Destiny Handcannon Reload Conversion

Hey guys, if you got a handcannon kit of mine or were considering one, you should read through this post!

Here I break down the process of pinning the swingarm, and the optional process of making a track for the swingarm to stop. (Alternatively you can just build it in the closed position with just about no effort what so ever)

Why didn't I just incorporate this into the kit you ask? Because resin nubs and cuts just aren't strong enough or precise enough to support this kind of action on this revolver. The game action runs on magic, and if I made the action like they did it in the game the cylinder would hit the bottom lip almost immediately and would never open. Thus, a new swingarm location and design had to be invented to preserve accuracy.

First, take the swingarm and sand it down a bit. The swingarm is cast from an open faced mold to save time and cost, which means it wont be perfectly parallel on both ends. You'll want to flatten it out a bit, and if anything, sand heavier on the side that points to the inside of the gun. I sanded mine on a piece of 220 atop a perfectly flat, machined surface.

You'll want to test the alignment with the cylinder. I inserted the cylinder pin through the opening, and lightly coated the end of the pin with super glue and let it dry. This gives the pin an extra snug fit into the swingarm. DO NOT glue the pin into anything at this point. This simply tightens the slack for test fitting. You might want to lightly sand the opening if you want the cylinder to spin more freely.

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Hold the swingarm flush in its place and see if you like the alignment. Adjust accordingly with sanding. Then, draw lines in the same locations pictured here (the pencil lines are small and a bit shiny so they're hard to see)

In this next step.... hack it off! you can use a scroll saw, exacto saw, jewlers saw, etc just make sure the blade is thin. The bottom location of the cut is critical. The top one has more flexibility. You have to cut this because there just isn't a way to drill the proper holes otherwise.

After you're done crying/freaking out for a bit, put a drop of glue down under the swingarm. This will hold it in place for drilling, but you can still pry it off with little/no damage afterwards. Glue this thing down as low as possible. you want the gap to be towards the top of the swingarm, not the bottom. (I made this mistake and now it rubs a little when the cylinder pops out)

Set up for drilling. A machine vice/drill press makes it easy. Use what you can, but if you do it with a hand drill/dremel don't expect precision results.

This is the "pin" I used. I think its something like a 16D nail. All I remember is it is 7/64" in diameter. I roughed up the ends so that the glue has a batter chance of staying. I used a cut-off wheel for this. I ended up cutting about 3/8ths off the end because my drill but wouldn't go that deep.

Here is the location of the hole. The drilling melted/cracked the receiver a bit, which is somewhat of a good thing as you'll see later. You don't want to crack the swingarm though. That piece is rather important.

There's a couple of things we need to do before gluing the swingarm pin. One is dealing with the magnets. If you want your chamber to stay closed, you'll need magnets to do so.

This is the upper backside of the swingarm. One of the magnets goes here. (You'll have to pry your lightly glued swingarm off of the receiver) After you drill the hole at the appropriate size and depth paint the area around the hole with some acrylic. Then temporarily put the pin in, swing it closed, and it will "stamp" the location of where the other magnet needs to go. I'll let you figure that bit out.

Where were we....ahh, the whole pinning thing. Its important to make room for the head of the nail. It needs to be flush with the swingarm surface, or the cylinder will not be able to rotate. I started drilling a concentric hole with a larger drill bit, then I cleaned it up with an exacto. I'm told they make special drill bits for this, though.

If you dont mind the swingarm moving out really far (this is technically accurate to the game model, but I still don't like it) then you can glue the pin in place at this point. If you're going to do the optional part below, DO NOT GLUE THE PIN. Simply dry fit it in place.

OPTIONAL BIT

It bothers me how far it opens, and just doesn't look as cool as stopping mid-swing. Also, the power cell would hit your hand on the way out if you left it the way it is in the game. I decided to make a "track" and a stop.

I drilled a hole for a smaller nail at this location through the swingarm only.

I pressed the nail down through the hole (Dont glue it) while swinging the swingarm open to the point where I wanted it to stop. I did this several times until it started scraping a thin path. Then, I ground of a little bit more of the nail tip and repeated the process until I got a relatively shallow and wide groove. I sanded it carefully using a folded edge of a sandpaper scrap.

Resin is a relatively soft material, and dragging a nail across it will eventually continue "scribing" the track. then it will start opening further than you'd like over time. To put a stop to this (Pun intended) I drilled another nail location at the end of the track.

I glued the nail in place and used a cut-off wheel. Now I have a metal stop which should last forever.

I glued the smaller nail in place, with just a nub sticking out to guide the swingarm through the track.

END OPTIONAL BIT.

Then I glued the main pin. (Easy on the glue. You don't want this overflowing and gluing your swingarm in one place! I then dug out the cracked/melted portion of the receiver from before. This is a good thing.

I carved it out until I hit the nail. Then I put some super glue in the hole and sanded the surface around it so the resin dust falls into the hole. Then more super glue, and more dust. This not only fixed the cosmetic flaw that drilling caused, but strongly reinforces the textured pin with a superglue/resin concoction.

Almost done! Glue the receiver halves together. I would glue the top first, and then the bottom. I still wouldn't glue the cylinder pin in place until after you have painted everything.

The teeny tiny piece included with the kit is called the "swingarm stop". I designed it so that you can sand it down a bit and sandwich it between the swingarm and the tiny nook in the receiver designed for it. This helps keep the swingarm tight and aligned when closed, but also reinforces the tiny joint at the bottom where we cut the receiver in half. It mimics the shape of this section on the receiver.

Here's mine glued in place. Don't mind the black paint or if my swingarm looks different than yours. I was working on a cosmetic conversion at the time.

If you did this conversion, congrats! you'll never stop flicking it open and closed. I promise.

Mass Effect 3 M-25 Hornet SMG

So, whatever photo deficiency there was in the last post was, this one will more than make up for it. Sorry if you have 56k!

I started this sometime after PAX, and worked on it in-between commissions. Then I did a flood of progress while waiting for silicone for another project.


This is my favorite SMG from all of the mass effect guns so I wanted to give it a go.

The reference I used was provided generously by this dood: link to dude.

Here's the concept shot. I'd like to thank Brian Sum from Bioware for the dimensions.

Complex bevel: 45 degrees to 30 degrees to 20 degrees. No dremel involved!

Top rail beginnings

Side panel

Progress:

Did I mention the grip is friggin tiny? (yes, this is the correct size.)

Main body parts coming together

Middle layer

(note my ummm... "precise" inner drafting for the cuts)

Little recessed detail thingie with complex bevels around it.

Test fit

With removeable magazine action! Too bad it doesn't distribute beer.

Did the little bits near the barrel tip, as well as the barrel tip itself.

As well as the "spine" of the grip, and the bolt housing. You can see here that I deleted the bolt on the left side of the gun, despite there being two on the reference. Just didn't make sense and it bugs me.

Then I added a few details to the top rail, and enlarged some of the bevels using a dremel to take down the hard edges, and hand sanded 80 grit and 150 grit for the rest. It went rather fast, but I have the whole rest of the gun to go. There are a ton of fillets and bevels all over the place.

I used PVC to make the rounds on the rear of the "carrying handle" 

Then the voids were covered in styrene.

Heres some kind of detail made carefully in styrene.

Finishing up the beveling on the front end: 

More styrene details

The priming adventure

First pass, lookin good!

Just about done, I left the hard part for last. The little dimples on the sides, and the annoying little circular inserts

The dimples seem to angle in on a plain from the back, and turn into fillets as they meet the forward edge of the recess. I decided, of course, to use styrene. I made little risers, and then made little templates to cut the sheets. ( Want to play a fun drinking game? re-read this post and take a swig when you see the word "styrene")

To acheive the greatest mating surface area, I dremeled the little edge of the styrene to meet the angle it rests at. 

Heres a view installed, looking down the side

Fun. 

A few more passes. Did this on both sides, mind you. Kind of hard to keep the fillet constant. 

You can hardly tell the dimple is there (1/8th inch deep, just like the design) but it was worth it. Heres a picture of the first screw plug insert. 

Masking the grip. Getting much faster at cutting custom masking strips. 

Orange stripe thingie. If you have one of these near your magwell, you might want to get it checked out. 

Last circles cut out on a scroll saw, then sanded. The thin styrene ring was dremeled. 

I've never seen the top of the magazine removed, and I think mass effect guns fire conventional rounds nowadays so I decided to have a modern looking magazine tip. (its removable) 

I modeled it after an MP5. Styrene. 

Stencil drafting

Painted and weathered. I took too much off this side, so I re-did it. 

CAM aircraft lettering decal set. Works pretty good for the little stuff. 

Done!

My friend Kai who goes by kommissar on the Replica Prop Forum connected me with Rana McAnear, who you might have seen around the cons dressed up as Samara. They modeled the in game character after her, so its as canon as it gets! I loaned her the hornet for a cross-promotion.

On the left is Corey Gaspur, lead combat designer of Bioware at sdcc 2012. The next day I shipped it to Eric Jarman so he can cast it and run around nekked with it. Man, everyone gets to enjoy it but me!

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