shotgun rumble
Jr Member
So are you going to make it a paintball grenade launcher or what is the air soft part going to be?
Props Spartan Laser Metal & Fiberglass Airsoft Prop (Fully Functioning Electronic Replica)
- Thread starter Redshirt
- Start date
- Status
I believe he shows an assemblage of multiple airsoft AEGs in the first page, right Redshirt?
- Member DIN
- S980
I forget that this thread is now 30+ pages long and the 'master plan' isn't leaping from every page. Short story long: Man with a costume (me) decides he needs a weapon. He loves the Spartan Laser. I don't know why, I'm no good with the damn thing--that's why I'm Redshirt! Anyway, I can't just settle for a solid prop, and want a BA airsoft gun. I do some back-o-the-napkin math and decide I can fit three (3) airsoft mechboxes inside a Halo 3 Splaser. Slow forward 2+ years and I'm still building it. Major metal work--done, Major fiberglass construction--done, full electronics package--done, airsoft bits--90% installed. Like I said, everything works. It just hasn't had the opportunity to work as a package.
Major Features:
Open the front grip--master power comes on, lights light, servo raises the front shroud
Pull the trigger 1/2 inch--sighting laser comes on, 3 second timer starts, 4 second timer starts, low speed rumble motor starts
3 second timer expires--high speed rumble motor starts to warn you firing is imminent
4 second timer expires--11.1V relay closes and drives two other 11.1V relays to close. Master 11.1V system activates master mechbox, hop-up tracer unit and LED tail light that backlights the BB stream for 'laser
effect'. Each of the two 'slave' 11.1V systems drives its own mechbox and hop-up tracer unit.
Pull trigger all the way--overrides timers and fires weapon immediately
Result: 2400+ BBs per minute downrange. Designed to work best with .20 red glow BBs for maximum effect.
On to the update:
I'm back on the fiberglass job again. It's very frustrating because I've cut the details into these parts twice already and am now back for a third (and final) time. Lack of symmetry that can be traced back to sloppy pep work two years ago is the root cause of the redos. Anyway, I have everything straight, aligned, and now with all the gaps closed so it's time to sand and shape, cutting in the details as I go.
Today was a job I didn't like, wet sanding the built-up gun. This mean risking getting water into the switches and mechboxes. I had to wet sand it in this configuration because only the full assembly will hold the front shroud in correct relation with the upper receiver. This was the only way to do my basic shaping and be sure the fit would remain true.
The two parts meet on opposite bevels making about a 120 degree angle. Here I'm sanding to make the bevels symmetrical. I've already flat-sanded the side. There are so many details to cut back in.
Mid way through, making sure both sides of the seam are the same height--not there yet
Finally even. Look at the shroud where the flat meets the bevel. It's not crisp. I'll go back later and fix that. What I'm trying to do here is work just the area where the pieces meet. If I get that right, I can disassemble the gun and work on individual parts without risking water damage to the mechanisms.
Same sort of work along the forward edge. Plenty that's jacked up, but I'm only worried about the joint edges today.
Same work along the top. Look down the side and see the nice even seam where the shroud meets the receiver.
Mission complete. Time to haul it out to the driveway for a careful rinse.
Rinsed! Looks like a lost cause in at least four different colors of material. Once I get primer back on it, I'll know what actually needs attention next.
The whole beast. Doesn't look so bad when you step back and see there's more right with it than there is wrong.
Up next. I'll disassemble it and work the details into the component parts before reassembling and doing the final sanding.
Redshirt
shotgun rumble
Jr Member
completely awesome! i have a L96 airsoft gun that cost my around 300 a few years back and this makes me think i want to graft it into a halo airsoft sniper!
Halo Master
Member
very very cool!
Halo Master
Member
He said, "Up next. I'll disassemble it"
Me- WAIT WHAAT!!
Me- WAIT WHAAT!!
- Member DIN
- S980
That could work very well. If you haven't checked out Redtail's Battle Rifle, that's right up your alley.
Thanks! All coming. Soon?
Thanks!
No kidding. It took 45 minutes to fully assemble it from all of its component parts. As it is, I'll probably have to open up my mech boxes and clean them before I fire it for real. They've been exposed to so much shop dust.
Definitely a titanic effort--here's hoping for a titanic result. Thank you.
Finally an update! I spent most of a long weekend building up the short block for that Jag--a great feeling seeing parts bags and boxes going into the trash. I vowed to get some time in on the Splaser though. I needed to recut the details into the shroud. That is something I've done three times already and don't like. That's probably part of the procrastination. Anyway, getting precision shaping with freehand cuts and files is tedious. My bright idea was to mount it up on the milling stage I have for my drill press.
With no jaws big enough to hold it, my clamping was . . . nontraditional.
Ready for the first cut.
Not as tidy as I was hoping for, but better than with files and Dremel.
All cut. I'll come back in with the soft 3M Body Icing and shape the edges. Still, lots of time saved using the drill press.
Redshirt
- Member DIN
- S980
Thank you. It didn't seem so complex when I started it.
Thanks. It will take a lot of ownage to justify this!
Update! Still working on the shroud. I have to say that I hate this piece for taking such a disproportionate amount of time to build. Work on it has appeared on pages 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 19, 25, 27, 28, 29, 31, and 32. Worse still, I thought I was done with it on pages 10 and 27. Sadly, not.
This week I've fit in some time to fill and block sand the faces back into smoothness and start recutting the recessed details. Anyone that's had to cut details into Bondo and try to keep them from looking like they were hand cut by someone with a palsy knows what I'm talking about. The level of effort it takes to make them look like a machine did the job is insane. I've made some progress, but still have a ways to go.
The rough-cut grooves and imperfections filled with 3M Body Icing. I love this stuff because here's the payoff . . . .
It's so easy to sand, this wet sanding job took just ten minutes. Look at this damn thing, I spot 5 different colors of material that this thing is made from because it's been altered so many times. Oh look, the yellow stuff in the top center is actually original material. I thought that was long gone.
In primer again to check progress.
I'll use the air file to do the first round of tidying up the grooves, followed by more icing and the hand files. Hopefully I can wrap this up in the next few days and make the final assault on the upper receiver components. Once that's done, final details and paint won't be far behind.
Redshirt
As always, truly impressive work... but I have to ask, did you know those page numbers off the top of your head?
Was also wondering, with all the time you've put into this, have you considered molding the parts in case replacements are needed? I know SmoothCast (or whichever plastic you choose) isn't renowned for durability, but with some reinforcement it would sure beat having to craft another shroud if something were to happen to it in the field.
- Member DIN
- S980
Ha! No, I did a run through of all the pages trying to settle a bet with myself over how many times I thought that job was done. I do intend to remold the shroud at the very least. At present, it is basically a Bondo brick. I may mold this whole weapon down the road, but not Smoothcast molds. I would build good fiberglass molds. I've improved my glass skills immensely since starting the project. Only the metal lower receiver is really a good Smoothcast candidate.
Redshirt
- Member DIN
- S980
Thanks! Well it does fire a tiny sighting laser . . . .
More sanding and detailing this week as I try to reinstate the detail lost in reshaping the front end components to work with the lifting mechanism. I have taken the decision to remold the front shroud after I get it fully detailed. This lets me use softer materials in the detailing as I'm not worried about the current shroud having to withstand 450 FPS airsoft BB hits.
My preferred detail material is 3M Body Icing, a very easy to sand spot putty that is catalyzed like Bondo rather than the red spot putty that dries and is brittle. As you look through this update, you'll see a lot more of the icing left on the shroud after sanding than on the upper receiver that has to be tough enough to take the hits when finished. Most of the detail work on the upper receiver will be done with glass fiber reinforced Bondo for that reason. The recast front shroud will have accurate details cast direct in fiberglass. Here we go:
Rear upper receiver with lots of pin holes, but not too much lost detail.
Disaster at the front with holes, misshapen bevels, and lost details. The Icing will fill all of this in, but not form any edges that could get chipped.
Having already cut and filled the central groove of this detail, I cut the recessed area surrounding the groove extra deep and wide into the hard fiberglass then built it back up with the Icing. This will wet sand easily and let me cut the details in more easily and therefore more crisply than I could put them into the fiberglass.
I mixed the icing in about 1/2 ounce quantities in Dixie cups and applied it quickly to fill in the faults. It took about 4 batches to do the upper receiver.
Now wet sanded back. There's hardly any of the Icing remaining after taking the block sander to it--especially in the front areas most likely to take BB hits.
The shroud all sanded back. After I clean out the half-round groove, I'll cut the squared off recessed detail into the soft white Icing with my needle files and a little bit of the air file as well. It'll take a day or two, but it will be nice and crisp. After that, I'll make a mold of the shroud so I can at last have a tough lightweight shroud produced. This one is a fragile brick.
Hard to see how smooth it turned out after sanding but I'm happy. I'll go forward with files from this point to cut the bevels and ledges. Any edges that need raised here will use glass fiber reinforced Bondo.
Awesome--from 5 feet away. It will take the needle files to make it 100% at one foot!
Next time, file work!
Redshirt
- Member DIN
- S980
I've been back at the front shroud this week cutting in the details. Having cut the details wide and then filling the areas with easy sand & cut Body Icing, I set to getting crisp edges on my details.
I used a chisel blade to cut as sharp and even edges to the outer groove as possible.
I laboriously carried this detail all the way around. Notice that the semi-circular center groove is not always on-center. That'll be more work no doubt.
All hand cut. The edges are sharp, but the depth of the detailing is not consistent. That will take file work to fix. The darkest areas are fiberglass and the lightest are soft Body Icing. It's very hard to get consistent results cutting into mixed media.
Enter the air file--adjudicator of mixed media problems. This gem evened the depth of the cuts and recentered the central groove.
It did damage some of the edges, necessitating more Body Icing, but still the quality of the details is rapidly improving.
A coat of paint shows I still have a ways to go, but by and large the angles are right, the depth consistent, and the groove width is uniform.
In short, progress!
Redshirt
I used a chisel blade to cut as sharp and even edges to the outer groove as possible.
I laboriously carried this detail all the way around. Notice that the semi-circular center groove is not always on-center. That'll be more work no doubt.
All hand cut. The edges are sharp, but the depth of the detailing is not consistent. That will take file work to fix. The darkest areas are fiberglass and the lightest are soft Body Icing. It's very hard to get consistent results cutting into mixed media.
Enter the air file--adjudicator of mixed media problems. This gem evened the depth of the cuts and recentered the central groove.
It did damage some of the edges, necessitating more Body Icing, but still the quality of the details is rapidly improving.
A coat of paint shows I still have a ways to go, but by and large the angles are right, the depth consistent, and the groove width is uniform.
In short, progress!
Redshirt
- Member DIN
- S980
Next round! More of the same, but that's what's required at this point. Cutting details into hard fiberglass is pretty tedious, but I've got the front shroud to the 85% solution as the groove is almost finished.
This week's featured resource is filler primer--also known as high-build primer. Long a staple in the auto-body repair industry as 'Feather fill', it's been available in rattle cans now for several years. Its purpose is to fill in small scratches and surface imperfections. It goes on much thicker than regular primer and dries to the perfect hardness for easy wet sanding. For us, it helps smooth details in a way that spot (glazing) putty can't.
Here it is after running a smoothing layer of Body Icing down and around the groove to give an initial smoothing of the groove. In this shot, I've just finished wet sanding the flat surfaces. This crispens the edges of the groove.
Here is the shroud is a few minutes later with a coating of regular grey primer just to see where things are.
Dremel time! I used the ball file attachment to recut the half-round center groove. It cut it freehand. Everyone knows that making freehand cuts with a Dremel tool is the best way to get perfectly straight lines and even cutting depths.
If you are a stranger to sarcasm--that was it.
I actually had a pretty decent run without any big errors, but then I've been using a Dremel tool since well into the last millennium.
Now the filler primer. I sprayed it heavy into the groove, really hoping it would fill the low spots to even up the depths of the cuts, especially the central half-round. Not there yet, but a whole order of magnitude sharper than last week.
I needed to take a pause from the grooving and address the fact that all the recent work had affected the fit between the shroud and the upper receiver. As I was happy with the shape of the shroud, the upper receiver would get material added to it. The paint along the edge of the shroud looks darker because I've coated it with polyvinyl alcohol mold release. I've roughed-up the edges of the receiver to promote adhesion.
Yuck! You are looking at two layers of material here, the fiberglass-filled Bondo with an overcoat of regular Bondo. I carefully pushed the fiber-strengthened stuff into all the gaps inside and out, then used an overcoat of regular filler to fill in bubbles and smooth the surface. This area will likely get hit with fast BBs during play, so I need the strength here.
After I peeled my shroud away from that mess, I wet sanded the whole shroud, including the outer square groove and the inner half-round groove. With a thick coat of filler primer, it should be about one more sand and paint away from being finished.
Viola! The grooves are looking good. Just a couple of corners need attention and we'll call the groove complete.
Next, I'll finish tidying the groove and take the files to the lower bevels before re-squaring the cutout for the external stabilizers. That should leave me with the shroud ready for remolding and get me started on the final detailing of the upper receiver.
Redshirt
This week's featured resource is filler primer--also known as high-build primer. Long a staple in the auto-body repair industry as 'Feather fill', it's been available in rattle cans now for several years. Its purpose is to fill in small scratches and surface imperfections. It goes on much thicker than regular primer and dries to the perfect hardness for easy wet sanding. For us, it helps smooth details in a way that spot (glazing) putty can't.
Here it is after running a smoothing layer of Body Icing down and around the groove to give an initial smoothing of the groove. In this shot, I've just finished wet sanding the flat surfaces. This crispens the edges of the groove.
Here is the shroud is a few minutes later with a coating of regular grey primer just to see where things are.
Dremel time! I used the ball file attachment to recut the half-round center groove. It cut it freehand. Everyone knows that making freehand cuts with a Dremel tool is the best way to get perfectly straight lines and even cutting depths.
If you are a stranger to sarcasm--that was it.
I actually had a pretty decent run without any big errors, but then I've been using a Dremel tool since well into the last millennium.
Now the filler primer. I sprayed it heavy into the groove, really hoping it would fill the low spots to even up the depths of the cuts, especially the central half-round. Not there yet, but a whole order of magnitude sharper than last week.
I needed to take a pause from the grooving and address the fact that all the recent work had affected the fit between the shroud and the upper receiver. As I was happy with the shape of the shroud, the upper receiver would get material added to it. The paint along the edge of the shroud looks darker because I've coated it with polyvinyl alcohol mold release. I've roughed-up the edges of the receiver to promote adhesion.
Yuck! You are looking at two layers of material here, the fiberglass-filled Bondo with an overcoat of regular Bondo. I carefully pushed the fiber-strengthened stuff into all the gaps inside and out, then used an overcoat of regular filler to fill in bubbles and smooth the surface. This area will likely get hit with fast BBs during play, so I need the strength here.
After I peeled my shroud away from that mess, I wet sanded the whole shroud, including the outer square groove and the inner half-round groove. With a thick coat of filler primer, it should be about one more sand and paint away from being finished.
Viola! The grooves are looking good. Just a couple of corners need attention and we'll call the groove complete.
Next, I'll finish tidying the groove and take the files to the lower bevels before re-squaring the cutout for the external stabilizers. That should leave me with the shroud ready for remolding and get me started on the final detailing of the upper receiver.
Redshirt
- Member DIN
- S980
OK. So lots of sanding and redoing of old parts is not wowing the crowd. I know, I promised more hard to see progress from sanding and filing of the front shroud this week, but I under catalyzed some of the fiberglass-filled Bondo and it took forever to set up. Instead of doing nothing, I made some progress on a perennial crowd favorite material:
METAL!
That's right, once again we are making metal parts.
This week I decided to machine the side vents out of aluminum plate. I've known I wanted them in metal since early in the project, but kept kicking that can down the road since I didn't know how I wanted to go about it. After realizing I could never hope to weld up anything tidy or low profile, that left milling. Again, I have no mill. I have a milling table for my drill press. It is not the same. Mills handle side loads all day. Drill presses don't. They burn out. Mine did this week because I asked too much of it. I got it rebuilt and back in the game to finish up this project.
Here's the vent I'm making on the game-model along with my planned cut line on the aluminum plate.
I cut two sections of plate to machine. I'll cut each into two parts later to make the 4 vent pieces.
All lined up on the drill press and starting to cut down the edges.
Here I'm cutting the cross grooves into the plate sections. Eventually I cut the grooves all the way through to complete the vents. These vents have to be functional to get air to the mechboxes for compression and cooling.
All cut! I have some cleanup to do, but not too bad of a job for non-precision machinery.
I plan to back the vents with a black cloth to hide the internal parts from view and keep dirt from getting inside the gun. My choice is landscaping cloth, designed to keep weeds from growing in flower beds. Dense, black, and tough--perfect for my job here. After the metal is painted, I'll hot glue the cloth onto the metal to complete the vent assemblies before installing them inside the upper receiver.
Next is to get the upper holes in the upper receiver resized and ready for vent installation.
Redshirt
METAL!
That's right, once again we are making metal parts.
This week I decided to machine the side vents out of aluminum plate. I've known I wanted them in metal since early in the project, but kept kicking that can down the road since I didn't know how I wanted to go about it. After realizing I could never hope to weld up anything tidy or low profile, that left milling. Again, I have no mill. I have a milling table for my drill press. It is not the same. Mills handle side loads all day. Drill presses don't. They burn out. Mine did this week because I asked too much of it. I got it rebuilt and back in the game to finish up this project.
Here's the vent I'm making on the game-model along with my planned cut line on the aluminum plate.
I cut two sections of plate to machine. I'll cut each into two parts later to make the 4 vent pieces.
All lined up on the drill press and starting to cut down the edges.
Here I'm cutting the cross grooves into the plate sections. Eventually I cut the grooves all the way through to complete the vents. These vents have to be functional to get air to the mechboxes for compression and cooling.
All cut! I have some cleanup to do, but not too bad of a job for non-precision machinery.
I plan to back the vents with a black cloth to hide the internal parts from view and keep dirt from getting inside the gun. My choice is landscaping cloth, designed to keep weeds from growing in flower beds. Dense, black, and tough--perfect for my job here. After the metal is painted, I'll hot glue the cloth onto the metal to complete the vent assemblies before installing them inside the upper receiver.
Next is to get the upper holes in the upper receiver resized and ready for vent installation.
Redshirt
- Status
