A lot of pictures on this site were hosted on Photobucket before they disabled photo embedding. If you'd like to see pictures for a particular post, please let me know, and I'll prioritize getting those images fixed next!

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Going Somewhere, Solo?


This is now hanging over my workspace. Definitely the most trouble I've ever gone to for a Star Wars joke... If you've seen my little shop, you'd accept the apology.

Han Solo's blaster (3D printed parts over a hacked up airsoft) and the coin he tips the bartender, in a Cantina-themed frame.


It started as another late night doodle

I picked up a $7 airsoft gun off eBay that's an okay approximation of a real C96 Mauser (the gun the original prop was based around).  Though many of the details were different, and the body of the gun was wider than the real thing, the profile is actually pretty close to the right dimensions, so that's a big help.


There are a few people who have modeled and made available the additional parts of Han's blaster.  I picked and chose the pieces from different sets that I thought looked best and were easiest for my 3D printer to print.

I modified some, like this antenna piece, by swapping out the printed posts with brass rod.  The grill in the front had to be scaled to fit my wider gun.

And there were lots of areas on the airsoft gun that had to be modified, like this tube they added on top to house the spring.  Grind it off!

Hacking away, then bondo and sanding and primering.

I realized I could help the fit of the grill by reshaping the front a bit (in progress here).

This is Alclad chrome model paint on the muzzle.  Very shiny.

We're a little scarce on pictures of the rest of the process, but the frame was made with a scrap of MDF and 1x2s.  A bit of tinted plaster scraped over the back and some paint to weather.  The coin I made up the design for and 3D printed, as well.  I'm happy to fill in the blanks if anyone has questions about specific steps.


It's far from an accurate replica, especially considering Han shot Greedo with a completely different gun than the one he uses in the rest of the movie, but hey, it's for the laugh.  Chuckle.  Half smile.  I'll take what I can get.


3 comments:

  1. Great job!

    And great clip. Love that one.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello Great Job!!! I was really impressed by the work you did on the grill which has been my one sticking point with using the "wider" airsoft as the basis for a build. It looks like you "rounded" the front end a bit to help the fit, am I correct??? Thank You!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Darryl,
      I printed the grill wider, so it was more oblong than circular, and also rounded off the front of the airsoft, as you said. That helped a lot getting it on there.

      Delete