I got a commission to make the AER9 Laser Rifle from the video game Fallout 3, I knew Volpin Props had already made a really nice one so I bought the vectors from his website and had some blueprints made up. I also referenced his build blog throughout the build.
I cut the main frame out of MDF and cut out the empty areas with a band saw and jig saw
I made the box/barrel out of MDF also.
I started cutting and shaping the shapes and raised details to add on to the exterior of the rifle out of Sintra and styrene using the blueprints. I usually have a couple copies of the blueprints made so I can cut one or two up for patterns.
Here I have cut a long strip of 6 mil (1 inch) Sintra and glued it down around the edge of the stock, carefully using a heat gun to bend it to shape. I have also notched out the receiver and turned the power cell out of resin on the lathe.
I made the front and rear boxes out of Sintra also. To get the nice panel lines, I actually made 3 separate boxes, beveled the edges a bit, then glued them together.
I free-handed a pattern out of cardstock to make the part under the front of the barrel, using the final pattern to cut out a piece of thin styrene which I then wrapped around the "steeple" -looking part in the picture above this one.
Here I have cut out a disc from styrene as part of the assembly that holds the power cell. I then sculpted the gray part with Free-Form Earth, which is Smooth-On's version on Apoxie Sculpt.
I cut out the fins for the business end of the rifle. Do not look directly into the business end of a laser rifle unless you are getting lasik !
There are several of these fiddley bits on the rifle, so I made one and cast copies.... Easey Peasey !
The foregrip was made with an MDF spine, sandwiched between 6 mil Sintra, then shaped. I formed a solid piece of Sintra around it, then cut the stips out. This ensured a good fit !
And, the mock up so far !
The ejection latch was made from styrene, and the raised bit on the lever is half round strene rod which should be available in a hobby shop, or online.
The bottom rod that runs parallel under the barrel was made from a wood dowel shaped on a lathe and a piece of plastic tube .
Here is Boba Fett admiring the bevels I did by hand. I glued some course sandpaper to a scrap wooden dowel to get them smooth and uniform.
The tube on the top was an old drinking tube from a hydration pack. I ran some armature wire though it to hold the shape I needed and filled it with Smoothcast 321, then painted it!
After the base coat of paint, I made the graphics by printing out the designs on paper. I had no access to decals so I had to improvise by glueing them to the body and later coating them with super glue to seal them in. After a few coats of satin clear, and some light sanding, they looked pretty legit !
Thanks for reading !!
