Today’s project is a really cool one. Ever watch Star Wars, the cantina scene where Han Solo shoots Greedo (yes, Han shoots first! Worst thing they ever did was change that epic scene.) and think to yourself, “Man, if I had a gun like that, I could be as cool as him.”? Well, today in my blog, I’m going to tell you how to go about doing just that, getting yourself a gun just like that (sorry, it won’t really fire, so no taking it to a bar, lol).
The best thing is to find a really nice gun to start with. Some people are all about metal, everything has to be metal. This is fine, if you have a large budget since metal stuff costs a lot more. I like to start with an Airsoft spring firing plastic BB gun. It comes with a short clip (which we will use) and a long clip which we do not need.
You can pick them up at flea markets sometimes or you can find them on website businesses that sell BB and pellet guns. Hobbytron.com has been a good source for me over time for these guns. They are a plastic version of a broomhandel mauser which is the gun they used for the original props. You will also need to pick up some 3/8’ basswood in a small sheet, a 1" diameter wooden dowel rod,
an exacto knife, 2 packs of even-bake clay such as sculpey,
high strength epoxy and black paint which you can get at any craft store.
You will also need a funnel and a simple straight scope which are available at any multipurpose store such as Walmart or even a sporting goods store.
You can pick them up at flea markets sometimes or you can find them on website businesses that sell BB and pellet guns. Hobbytron.com has been a good source for me over time for these guns. They are a plastic version of a broomhandel mauser which is the gun they used for the original props. You will also need to pick up some 3/8’ basswood in a small sheet, a 1" diameter wooden dowel rod,
an exacto knife, 2 packs of even-bake clay such as sculpey,
high strength epoxy and black paint which you can get at any craft store.
You will also need a funnel and a simple straight scope which are available at any multipurpose store such as Walmart or even a sporting goods store.
So, your shopping list should look like this:
BB gun…………………………………………………..…........…..$7.00
Basswood sheet …………………………………………..….....….$3.00
Wooden dowel rod……………………………………………....…..$0.50
Exacto blade…………………………………………………......…..$3.00
2 packs of oven-bake clay…………………………………........….$2.00
High strength epoxy………………………………………….....…..$4.00
Black paint (brush on craft paint)……………………………....…..$1.00
Paint brush (something that is cheap but won’t fall apart)….......$1.00
Funnel……………………………………………………..………......$1.00
Scope………………………………………………….....……….......$10.00
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Total cost of parts (on average)...…………………………………..$32.50
After you have your gun, there are a few steps in order to make it look like the one on screen. First, the long plastic barrel extension has to go! Next, cut off the small part of the barrel that is still sticking out with either a handsaw or dremel tool with a cutting wheel.
Ok, the gun is now prepped for us to start adding things to it.
The first, and most inportant thing to remember is that if you have never done one before, is to relax and take your time. This is not a race and there is no prize for finishing everything in 20 mins (which is actually not even possible, lol.). All you will end up with is a product you will look at and see every single place you rushed and think about how you wish you had taken your time.
ok, now, lets make the flash hider. This is the item that sits at the from of the barrel and gives it that old school "lazer gun" kind of look that it has. You will need to take your dowel rod that you bought about measure out about 1 3/4" and make a nice straight cut at the line with either a saw or you can use a dremel like tool to do it. Once you have that, lets grab the sculpey and open up the package. You will need to knead it for about 2 mins to make is nice and workable. Now take about 1/2 of the sculpey and you can take the remaining dowel rod and use it as a rolling pin to roll it our in a flat sheet about 1/8" - 1/16" think.
Now you are going to take the rolling out clay and wrap the piece of dowel you cut off. as you wrap it, cut it to fit with your exacto knife and trim off the extra that hangs off both ends. Take your time and smooth it out by hand and make it so you don't see any seam lines.
Now you can make any kind of markings you want to on here. You can go with the original Han Solo look, or you can choose the one from Empire or even make one totally custom, it is totally up to you here. Just take your exact or the back of your paint brush and make marks in the sculpey GENTLY! If you push too hard or too fast you will over stretch the clay and end up with a warp you have to fix.
The first, and most inportant thing to remember is that if you have never done one before, is to relax and take your time. This is not a race and there is no prize for finishing everything in 20 mins (which is actually not even possible, lol.). All you will end up with is a product you will look at and see every single place you rushed and think about how you wish you had taken your time.
ok, now, lets make the flash hider. This is the item that sits at the from of the barrel and gives it that old school "lazer gun" kind of look that it has. You will need to take your dowel rod that you bought about measure out about 1 3/4" and make a nice straight cut at the line with either a saw or you can use a dremel like tool to do it. Once you have that, lets grab the sculpey and open up the package. You will need to knead it for about 2 mins to make is nice and workable. Now take about 1/2 of the sculpey and you can take the remaining dowel rod and use it as a rolling pin to roll it our in a flat sheet about 1/8" - 1/16" think.
Now you are going to take the rolling out clay and wrap the piece of dowel you cut off. as you wrap it, cut it to fit with your exacto knife and trim off the extra that hangs off both ends. Take your time and smooth it out by hand and make it so you don't see any seam lines.
Now you can make any kind of markings you want to on here. You can go with the original Han Solo look, or you can choose the one from Empire or even make one totally custom, it is totally up to you here. Just take your exact or the back of your paint brush and make marks in the sculpey GENTLY! If you push too hard or too fast you will over stretch the clay and end up with a warp you have to fix.
Ok, now lets make the piece for the front of the blaster. Take the other pack of sculpey and knead it together with what was left of the first pack. Roll it out to about a 1/4" think sheet. set it on the front of the blaster and then trim it to the shape you want.
Take a pencil or pen and use the tip to score line lines across the clay while it is on the gun, but don't push too hard since you will need to be able to pull it back off. Now gently pull it back off, use your knife to get under the edges and slowly peel it back, trying to keep the basic shape it was just in.
Now take both your clay items and place them on a foil pan (standing up and make sure that the item you just finished making is standing up and in shape) and place them in the oven for the recommended baking times and temperatures. There is will an odd smell while baking, but it will not cause any harm to anything or anyone so do not be alarmed or worry. Take them out after baking and let them cool. You can take the piece for the from of the gun and fit it to the gun at this point if you are worried about it fitting right. It will be very hot, but you can hold it on with a pot holder of towel and hold it in shape on the gun and run it under cold water to harden it faster to the shape you want.
Next we work on the scope mounting bracket. Take your sheet of basswood and we will mark it for out cuts. Mark will give us a 4" x 5/8" area and the other we'll mark a 2" x 1 3/4" area. Take your exact and gently cut these out of the sheet. Now, lets take your epoxy and glue them together. Let the epoxy sit for about 30 mins before we do any painting to it.
Lets grab the funnel we bought and finish the flash hider. Take your funnel and measure 1 1/2" from the bottom and the cut it with your dremel or exacto since we need a nice smooth cut. But be careful not to cut yourself. Now take that piece and lets epoxy it to the end of the dowel we wrapped in clay and baked. Once the epoxy sets and is cured, let take the black craft paint and paint that, the piece for the front of the gun and the scope bracket all black so they will now match the rest of the gun. Now take your epoxy and lets glue on the part in front and the scope bracket. These items will have no problem staying on by themselves so now you can just go watch a Star Wars flick while you wait for this to cure.
Ok, now that you have finshed what was supposed to be a 1 movie waiting period that turned in to a marathon, lets attach the flash hider. This the tricky part, after you epoxy the flash hider to the end of the barrel, you will need to prop it up on its end and make sure it is level. Now, this is one of the reasons we choose the 5 min epoxy. You only need to worry about this for 5 mins which means you can even just sit there and hold it for 5 mins. After that, it's not going anywhere so you can just set it down on it's side and let is cure.
Ok, all that is left is to attach the scope to the bracket we made. Now if you fine that the bracket is too narrow for the scope to grab on to, you can always just add little shims cut from the basswood to widen it right where the clamp is and epoxy it on and paint it black. Now sit back and take a look....
Now, as promise, you too can now be as cool as Han Solo!
I hope this helped and if you have any question or comments about this project, please comment on it and I will reply quickly!
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