Scratch Building Weapons

[Ray Welshman]

Hey Everybody,

I was wondering if anybody can help me out here. Im looking for info on scratch building weapons for my figures. Mainly pistols, rifles, etc. I know there are after market items out there but would like to do my own.

Cheers

Ray

 

[1969]

Hi Ray,
Scratch building weapons is something I got very interested in from the outset of sculpting, I did a tutorial on Armorama many years ago with a basic technique of how to go about it, the example here is for a 1/16 Sten Mk5 but you can adapt it to most rifles/machine guns and pistols using the same basic principle explained. The only real main difference now with this tutorial is the fact I mainly use Styrene sheet,rod,strips etc for making weapons rather than brass, although I will still use brass and other metals for barrels sometimes as it withstands the de-moulding process better when making rubber moulds.
For me the best person at making scale weapons has to be Mike Good, his work is unblemished and real pieces of scale art.

Here is the link to the tutorial

Making a 1/16 sten MK5

All the best
Steve

 

[Ray Welshman]

Excellent!

Thanks Steve, I need to build a 1876 Winchester for a NWMP Figure I'm working on.

Cheers

Ray

 

[1969]

Should be fine using that method, it's important to get a good profile image and then scale it to the size you need, probably need 2 or 3 to work from as you can use them as templates for cutting out your weapon parts.
I use a free photo editing programme called IRFANVIEW to scale my images, for e.g, if the 1/1 scale of the weapon is 1000mm and I want a 1/16 scale I will scale the image to 62.5mm and print out, that is the template you will use to get an accurate representation of the weapon in 1/16 scale.

If you need any help just PM me
Steve

 

[Gaudin]

Here are some pictures by Zlobov, early years, quite useful nonetheless, mostly understandable.
http://www.chen-la.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=680

This is an old article from Planetfigure, taken with Gordy's permission and translated - so if you search for it - it may be still here, either called flint musket or blunderbus:
http://www.chen-la.com/articles-vim/gordy/making-musket/making-musket.html

here is a completely different way to approach it - using a negative - but quite elegant and allows you to make multiple copies without getting casters involved:
http://www.chen-la.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3074

I hope this helps. Use google translate for details, but pics are pretty self explanatory.

 

[Chris Mortimer]

Thanks guys. I also struggle for weapons. Very helfull

 

[Richie]

Hi Ray,
I bought this when I first started (link below) and then found Steve........the answer to a maidens pray and the book was history.
Why struggle with weapons!!!!!! just go and see Reedees Miniatures.
cheers
Richie

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Modelin...iniatures-by-Kim-Jones-Paperbac-/380843807931