Gears of War: Boltok pistol

TheGrimPaladin

New Member
Hi all, I'm quite new to the RPF (been lurking for a while and just recently created my own account).

I have been working on this boltok for quite some time now, due to certain materials which were hard to get for me, like the old used leather. I always try to approach the budget route when I'm building things and so this one was cheaply made as well (app. 10-11$, excluding wood glue, screws, nails etc.), considering some of the stuff were funded by things given by my parents (like the leather) or just laying around.

The whole thing is pretty much made out of MDF, except for the obvious parts. The tools I used to make this were a jigsaw, multiple sanding papers with different grits, a dremmel tool and an electric drill. A very scarce amount of tools indeed, but it's all I own, sadly... I still think it turned nice nontheless.

If there are questions or feedback or whatever, please let me know!


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Like pretty much every project, I started off with some blueprints.

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I decided to build the gun using layers, since that seemed the easiest way for me to approach it. I cut out the 5 center layers (I cut the first one 3 times.)

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I sanded and gradually added more details to the seperate layers before glueing them together.

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After that, I took my time to make some seperate parts (I forgot to take a photo of the barrel and some other small parts). The last one was pretty hard, considering the locust cube thingy is only 5/8'' in width.

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How it looked at this point, all put together, but not yet glued.

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I cut out the needed space for the electronics and added them in.

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Inserted the cube and finally glued all layers together. I also sanded it where sanding was needed and taped off everything that I didn't want to have a metallic silver coating.

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I spray painted the whole thing with a basic primer and multiple layers of metallic silver.

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After peeling off the tape, I spray painted the dark grey on the handle and hand painted the other parts with its wanted base colour. I chose to use silver paint as a base one basically everything other than the wooden parts, since I'll be weathering it in the end. If some layers of paint come off, I don't want the wood to show a metallic silver, but the metallic parts.

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At this point, I added the 'bullets' to the gun. As I intend to have this with me a lot during future cosplays, I want it to be as durable as possible, so I opted for the non-removable kind of bullets.

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I weathered the whole thing up by adding and rubbing black acrylic on and off until I was satisfied with the result. The leather strap was the last part that needed to be there and luckily a friend of mine gave me a sleeve of her used leather jacket that I could use, which was just the perfect leather.
 

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Hi GrimPaladin,
wow you did such an amazing job on that. I think this is the right forum, it is a replica of a gaming prop. If no one has already said it, welcome to the RPF :)
 
Thanks! Glad it's the right forum too. Sometimes, when I make posts on the wrong forum (even though it seems obvious to me), people get mad at me or take it very personally for some reason, so I'm more or less afraid of that when I decide to join a new forum. Might be other forums have members with major sticks up their asses but still, you know ;p
 
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I do! I have about 25 photos, but I wasn't sure whether to post them or not, so I left them out. I see a lot of other threads including them, though. If there's interest in them, I might post them here?
 
Please go ahead and post the WIP photos and let me know via PM when you do. I'll feature this thread on Pulse!
 
Thanks guys! I'll edit the photos in the OP then!

This has always been my pistol of choice as well. I usually strolled around the levels using this, the Longshot and the Gnasher (so yeah, not a fan of automatic weapons).
 
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Do you have any issues with the MDF warping mid-build? Also, do you do any sealing before the primer coat?

At the sign shop we work at, there's plenty of scrap MDF for me to toy with, but we don't really use it for building much because the sheets warp in no time with the Florida humidity, and some paints tend to swell the material without a few coats of epoxy primer.
 
Thanks guys!

Do you have any issues with the MDF warping mid-build? Also, do you do any sealing before the primer coat?

At the sign shop we work at, there's plenty of scrap MDF for me to toy with, but we don't really use it for building much because the sheets warp in no time with the Florida humidity, and some paints tend to swell the material without a few coats of epoxy primer.
The MDF I warp with doesn't warp much, unless I don't use it for ages. Paint's fine too. Maybe it's just the difference between climates? I've never been to Florida before, but I can imagine it's a lot different from the Netherlands. I also don't need epoxy primer for the paint, really, just basic primer.

Just out of interest by the way, if you don't use MDF or MDF-like material to work with, what do you use?
 
I love that battery holder carved below the drum :D very smart!

MDF need to be primed a lot if you want a flat surface :/ in specially the thin planks (1/6'' and 1/3''), or at least, those that I buy.

Brütal work! ;)
 
Just out of interest by the way, if you don't use MDF or MDF-like material to work with, what do you use?

Depending on the project, I'd personally be working in expanded PVC foam (I've seen this marketed as Sintra, Palite, or Trovicel) and styrene or sheet aluminum. At the shop, almost all of our 3D routing is done in High Density Urethane foam because it's light-weight, rigid, and doesn't soak up moisture. The downside is how porous it is; it take a special filling primer and plenty of putty and sanding to get a smooth finish out of the material.

At the shop, I've only seen one job that used MDF - a set of window frames that were too big to fit onto a sheet of Exteria. Otherwise, we only use it as sacrifice board for the CNC Router.

I'm curious because I see so many gun props built off an MDF base. I've a few 3D models on my hard drive, and a bunch of scrap MDF sitting around the shelves at work - I'd love to throw some of the scrap up there and start routing the models in layers and gluing them together for a head start on a few props - I'm just trying to get an understanding of how other prop builders prep their MDF items and how they've held up over time.
 
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I love that battery holder carved below the drum :D very smart!

MDF need to be primed a lot if you want a flat surface :/ in specially the thin planks (1/6'' and 1/3''), or at least, those that I buy.

Brütal work! ;)
Thanks! True, it's needs a lot of primer. But I applied a super glue coating on some areas. The top layer of MDF sucks in the super glue and makes it really easy to sand it smooth, especially if you've already been cutting away some of the layers. Normally it would chip away or get soft and hard to work with, but the super glue hardens it out, so it gets sturdier and easier to work with.

Depending on the project, I'd personally be working in expanded PVC foam (I've seen this marketed as Sintra, Palite, or Trovicel) and styrene or sheet aluminum. At the shop, almost all of our 3D routing is done in High Density Urethane foam because it's light-weight, rigid, and doesn't soak up moisture. The downside is how porous it is; it take a special filling primer and plenty of putty and sanding to get a smooth finish out of the material.

At the shop, I've only seen one job that used MDF - a set of window frames that were too big to fit onto a sheet of Exteria. Otherwise, we only use it as sacrifice board for the CNC Router.

I'm curious because I see so many gun props built off an MDF base. I've a few 3D models on my hard drive, and a bunch of scrap MDF sitting around the shelves at work - I'd love to throw some of the scrap up there and start routing the models in layers and gluing them together for a head start on a few props - I'm just trying to get an understanding of how other prop builders prep their MDF items and how they've held up over time.
I already thought you might be using a sort of styrene or sintra or something along that line. Too bad MDF doesn't do the trick for you...and I guess HDF is pretty much the same story then? Up till now, MDF hasn't let me down, but then again the climate here is way different from the one in Florida, so I think that's one of the major issues. On the other hand, we don't have hardware stores like you do. If we need bondo or whatever stuff that's pretty much common in the USA, we have to go on ebay to get it...or use some ****ty or expensive equivalent, which is usually served in very small portions...


Noeland: You're welcome, glad you guys appreciate this! Good luck on your own build as well, I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes.
 
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