Cobheran
New Member
I know a few years ago another member made one of these, but I've been dying to make my own build of it. I actually made one in 2006 but my prop making skills were rather rough at the time and I did what I could with what I had.
My original X-Gun, which was made with a dremel, soldering iron, fiberglass resin, foam, wood, and pvc.
This is the reference I'm using for the new build. DarkMeteorix made an amazing render of all the weapons and equipment from the show that is mostly accurate to the source. Since there are so many useful angles compiled in this model I decided to use it as my base.
I started out by actually drawing the weapon to scale on a piece of paper to ensure my pieces were all the proper scale. Then I started on the handle. As I wanted this to be a functional model (lights and movement) I made the handle hollow and in 5 sections. 3 parts 1/4" MDF and 2 1/8 inch pieces for plates to hold it all together
I left some more MDF on the two MDF pieces sandwiching the middle piece as trigger guides so they don't slip out of place. I clamped the pieces together and sanded them as one piece to ensure they were flush and as seamless as I could get them.
I tend to use making molds for this gun like a "save" in case I mess something up. That being said I have a ton of tiny molds for this thing sitting in a cabinet in my workroom. Here's the triggers and trigger guard along with the middle and single sandwich piece of MDF sitting on the aforementioned paper scale drawing.
I started priming and "saving" my pieces at this point. I made two part molds to ensure that both sides were as smooth as the originals. To make my life easier, I just heat plasteline in a pot I bought on low heat until it's liquid and pour it in my mold box. Once it's started cooling off a bit I put my piece in (after spraying it with release) and let it settle until I can put my keys in. this lets me make clay barriers quickly and makes for quick cleanup on the second half (for me at least, my friend has less luck with this method.)
Here's the first run assembled handle assembly complete with springs for the triggers. The bottom of the handle is sized to fit a 9v battery to power the lights of the gun.
This is where I ran into my first hiccup/upgrade. I took a step back and redid quite a few pieces due to the introduction of this awesome toy.
Too bad it's two hours away. It's free though which is nice. Sadly in this picture, the pieces cut out were scaled 1/4" too large and did not fit the scale of the gun. Back to autocad! Also unfortunate, this was the last good cut on 1/4" MDF that laser cutter ever made. Due to abuse (that I didn't cause) the laser lens is no longer powerful enough to cut through wood, so I'm saving up for one of those ebay laser cutters that look like they might be able to get the job done with less gas and headaches for me.
So here's where we are right now. The front it actually blended now but I wanted to highlight the sections the middle is comprised of. The top plate (and bottom plate) is now sanded and polished and attached and blended to their respective sides. There are also two screws on the back which will hold the handle assembly together now. These will be covered up by the grip on the handle (thing with a circle on it)
In the mean time I worked on this, which is the center revolver piece of the gun. For this I took some half round styrene I had lying around and glued it to the inside of a PVC pipe the same size as my barrel.
To keep it straight in the pressure pot I made a small Aztec Temple out of foam core and hot glue
This thing is what popped out
So I sanded it down, polished it a little, waxed it even, then made another, glued them together, and threw them on the lathe. The indentations are closer together than in the reference picture, but due to the small size of the half rounds available to me I thought it would make more practical sense to space them closer together.
As I've been upgrading my toolset this year, the hardest part of this build has been doing something, getting a better tool and realizing that I can make it even better. The eventual goal of this build is to have an electronically and mechanically functional build. Sound is a bit beyond me right now but if anyone has any suggestions on things I can do or improve I'd love to hear them!
My original X-Gun, which was made with a dremel, soldering iron, fiberglass resin, foam, wood, and pvc.
This is the reference I'm using for the new build. DarkMeteorix made an amazing render of all the weapons and equipment from the show that is mostly accurate to the source. Since there are so many useful angles compiled in this model I decided to use it as my base.
I started out by actually drawing the weapon to scale on a piece of paper to ensure my pieces were all the proper scale. Then I started on the handle. As I wanted this to be a functional model (lights and movement) I made the handle hollow and in 5 sections. 3 parts 1/4" MDF and 2 1/8 inch pieces for plates to hold it all together
I left some more MDF on the two MDF pieces sandwiching the middle piece as trigger guides so they don't slip out of place. I clamped the pieces together and sanded them as one piece to ensure they were flush and as seamless as I could get them.
I tend to use making molds for this gun like a "save" in case I mess something up. That being said I have a ton of tiny molds for this thing sitting in a cabinet in my workroom. Here's the triggers and trigger guard along with the middle and single sandwich piece of MDF sitting on the aforementioned paper scale drawing.
I started priming and "saving" my pieces at this point. I made two part molds to ensure that both sides were as smooth as the originals. To make my life easier, I just heat plasteline in a pot I bought on low heat until it's liquid and pour it in my mold box. Once it's started cooling off a bit I put my piece in (after spraying it with release) and let it settle until I can put my keys in. this lets me make clay barriers quickly and makes for quick cleanup on the second half (for me at least, my friend has less luck with this method.)
Here's the first run assembled handle assembly complete with springs for the triggers. The bottom of the handle is sized to fit a 9v battery to power the lights of the gun.
This is where I ran into my first hiccup/upgrade. I took a step back and redid quite a few pieces due to the introduction of this awesome toy.
Too bad it's two hours away. It's free though which is nice. Sadly in this picture, the pieces cut out were scaled 1/4" too large and did not fit the scale of the gun. Back to autocad! Also unfortunate, this was the last good cut on 1/4" MDF that laser cutter ever made. Due to abuse (that I didn't cause) the laser lens is no longer powerful enough to cut through wood, so I'm saving up for one of those ebay laser cutters that look like they might be able to get the job done with less gas and headaches for me.
So here's where we are right now. The front it actually blended now but I wanted to highlight the sections the middle is comprised of. The top plate (and bottom plate) is now sanded and polished and attached and blended to their respective sides. There are also two screws on the back which will hold the handle assembly together now. These will be covered up by the grip on the handle (thing with a circle on it)
In the mean time I worked on this, which is the center revolver piece of the gun. For this I took some half round styrene I had lying around and glued it to the inside of a PVC pipe the same size as my barrel.
To keep it straight in the pressure pot I made a small Aztec Temple out of foam core and hot glue
This thing is what popped out
So I sanded it down, polished it a little, waxed it even, then made another, glued them together, and threw them on the lathe. The indentations are closer together than in the reference picture, but due to the small size of the half rounds available to me I thought it would make more practical sense to space them closer together.
As I've been upgrading my toolset this year, the hardest part of this build has been doing something, getting a better tool and realizing that I can make it even better. The eventual goal of this build is to have an electronically and mechanically functional build. Sound is a bit beyond me right now but if anyone has any suggestions on things I can do or improve I'd love to hear them!
