M4 Shuriken, Mass Effect
Originally posted on the RPF.
I’ve always been into creative
hobbies, building and painting miniatures since I was a kid, and love
collecting pieces from my favourite movies and games. I’m a big fan of the Mass Effect games, and
seeing the great replicas people have made from the series, I decided to try
building something myself. Not having the tools or experience in prop making, I
started small and chose to build the M4 Shuriken SMG.
The piece is made of MDF and
styrene, and features a working trigger, “safety” indicator light when turned
on (the switch under “Lock”), and muzzle flash. The back of the grip is held in
place with rare earth magnets and slides off to reveal the battery compartment.
I’ve been into 3D modelling as a
hobby for years, so my first step was to gather reference images and build a 3D
model of the gun (I use Blender 3D). From this model, I generated blueprints
and set to work building the piece.
I built the gun as separate
components which attached to a layered MDF core that houses the spring
mechanism for the trigger, as well as the wiring. For inset areas, I cut out
the MDF and glued in a piece of thinner styrene. Most of the piece was cut with
a handsaw, and any holes (such as the “heat vents”) were drilled in. I spent
lots of time cleaning and filling any mistakes I made while cutting.
I invested in a Dremel half-way
through the project which made the shaping of the grip much easier. Once I was
pleased with its shape, I sprayed it with Rustoleum Stone Textured Paint and
undercoated it black.
After lots of sanding and priming, the gun was assembled,
undercoated and painted. Here it is prior to weathering:
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I have to ask, do you sell these? Fantastic work!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I've just been making these for myself so far, so haven't really looked into selling any. I do have the molds for the Carnifex though, so could sell it as an unfinished kit.
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