the structure, good idea!!! Looking pretty good so far!
Keep us updated on progress!!!

Road Kill said:
what i do is put a lot of cardboard inside to reinforce, but very, very nice MA37 man it is looking really good and clean pep work

None of the cardboard I have can put up a lot of resistance against bending, whereas these sticks keep the long edges right above the grip hole perfectly "in line", so to speak. That would have been important to actually put the pieces together later, as any warpage would have ruined the fit.

But as I said, I've scrapped the whole Pepakura thing for the rifle. I'm doing this as a hobby, so it's got to be fun to do. As it turns out, working with wood is a lot more satisfying and "creative" than cutting out paper pieces for hours. I can totally understand now how people like LeeKegan can push out prop after prop with such passion ;-)

Anyways, thanks for the compliments, I appreciate them

Rid3r · Nov 11, 2010

Since you're using my pep file, I want to warn you: I really didn't have any good reference other than the blueprints Bungie posted, so some of the parts are probably way off (most of the clip I just guessed on; for the grip I really didn't have any idea how rounded it was). So, you might want to get some good reference shots of these yourself, like taking screenshots in third person of your player reloading to get a good idea of what the clip looks like.

Tyvern · Nov 12, 2010

This looks amazing man! keep up the amazingness

ventrue · Nov 13, 2010

Progress: Just another small update. I've decided to start at the front of the rifle this time, not sure yet if that was such a good idea because of all the weird angles in that area. Getting these thin slats into the right place is a bit tricky, because for some reason, super glue takes about 10 to 15 minutes to get hard when I use it on the wood and the pieces have to lie perfectly still the entire time. I'll probably have to look for a different glue here and/or for a new way to keep the pieces in place.

Pictures: Pictures below are of all the different "stages" these two base parts went through:

Just glued together.

Cleanup; taken off the protruding tips (one piece done by hand, then I decided to break out the Dremel).

The pieces are not exactly identical...

...so I sanded the unneccesary material off. The inner edge is still unsymmetrical, but that doesn't matter, because the outside edge is going to carry the paper that will form the actual surface of the model.

This is what's going to happen next (not yet glued together).

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Rid3r said:
Since you're using my pep file, I want to warn you: I really didn't have any good reference other than the blueprints Bungie posted, so some of the parts are probably way off (most of the clip I just guessed on; for the grip I really didn't have any idea how rounded it was). So, you might want to get some good reference shots of these yourself, like taking screenshots in third person of your player reloading to get a good idea of what the clip looks like.

Well, having abandoned pepakura for this project, I'm not using it any more. But aside from the grip and the area right above the magazine there was nothing wrong with it. Most of the detail I would have skipped anyways and carved into the hardened model later on. And the way you modelled the grip was pretty nice actually, I was thinking of using rubber for these straight pieces that go into the main grip piece in your model and maybeI'll still come back to that idea later. I think such a detail would go very well with the general, highly detailed looks this rifle has (in contrast to the MA5C, for example, which looks a lot.. "sleeker" and "cleaner").

And who cares what the clip looks like? People are going to be thrilled by the fact that the weapon has a removable clip at all ;-)

zabana · Nov 13, 2010

Hi!

Very good job on that rifle Ventrue!!!

One tip, when I want to hard a lot and fast with superglue (any cyano actually) I drop a few amount of cyano on the joint area and later I add some dust ( I used to use regular baking soda or bondo dust from sanding) so it mix as a rock and pretty fast

Good luck with your proyect!!!

ventrue · Nov 15, 2010

Progress: I think I'm starting to get the hang of this. If you look closely, you can actually see which part of the rifle I just finished! I'm really happy with it so far.

I used reference pictures from Juliet76, in case you're wondering where I got them.

Pictures: Some more progress and the result at the end. I got a bit creative propping all the pieces up, but other than that there isn't much to explain.

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zabana said:
Very good job on that rifle Ventrue!!!

One tip, when I want to hard a lot and fast with superglue (any cyano actually) I drop a few amount of cyano on the joint area and later I add some dust ( I used to use regular baking soda or bondo dust from sanding) so it mix as a rock and pretty fast

Good luck with your proyect!!!

Thanks

The dust idea sounds good, but I can't try it at the moment. I only have powdered soup here and I don't want a rifle that smells like soup :-D

mchammertime · Nov 15, 2010

That's a really cool idea! What kind of glue are you using?

ventrue · Nov 17, 2010

Progress:
I would have loved to present you the finished front and base pieces today, but the base piece isn't finished yet. I glued one of the slats down 3 mm too low, so I have to go back and fix that...

Anyways, I cut the superfluous pieces out of the front piece and added the rails that will keep it in place on the base. The base is mostly a cage with rails on the sides, I'll do most of the detailing with my Dremel later.

Pictures:
Taken before I noticed the mistake. Front piece should be mounted 3 mm higher on the base.

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mchammertime said:
That's a really cool idea! What kind of glue are you using?

It's super glue, it's the same I use for pepakura. At least for now, until I find something better.

nrettenmaier · Nov 17, 2010

This is looking amazing so far, its definately a new method. Can't wait for more updates.

Just curious, what was your thinking for adding recoil, I'm making an AR myself and want to make it so the charging handle moves when I pull the trigger.

S1l3nt V1p3r · Nov 18, 2010

Holy turd... Not bad! I'd love to see more of this!

alix965 · Nov 18, 2010

zabana said:
Hi!

Very good job on that rifle Ventrue!!!

One tip, when I want to hard a lot and fast with superglue (any cyano actually) I drop a few amount of cyano on the joint area and later I add some dust ( I used to use regular baking soda or bondo dust from sanding) so it mix as a rock and pretty fast

Good luck with your proyect!!!

So thats what happened to all my fireplace matchsticks!!!!!

VENNNTTTRUE!!!!!!

Zabana is correct. CA glue and baking SODA not crystallize into a sort of rock hard opaque mixture. But it's an instaneous chemical reaction. I usually push the baking soda into whatever crevice, then dropping the glue onto it. I use the very 'runny' type. The result is amazing. Instant body filler. Like an A and B part modelling putty. Be warned the process gives off SEVERE fumes that I suspect are poisonous, if not toxic, at the very least tear inducing.

Tyvern · Nov 18, 2010

this is incredible!

ventrue · Nov 18, 2010

Progress:
Only 11 more parts to go! Fixed and finished the base piece, except for the rails on the back. I will add those once I get there.
Actually this is not really update-worthy stuff, but I thought why not throw in a few pictures while replying ;-)

In other news, the Dremel accessories I had ordered have finally arrived, along with something called a "sanding sponge". Turns out, this thing is awesome to sand away superfluous superglue in a 90°-corner on these wood models. A quality tool made in the UK - thanks guys ;-)
(By the way, for other German members: I also ordered the stuff in the UK. Way cheaper than buying it here!)

Pictures:
Just to make one thing clear: I am NOT going to glue the pepakura parts onto the wooden frame. That last picture is just there because I think it looks nice

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alix965 said:
So thats what happened to all my fireplace matchsticks!!!!!

VENNNTTTRUE!!!!!!

Zabana is correct. CA glue and baking SODA not crystallize into a sort of rock hard opaque mixture. But it's an instaneous chemical reaction. I usually push the baking soda into whatever crevice, then dropping the glue onto it. I use the very 'runny' type. The result is amazing. Instant body filler. Like an A and B part modelling putty. Be warned the process gives off SEVERE fumes that I suspect are poisonous, if not toxic, at the very least tear inducing.

Huh.. good to know. Well, you wouldn't believe it, but sometimes I am actually wearing my respirator while using superglue. That stuff starts to hurt in your nose and eyes after a while even without those tricks, especially when you use lots of it at once.

And... 1 m long matches?? You must have one hell of a large fireplace! :-D

nrettenmaier said:
This is looking amazing so far, its definately a new method. Can't wait for more updates.

Just curious, what was your thinking for adding recoil, I'm making an AR myself and want to make it so the charging handle moves when I pull the trigger.

Well, your thread has actually been major inspiration to me

My initial thought was to use a large solenoid, because that's faily easy to implement mechanically. But a motor might work as well.

I also had an idea the other day to actually fill the magazine with shells and throw one out after each shot, and it would be practical to use the same thing to move everything that moves. So, bottom line: I have no idea how I'm going to do all that (yet!)

S1l3nt V1p3r said:
Holy turd... Not bad! I'd love to see more of this!

Tyvern said:
this is incredible!

Thanks everyone

ventrue · Nov 19, 2010

Progress:
Bottom part finished. I think it's good enough to use, but if I had to do it again, I would do it in smaller parts rather than make the whole outline in one huge step. Doing it like this leads to warpage really easily. You may notice I had to put in some diagonal braces because of that.

Pictures:
The progress-pics are getting a bit old, so I'll skip right ahead to the finished part and the rifle's current state.

xlasernoobsx · Nov 19, 2010

That looks really good. That last picture you posted almost looks like a Spartan Laser lol.

Tyvern · Nov 20, 2010

Wow man I'm truly blown away by this!

Props ventrue's MA37 Assault Rifle (WIP)

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