Props New Halo Reach Pistol Pep File (Now with Sliced Win!)

[Starvinartist80]

Seriously beautiful! Did you cut the parts out by hand? Looks very clean. Loving it!

Yes I did cut them by hand. Two cramps and 8 blades later its done. For the next one I have an idea to make the cutting faster and save the strain on my hands. I'll share once I know it works.

 

[XxCrossFadexX]

What was the material used for the sliced version of the Magnum? Was a thicker cardSTOCK or a thin cardBOARD. Because I downloaded the file and I don't think my cardstock is thick enough.

 

[Carpathia]

As mentioned earlier, I recommend 1/16" matte board. You can find it in the picture framing area of craft stores like Hobby Lobby or Michael's. Really, any material that is 1/16" thick will work.

 

[plasauce]

I used the sliced method for my pistol, and only took about 3 days total. For the innermost layers I used 1/4" foam poster board in order to cut down on pieces. So instead of 10 or more layers for the middle, maybe 2. All other layers I used the 1/16" board. For the contour I used simple wood putty. Its not the cleanest looking, but I actually prefer the beat to hell dirty look.

 

[royalpain88]

Has anyone dared tried to make the pistol slide to slide back and/or the trigger to pull? I think that would be SO COOL! Mags may be a problem. Are they a separate piece? Also, does anyone do the same for the MA5C Assault rifle or any other weapon?

 

[plasauce]

I made mine in sections, but none of the parts move.

 

[Toacrabman]

I actually have a few spare airsoft and nerf parts, so I have:
-slide rails
-slide spring
-trigger mechanisms
-laser sights
-tactical rails
-mag releases
-screws
so I might just do another one in this foam board you guys are talking about.

 

[Carpathia]

I did this with my Halo 3 M6G, not the Reach version yet, but I'm not sure I will since it really serves no costuming purpose.

 

[Zat German]

I did this with my Halo 3 M6G, not the Reach version yet, but I'm not sure I will since it really serves no costuming purpose.

Could you detail the mechanics of that? I could really use it for some of the laser tag guns I am planning based around Halo guns.

 

[Carpathia]

It's actually ridiculously simple. The slide is held forward by a rubber-band attached to a few eye screws, while the slide release is mounted to a small dowel rod with a plastic bar attached on the inside. The bar (as you can see from the vid) is then held back by a piece of stretch thread (used in beading) tied to one of the eye screws.

There are far better ways to achieve this effect than the way I did. Get creative, you can figure it out.

 

[tankball]

I did this with my Halo 3 M6G, not the Reach version yet, but I'm not sure I will since it really serves no costuming purpose.

ok i want the file link. i must build it!

 

[Zat German]

ok i want the file link. i must build it!

This thread is the link! Try checking the first post.

 

[Mstruvmgc]

*claps* looks great as always
Ill be building one after my armor is done for sure

 

[Zat German]

Hey carpathia, got any tips to share on working with styrene and cutting patterns out of it? Especially the thicker 1.5mm stuff?

This weekend has been pretty much a failure for me and trying to cut these templates out of styrene. My knife skills are just not good enough to cut against templates. I had the great idea of taking the styrene and running it through my Craftrobo, which will properly score it and snaps pretty clean. Except it is impossible to snap out smaller corners or rounded stuff.

 

[Carpathia]

With the smaller rounded corners, just nip small pieces away until you have sort of a rounded corner (a corner with a bunch of straight edges making up the curve, a polygon rather than a curve) then lightly sand the corner smooth. As far as cutting, I wasn't aware that the Craftrobo could handle something like that, but that sounds like a winner. Alternatively, if you have access to a laser cutter, that works wonders.

I set up the file to be cut out of something more like mat board, styrene is not a very forgiving material when it comes to cutting detailed pieces by hand.

 

[Zat German]

As far as cutting, I wasn't aware that the Craftrobo could handle something like that, but that sounds like a winner.

Yeah, it is really tough to get the sheet fed under the rollers but they look like they have a good 5mm or so of travel. Once you get it in there, it works fine for scoring. If I could change the tension of the rollers so they were looser for thick material like this, that would be perfect. Maybe I will open up the case some time and take a look. No way would it cut 1.5mm of styrene, though. I even ran over the same sheet a couple times and one pass is the same depth as three passes so the blade is doing its job. I may try picking up some mat board and see how that scores with it.

 

[RogueSeven]

Hey i was thinking of making a sliced pistol of my own. I already have a thin piece of wood left over from when i helped my dad build a new wall in the house, but the trouble is, how do i cut it? Got any tips to give a n00b like myself?

 

[Carpathia]

What kind of wood? I'm not sure that something used to build a wall would be a good material for an application like this. If you wanted to use wood for this project, it would almost have to be 1/16" thick bass wood or balsa wood (neither of which could be used to build a wall). You probably have something like 1/4" plywood, which may work for some of the core pieces, but is far too thick for the detail pieces. And for cutting out something like that with this kind of detail, the only options would be either a jig saw or a scroll saw.

 

[alecgates15]

Where are you guys buying the foam board or matboard or whatever you're using? I can't find anything that's 1.5mm or 1/16". I figured I could just use 3mm foamies and it's okay, but it's turning out way too thick.

 

[Zat German]

Where are you guys buying the foam board or matboard or whatever you're using? I can't find anything that's 2mm or 1/16". I figured I could just use 3mm foamies and it's okay, but it's turning out way too thick.

Hobby Lobby has mounting board which they list as being 1.27 to 1.5mm thick. Dick Blick lists various thicknesses of it on their site, so I imagine they have it in-store too. I am heading to Hobby Lobby tomorrow after work to check it out.