Team Fortress 2: Demoman's Grenade Launcher

I love Team Fortress 2. Yes, I know this is a big surprise. But with only a mere 700 hours on the game, I decided I still couldn't get enough and wanted to bring more of it into my......living room.

Initially I was going to do the Demoman's sticky launcher, but couldn't find the appropriate piping. I could make it or source it somewhere, but wanted to start on something right away. Plus, the mechanism of the grenade launcher as well as the sheer size and stock make it a more complex build. I figured it would be more of a challenge and thus more satisfying.

Did I mention this thing is huge?

I started with the chamber and the frame that goes around it. This is the heart of the gun, and if something is slightly off, everything else will follow. I decided to get it right before trucking onwards.


This is one of the only MDF parts on the gun that isn't hollow. A you can see, there's only a hair of structure keeping the center "star" attached.

The top part is the start of the "frame" of the launcher. I left a circle as an opening to line up with the chamber, and left two stems of support. The edges are relatively thin, but it saves a ton of weight.

 

This, of course, had to be covered up. Even in this layer I eliminated any MDF that was going to be covered up with yet another layer, but also didn't effect the structure.

 

The next layer goes on with the holes cut for the screw heads. The large circle cut had to be precise, as I wanted the barrel to friction fit inside so it can be removed for storage/transport. 

 

 Happy with how everything fit so far, I started gluing the tubes in the revolving drum bit.

Dry fitting the barrel to see how everything lines up, as well as creating a parallel reference for the upper support arm pictured below.

 

Did the front sight and took a teaser picture.

 

I don't have any non-blurry pictures of the lower support arm. So here's this. It too, was hollow and took about 8 parts to make. I could have done this on a few layers of MDF but it would have been heavier. Every bit helps!

Did a quick layer of the back plate. The lower arm was off just a hair here, so this was a good place to correct it.

 

 I cut out and glued the mass of the back plate to the part I just made. Hollow as always, but I left a small support frame for the stock. Also I left a square area for a mechanism that I knew I'd have to retrofit in there eventually.

 

 Moving right along!

The stock had to be made next so that the trigger, mechanism, and trim pieces could be made based on measurements taken from the outlines of the stock. This is what I started with:

*Correction* This is what I started with: (Shaved a pound just by taking this simple, extra step.)

I might have forgotten to take more pictures of the stock progression.. Anyways, heres the basics of the stock mechanism shamelessly stolen from a similar build by TLL Creations. I refined the idea a little bit and it works great!

This is the underside of the release lever. The deeper notch is for a spring, and the shallow notch is for a stop.

Happy with everything, I sealed up the mechanism.

The frame for the trigger was made, of course with some room left to make the trigger move.

Trigger made and Pinned. A spring was inserted between the rear of the trigger and a corresponding hole drilled into the stock.

This is the cuff that goes around the stock where it meets the back plate. It was shaped using some....unusual....methods in a successful attempt to avoid filler.

Coming together. #Prime #Sand #Repeat

Time to revisit the front end. To panel everything on the front, I made a series of MDF supports to be covered in styrene. That means that yes, even these parts are hollow. Gotta save that weight!

Same story with the bottom. 

The foregrip was made hollow by calculating all of the angles in which a bunch of 1/2" pieces of MDF need to meet at. The rest was just simple sanding.

Looking good so far! (PS. Spot the Coke can in the picture.)

This is a cuff that goes at the base of the barrel. I borrowed a chop saw to get the section cut at exactly 90 degrees. Then I taped a line and used my scroll saw to do a 45 degree bevel all around.

Made the "rear sight" that sits on the upper support arm. The mechanism is also fun to play with. Almost there!

I re-did the front sight at the last minute. The one on the left (The first version) had too much angle and just looked too cartoony.

Last shot before small detail bits and paint. Redbull for scale. (No, it doesn't fit in the chamber. Barely...)

"Leeeeeet's do ittttttt!"
Special thanks to Dagger 6 Productions for the awesome photos!

Off ye' go lads!

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Mass Effect III N7 Valiant Sniper Rifle

This will be my 6th completed Mass Effect gun build to date. The N7 valiant. I decided to go with the short barreled version you see in the game, rather than the long barreled version on the back of the Mass Effect 3 cover. I also opted to make a few changes that don't exist in the game model, and wanted to give it a stealthy, dark look to it since it is an experimental weapon.

Here's a picture, try and spot the changes by the end:

Obviously, I thought it best to start with a previous project from long ago.

I actually made two of them, before sending one off to the client way back when. Of course my skills had improved since carving that thing out three years ago, so I decided to revisit a few things and clean up some detail so I could mold it. This would serve as the base for the N7 valiant.

I used styrene to make the sharp beveled edges back here.

As you can probably see, there were a lot of flaws to deal with, as well as a lot of hollow areas that needed to be clayed up before molding.

First pass of bondo.

When that was done, the deep panel in the grip was clayed up, as well as the outside of the gun. I use MDF jigs to help save time on molding, as well as get really precise molds.

I brushed on about 6 layers of silicone and trimmed the excess.

Then I used Smooth-on's plasti-paste for the jacket. this is the jacket cured, the part flipped over, and the Jig removed.

Mold release, repeat steps.

The scope had to be re-made, I didn't have an extra. This was fine, I needed to re-make it anyways to be more mold friendly. The rear half of the scope is simply a mattock scope, minus the eye shade. I didn't take molding pictures, just the prep shot. 

                                                             
The mold churned out some really nice casts, considering the complexity of the part!

High-tech illustration of finished product below.

As you can see, the stock is drastically different than the M-29 cousin. I cut two of these at once.

This is actually three layers cut at different angles, then glued together and beveled.

Lining things up.

I hacked off the top strip of MDF and added this sliver of PVC pipe.

Comparison of old VS new. Added PVC to the bottom as well.

Bit added to bridge the PVC, plus some fairly obvious layering.

Prepped up.

Using templates. I have to cut these pieces separate because they have beveled edges.

The straight cuts take a lot of patience.

These slots go at the end of the outer barrel.

The inside channel of this part had to be the exact width of the PVC pipe that was going to sit in there. Otherwise, problems with molding would occur.

Some more progress. There's a front site on there for some reason, which cant even me remotely seen from the back of the rifle. I dunno. I didn't design the thing. Sure looks cool though. By the way, this is a modular design so that resin kit parts can be shared. The un-primed portion can slide right out at this point.

Molding wise, this is a tricky area that will have to be resolved carefully with clay.

Some progress on the lower tube. This is from the M-29, and will be shortened.

Somehow, I did this whole area in MDF last time. This time though, I couldn't manage and took a shortcut. I'm getting old.

Prepped for molds.

I re-use extra silicone or silicone from dead molds. Make sure there's no mold release, cut it up, and mix it into your later layers of silicone. Works great and saves money.

Perfect!

I skipped all of the smaller parts in this post. I didn't take photos, and everyone likes the big stuff anyways.

First receiver pull. Shame this is going to get hacked to death.

 I had to hack off the area behind the grip, as well as shorten the butt end. Don't worry, she'll get her curves back soon. 

I covered the holes with styrene, then slushed more resin behind it to reinforce the structure.

The area under the trigger guard is shortened.

Then beveled, to say.... I don't remember......26 degrees? wild guess?

More styrene, once again reinforced with resin on the inside.

On the top side of this little nub, some modifications had to be made to convert this M-29 nook into an N7 receiver.

I have a well-fitting insert out of MDF.

It was tricky to retrofit the part as well as line up the panels, but it was done.

It was then cast in resin (Both sides) and inserted/sanded flush. I used styrene to cover the small gap on the outside, but, yes, bondo will do for you sanding fanatics.

Last bit of details. I added on these slivers of MDF to some cast parts. Honestly, these are my favorite parts on the gun. They bridge the stock to the receiver and just have a cool shape.

Basecoat and some minor details. I used a flat metallic. Picky stuff, but well worth the look.

Entendu. Off to France.

As always, thanks for following along!

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