Wow! Thanks everyone!!! I can't believe the response
To answer a few questions/comments:
yes, there is a shotgun handle, and it works. It just blends in with the rest of the gun, since I used the same color.
No, the counter doesn't work. I looked into using a real counter, and even considered using a digital clock (and just displaying the last 2 digits), but I ended up just Photoshoipping up the number and adding a bit of glow to the red and some white highlights for depth. I figured it was better to have something that looked lit up all the time, anyways.
Is the Recon hard to cock? It's actually pretty easy, but I would make a slight change to the way I cut the top piece if i did this again. The way the shroud goes on, I have to put the cocker on last, so I can't screw it in like the Recon originally has it. If you put your palm over the front part and slide it works perfectly, but if you just grab from the back, the tabs in the front pop out of the mechanism. I might try rubbing some krazy glue on the pegs and popping them back in to see if that helps.
Templates? I mocked up most of the design in Flash (odd choice, I know, but I'm a Flash designer by trade, so am just used to working with the program). Some of the pieces worked right off the template, and others had to be changed. By the end, I was just printing them off as I needed them, with no real organisation, so I would have to go through it and try and figure out what everything was. For the shroud around the clip and launcher trigger, most of that is just eyeballed, as are the holes for the barrel and the gun body. Either way, I'll see if I can clean em up in the next few days and I'll post them on my site
Mobius Designs once they are done.
And no, I haven't posted on Alienlegacy.com yet, but I'll check it out
Thanks again everyone! and I'm glad to see I've inspired a few other builds