Air Navy's HALO Magnum Airsoft Gun Mod/Build

[Air Navy]

Greetings! Have been browsing the 405th for some time and finally joined. So, new here and my first real posts.

Just wanted to summarize a recent Magnum build. It's a little diffrerent, and not 100% scale or anatomically accurate, but was in response to many requests I've read for 'working' HALO weapons, such as for Airsoft (and of course, because I play airsoft too!)

Anyhow, based this build on a 'cheap' plastic CO2, non-blowback, HK USP found at my local Walmart. Used this as a base primarily because it was a prototype idea and at the outset wasn't sure how successful the project would be. As it turns out, it worked perfectly as a project (although not great airsoft performance).

Special thanks to Tactonyx whose styrene build-up methods and awesome pictures were a real inspiration on how to tackle something this! And to my best buddy Adam for planting the idea and helping design and build!

So, here goes... Sure hope this photobucket stuff works... May break it down into a few posts to ensure I did this right...





Can clearly see the styrene build-up method here... I would recommend it to anyone prototyping anything. Real easy to work with, especially if you have plastic model experience.





Ok, thats all for now until I can see proof that it worked. More to follow ASAP!

 

[Air Navy]

Yay! Looks like it worked.

Used sandwiched styrene sheets to build up the iconic bulbous rear slide. Typically use model cement to chemically bond the plastic and reserve super glue for filling cracks and detailing later. Also can see some epoxy putty used to build up areas unsuitable for plastic sheet...



Built up the removeable laser/scope shroud the same way:


As well as the hand guard... just sandwiched styreme sanded smooth later


Another reason the HK USP was chosen was the size of it's trigger guard. It matches almost perfectly with where the handguard should go. Just had to saw it off and cut a notch to hold it in place.



Sprayed it with primer to see it in a uniform color for now. Oh and had to trash this particular USP base since I accidentally damaged the internals and fake slide release removing the slide. Oh well... lesson learned.

 

[Air Navy]

Well for some reason photobucket isn't maintaining the orientation of the photos, so sorry about that.

Built up the ridges on the rear slide using the same styrene sheet method. Ended up making a new slide ridge plate later since this one just didn't look right.
Also started work on the silencer/compensator for those ODST fans out there (like me!)






Rear details. Also in styrene. For us perfectionists, here you can see another slight departure from the actual 'lines' of the magnum. The angle of the rear slide and grating thingy are not quite to scale.


Also filled in the ejection port area a little so it didn't look so recessed. Styrene as well...


Better slide ridge panel on this one:

 

[Air Navy]

The rear sights. Used a 2-56 machine screw for the simulated sight adjustment points.




Making the mold for the handguard and sight piece. Used Mold Max 40 silicone rubber compound for the mold.


Got a decent mold out of it, but found out later it needed more outlets to let air and bubbles out. Fixed that with an exacto knife later.


Used SmoothCast ONYX slow for most of the casting. It's strong, but turned out to be pretty brittle once fully set. Not sure if there's a better more resilient resin?


Casting the slide. Unlike a normal casting (and typically easier), the slide needed a void to allow it to slip over the airsoft gun internals...


The first half of the mold- you can see the clay "plug" that will be replaced later with silicone to make it a two-part mold


Like this below. Unfortuantely had to cut a huge slit to allow the slide to come out. Not a huge deal, but alignment of the mold in that area when casting is sometimes a challenge. I'd probably make it a three part mold somehow in the future to allow an easier de-mold. After about 5 castings, it's showing signs of wear in that area. Another lesson learned.


Success!

 

[Air Navy]

Molded the laser shroud the same way. You can see a few chips in the slide already just from handling it during construction. Need to either beef those areas up or else use a stronger resin. Would love to investigate a glass fiber fill or something but know that would make the resin really thick and hard to pour, if at all.


Put a working laser in the shroud. Ground a slot on the right side (shown later I think) for a small radio shack toggle switch. Finding a switch small enough, yet robust and 'tactile' enough was a huge challenge. Grinding the slot for that darn switch in the thin-walled shroud was not easy.


Painted it a coat of silver, then airbrushed dark grey for weathering. Sadly, the grey wasn't very compatible with the silver as mostly rubbed off after some use/abuse. Need to look into a better enamel or something.




The Airsoft Magnum in action! (still in primer paint color)

 

[Air Navy]

And the glory shots (except for the lousy iPhone camera and crappy lighting).


Just happened to have a silver Desert Eagle magazine floating around and some .50cal bullets & shells for effect. Sadly this Magnum is only CO2 powered 6mm airsoft.


I've pulled and assembled 4 castings so far for my friends and am still looking for better ways to avoid little bubbles in the resin and an easier way to demold. It makes a great conversation piece and is a real attention grabber at airsoft events! Although I'd use it on the airsoft field, I don't think it'll stand up to too much abuse. Maybe with a new resin/material in the future... Also haven't molded the compensator/silencer yet, but that's a future project!

Hope you enjoyed! It was a really fun build! Any ideas to solving some of the challenges mentioned would be appreciated.

 

[PlayByMyOwnRule]

This is fantastic! Your mold work is amazing, I've never though about using legos. I would love to see more.

 

[RTWHOCKEY]

Omg who are you and where did you come from?? You just jump right in with this EPICNESS!!! Awesome job!

Small request though-Do you think you could possibly make a video of you actually firing it?

 

[Air Navy]

Thanks folks! Yeah, I've been doing this kind of stuff for... well, a long time. Just never spent much time online. Learned about using Legos when making smaller molds for plastic models. They're perfect- You can build them any size and break them down afterwards for re-use. No annoying wooden boxes cluttering up the house (more room for other Halo clutter)! Only problem is making sure you have enough of the big bricks to complete the walls. For a larger mold (like an entire rifle) I'd probably just use the wood wall box method.

I'll try to make and post a video of it shooting soon! The accuracy isn't very impressive (especially with the fixed hop-up), nor is the muzzel velocity, but it still looks cool. The first shot is usually the best since you get a decent "poof" from the frist shot of the CO2 cylinder.

 

[TheMagicNumber]

Wow. Awesome job.

 

[PHIL 907]

This the best mod I have ever seen on a airsoft gun. Great job man, keep it up!

 

[BHF Dark Phoenx]

Fan_Freakin_tastic dude that is awesome, i want to comission one so bad!

 

[Air Navy]

Well FINALLY got to make and upload a video. It's not great- had problems editing, uploading to YouTube, and getting it linked... also couldn't combine a few vids, so got fed up and just going to post the raw one where we shoot the Magnum and chrono it. First video that I've posted here, so bear with me... Hope it works!

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/9OCPXpk-X-4?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Well, embedding doesn't seem promising, so here's the link in the meantime...

 

[drack]

Here you go

To work out the script hit "reply with quote" and the script will come up in the reply box then you can work out how to write embedded vids in the forums language.

Gun looks awesome btw. I just started work on the model to 3D print these but without the BBs.

 

[Air Navy]

Thanks Drack! I appreciate the help. Looking forward to seeing your Magnum too! I'd love to get into 3D printing, but don't know enough about it yet.

 

[slifer]

I play airsoft and am working on a helmet that can fit my night vision goggles. I can't help but be awestruck by your nothing less than fantastic work. I am thinking of getting a desert eagle GBB and make it into a magnum.

 

[Rancid Musk]

Really impressive work. The casting looks amazing