Halo Reach Assault Rifle Build

[BlueRealm]

I decided to take on a new project and I wanted to share it with the group. Most of you will recognize this weapon from the new halo reach game.

First we needed a 3d model. RSloan76 hooked me up with a beautiful rendition of the rifle, and I took the model and imported it into SolidWorks for some fine adjustments and to prepare the model for milling.

Then I setup all the tooling paths for CNC machine.

Once the tool paths are configured for all the pieces I started milling the sucker out. Check out this cool video Adam put together for me. The video really shows the process of milling and how the pieces get made.

Now that I've milled out most of the pieces its time for some finesse... The CNC machine does a great job of getting the pieces to a good working stage, but it’s now up to me and some good old fashioned sandpaper and bondo to really make it come together.

The material I used is called sign foam. It’s dense urethane foam and works great for projects like this. It’s easily sanded and glued with some pvc adhesive.

After gluing up all the pieces and fine tuning the detail I'm going to try and seal it up and do some nice wet sanding to give it that nice metal texture. This is a time consuming process but I wanted to go ahead and show the progress I've made so far and I'll keep you guys up to date as the project continues.

 

[skylow]

This is the most beautiful thing i have ever seen, the detail is just incredible! and soon enough the molding requests will start pouring in. I'm assuming you plan to cast it yes ?

 

[Yodajammies]

Nice work dev.

Where do you source your tooling board and what density is that? The detailing on some of those smaller parts is just phenomenal.

 

[Brandon McClain]

Once again, your work is beyond reproach! Love it!

 

[CoolC]

This is the most beautiful thing i have ever seen, the detail is just incredible! and soon enough the molding requests will start pouring in. I'm assuming you plan to cast it yes ?

I wouldn't mind getting a copy of it. When you cast it, can you PM me?

 

[BlueRealm]

Nice work dev.

Where do you source your tooling board and what density is that? The detailing on some of those smaller parts is just phenomenal.

I get my sign foam locally from a place called allied plastics. They sell it in 4x8 sheets. Not sure the density, my guess is 30lbs or so @1.5 inch.. It will run you around 300 to 400 for a full sheet. But if your like me.. the stuff will last you a few projects.

 

[BlueRealm]

This is the most beautiful thing i have ever seen, the detail is just incredible! and soon enough the molding requests will start pouring in. I'm assuming you plan to cast it yes ?

Yes, once its sealed up with primer and clear coat I'll mold it.

 

[slavefive]

Badass!!!...looking good dude!!!

 

[Spartan Will 043]

OMG! It's just epic!
Congratulations!

I have a question: Can the machine cut the wood?

 

[Jester1014]

Just wow, I mean wow.
The detail, even on the Ammo counter, Fantastic! Completely Blew me away.

MY question would be; Are you going to Hollow out the Clip and flip a few 5.56 rounds into it? Just for show of course.

 

[BlueRealm]

Just wow, I mean wow.
The detail, even on the Ammo counter, Fantastic! Completely Blew me away.

MY question would be; Are you going to Hollow out the Clip and flip a few 5.56 rounds into it? Just for show of course.

Yeah I thought about that.. Thats what Sloan did with his lancer. It was cool to pull the clip and see a few rounds in it.

 

[RSloan76]

MY question would be; Are you going to Hollow out the Clip and flip a few 5.56 rounds into it? Just for show of course.

Nerdy voice: Actually it's 7.62 mm NATO Rounds. See





Like the Lancer, the problem with the Reach AR is that the magazine is longer than the actual bullets that go into them. They're both more like sniper rifle mags. Anyway, we'll figure something out.

Devin, you could test the lathe by making some bullets.

 

[ventrue]

the problem with the Reach AR is that the magazine is longer than the actual bullets that go into them.

Just something to keep in mind: The bigger problem here is actually the magazine's height. Even if you extended it all the way to the top of the weapon (which would be inaccurate, illogical and on top of that look terrible), there still wouldn't be enough room for 32 cartridges, not even in two rows - which I think is impossible as well, because the mag is too narrow for two full rows.

From the reference I've seen, the game doesn't show any cartridges in the magazine either. The best thing to do may be to evade the whole issue by adding some kind of protective cover on top, maybe something like this: Closed, Opening, Open. The magazines in the game seem to have a somewhat similar top, visible here (this one is from Juliet76's Photobucket, not from mine). You can find these flaps on the bottom of some laptops, covering the connector for the docking station. The one on mine even has almost the right size.

 

[RSloan76]

Good idea. At the end of the day, it's a minor detail and not very important. We'll figure something out though.

 

[box o crayons]

an M4 magazine is double stacked and just a bit shorter, when double stacking a mag its not the same as side by side, the magazine only needs to be like 1/2 an inch or so, i can pull dimensions off a real one next time i meet with my friends if you need

 

[ventrue]

an M4 magazine is double stacked and just a bit shorter, when double stacking a mag its not the same as side by side, the magazine only needs to be like 1/2 an inch or so, i can pull dimensions off a real one next time i meet with my friends if you need

The M4 also fires 5.56 mm cartridges that have a 25% smaller diameter. You could probably fit 32 of these into the mag, but it would still be longer than depicted in the game.

Bottom line of what I'm saying is: You have to change something if you want to make it work in a plausible way.

 

[box o crayons]

just longer not really that much of a difference in diameter, the mags are not even half a centimeter smaller than the M4's, i wish i had access to an ak again to measure but one time thing.

 

[Jester1014]

Hm, Didn't know it was a 7.62. I was just making a guess, cause the mags make me think of the 90 round M16 mag. Never knew that kind of detail was acyually on the weapons, thanks Sloan.

Like this Weapon here is a 5.56mm

 

[BlueRealm]

Looks like the 7.62 mm NATO Rounds would fit just fine to me. They could be single row or double stacked by my measurements.

 

[Toacrabman]

Theres no way you would get that many rounds in there,
they'd have to be triple stacked, I actually had a practical idea,
they could work like one of those box magazines for assault rifles.
instead of being double stack, it could be a U shaped thing, where
rounds would go down to the right, and then go around and back
up to the left. Thats the only way i could think it werks, or downscale
the 7.62s