Props Spartan Laser Metal & Fiberglass Airsoft Prop (Fully Functioning Electronic Replica)
- Thread starter Redshirt
- Start date
- Status
Iron Monger
Member
Unlucky about the moulds but great problem solving. Now why couldnt our tax dollars go into tech like this?!
- Member DIN
- S980
Final Fiberglass Parts
Mold release worked . . . . Perfect!
Still took a little flexing because of some undercuts in my solid molds, but everything came out very well. I got every detail that my molds had, good and bad. Looks like I had o good and consistent result with my mat and resin, no thin spots or pooling of resin. I still have a few pinholes in the surface, but you can never avoid that.
Here's one of the main pieces popping out nice and clean.
Some shots of the pulled parts.
Two by two, hands of blue. Getting started cleaning up the parts and getting them ready to join.
After I get the parts cleaned up, I'll build a jig to line everything up and make sure the assembled pieces are the correct width as I join the halves.
Redshirt
Mold release worked . . . . Perfect!
Still took a little flexing because of some undercuts in my solid molds, but everything came out very well. I got every detail that my molds had, good and bad. Looks like I had o good and consistent result with my mat and resin, no thin spots or pooling of resin. I still have a few pinholes in the surface, but you can never avoid that.
Here's one of the main pieces popping out nice and clean.
Some shots of the pulled parts.
Two by two, hands of blue. Getting started cleaning up the parts and getting them ready to join.
After I get the parts cleaned up, I'll build a jig to line everything up and make sure the assembled pieces are the correct width as I join the halves.
Redshirt
- Member DIN
- S980
Putting Parts Together
I got the excess glass and resin trimmed from my molded parts and began to join them together into recognizable assemblies. I realized my join lines were a little spurious--didn't give a smooth or consistent line up. Rather than letting the mold lines tell me where things needed to join, I let my measurements of the original models, double-checked against the space requirements for the airsoft parts, determine how wide each assembly needed to be. In the end, I didn't have to go overscale on anything, but it was a good exercise to go out to reconsider how the end game would work out. So, I needed a jig to hold parts the correct distance apart. I made that out of plywood, basically a bottom with two parallel walls to clamp the parts to. I needed a wider one for the mid shroud. I positioned the parts in the jig and if there was any overlap, I trimmed it. Where there were gaps, I knew I'd need to fill them with fiberglass.
Where there was good contact between parts, I created an initial bond with super thick cyanoacrylate (super) glue, then kept things moving by spraying the join with an insta-set agent (on the right).
I then covered the whole join area with a narrow strip of fiberglass cloth and saturated that with the glue before working out the bubbles with my gloved fingers for an instant and very strong bond between parts that is almost as strong as fiberglassing.
Here's a better look at this type of join, this time on the inside of the front shroud. You can see at the back how bid some of my gaps were.
Here is a closeup of the joint on the back of the upper receiver. Plenty of detail work remains.
Almost as good as a fiberglass bond is not the same as a fiberglass bond, so I followed up by fiberglassing both sides of the seams. The superglue and glass joins were made for the jig alignment process, but would be too thin for the later sanding and Bondo work.
Redshirt
I got the excess glass and resin trimmed from my molded parts and began to join them together into recognizable assemblies. I realized my join lines were a little spurious--didn't give a smooth or consistent line up. Rather than letting the mold lines tell me where things needed to join, I let my measurements of the original models, double-checked against the space requirements for the airsoft parts, determine how wide each assembly needed to be. In the end, I didn't have to go overscale on anything, but it was a good exercise to go out to reconsider how the end game would work out. So, I needed a jig to hold parts the correct distance apart. I made that out of plywood, basically a bottom with two parallel walls to clamp the parts to. I needed a wider one for the mid shroud. I positioned the parts in the jig and if there was any overlap, I trimmed it. Where there were gaps, I knew I'd need to fill them with fiberglass.
Where there was good contact between parts, I created an initial bond with super thick cyanoacrylate (super) glue, then kept things moving by spraying the join with an insta-set agent (on the right).
I then covered the whole join area with a narrow strip of fiberglass cloth and saturated that with the glue before working out the bubbles with my gloved fingers for an instant and very strong bond between parts that is almost as strong as fiberglassing.
Here's a better look at this type of join, this time on the inside of the front shroud. You can see at the back how bid some of my gaps were.
Here is a closeup of the joint on the back of the upper receiver. Plenty of detail work remains.
Almost as good as a fiberglass bond is not the same as a fiberglass bond, so I followed up by fiberglassing both sides of the seams. The superglue and glass joins were made for the jig alignment process, but would be too thin for the later sanding and Bondo work.
Redshirt
Darthoblivious
Jr Member
man this is epic! its so great to see that pieces are finally popping out of the molds like they should have in the first place!! great job man! one question, after you finish this build, any chance of selling or doing a trade for a set of the molded parts?
- Member DIN
- S980
When we are Infantrymen we can access the classifieds. In any case, PMs are the correct venue for discussions along those lines. Right now, I'm just trying to build the thing. PM me when I'm almost finished with this project and I'll figure out then what my intentions are.
Redshirt
- Member DIN
- S980
Reinforcements Part 1
With the parts joined, I needed to look forward to details that would need to be cut in as well as making robust attachment points for the fiberglass parts to join to the metal lower receiver. The green material is fiberglass reinforced Bondo. I'm also using this to build any details on the outer surface as well. This stuff is much tougher and chip resistant than regular Bondo. Naturally, it is also harder to shape, but the air file makes short work of it.
Air file shapes the side lights. Bondo added to make sure all of the lights are the same depth.
Getting there.
Initial join of the front piece. This is still a weak spot.
Here's the progress on all the parts. I've run all of the flat areas across the table sander. You can see there is still some work remaining to level the sides.
Can you find the piece of glove that is now a permanent part of this prop?
The next job is to reinforce the parts internally.
Redshirt
With the parts joined, I needed to look forward to details that would need to be cut in as well as making robust attachment points for the fiberglass parts to join to the metal lower receiver. The green material is fiberglass reinforced Bondo. I'm also using this to build any details on the outer surface as well. This stuff is much tougher and chip resistant than regular Bondo. Naturally, it is also harder to shape, but the air file makes short work of it.
Air file shapes the side lights. Bondo added to make sure all of the lights are the same depth.
Getting there.
Initial join of the front piece. This is still a weak spot.
Here's the progress on all the parts. I've run all of the flat areas across the table sander. You can see there is still some work remaining to level the sides.
Can you find the piece of glove that is now a permanent part of this prop?
The next job is to reinforce the parts internally.
Redshirt
onmi shift
Active Member
looking good. cant wait to see the final
XxDrxNinjaxX
Member
This is great! I have been following this for a while and didn't seem the need to post because everyone was already saying the obvious haha. You asked if we could find the bit of glove attached and I think it is on the tip of the big piece on the inside. Anyway Great build! I might mimic this for a smaller weapon. Absolutly Fantastic work!
Spartan 010
Jr Member
This is looking spectacularly EPIC!!! I too vote that it should go into the Elite section. It is in my opinion, that you deserve it! The detail is fantastic! Honestly I'm envious. You beat me to it! =P But then again I'm glad you did. I dont think I would have ever gotten THAT much detail into it. Absolutely brilliant! Cant wait to see the finished product!
- Member DIN
- S980
Reinforcements 2
I wanted to start with a thank you to everyone whose following this thread and especially the crowd that's chimed in this week. Thanks:
Mstrvmgc
Iron Monger
mkshane81
Darthoblivious
Omni Shift
XxDrxNinjaxX
Spartan 010
JBetts97
I know there are many more that have commented as well earlier. The community support helps keep things moving through setbacks and frustrating bouts of imagineering.
So the last post ended with a challenge to spot the piece of glove that had become a permanent part of this prop. Congrats to Ninja:
And now, on with the update:
Although the parts are fairly strong, they need to be able to handle someone falling on them as well as retain their shape if they get hot. I used core mat, a polyester fiber honeycomb cloth, to add ribs throughout. I made a special effort to reinforce the openings and points where panels will fit together. This stuff gets dipped in catalyzed resin and applied to the inner surface of the part before working it with the barrel roller to get the resin soaked into the polyester fibers. Maximum strength would come from covering over this layer with a layer of fiberglass, but I didn't have room to add that layer and have it finish well since my ribbing is up against the edges of the pieces.
Here's the front of the upper receiver including the immortalized finger tip of my glove.
More parts, more glove bits.
The back of the upper receiver.
The joint between the front and rear of the upper receiver is the weakest point, I reinforced that area in two planes--in case I need to melee someone!
Front shroud reinforcement, more glove chunks.
Small ribs added fore and aft on the mid-shroud to help it hold it's shape.
Now that everything is properly assembled and strengthened, I can focus on the detailing of the surfaces. I will add in all of the details and get everything looking really crisp, but will not detail edges or attachment points until the lower receiver is ready to fit these parts to. Thanks again for following.
Redshirt
I wanted to start with a thank you to everyone whose following this thread and especially the crowd that's chimed in this week. Thanks:
Mstrvmgc
Iron Monger
mkshane81
Darthoblivious
Omni Shift
XxDrxNinjaxX
Spartan 010
JBetts97
I know there are many more that have commented as well earlier. The community support helps keep things moving through setbacks and frustrating bouts of imagineering.
So the last post ended with a challenge to spot the piece of glove that had become a permanent part of this prop. Congrats to Ninja:
And now, on with the update:
Although the parts are fairly strong, they need to be able to handle someone falling on them as well as retain their shape if they get hot. I used core mat, a polyester fiber honeycomb cloth, to add ribs throughout. I made a special effort to reinforce the openings and points where panels will fit together. This stuff gets dipped in catalyzed resin and applied to the inner surface of the part before working it with the barrel roller to get the resin soaked into the polyester fibers. Maximum strength would come from covering over this layer with a layer of fiberglass, but I didn't have room to add that layer and have it finish well since my ribbing is up against the edges of the pieces.
Here's the front of the upper receiver including the immortalized finger tip of my glove.
More parts, more glove bits.
The back of the upper receiver.
The joint between the front and rear of the upper receiver is the weakest point, I reinforced that area in two planes--in case I need to melee someone!
Front shroud reinforcement, more glove chunks.
Small ribs added fore and aft on the mid-shroud to help it hold it's shape.
Now that everything is properly assembled and strengthened, I can focus on the detailing of the surfaces. I will add in all of the details and get everything looking really crisp, but will not detail edges or attachment points until the lower receiver is ready to fit these parts to. Thanks again for following.
Redshirt
Darthoblivious
Jr Member
God that looks beautiful!!! your piece is really coming together! have you thought of integrating a heat sink into the build? idk how easy that would be, but it would, i think, solve alot of overheating issues!
onmi shift
Active Member
cant wait to see the finish
- Member DIN
- S980
I don't expect overheating issues, but I certainly do have a space issue with the ambitious specs of putting 3 mech boxes right next to each other. As well as trying to get them within the space, I have to make sure each of them can get enough air to propel the BBs and have the motors far enough apart that the overlapping magnetic fields don't hinder performance. I have a plan, we'll see if it works.
Redshirt
How are you going to work around magazines? Are you going to make it into a dump-pod or actually reload it?
- Member DIN
- S980
#100
The BBs will come to the mech boxes via three stripped M4 mag innards fed from a common hopper and wound either by the giant knob at the back or by a repurposed R/C servo.
More work on the parts:
Joining the parts left some low and flat spots as well as curves with the wrong radius. Traditionally, you'd fill these with Bondo, but for this build I need as much of the material to be structural as possible. This meant additional fiberglass--light and strong. I carefully took a Sharpie and marked the fill areas with hash marks, then built up layers of fiberglass mat and resin until the faults were filled.
Here's the top edge of a seam on the mid shroud. You can see gaps and surface blemishes as well as how flat it is on top when it should be rounder.
All filled in--all business. No excess resin=lightest & strongest glass job
Leveling at the very back of the receiver
Solving an asymmetry problem at the top rear of the receiver. This region will hold the BB hopper.
That's it for tonight. Thanks for joining me on post #100.
Redshirt
Darthoblivious
Jr Member
that does seem like quite an issue... hmmm, dont know how to help you there, hmmm, that is a conundrum... well map it out and hopefully they work out for you!
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