Hand-Schaub's rifle build thread

[Hand-Schaub]

Greetings once again,

Now that I feel like my Cylon armor is basically complete (with the exceptions of revising parts). I am going to complete people requests to make rifles. My intention is to make "stunt" rifles as I plan to use it for trooping and what not. Lightweight vacu-formed and painted plastic and lots of electrical tape. I have no plans to do a light up version because I don't really want that for myself. The design will be derived from observation and measurements from an original rifle (from who else but Dale).

The tooling will be 100% original from me. I will show progress pics as I go along.

There have been other makers on this forum offering rifles but they don't seem to be around any more or do not offer a vacu-formed version of it. I am primarily making this for myself and a couple of fellow Cylon friends. If the results are good I will offer some up to the board. I will probably make kit versions too.

So to begin the process I am in need of one part and that is the 'left' side panel. Yeah the hard to find one. If anybody has this I will be most grateful but I want to be upfront that I would mold it and use it for my own rifle. I already have resin panels from the other side.

All the other parts I am making myself or having made by a fellow enthusiast. Yeah, I got a guy who can turn acrylic stock!

[Dargas]

Cant wait to see what you come up with!

[Flyboy]

same here cant wait.

[Cylon-Knight]

Rock on.

[Red Eye]

Good luck with your build!

[Hand-Schaub]

well... believe it or not... this was a lot of work! Lots of thinking, looking and measuring the old school way.

[Red Eye]

Looks like it was well worth it!

[Cylon-Knight]

Another 20 or 30 min of work and ... RIGHT?

Looking GOOD. Great progress.
...and just like my motto... Old School. New School. Cylons Rule.
the old school build. That is the only way to go, the way they were originally done!

[Hand-Schaub]

I came down with a cold so I did absolutely nothing yesterday, but today I got some more done. I'm getting to a point where I'll need to vacu-form over the forms in order to start making the final tooling. What you see is wood and plastic mockups which will be clayed up and vacu-formed over. I will then cast fiberglass into the vacu-formed plastic parts to make one piece tooling. I can then tweak and round out the tools for accuracy. In the end I'm having fun with this project because even though I had looked at original samples so much I am amazed how often I go back to the galleries and look at pictures to check myself.

ok.. pictures

[Cylon-Knight]

*Air high five* from Missouri! Looking great. Hope you feel better soon, take care.

[Red Eye]

Yeah, please get well soon!

the update, great work so far.

[Flyboy]

Hope you get well soon.

[GoldCylon]

Reviewing from my phone it looks great. Will it be sold as a kit or complete build.

[Hand-Schaub]

Reviewing from my phone it looks great. Will it be sold as a kit or complete build.

Possibly both. I think I can make the tooling so I t is very build friendly. If the notched tab thing works out then it will be very easy to line up and glue together.

Since most of the rifle is electrical tape I think it will be part of the kit

I got some plastic to do some prototyping today. If I don't die from heat stroke this weekend I should have some new pics up soon (it's 100+F in Sacramento area for you out of towners).

[Cylon-Knight]

HEAT BAD!!!

@Hand-Schaub... will your rifle be built up as one big ol' chunk (like mine)?
Or will it be "travel friendly" and break down into two, maybe three sub-units? I recently saw a Cylon rifle on eBay that seemed to break into two main sections. A good idea for a Cylon on the move, I thought.