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FOR THE EMPEROR! The Emperor Protects- he also enjoys projects; newest updates at the bottom of each section. | ||||||
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14/9/24 For the record, I don't play Warhammer, I only played the old Space Hulk game once, but like many I do enjoy the lore, the artwork and the awesome figurines ( even if my stumpy fingers couldn't paint them to save my life), and of course, the endless memes and fan films ( FlashGitz, I'm looking at you ).
Anyway, I also like the iconic weapon designs ( who'd have guessed.. ), especially the various types of 'Bolters', so seeing as things that go pew are my speciality I will be building a 'functional' Bolter, using an old Nerf SuperSoaker and an Airsoft pistol.
To add some functionality there will also be an awesome ammo-counter I picked up from an Etsy seller ( PancakeCustoms3D ), a tracer unit, and for 'infinite' ammo a 350 round drum mag. The hard part of this project will be building a trigger bar to connect the real trigger on the pistol to the...
other real trigger that I actually pull to fire the gun- something like a specially shaped metal or plastic bar will be constructed, but first I will be removing unnecessary plastic from inside the supersoaker's shell to make room for the AAP-01 airsoft pistol, that'll be the next update on this specific project. Stay tuned...
AIRSOFT HEAVY BOLTER PROJECT |
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20/10/24 Having changed my mind about how I wanted to proceed with the Bolter, I pivoted to doing something.. bigger. I grabbed a dirt cheap Nerf Mastodon from Ebay and will instead be stuffing the AAP-01 and drum magazine inside of that things shell- with a little work and a good paintjob it will for sure look like a heavy bolter.
Same deal as before, I will gut the internals, use Milliput to bed the pistol in place, and run a linkage to the trigger to operate it. I will use the tracer unit and ammo counter on this project, no issues there even if I have to get a longer RJ45 cable to go between the display and the muzzle piece.
SPACE MARINE HELMET PROJECT |
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20/10/24 I blame FlashGitz and their 'Furry Crusade' animations; I'm going to build a Space Marine helmet. More specifically, I purchased a 3D printed helmet which was largely prefinished with the filling and sanding work done, allowing me to focus on the remaining touches of adding red lenses for the visor and replacing the original
3D printed tubes with some real rubber tubes, and of course a final paintjob and weathering.
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1/12/24 I'm not dead, only on the inside. So, after much procrastinating I finally got stuck in and started hacking up the perfectly good helmet, cutting and tearing off the 3D printed tubes to leave the helmet 'smooth' and ready for car body filler and sanding. Next update will be more interesting, I promise.
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2/12/24 Huh-ha, next day update. With the helmet sufficiently mutilated I went about making it look even worse by slathering on some car body filler in excessive quantities because I lack skill and moderation.
Once that dried I went to town sanding and filing it down until it was fairly smooth and identified some low spots ( and a few remaining high spots in the original rough finish that required sanding down a little ) which required additional work to sort out.
I applied a little more filler, this time being careful not spread on such a thick and gloopy layer meaning it would take much less effort to get a final smooth finish after sanding. Next updates will be a final sanding hopefully, then moving onto installing the new tubes, painting, and installing the visor. Stay tuned...
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24/12/24 After applying the final coat of filler I was able to get it sanded down pretty smooth nice and easily, ready for ruining it again by drilling 8 large holes for the future air hoses.
After some careful-ish measuring and marking I used a one inch Forstner bit to drill the holes, getting most of them in the right place though I did have to do some minor tweakage with a dremel and grinding burr as I had drifted slightly on one of the holes- this little oopsie won't be seen by the end so it's all good.
The holes are then stuffed with masking tape ( so that glue will adhere properly in the future ) ready for the first coat of primer, which is where this update ends but the next one shouldn't take too long ( famous last words ).
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31/01/25 Did I say final coat of filler? I lied! Anyway, I started this session with a coat of black paint so I could get an idea of how smooth the finish really was and identify any areas that needed more work.
Before that though, I decided to ruin the nice paint job again by modifying the shape of the holes I made previously so that the tubes would fit more nicely; success, the tubes do indeed fit nicely.
Speaking of tubes, on the third time of trying I finally found what I wanted all along, nice flexible foam rods that didn't kink or bend awkwardly- I ended up with neoprene foam rods intended for insulating gaps in buildings; if it works, it works.
So, with that sorted I set about doing what will actually be the last round of applying filler to smooth out some ugly marks I missed/created previously. Next up will be final sanding, painting, weathering, installing tubes and lenses.
I'm on holiday soon so I'll have plenty of time to work on this- progress has been slow due to being busy at work and getting home when it's cold, dark and wet, not ideal for putting me in the creative mood :P
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13/02/25 Final sanding is done, minus a small amount of work I made for myself by deciding I wanted to remove the small grills in the top of the helmet vent- I should have done this at the start but hey-ho, I'm a masochist.
I used my rotary tool to cut the little grill out and then smoothed out the new opening with Milliput- I like the result, just looks a little cleaner and is more inline with the FlashGitz Black Templar design.
Just before that I reinforced the holes drilled into the helmet for the tubes by also using a little Milliput, let that dry and applied the final couple coats of black paint; any ugly spots and unevenness at this point I'm just calling battle damage and weathering because I've had enough of bondo and sanding.
I also started on detailing and weathering by dry-brushing a little silver paint along prominent edges, and the first coat of dark grey on the mouth grill ( Vox caster? ). I'll have a little more painting to do, then it's onto the tubes, visor and foam cushioning on the inside for my head to fit snuggly. We're getting there, slowly but surely.
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19/02/25 I meant rapidly, we're getting there rapidly- the tubes are cut and painted to match the mouth grill, turns out Humbrol enamel is actually very flexible when painted on foam, which is a nice surprise.
The visor has been made by cutting up a cheap poker sun-visor thing, way cheaper than some of the options people are using and looks just as good, that was then glued in place with some thick CA glue to avoid dribbles.
Next up I need to cut and glue the padding for my noggin, and finally add the tubes- saving that till last to make handling the helmet easier. We are tantalisingly close to being finished now, finally..
FUNCTIONAL CHAINSWORD PROJECT |
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20/10/24 If you know about a Youtuber by the name of 'Integza', then you may have an idea where this is going... :D
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