Halo CE: Magnum prop
 |
| Collage of the Halo: CE Magnum |
The Magnum from Halo: CE was the first prop gun I created. Fortunately, I had access to three new tools that would help me greatly: a scroll saw, disc sander and airbrush. These would allow me to made clean parts and paint jobs, making it look more like a factory standard prop (rather than a more natural one).
The
blueprint was created by THEdanru on the RPF. In my prop, I changed a few
things to sort of “update” it, such as the rounding of whatever that top bit is
and pushing the top front back. There are a lot of parts of the gun that I
don’t really know what are called, so my terminology will be sloppy.
Construction:
The basic
shape of the top of the gun (body) and the grip were cut out separately from
two sheets of 12mm EVA foam and two sheets of 8mm foam glued together. These
were cut on the scroll saw. A bevel was then added to the underside of
the body. The grip was sanded back to fit the new width of the body.
A trapezium
shape was cut out to fit on the top of the body. A cylinder was then cut out
and glued to the trapezium to form whatever that part is above the “barrel”.
The front of the body was beveled by sanding it to shape and notches sanded out
from the front.
Next for
some pattern making. To make whatever that sheet is on top of the Magnum, I hot
glued some aluminum foil down to bulk out the rounded part. Every part (on one
half of the body) that would be covered by the sheet was covered in duct tape
and the shape drawn on. This duct tape pattern was then taken off and seams cut
to allow it to sit flat. It was then traced onto paper then made symmetrical by
folding it. This was then traced onto 3mm foam then carefully glued into
position onto the body using hot glue, contact cement and super glue (for a
range of purposes).
The raised
shape on the grip was cut out from 3mm foam, rounded and glued onto both sides.
The entire grip’s edges were then rounded. Dimples were added by using a grid
to mark them out, heating up the foam and then using the end of a paint brush
to mold the foam.
The scope (or
whatever it is) of the gun at the back was made by stacking sheets of 3mm foam
and cutting out the basic shapes of the top of it. These were all glued
together and sanded flush, then beveled.
The
grill-style parts below the scope were cut from strips of 3mm foam and evenly
spaced, backing onto another sheet of 3mm foam. This was done for both sides
and then glued to the body. Lines were added with a scalpel blade and a ruler
to form the [firing] part of the gun. After that a template was made for the
plate on the [firing part], which was then traced on and carefully carved out
with a scalpel knife. Shapes were also carved onto the back of the body.
Next the
ammo magazine was cut out from 8mm foam and glued together, then glued to the
grip. Two cylinders were cut out and slightly cut along the sides to form the knobs
on the sides. Finally, the trigger and guard were cut from 8mm foam and glued
into position.
Painting:
Since I was
too afraid to use Plasti-dip for the first time and possibly ruin the work I
had done so far, I covered everything in a few layers of Modge Podge and sanded
as much as I could smooth.
The whole
thing was given a couple of layers of black primer before moving onto airbrushing.
The grip was masked off before painting. The first layer of paint was metallic
which was applied to the [firing part] of the gun and the sheet cover. A second
layer was applied over the rest of the gun, mixing in a bit of black to darken
it.
After that,
a leather texture was applied to the grip by roughly dabbing on different
shades of sienna. The back shapes and top panel were given their appropriate
colours (I even tried to replicate the number 7 in kanji at the top), then the
whole thing was weathered with a dark sienna mix. After that, Rub ‘n’ Buff was
carefully applied to the edges then the whole thing was varnished.
Questions? Comments? Be sure to leave them below! I always welcome complements, but I love and encourage feedback even more.
