Tutorial: Scratchbuilt cardboard weapons for noobs
- Thread starter marshon
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NovemberAdam
Jr Member
This is absolutely fascinating, thank you for the information. 
I am going to use some of the info I've gleaned from this and put it to use on the Jorge gun I am building.
One thing I have discovered, if you don't mind me sharing with you and everyone, is in regards to using hotglue. As you have pointed out the issue with using it, is that it can cool down if you have to apply a great deal of it. I have found a great work around for this. All you need is a heat gun (they are not expensive, maybe $20-$30 or so). Simply reheat the applied glue and it becomes nice and pliable again. I found this out when I was gluing two pieces of acrylic together. The glue pretty much cooled upon contact with the plastic so the two pieces would not sandwich together nicely. I simply heated the piece and the glue remelted and I was able to flatten it out nicely! Hope that helps.
I am going to use some of the info I've gleaned from this and put it to use on the Jorge gun I am building. One thing I have discovered, if you don't mind me sharing with you and everyone, is in regards to using hotglue. As you have pointed out the issue with using it, is that it can cool down if you have to apply a great deal of it. I have found a great work around for this. All you need is a heat gun (they are not expensive, maybe $20-$30 or so). Simply reheat the applied glue and it becomes nice and pliable again. I found this out when I was gluing two pieces of acrylic together. The glue pretty much cooled upon contact with the plastic so the two pieces would not sandwich together nicely. I simply heated the piece and the glue remelted and I was able to flatten it out nicely! Hope that helps.
One thing I have discovered, if you don't mind me sharing with you and everyone, is in regards to using hotglue. As you have pointed out the issue with using it, is that it can cool down if you have to apply a great deal of it. I have found a great work around for this. All you need is a heat gun . I simply heated the piece and the glue remelted and I was able to flatten it out nicely! Hope that helps.
Yep, that would work very well as long as you don't overheat the card! Ha ha - toast!
In all seriousness, this is an excellent idea if you like working with hot-melt. I use it all the time for other constructions, I just find that my bumbling hands can't seem to get a good feel for the gun when it comes to delicate work like this.
Great idea though.
NovemberAdam
Jr Member
The other thing you don't need to worry about is the damn stringies hot glue leaves behind!
I don't have the patience to wait for other glues to dry.
To be honest I do use Tacky glue (white glue) for other applications, and as long as you don't apply too much it holds quite well, and dries quickly.To finish off the grip area we need a trigger. I was going to laminate some card or Sintra, but I found a small bit of 1/4" MDF so I decided to use that. A bit of work with a small saw and the Dremel ....
I simply glued the trigger into place with PVA ..
Next I moved to the shoulder stock. I found some leftover EVA foam from my armour build and cut the upper section as per the drawings and template. This was chamfered and sanded off, glued to some backing card stock and foamie strips added.
When I made up the lower section to the drawings it didn't look right. It seemed too 'square', so I decided to taper it towards the bottom. It seemed better then.
I again chamfered it, glued it to some backing card, then glued both pieces into place.
The sides now posed a bit of a dilemma. In tapering the lower half I had made my work on the sides sections much more difficult. I had planned to box them as we had done earlier, but I now had three chamfers and two tapers to make. I decided it was going to be easier to use more EVA foam and simply sand them to shape using the scalpel and the Dremel.
Once glued into place they looked pretty good to me.
Now, there is an awful lot of corrugated card still showing so I spent the next hour or so carefully covering the exposed bits in card and foamies. A pain of a job and one of the disadvantages of using corrugated card, but it had to be done.
Now, up to this point I have tried to stick pretty religiously to the original artists design. However, when it comes to the gas cylinders I have been mulling over in my head how to go about making them. Unfortunately the two sets of drawings seem to have differing attachments and don't really make much sense to me.
I thought about making them from PVC pipe, cardboard tubes and even foam pipe lagging. But my wife was about to chuck out two interestingly shaped aerosol cans. These were short when compared to the drawings but I really like the 'waisted' can design.
I took them out into the yard and taped the plungers down until there was no more gas left in either of them. Cut of the valve stems and had two fab aluminium tubes to use as my gas cylinders!
How to attach them was the next problem. I thought about making elaborate brackets, frames and all kinds, but in the end KISS won through (keep it simple stupid!).
I used two strips of the EVA foam, and carefully cut with a sharp knife to the correct profile.
I then used the Dremel and a sanding drum to hollow out a rounded section.
I used some hot melt glue to fix the cans into their mounts, then hot melt glued around their edges. I can paint them to look like welds later.
The mounts were then glued to the sides of the gun. I also added the scope rail at this stage.
That concludes the major construction work. With the the exception of the scope all the rest is cleaning up, sanding, shaping and cladding out the details. Hopefully it shouldn't be too much longer before we are ready for paint! Woo hoo!
Detailing starts tomorrow.
I simply glued the trigger into place with PVA ..
Next I moved to the shoulder stock. I found some leftover EVA foam from my armour build and cut the upper section as per the drawings and template. This was chamfered and sanded off, glued to some backing card stock and foamie strips added.
When I made up the lower section to the drawings it didn't look right. It seemed too 'square', so I decided to taper it towards the bottom. It seemed better then.
I again chamfered it, glued it to some backing card, then glued both pieces into place.
The sides now posed a bit of a dilemma. In tapering the lower half I had made my work on the sides sections much more difficult. I had planned to box them as we had done earlier, but I now had three chamfers and two tapers to make. I decided it was going to be easier to use more EVA foam and simply sand them to shape using the scalpel and the Dremel.
Once glued into place they looked pretty good to me.
Now, there is an awful lot of corrugated card still showing so I spent the next hour or so carefully covering the exposed bits in card and foamies. A pain of a job and one of the disadvantages of using corrugated card, but it had to be done.
Now, up to this point I have tried to stick pretty religiously to the original artists design. However, when it comes to the gas cylinders I have been mulling over in my head how to go about making them. Unfortunately the two sets of drawings seem to have differing attachments and don't really make much sense to me.
I thought about making them from PVC pipe, cardboard tubes and even foam pipe lagging. But my wife was about to chuck out two interestingly shaped aerosol cans. These were short when compared to the drawings but I really like the 'waisted' can design.
I took them out into the yard and taped the plungers down until there was no more gas left in either of them. Cut of the valve stems and had two fab aluminium tubes to use as my gas cylinders!
How to attach them was the next problem. I thought about making elaborate brackets, frames and all kinds, but in the end KISS won through (keep it simple stupid!).
I used two strips of the EVA foam, and carefully cut with a sharp knife to the correct profile.
I then used the Dremel and a sanding drum to hollow out a rounded section.
I used some hot melt glue to fix the cans into their mounts, then hot melt glued around their edges. I can paint them to look like welds later.
The mounts were then glued to the sides of the gun. I also added the scope rail at this stage.
That concludes the major construction work. With the the exception of the scope all the rest is cleaning up, sanding, shaping and cladding out the details. Hopefully it shouldn't be too much longer before we are ready for paint! Woo hoo!
Detailing starts tomorrow.
nesbitt101
Jr Member
This gun is already so damn awesome!
Still with me guys? Now for the final run at the detailing then it'll be paint.
Go back and get all those bits of template that we kept. You did keep em right? Don't worry if not, you can always reprint any bits that are missing.
I started off with that little control slide at the bottom of the mag that we started on very first of all. Seems a long time ago now. Anyway, using bits of foamies I copied the control and then used the etch method to build in the little grip. I then glued it into place.
Next I tackled the off-side panel. We know nothing about this one other than the smaller pipe enters somewhere roughly where we placed the LEDs on the nearside. I just sort of copied what we'd already done and then glued it to the side.
Next I started to put on some of the barrel panels, simply transferring the templates onto foamies and gluing them on. I also made some 'mounting' points for the rear of the cylinders using bits of foam and stuff from the scrap box.
I started at the top of the barrel and worked my way downwards.
Same on the other side, with the grip and border added.
I made the front sight from a bit of scrap MDF just like the trigger, and continued to build up the foamies from the drawings and templates.
I did the muzzle part last and just used black foamies to cover it out. I discarded the original barrel nose because it didn't look right and it didn't make sense of the drawings. I carved a new one from a bit of EVA tile foam.
A final go round and tidy up of a few minor bits and the gun is now complete. The pipes will be added later (after painting), and the scope will also be made and added later. I want to play around with a few ideas on the scope.
Here's what we ended up with. Compare it to the original artists concept. Not far out and all made from crap bits and two drawings.
I won't run a tut on the paint job, but I will post the final results when I get it done.
Go back and get all those bits of template that we kept. You did keep em right? Don't worry if not, you can always reprint any bits that are missing.
I started off with that little control slide at the bottom of the mag that we started on very first of all. Seems a long time ago now. Anyway, using bits of foamies I copied the control and then used the etch method to build in the little grip. I then glued it into place.
Next I tackled the off-side panel. We know nothing about this one other than the smaller pipe enters somewhere roughly where we placed the LEDs on the nearside. I just sort of copied what we'd already done and then glued it to the side.
Next I started to put on some of the barrel panels, simply transferring the templates onto foamies and gluing them on. I also made some 'mounting' points for the rear of the cylinders using bits of foam and stuff from the scrap box.
I started at the top of the barrel and worked my way downwards.
Same on the other side, with the grip and border added.
I made the front sight from a bit of scrap MDF just like the trigger, and continued to build up the foamies from the drawings and templates.
I did the muzzle part last and just used black foamies to cover it out. I discarded the original barrel nose because it didn't look right and it didn't make sense of the drawings. I carved a new one from a bit of EVA tile foam.
A final go round and tidy up of a few minor bits and the gun is now complete. The pipes will be added later (after painting), and the scope will also be made and added later. I want to play around with a few ideas on the scope.
Here's what we ended up with. Compare it to the original artists concept. Not far out and all made from crap bits and two drawings.
I won't run a tut on the paint job, but I will post the final results when I get it done.
Starvinartist80
Well-Known Member
Fantastic tutorial Marshon. I'm really impressed with how much detail you've included. I have to say I'm a bit dissapointed you won't be doing a painting tutorial. It was one of my favorite parts of your AR build. I'm looking forward to seeing the final product.
BLACKULA727
Well-Known Member
I want one! I really need to learn how to paint. Thanks for everything you have done so far for the community!
If you just want to add weight to the gun, you could just glue some lead shot or other metal bits in it. I'd recommend that you pour in some rondo instead though so when it all hardens off it won't move around and it will actually strengthen the gun.
Painting out the weapon:
I'm going to use a variety of the techniques from the painting tutorial HERE
I began by giving the rifle three coats of matt black primer using car body paint in a spray can.
Next I used the airbrush to blow in some basic colour panels.
The scope I had been working on was then glued in place. It was made using the box card and foamies method, I added internal LEDs for the graticule, hence the wires.
Then I gave the rifle it's first 'rough' dry-brush to bring up some of the details.
Next stage will be to develop the shadows a bit, I'll also blow in a little light grey before adding the emblems and motifs, then weathering to finish off.
I'm going to use a variety of the techniques from the painting tutorial HERE
I began by giving the rifle three coats of matt black primer using car body paint in a spray can.
Next I used the airbrush to blow in some basic colour panels.
The scope I had been working on was then glued in place. It was made using the box card and foamies method, I added internal LEDs for the graticule, hence the wires.
Then I gave the rifle it's first 'rough' dry-brush to bring up some of the details.
Next stage will be to develop the shadows a bit, I'll also blow in a little light grey before adding the emblems and motifs, then weathering to finish off.
Starvinartist80
Well-Known Member
Marshon, construction, paint work and detailing create a fantastic final piece. Congrats on another great build and thank you for all the effort you place in your tutorials.
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