Re: GOTG: My own Star-Lord Build - Dragon Con Pics! Post #160!
Time to resurrect my thread! I thought that since I started my blaster mods here, I should continue them here instead of making a new thread. Some of you that have been following me and Daniel in the project run forum, you may have seen our blaster mods. But I thought i'd show my process to create and install my new blaster tips.
So it started with a 3D design. I wanted to replace the tip of the Nerf's upper blaster barrel. It looked ok out of the box, but I wanted it to be more accurate.
Specifically, the movie prop has an inner barrel that protrudes from inside the outer barrel, and there is a separation between the barrel tip and the rest of the barrel with some black fins in between. So I took some measurements of the stock barrel, and fired up Autodesk 123D.
Daniel 3D printed my design in two pieces, the inner and outer barrel, as well as adding two pegs in the back of the new barrel. These will be inserted into the Nerf dart barrels to install it into the gun. He sanded the 3D print smooth and then mold and cast the new piece in resin.
Time for install! I disassembled the upper barrel.
Once it was apart, I could remove it from the arms that flip the barrel back. Then i screwed it back together so I could perform 'the operation.' The barrel needs to be cut, but there is already a guide line for me to cut. I used a dremel cutting wheel, but rather than cut right on the line, i cut a little inside of the line. That way I could go back with a sanding tool and smooth it down to the line for a clean finish.
The big cut has been made! No turning back now.
But the cutting didn't stop there. These pegs that hold a screw are in the way of my new barrel, so they have to go. No worries though, there are still two screws holding the barrel together.
Sanded back to the line and smoothed with some sand paper. Then i went back with a little rub n buff, and covered the edge.
Test fit with the new piece!
I didn't get pics of the painting, but it was pretty simple. A few coats of filler primer, followed by a few coats of flat back paint. Then it's followed by Rub n' Buff brushed lightly over the outer and inner barrel surfaces. Finally, i used some blue testors model paint in a spray can to add the blue. In order to achieve the fade, I pointed the spray slightly away from the the barrel so it only hit the front edge. I continued doing this, lightly adding more and more blue until I was happy with how much it covered. I let it all dry, then glued the inner and outer barrel together. I also added the lower barrel taser nozzle. It was much simpler, just a quick sand and rub n buff job to make it shine. Then I glued it all in place. The gun can no longer fire nerf barrels, but that's ok. Here's how it ended up!
I'm really happy with how these turned out. From a 3D sketch to a really great final result. The gun looks way more accurate with this, and the install was pretty painless. Yay!
