Westar Blaster buildup

[SerpentKing]

Here a couple of quick pics of the pistol grip. I use poplar wood for mastering odd-shaped parts. Hopefully by the weekend, I should have a completed pistol grip, with trigger and butt-plate.

 

[eagc]

looking good, what are you using for the barrel?

 

[SerpentKing]

Haven't decided on that yet. I'd love to use metal tubing, but I'm not equipped to machine metal. So, forming the vented muzzle from bar stock just isn't possible (yet).
Most likely, I'll use EMT pipe to form the barrel master, then mold it in resin. Alclad paint works well for simulating a metal finish, so it will look better than it sounds . . .

 

[SerpentKing]

The slow, tedious process of shaping the radius of the grips . . .

 

[SerpentKing]

The grinding continues . . .

The left side is mostly done. I gave it a heavy shot of gray primer and some buffing to fill in the wood grain. The right side still needs a lot of shaping. There's a .25" filler piece that goes between them.

Did I say I'd have the pistol grip together by the weekend? Shows what I know . . .

 

[GraphiX]

Do you have a lathe? that would help all to much with the barrel. By the way, are you using a dremel or a router for the edges? I made a westar (not completely screen acurate because I drew up my own diagram) literaly a couple of days ago using a router. And I'm extremely happy because I made it out of one solid piece of wood which will make it easy to mold if I ever get the money/find someone who is waiting to do it/wait till I go through collage and have a job to pay for some molding supplies.

I might post some pics of it latter if you don't mind.

 

[SerpentKing]

Do you have a lathe?

I need about $1000 for a lathe set up. If I can sell some props, that will be the next thing I buy.

you using a dremel or a router for the edges?

Um, no . . . I just use sandpaper. I own a Dremel, but I usually prefer the control of doing the sanding by hand. However, I never would have tried this build without a scroll saw. Easily the best $200 I ever spent.

Regarding 'film accuracy', I don't sweat it too much. A lot of film props are built quickly on a tight budget. That's true of ALL movies. They look good for a few seconds on screen, but when you get a good look, they appear unfinished or under-detailed. So If you want to use some creative license, I say do it. I'm actually planning some 'gunsmith modified' Westar variants, when this build is finished.

If you want to show off your own Westar pics on this thread, go right ahead. Me casa, su casa.

 

[SerpentKing]

Westar 34: Reboot

I wasn't happy with the pieces, so I scrapped them and started over. Here's the handgrip as of right now. It still needs a lot of sanding to shape it up, and the 'window' obviously hasn't been cut out yet.

 

[SerpentKing]

Progress is slow, but steady. The butt-plate piece is just a test fit, the final piece will be cast separately.

 

[johno13]

Looks good so far, Try and keep the faith with it though ... Its pretty demoralizing when all these people look at your WIP and only a few of us reply.

You thought about wood dowel and bondo to shape the barrel?

 

[SerpentKing]

I've thought about wood dowel, metal tubing, PVC pipe . . . when I have a closer look at the measurements, I'll have a better idea of what I'm doing. I'll probably try a couple different things before it looks right.

 

[SerpentKing]

Now's a good time to mention I'm using these blueprints, posted by wizardofflight about a year and a half ago.

http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/showthread.php/23163-Jango-Westar-Blaster-blueprints-Completed

They're excellent. I wouldn't have attempted this without'em.

 

[johno13]

Alans plans are great, I made my Jodo helmet from his lid plans

 

[SerpentKing]

Here's a very rough cut of the buttplate. Much sanding it still needs . . .

 

[SerpentKing]

Need your input!

I've put a lot of work into contouring the buttplate, but it isn't exactly 'movie accurate'. I think the piece looks good as is. I need your opinions: Should I go with it, or redo it?

Also, I recontoured the trigger/guard piece to move the trigger out further, and the trigger guard is smaller to allow more room for my finger. Please tell me how it looks.

In the photos, I had to use a green Lego to prop up the buttplate, and the handgrip and trigger guard need more sanding to make everything smooth and flush. Please ignore that.

 

[SerpentKing]

I've restarted this thread in the 'Jango Fett' section:

http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/showthread.php/37509-Westar-34-buildup

Jango Fett was a character from a movie called 'Star Wars'. Nowhere near as cool as 'Iron Man 2', but still . . . take a look at it if you get the chance . . .

 

[GraphiX]

Lookin' good. What you said about rush made movie props. You're so right. The lightsabers were made out of flash guns from cameras. And about the lathe. Someone I know got an old quite usable, workable lathe with some chisels for 400-500 bucks. Old tools might be less pretty and slightly lee functional around the workplace but whatever works, works.

Happy crafting.