Fallout 3: AEP7 Laser Pistol

[L05T V1K1N6]

Hey everyone! I know I haven't been on here in quite some time but I'm back with another Fallout 3 prop.
This time around, I made the laser pistol from Fallout 3/New Vegas for my friend who I made the plasma rifle for.

Here's a quick teaser of the finished product:

First things first, for my blueprints I used the side-profile picture from the Fallout wiki and scaled it to fit my hand.

Once I had done that, I traced the picture on my computer screen onto paper to use in the workshop.

Once that was done, I got cracking on cutting out the pieces that would make up the main body of the gun which is basically a glorified elongated box, using 1/4" poplar stock.

After the main body was established, I decided to figure out a way to have an actual laser inside wired to the trigger for extra effect. The solution presented itself almost instantly in the form of a laser pointer with a built in pressure switch that came with an airsoft pistol from Walmart.
All I had to do now was figure out how to make it work with the trigger.

Continued on next post.

 

[L05T V1K1N6]

Once I had the mechanical stuffed worked out, I could continue to work on making it look all purdy n' stuff :lol

I was easily able to sell my friend on the idea of having a custom one-off painting of a Fallout themed pin-up girl on the side of the gun. Easy to say the least: she instantly fell in love with the idea, with the condition of changing the poka-dots on the bikini to a Vault 101 jumpsuit theme! (why didn't I think of that?)

After that, I started on the rear portion of the body.
(The paint can inside the body was just there as a weight to balance the gun so it could stand up)

Some details.

I forgot to take progress pics of the front support beam except for this one one piece, which I must say is one the most intricate single-pieces I have ever made using a band saw:

(In case you're wondering, I still have all my fingers after that )

The next thing I decided to tackle was the energy cell because I chose to make the reloading functional on this prop. Because of the fact that the energy cells in the game basically look like 3 AA batteries wrapped together, I used just that as my prototype.

The real energy cell was made from dowel and some 1/4" and 1/2" wood in the middle.

After that, I made the energy cell compartment (which again, I forgot to take progress pictures of. My bad :facepalm)

The compartment is attached in place with one short screw on the bottom and one pin in the top and can freely swivel open and close. It ain't going anywhere

The last few details I added consisted of the rod that runs along the bottom of the gun, as well as the two small tubes on either side of the hand grip.

Finished painted pics on the post!

 

[L05T V1K1N6]

Here she is all painted up and weathered :$

Before weathering:

After:

With detail added:

PEW PEW!

Well, I hope you guys liked it! I will have pics up of my friend holding it real soon. Until then, ENJOY!

 

[Killercod]

THAT was awesome...

 

[Scapey]

Yup. Love it!

 

[unorthodoxdesig]

Nice one!
Was this a quick build or more of an update all at once after a few months of work?
You go a good job of dealing with the wood like it was mdf. Do you just prefer using solid wood? As a traditional woodworker I understand your preference for that heh. Do you have a preference on the species of wood since you want the thin pieces to maintain dimensional stability and not warp on you? Or does gluing the panels into a closed shape mitigate the warpage and chance of splitting?
I think you used hard maple for the body right? (I do see green though for poplar.. but that's pretty soft.. good for working it easier.. not so good for dimensional stability.
Do you use hand planes and stuff like that for your bevels since it is solid wood? Or do you use mainly bandsaw/abrasives?
Cheers!

 

[holtt]

Love the pinup. One thing I've struggled with is the idea of deviating from the original. When an item isn't one of a kind it's more than reasonable that there are variants and one offs out there in the imagined world.

 

[nick daring]

Awesome build!

My one nitpick would be that the weathering is too uniform in shape and regularity.

Doesn't feel random and natural. Needs silver scrapes along the edges and sadly the pin-up painting should be weathered a bit too to unify the whole look. Yellow stripe is too clean too.

Needs a good pass of a wet dirt/oil layer too. Some watered down black/brown acrylic pushed into all the crevices and quickly wiped away with a rag would really bring it to life.

 

[PewPewLazer]

Does this forum not scale down it's ****ing pictures or something? Seriously, they're freaking huge.

 

[PewPewLazer]

There are tool marks all over this thing, you can see the grain of the wood on the dowel you used. Should have made it out of MDF or Sintra. The quality of the construction is great, and overall it's a good replica, but there are several problems I feel that are inexcusable. I'm not sure what type of paint you used, but it must have been low quality, because honestly it looks like balls. The weathering was not smoothed out or blended in any way. You need to work on your dry brushing techniques.

 

[TheShinyOne]

*sarcasm*
Aaah, how refreshing! Another brand new member with a nice feel for MANNERS! Great start PewPew!
*sarcasm*

@L05T V1K1N6
This thing is not perfect, but it IS awesome. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise.

 

[Contec]

*sarcasm*
Aaah, how refreshing! Another brand new member with a nice feel for MANNERS! Great start PewPew!
*sarcasm*

:thumbsup

It looks great, It has room for improvements like a little weathering. If i had made the pistol i would have made the pin-up as a decal that could be weathered. It would also mean that the details could be higher (as your original sketch) .

Adam Savage (Member of RPF and Mythbuster) made a good tutorial on different weathering you could try.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXzxEqdvuIE

 

[Nerfenstein]

Absolutely wonderful.

 

[FateLazarus]

Wow, very impressive work! I love that you factored in reloading into this prop.

 

[Skorp]

Great build, pretty amazing that it's (nearly) all poplar. Love that you've tackled the reloading panel accurately.

 

[L05T V1K1N6]

Nice one!
Was this a quick build or more of an update all at once after a few months of work?
You go a good job of dealing with the wood like it was mdf. Do you just prefer using solid wood? As a traditional woodworker I understand your preference for that heh. Do you have a preference on the species of wood since you want the thin pieces to maintain dimensional stability and not warp on you? Or does gluing the panels into a closed shape mitigate the warpage and chance of splitting?
I think you used hard maple for the body right? (I do see green though for poplar.. but that's pretty soft.. good for working it easier.. not so good for dimensional stability.
Do you use hand planes and stuff like that for your bevels since it is solid wood? Or do you use mainly bandsaw/abrasives?
Cheers!

I like these kinds of questions

I made the whole gun in just around two weeks, working on it here and there.
I prefer using 1/4" poplar stock for its stability, low amount of visible surface grain when painted, and also its availability. While it is a rather soft species, I find that can have its advantages. Yes, gluing the poplar in an enclosed shape does ensure a maintained shape, and this particular piece has a cross brace on the inside to reinforce it's strength. Also, in my experience the poplar I use is pretty good about not splitting under considerable stress.

As far as the tools I use, I mainly use a bandsaw for the majority of my cutting, a belt sander for basic and fine shaping, and my trusty Dremel for doing fine detail work, and a drill press whenever a piece calls for holes. I also use sanding sponges extensively, as well as hand sanding with fine-grit sandpaper.

Hope that answers your question!

Awesome build!

My one nitpick would be that the weathering is too uniform in shape and regularity.

Doesn't feel random and natural. Needs silver scrapes along the edges and sadly the pin-up painting should be weathered a bit too to unify the whole look. Yellow stripe is too clean too.

Needs a good pass of a wet dirt/oil layer too. Some watered down black/brown acrylic pushed into all the crevices and quickly wiped away with a rag would really bring it to life.

I know :unsure I tried to keep it at least somewhat random but ultimately I think I copied the in-game texture too closely and ended up making the weathering a little too symmetrical. I guess it doesn't come through in the pictures very well but I actually did give it a good wash with a dingy brownish-black and wiped it, and I think it looks pretty good in person!

As for the pin-up girl, the idea behind why she isn't weathered at all was that somebody found the gun already weathered in the Wasteland and painted her on after the fact. So I did think it through

 

[redhead101]

You did a fantastic job on this project, project it only took 2 weeks, and I really like the pin up on the side. plus it doubles as an excellent cat toy. Hahaha.

 

[hydin]

Looking pretty cool!

I kind of agree with the "weather it more!" crowd, but then again that's my usual go to line for anything since I can't paint worth a damn :lol

Love it!
chris

 

[skyconlb]

Loving your stuff! MAKE MORE hahaha

 

[hawcproductions]

Thanks for all the info! Maybe I could put one together by my filming in October... Do you know how long all-together it took you to put it together? Oh, and how much does it weigh exactly? And do you personally think it's too heavy/light? Thanks again for posting this, and great job!