Strict Weapons Policy -> 2-Day Foam EE3

Necronaut

Hunter
Hey Everyone,

The miss and I decided to go out for Halloween this year (its the first Halloween I've had off from band gigs and work conventions in the last 5 years). I'll be breaking out my Fett costume for the first time since wearing to work/school last halloween. I'll wear my just-finished Clone Cmdr Bly costume to work/school for the day (or as long as I can handle it) this year.

That evening, we're going to a costume ball/hard rock concert with about 4000 other guests. With an event this big, there will be security…and it seems like it'll be like NYCC 2014 security: almost no weapons allowed.

I'll have to make a bunch of mods to my Fett to be compliant with their costume and prop policies (all-plastic and resin gauntlets and parts, plastic toe spikes). I am going to still attempt to carry in an EE3… not my resin Sidewinder EE3 with an ASI 4x20 scope, a new one I'll make out of EVA foam. I can't invest too much time, effort, or money into it on the chance that security will make me toss it before they let me in. But I still want it to look the part, at least from a distance.

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I started with a wire frame made out of a couple wire coat hangers and some floral wire. 10 minutes of bending and 20 minutes of securing with floral wire yielded this.

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I traced out my Sidewinder EE3 onto a piece of 1/2" EVA foam floor mat. I cut it out, then traced and cut out its mirror image. I carved a trench for the wire frame to sit inside on both halves of the foam. I then used contact cement to glue the two halves together.

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As the two halves dried and glued together, I took a piece of 2" pipe insulation foam… you non-Canucks know what that is, right? ;) I wrapped it in a sheet of 3mm craft foam, then cut it to fit onto the barrel shaped wire frame at the front of the gun. After a little trimming, it fit just fine. I added a couple foam blocks to the rear to simulate the breech block's rear wall.
 
LOL, that's only a night's work in front of the TV. Here's what I did in the last couple hours, on Day 2 of this mini-project:

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Using the 3mm foam, I cut a rectangular strip that would overlap the breech blocks I glued last night. They will get glued down to the tube, creating that gentle slope from the rectangular rear to the tubular sides. I cut out a couple large greeblie circles out of the 3mm foam using a sharpened piece of PVC pipe. I then carved out some 'piston-rod-shaped things' from the 3mm foam and glued them on top. I capped them with a 3mm foam circle cut from a smaller piece of sharpened PVC pipe. I used scraps to cobble together the cocking lever at the back of the breech. Maybe 40 minutes of work?

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The scope mounting rings are 4 pieces: 2 pieces cut from around a 2" circle (my trusty PVC sharpened pipe) and some 3mm craft foam I cut into two ribbons to form the outside 'ring' around the barrel. 15 minutes.

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I'll admit, I cheated with the scope a little. I glued the craft foam around the barrel a couple days ago. I found a long piece of thin plastic pipe and covered it with craft foam, gluing it down using contact cement. After that, it was all hot glue. The ends of the scope are two corks wrapped in 3mm craft foam, and hot glued to the scope barrel. I cut the hero scope mounting feet out of a couple rectangular pieces of foam, cut strips out of them and glued them down. The adjustment knobs were cut from some 6mm craft foam using a small piece of sharpened pipe, and glued to a rectangular base that was notched in the middle. That allows it to conform to the curvy surface of the barrel better. 1 hour!

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I'm going to stop assembly for now and get some paint on this. I'll use a semi-gloss black for the body, some aluminum gloss for the Heiland end, and some off-white (fading to black at the ends) over coated with some reddish browns for the wooden stock.
I'll attach the scope to the gun once spray painting is finished. As well, I think I have some old resin casts of the aerial earth plugs in one of my drawers somewhere...

Before I forget, I'll cut out the brass handgrip shape out of some yellow foam floor mat I have right here. I'll sand it to shape on Sunday while the paint dries on the rest of the parts.
 
I forgot to mention that I used some eyelet screws that protrude out the handgrip and the end of the stock. They were the cheapest and easiest way to get rifle sling swivels. They were wired into the coat hanger frame at the beginning of the build. I'll cut up an old belt and just tie it on for my rifle sling.

And I need to glue on Molex blocks to the side.
 
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Update:

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I glued two foam mat halves together in a long rectangular strip. This was cut into blocks for the molex connectors. I used a soldering iron to melt in the holes on the front, and CA-glued some small strips on the sides of the blocks. This was all done on Sunday morning.

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Using a drum sander on the drill press, I gave the buttstock some contour and shape. This only took a few minutes to acheive. After that, it was off to paint!

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I bought Bill Doran's e-book on foam costume and armour making, which really helped me out with my current foam pep builds (Iron Man, this, a soon-to-be Halo Spartan suit…) He recommends using Krylon Fusion spray paint for foam. It sticks to plastic, and enough coats can actually block the pores in the foam! :D I used Satin Black (about 2 medium coats), then used some masking tape to mask off the buttstock and the Heiland end. The butt got some brown misted in the middle, while the other end got plain old Tremclad Silver. This was left to dry for a day. I finally coated the black parts with a little matte black Krylon, including the tip of the Heiland barrel.

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This is a close-up of a few details I cut into the foam on that Sunday morning. I used a punch to carve in the screw heads into the foam, then used an Xacto to carve in the line across the screws.

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I used a yellow piece of foam for the brass handgrip. I cut it to shape, then contoured it on the sander. I am using the textured side up to replicate the cross-hatch pattern on the handle.

This just needs a little final assembly with the hot-glue gun, then a little silver dry brushing for weathering. Maybe a light brown wash too?
 
Ok, TECHNICALLY, this is pretty far from a 2-day build. However, I'd like to put forward the idea that the build part could happen in 2 days, easily. The paint… well, you do need time to let the paint dry and cure. I still have a week to go, so I'm constantly improving this thing, as I see fit. I may do a little airbrush weathering on it, seeing that I'll have the airbrush up and running as I finish my RKD gauntlets for Halloween.

In the meantime...
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There's a few things going on here. I painted the pistol grip handle with antique gold coloured craft paint. I lightly streaked the wood stock with some black craft paint, then gave the entire stock a couple washes with a burnt umber craft paint & water wash. Finally, I dug through my spares drawer and found some old casts of the AM aerial plugs. They'll get painted with some black craft paint tonight, and we'll see if it sticks to the resin. If not, I have black primer for them. I'll throw together the square bit on the stock with some craft foam and a little paint sometime next week.
 
Pretty neat idea. I may take some cues from this and make one myself. We have quite a few events around here as of late that are foam or no weapons allowed. It sucks, but i feel weird with no weapon as Fett. I may take your cues for the main Webley parts here and then cast the greeblies in foam rubber for a more authentic look ...not that im knockin what ya did, cuz its pretty awesome man!
 
Cool! :) The creativity and craftsmanship seen on TDH always puts a smile on my face.
Hopefully they'll let you sport that blaster at the event.
 
Has anyone thought about contacting the guy at hyperfirm on the fisd? I'm asking because he makes some awesome blasters maybe he could be commissioned to make a ee-3 or ee-4? Just athought. I believe there all mayed out of a foam.
 
Has anyone thought about contacting the guy at hyperfirm on the fisd? I'm asking because he makes some awesome blasters maybe he could be commissioned to make a ee-3 or ee-4? Just athought. I believe there all mayed out of a foam.

F4R is correct, hyperfirm has made EE-3s for a while, but supposedly has now stopped.

Events here in NYC when they say foam, they mean FOAM..not foamrubber like hyperfirm. You can still "beat someone" with a hyperfirm type blaster. It would need to be featherlight foam for them to OK it at most events where they have this rule. Also you wouldnt want to risk security taking away a $300+ blaster from you.

Thgere are blasters that have been made with a superlight foam, particularly a jawa ion blaster, but havent seen an EE-3 as of yet. If i had a Webley id try it myself, but i dont :/
 
i had a sample of his ROTJ one before he produced them, it was still more a foam rubber than straight up foam. It was a great piece though, but NewYorkComicCon would have taken that in a second this year.
 
F4R is correct, hyperfirm has made EE-3s for a while, but supposedly has now stopped.

Events here in NYC when they say foam, they mean FOAM..not foamrubber like hyperfirm. You can still "beat someone" with a hyperfirm type blaster. It would need to be featherlight foam for them to OK it at most events where they have this rule. Also you wouldnt want to risk security taking away a $300+ blaster from you.

Thgere are blasters that have been made with a superlight foam, particularly a jawa ion blaster, but havent seen an EE-3 as of yet. If i had a Webley id try it myself, but i dont :/
That's cool and I didn't know that! I thought he just made e-11s
 
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