Heavy Weapons Guy

[Maxon]

While I have nothing set in stone right now, I figured I'd start a thread to help with planning for this.  After going to ShadoCon yesterday, seeing everything there dressed up (Some good spies, a demo, and scout were there), I really wanted to do it for the next convention I go to, whatever it might be.

The outfit itself is simple enough.  Vest, Pants, T-Shirt, Boots.  I then will need the TF2 patches, which I found online, and I believe I saw some papercraft that I could use for the bullets to help keep things light for the ammo belt.

For the addons, I am looking into getting a Pocket Medic made, a bandana , hopefully mostly blank so I can maybe spray paint on some TF symbols, and then I think I found a website that sells fake food, so I can have a Sandvich lol  Also gonna get a cheapo airsoft shotgun, since that doesn't need any tweaking

Then comes down to the main aspect, the minigun.  I was thinking about doing the main minigun, Sasha, with like PVC tubing, like cardboard or something thin plastic for the under side and square parts.  I was then also considering making the barrel actually rotate, by finding like a nerf or toy gun with a rotating aspect and then hoping it would work with the added weight of PVC piping.

Thinking about it now, in design terms, the Tomislav would be simpler to work with.  Less pipe, no moving parts, fairly straight forward design.  I might go with that instead.

Also with the gun, I want to try and add built in minigun effects.  I read this article for the Legend of Zelda Chest with built in sound effects.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Legend-o.../?ALLSTEPS

I think I can use the same idea for this, having the pressure switch be set off when the trigger is pulled.

Those are my ideas so far.  The clothing will wait, since I'm losing weight and I don't want to put it together right now and have it not fit when I do wear it. Probably gonna start the minigun eventually once I figure out the exact parts I want to use to make.  Don't think I'll have to worry about weight as much if I got with Tomislav which will be nice.

[Maxon]

Bumping this up as I've decided to move forward with my TF2 Heavy idea.  I found some heavy patches to buy which will look good on the shirt, though I'm having trouble figure out how exactly do make the bullets I need, since I'm gonna have to make my own papercraft of it, so I guess alot of trial and error with that unless I can find a template design that could work for me that I can mod.

*EDIT*
Kinda answered some of my own questions when I went to the Hobby Lobby nearby on how to build a few of the parts on the Tomislav design.  The barrell will be PVC tubing that goes all the way into the actual gun for support, some sort of wire for that spring design where it connects to the gun.  The container below will be these two round, foot deep cardboard boxes, with a PVC tube base to hold them together (Cause I'll have extra tubing left over), wrapped in matte board.  The metal straps on it will be this foam paper that has thickness to it, but is pretty flexible.

The only thing I need help on is the main body of the gun.  It's what everything attaches to, so it needs to be fairly durable, since it has to have the two handles hooked too it, needs to be hollow so I can put the tube through it, and the container has to attach underneath. Any ideas for that would be helpful.

As for the wood parts, I can use these foam blocks, carve them, put this stuff on them, and then paint them to look like wood.

[HeK]

Hey Maxon,

I was planning a Tomislav for Luin, but she changed her mind and wants the undersized shotgun instead.

I have two scale drawings that I made but have finished scaling. I am not completely sure of the scale, I calculated that if the Heavy were six feet tall, the Tomislav should be 64 inches long from the tip of the barrel to the end of the receiver (not including handle or strap clip). I was planning on milling up some 2x12s for the wood parts and staining them dark. The weight can be balanced by adding things into the hollow 'tank' underneath.

Knock yourself out: http://www.brbuninstalling.com/uploads/tomislav/

[Luinbariel]

Heh... actually I was rooting for the shotgun all along, Mr. I Want To Make The Tomislav Instead

[Maxon]

Oh awesome, thanks Some dimensions like that will be helpful for when I start figuring out the sizes more.  As much as I'd love to see actual wood parts, I think I'll be able to fake it well enough with carved foam.  If I coat it in this stuff that allows foam to be painted, can I use wood stainer to fake a wood look or am I just stuck with brown spray paint?

And I'm going with the Tomislav, shotgun, and Sandvich (Found fake food online lol) which will hide in the extra pocket the heavy has, heh.

Have any ideas for what I could do for the main gun section? I could possibly just use a hunk of wood, but then I would have to figure out a way too attach the barrel since I wouldn't be able to put more of the barrel inside the gun to give it alittle more balance, though I don't have any tools for shaping anything on it either.

[k0ala]

Wood stain is designed to sink into wood and highlight the differences in the rings. Paint is designed to sit on top of the surface. You can search on the Web for tutorials on making fake wood textures with specialty brushes, start with a medium brown and paint the swirls and lines in dark brown, and, once that's set, a clearcoat over top of that. Disclaimer: I worked at a paint store and know my share of stains, varnishes, alkyd, and acrylic paint. HeK and Karrde know way more than I do on plastics and automotive finishes. If you have more experience with spray paints or airbrushes then please go your own way with this. TL;DR -- Only brush wood stain onto genuine wood.

[Maxon]

Thanks, I had never worked with wood stain before, so I wasn't sure of it's uses. I'll look into just regular paint for the "wood" parts then.

[Maxon]

I decided I needed a better grasp of the size of the gun, so I worked up a general paper template for the gun and man is it huge lol The yard stick is 36" and there for reference.  I'm getting a better idea for this and I think I know the numbers for everything and I'm going to start getting parts this week.



If anyone knows what I can do for the main gun section, where everything connects to it, it's the only thing I'm drawing a blank on.  Wood will be too heavy and don't have a clue how I'd attach the barrel, not too mention having no tools for modifying it to work.

My other idea is maybe cardboard with multiple layers for thickness, using my matte board wrap like I'm doing with the tank and other two cardboard containers, which would give it a more uniform look.  Would this be durable enough and be able to attach the handles on, the tank, and fit the barrel into? If it's strong enough, I could possibly use actual bolts for the front handle, fit the barrel into the section with glue, and try to figure out something for the tank since it actually connects to the gun through that underside loader section.

Also just because with looking at it, I'm abit unsure, but is the main gun section sides even or is it how I think it is, being more like 6" across and 4" down or would it be 6" square for it? The Wiki entry doesn't give me a close look and my big picture is at an angle and I'm not quite sure lol And if those measurements don't seem quite right, they might not be as I'm still working out the numbers.  It might be more like a 5 x 5 if I look at it again.

[kaese]

Since the barrel part won't be supporting the rest of the gun, go with something very light. I like your cardboard idea, you can also paper mache it with a few layers for it to be very very durable. I made my blighted beak with the cardboard base + paper mache method and it can take a lot of abuse.
Paper mache can be drilled too! When the mache dries, make sure it dries in the shape you want to be in. And you will definitely have to sand it to get a smoother surface.
Stuff like Mod Podge is useful as a top coat after you get your barrel to be smooth. I also thought about coating the cardboard with mod podge first before mache-ing it so that it doesn't get very soggy and lose its shape. I haven't tried this method yet though.

Another method is to use a bucket like this. They are easy to find in hardware stores: http://mikesbrewreview.com/wp-content/up...bucket.jpg

Here's a paper mache site I use as a reference: http://ultimatepapermache.com/paper-mache-recipes
They also have recipes for making gesso, which is similar to mod podge. (You can buy both at craft/art stores)
And an additional tip: use an almost all glue/all glue mixture for the first layer of paper mache as it helps the paper stick to the base. Then you can use the flour + water recipe, or glue + water recipe whichever one you'd prefer for the rest of the applications.

[Maxon]

Totally forgot about paper mache.  I haven't had to build anything in years, so I'm trying to remember back to my younger days of building projects lol This sounds like a good thing for the main gun section.

[Maxon]

Parts gathering has started and I now have most of what I need for the basic body other than the cardboard for the main section.  Forgot to ask at Lowes if they have cardboard to give up.  The round boxes I got are a tad smaller than what I figured the sizes to be, so I'll probably cut the thing down an inch or so on the barrel and main gun to adjust for the sizes, which isn't a bad thing, since it wouldn't hurt to size the gun down just a little lol

I have everything for the tank I think, so I think I'm gonna start that today.  Also, would anyone recommend a good all around paint? Need to paint the PVC barrel, main gun cardboard/mache, and cardboard/paper tank all the same dark grey.  Spray paint preferred, but I can do it with a brush if need be.

[Maxon]

The basic tank design is done.  It just needs some painting and then it'll be ready till it needs attached.  It's made with two round carboard boxes, four piece wood frame to bridge the gap between the two and then wrapped in a matte board to give it a uniform shape and makes it abit sturdier.  Hardly perfect and goes to show how good my handiwork is anymore, but I'm hardly doing movie quality props here lol



Tomorrow I go out to get the cardboard, make the main gun part, wrap it in paper mache, paint it, and then see about attaching the barrel and tank to it.

[Maxon]

Alright, just got the first two layers of paper mache onto the gun and letting it dry.  How many overall layers should I go for with this? It needs to be pretty strong to attache the handles and the tank to it and then be carried around for however long I want to use the costume for.

[CaffeinePowered]

Never worked with paper mache, but Id say wait for it to dry, do a bit of a stress test, then put more on just to be sure  :-X

[Maxon]

I was gonna give it a full day to dry, do another two layers tonight, and unless told otherwise, I was gonna do maybe another two layers tomorrow.  This thing can't ever be too strong lol I want it to be sturdy.

[HeK]

Fiberglass tape from homedepot?

It's like interfacing, but industrial!

[Maxon]

Except, will fiberglass tape look like I just wrapped the thing in tape?  I could possibly do another double layer and just do that.  Would be simpler and less messy lol

[k0ala]

Tape sandwich in papier-mache bread.

[Maxon]

So...tape now over my current two layers and then paper mache over it again? Is that what I gathered from your talk of sandwiches? lol

Speaking of which, now I want a sandvich >_>

And is this the stuff we are talking about here?

http://www.homedepot.com/Building-Materi...=202938902

[k0ala]

It sounds good to me, but there may be a problem with papier mache sticking to the outside of the tape... I should probably have let HeK answer first.  :-[