Starship Troopers OVA (1988) Rifle build

[Rick Androids]

I like the original Heinlein novel and few days ago I stumbled upon a bunch of concept art made for an old anime, based on his story. Some of the artwork were made by Suzuki Masahisa (Grandia monster design, Nadesico mechanical design) and Shinji Aramaki (Ghost in the Shell director). There are awesome concepts of caseless rifle, which (according to the film trilogy) should be produced by the Morita company.
This build would be a crazy mix of the concepts from 1988 OVA, information from the Starship troopers wiki and my ideas how to make rifle looking more up to date.

 

[Harada357]

cool PROJECT. I loved the little known OVA. Their suits matched Heinliens original vision.

Love to see what you come up with.

 

[Rick Androids]

Thanks, Harada357!
The main problem now, when I'm trying to make blueprints from the concepts - it is the size and form of some elements. I'm using Masahisa vision of rifle, but there is no images for the pistol grip, which is awful in original concept( Also, if the rifle used original Morita 10 mm caseless ammunition, it comes out really small. Only if I take caliber like .50 it becomes sized like L22 carbine (about 710 mm long).

 

[Mike J.]

I could have sworn I had concept art for this, but I just looked and I can't find anything.

I'm working on my own anime gun, so I wish you good luck

 

[Rick Androids]

Thanks. I think that somehow I'll manage to work out something. Unfortunately, now Yennefer's Pendant from Witcher 3 is eating my time, so I cannot concentrate on the rifle. Your work on Ghost in the Shell is pretty impressive! Looking forward for the updates.

 

[Rick Androids]

The first part to build is the grip, which houses the barrel and on which the clip would be installed. Tomorrow I'll try to fix it together. Here are the dimensions and rough sketch:

 

[Mike J.]

I am the greenest of novices when it comes to Solidworks. Guys like KCPStudios use it for real.

What are you drawing this in?

 

[Rick Androids]

It's KOMPAS, made by the АСКОН company. I'm using barely 5% of it, using only vector for blueprint sketches.

 

[nick daring]

Rad project. Can't wait to see how it comes out!

 

[division 6]

Looks like and HK G11.
7mm caseless.
At one time considered to replace the M-16

 

[Mike J.]

The G-11's are so awesome. And, yes, the caseless ammo and bullet do look like one of theirs. Doubly G-11-like if that thing over the barrel is the magazine.

 

[Rick Androids]

So. today I've cut main parts for the grip and taped them tpgether to understand how it might look like. It took more than I thought because it's really hard to cut evenly the 5 mm sintra without the scrollsaw.
Parts for the left side

Parts glued toghether with tube of correct diamater attached as a barrel

More shots


I think that I need to change width from 54 mm to 52 and, maybe, make a groove that will hold a barrel. More on the progress tomorrow, when I'll glue and bondo all of the stuff.

 

[Rick Androids]

Little updates.
Grip and barrel housing is assembled and now is going through the sanding and filling cycles. I've managed to thin the gun down to 50 mm.
So, the grip:

Also, I've tried to match art, concept art and trends in modern sci-fi films, so I redesigned stock a little:

It is not a final version, though. Stay tuned!

 

[Rick Androids]

Long time no progress!
So, the idea with the mentioned stock design was a huge fail. It was only 86 mm in height, so with the 50 mm in width it would look ridiculous. And... to the new redesign we go!

This one actually fits, but looks different from the rifle design. Also, it was really hard to cut the stock from the sintra without the scroll saw. I break it into pieces and somehow managed to do this.

Now it is going through the cycles of priming, filling and sanding. It is really tiresome, so I took a break, making a handle. It is hidden on the picture, so I draw one anew.

And one ready for the minor changes and molding:

 

[Harada357]

Long time no progress!
So, the idea with the mentioned stock design was a huge fail. It was only 86 mm in height, so with the 50 mm in width it would look ridiculous. And... to the new redesign we go!
View attachment 393728
This one actually fits, but looks different from the rifle design. Also, it was really hard to cut the stock from the sintra without the scroll saw. I break it into pieces and somehow managed to do this.
View attachment 393729
Now it is going through the cycles of priming, filling and sanding. It is really tiresome, so I took a break, making a handle. It is hidden on the picture, so I draw one anew.
View attachment 393730
And one ready for the minor changes and molding:
View attachment 393731

LOOKING GREAT !!! Putting in the work! Keep going!

 

[Rick Androids]

Sorry for no progress, but my flat wa robbed.

 

[Sean]

Sorry for no progress, but my flat wa robbed.

Oh man! so sorry to hear that new's. hope they did not make off with too much stuff or money.

 

[nick daring]

That will definitely take the wind out of your sails. Hope things get better fast for you.

 

[Krinkov]

That gun looks to be inspired by a folding 9mm smg the Israelis made. It was meant to fold up and look like a first aid kit or radio. Here is a video of the modern version that folds up into a portable hard drive. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXFAlKnZdE8