Something new to go BOOM (final update at bottom)

[Maverick118]

Well I thought it was time I re-thought out my original AVP cannon, which I constructed out of foam But this time I wanted to use something that was a little more rigid, but still flexible enough to curve. So I chose good old card. May sound a strange choice, but I've used this particular type before to construct a former for some USCM armour. It takes fibre glass well and you can snad that down to a nice smooth finsh for molding. This time though I'll be coating it in Exterior water proof PVA for a sealer. This dries in a tough shell if you use 5-6 coats and I should avoid any problems with inhibition when molding it. I am using a pvc pipe for the barrel though as this forms anice rigid fram for everything to sit around.

couple of wip shots of the cannon front slide.

Here we are a lot further on, the front is almost complete and the rear is about to have some minor detailing added.

Details on the upper barrel housing added as you can see it's in the safe "mode" where both cannon sections fit together.

here's one in the fire mode. I've been working on adding a motor to slide the front section back and forth, and a large LED in the barrel for a nice psuedo muzzle flash

here it is in the seperate pieces, just the rear drum to do and detailing the sections a tad more.

A final one for comparison with my previous cannon. Should have it finished by the end of the week. All in all it's a couple of days work, and I think it's turning out quite well. This is a post that will hopefully galvanise some into to actually having a go, as you don't need a lot of expensive materials, just a little hot glue and a bit of ingenuity. Hope you like, and feel free to critique too, I'm always open to suggestions.

 

[JediUsurper]

looks good mav, although i think the title should be

KABOOOM hehe

 

[Shataan]

Hey.... that looks really cool man!!!

 

[MoviesColin]

You're really talented Mav...

I always enjoy seeing your inginuity in these projects, showing that you need not to be a billionaire to make accurate, quality props. Good job, keep it comin'.

 

[Mr Fett]

Wow, nice work!

 

[Maverick118]

Cheers guys, nice to know the cheap stuff I do like this will/ has proven useful to others. I've already got how to mold the seperate pieces figured out, just need to get this finished as it may go on display for public viewing amongst a lot of rather nice props soon so I wantit to look it's best. I've used milliput on some parts too, to fill and curve some sections that the card just won't do. I'll be stest driving some poly morph plastic on this puppy too. It may prove useful for some of the details and you never know if I can get it pressed into the molds properly it maight be good enough for the cannon to keep the weight down and enable the fitting of some simple electronics.

 

[Maverick118]

Just a bit of an up date as this puppy is almost complete, just some minot detailing and I'm scouring my Bits box for some suitable things and greeblies

I'm quite happy with the way it's shaped up, the green stuff you can see is miliput that I used to fill and level some things and add curves to others, anyway almost on the home straight now.

 

[Maverick118]

Just another little update here, with some pics of the details that are going on.

 

[The Mortal Immortal]

Maverick118 again you floor me with your skills. I love your work and that is one of the main reason I keep coming back.

 

[Maverick118]

All done and dusted, though it's missing two major bits in the pics ie. the laser sight which is off on the right of the pic and the connector ring on the base which is also off to the right. Those bits are to be molded seperately along with the front slide.

I did add extra detailing to the underside too but the batt on my camera went so I've not beena able to snap these. Hope you likes guys.

 

[Maverick118]

Well it's done and dusted, apart from attaching the magnet inside the targeter and putting a nice bright LED torch inthere too to light up the target dots.

In the fire mode

In the safe mode

All in all not a bad effort for a few weeks work between projects and even more so considering it's only card board. Once this sucker has been on display at the national space centre it's off to be molded, and the initial pull worked on and sanded then that will be molded to produce the final cannon, which should be fully working.

 

[Shataan]

Sweet work man. You are the foamie/paper cannon King!

 

[Maverick118]

Thanks mate, high praise indeed considering how high you've raised the bar on the cannons in here. I'd love to have a go with that mini cell stuff but I'm not sure it's available over in the UK.

Well The cannon has just got a set of lights. I think it's looking pretty damn good right now considering I've not a clue what I'm doing with electronics. So it's a stripped down laser pointer set up, but looks quite effective.