Hasbro NERF M41-A Pulse Rifle

[wayouteast]

UK here and mine just arrived this morning. Wont be touching it until the workbench has been cleared of projects a bit more. I've also ordered a facehugger to drape over the gun when on the stand

Things to do
Make suitable stand
Fill/sand/paint
Add carry strap
If possible, add suitable sound effects (depends on how easy it is to take apart)

Mine just arrived unexpectedly! Time to have a play with it before breaking out the sandpaper and the paints! Where's that local xenomorph hiding... Game over, man. Game over...

 

[MattBlack]

Mine arrived too! It's a present for christmas, and now I deeply regret not ordering one for myself.

 

[mattycsi]

Mine just landed. Awesome bit of kit. Quite a lot of branding to get shut of.

 

[j_holtslander]

KramStaar What tools/techniques did you use for sanding down all the embossed text? Dremel? By hand? Looks like a nightmare.

I’ve fully disassembled mine. Had to cut two wires to separate the yellow plastic from the white.

P.S. If anyone is interested… Out of Tamiya’s available OD green/brown sprays I believe AS-6 to be the closest to the original color. I bought two cans.

 

[Birdie]

Gotta love Yodel

My rifle was supossed to arrive Monday. Thought I'd check the tracking before going to bed to see if there were any time details added, only to find the 'delivered' flag. Turns out it was delivered today (sunday - when does that happen?) at some point. No doorbell ring or note through the door. So I've just gone out in the rain at 1.15am to route through our deliveries box in the dark. It seem they really do come in the dark - mostly.

 

[KramStaar]

KramStaar What tools/techniques did you use for sanding down all the embossed text? Dremel? By hand? Looks like a nightmare.

I’ve fully disassembled mine. Had to cut two wires to separate the yellow plastic from the white.

P.S. If anyone is interested… Out of Tamiya’s available OD green/brown sprays I believe AS-6 to be the closest to the original color. I bought two cans.

I didn't find it a nightmare at all and while it took a little time, a little elbow grease was all that was needed.

The grades paper were 80, 120 and 240 grit and I only used a simple sanding block.

Best,
M

 

[Shingouki28]

Gotta love Yodel

My rifle was supossed to arrive Monday. Thought I'd check the tracking before going to bed to see if there were any time details added, only to find the 'delivered' flag. Turns out it was delivered today (sunday - when does that happen?) at some point. No doorbell ring or note through the door. So I've just gone out in the rain at 1.15am to route through our deliveries box in the dark. It seem they really do come in the dark - mostly.

Yeah, my heart sank when I saw that Yodel were the couriers ...My tracking status is saying it hasn't even been collected from Hasbro by Yodel yet. God knows where the two pulse rifles I ordered are.

 

[mattycsi]

KramStaar What tools/techniques did you use for sanding down all the embossed text? Dremel? By hand? Looks like a nightmare.

I’ve fully disassembled mine. Had to cut two wires to separate the yellow plastic from the white.

P.S. If anyone is interested… Out of Tamiya’s available OD green/brown sprays I believe AS-6 to be the closest to the original color. I bought two cans.

I started sanding mine, the plastic is quite soft. 120g doing the job fine. Will smooth out with finer as I go.

 

[Sundowner]

Man, I keep waiting for mine to show up!

 

[Pro Mod]

Mine just arrived, can't wait to get started!

 

[wayouteast]

Sanding and filling. All the logos and embossed text removed with 120 grit sandpaper. 30-odd screw holes filled, first with plastic rod and JB Weld, then sanded flat and Perfect Plastic Putty applied to fill the remaining minor imperfections and pinholes. Once that's all sanded smooth, it'll be time for primer!
.

 

[AJK001]

I know it's not screen accurate but I really like the yellow. Paint the white parts in a dark grey/black and I think it would look really great.

 

[Jediguy]

I was thinking about removing the nerf guts and only keeping the ammo counter but it looks like it's gonna be a nightmare

 

[RobertMuldoon]

That's very good of you to say mate, thank you.

Yes, I filled all the holes and sanded the logo's off as well as the tiny disclaimer text on the side under the receiver. It wasn't difficult and while it took a little time the overall result I was satisfied with. Did I disassemble the piece? No, I worked with it fully assembled.

I think it should be stressed that I was striving for a blaster that was well used, dirty and well loved not a pristine piece which is far harder to finish and takes a lot longer to complete. As I have mentioned before, I based it on the look and finish of one of the screen used blasters owned by a well-known collector - which looks really beaten up. In essence, my build is meant to embrace the spirit of the blaster from the movie and is in no way intended to be FROM the movie. The overall proportions of the Nerf are not close enough to fool anyone and so I consider it an M41 variant not an M41 itself - much like there are numerous variants (which look slightly different) of say, the AR15.

Here are a few pics I took while I was still working on it. I am still weathering the blaster here as you can see from the cleaner underside surfaces. The grip, I painted with wood grain and then weathered it heavily in the upper portions - in the same way a real combat firearm will have cleaner grips where there is constant rubbing.

Good luck. While it might not be accurate its a cracking offering and I know you wil enjoy your journey as much as I have.
MARK

That looks fantastic, the wooden grips are especially amazing!

 

[wayouteast]

First plastic primer coats are on, and I think it's looking pretty cool already! Quick heads up to those people who are re-painting theirs... the black and white diagonal stripes are not just painted on, they're very slightly moulded too, which I didn't notice until the first coat of primer went on. So I had to do some slightly more serious sanding than I usually plan on doing between primer coats to get rid of them. Luckily the plastic is soft enough that it wasn't too bad a job, and I was able to smooth those areas without too much effect on the other already-prepped parts.

The only masking needed for these primer layers was the ammo counter.

.

Edit: Oh... and don't do what I did and forget to prime the front bit of the pump rail (have I got the right terminology?) which of course is visible when the pump is pulled back!

 

[Kroenen77]

That's very good of you to say mate, thank you.

Yes, I filled all the holes and sanded the logo's off as well as the tiny disclaimer text on the side under the receiver. It wasn't difficult and while it took a little time the overall result I was satisfied with. Did I disassemble the piece? No, I worked with it fully assembled.

I think it should be stressed that I was striving for a blaster that was well used, dirty and well loved not a pristine piece which is far harder to finish and takes a lot longer to complete. As I have mentioned before, I based it on the look and finish of one of the screen used blasters owned by a well-known collector - which looks really beaten up. In essence, my build is meant to embrace the spirit of the blaster from the movie and is in no way intended to be FROM the movie. The overall proportions of the Nerf are not close enough to fool anyone and so I consider it an M41 variant not an M41 itself - much like there are numerous variants (which look slightly different) of say, the AR15.

Here are a few pics I took while I was still working on it. I am still weathering the blaster here as you can see from the cleaner underside surfaces. The grip, I painted with wood grain and then weathered it heavily in the upper portions - in the same way a real combat firearm will have cleaner grips where there is constant rubbing.

Good luck. While it might not be accurate its a cracking offering and I know you wil enjoy your journey as much as I have.
MARK

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wow..the wood looks awesome.What colors and tools did you used for that?

 

[Gold]

Is there a page in this post that details the screen inaccuracies? (apart from colors)

 

[Tommy]

Is there a page in this post that details the screen inaccuracies? (apart from colors)

I'm not sure quite how precisely accurate HCG replicas are, but this side-by-side at least shows the Nerf next to a significantly more accurate form:

Hasbro NERF M41-A Pulse Rifle

This is a pretty sweet piece. I finished it this past long-weekend I wonder if it's worth cutting back the nerf barrel slightly, It required for dart functionality but its one of the few things that really give it away. Cutting down an inch of barrel shouldn't ruin the performance I'd guess.

www.therpf.com

And here are photos showing both sides of an original hero:

The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of on Instagram: "Following up on last week’s discussion of the Pulse Rifle, here’s Ryan’s hero PR after the just finished restoration he spoke about "

The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of shared a post on Instagram: "Following up on last week’s discussion of the Pulse Rifle, here’s Ryan’s hero PR after the just finished restoration he spoke about ". Follow their account to see 126 posts.

www.instagram.com

 

[mattycsi]

First plastic primer coats are on, and I think it's looking pretty cool already! Quick heads up to those people who are re-painting theirs... the black and white diagonal stripes are not just painted on, they're very slightly moulded too, which I didn't notice until the first coat of primer went on. So I had to do some slightly more serious sanding than I usually plan on doing between primer coats to get rid of them. Luckily the plastic is soft enough that it wasn't too bad a job, and I was able to smooth those areas without too much effect on the other already-prepped parts.

The only masking needed for these primer layers was the ammo counter.

View attachment 1626627. View attachment 1626628

Edit: Oh... and don't do what I did and forget to prime the front bit of the pump rail (have I got the right terminology?) which of course is visible when the pump is pulled back!

Thanks for the heads up on the stripes and pump.
Can I just ask why you didnt fill these dimples?
They're the first things I slapped the filller on!

 

[wayouteast]

Thanks for the heads up on the stripes and pump.
Can I just ask why you didnt fill these dimples?
They're the first things I slapped the filller on!

View attachment 1626785

Haha! You must be psychic! Originally, I had the idea that I was going to insert some real bolts in the 'dimples' as added detail. But the more I looked at them in relation to the photos of the original props the more I realised the rifle didn't need such 'extra' hardware. So I've literally, this evening, filled them on both sides!

The only thing that's worrying me slightly now is that the grey primer - even though it's a special high-adhesion primer for plastic - is scraping off the orange triggers slightly when the rifle's used. I'm hoping that I can disguise those small areas with a later paint layer or in the weathering perhaps. The good thing about creating a well-used item like the pulse rifle is that the weathering can hide a multitude of sins!