Scratchbuilt Sprue scifi firearms - 15 mm upwards

Hello again all,

Here;s a short tutorial on how to build hand weapons using just sprue.

Simple build.

My tools are fine point clipper, a tile snipping pliers for plain flattening & a flat tip long nose pliers for texture flattening.

Chopping tools are made from ground and sharpened broken off blades ( have to be short for robustness & very sharp for clean cuts ). Needless to say sharp means dangerous , so do be careful with blades.

( having said that , even blunt crochet needless are said to be deadly in the hands of very upset grannies 😉😊)

Thin flat, triangular, square & round files ( I put a piece of plastic on my round file as it has a nasty point which can poke an eye if one is not careful)

1) All sprue is equal but some are more equal than others. This means choose the sprue bits you like.

2) Chop off sprue slightly longer than needed. Clean off sprue with flat file to have a decent flat surface. Cut sprue end at a chamfer ( blade bevel has to touch sprue so that blade slides at an angle as it cuts. Putting the flat side will result in a straighter cut )

3) Flatten end either cold or hot ( hot means it is very painful if molten plastic sticks to your finger !! ) after heating on tea candle ( the 2 on the right are cold flattened the rest hot ) Notice cold flattening crushes the plastic whilst hot takes the pliers indentations better. Mind your fingers when pressing as it is very easy to crimp them in the pliers.

Drill exit hole now as later might be difficult to do.

4) Using files , file away shapes to create butts , hand grips etc until you are satisfied with general shape.

5) Prepare small pieces of sprue, pulled heated sprue etc ( for garnishing :):):) )

6) Start to glue the pieces to your hearts content.This lot took around 45 mins or less to make.

They're scaled for 15/18mm like the ones I used for McGraw.

and these are using different sprue , more filing was needed especially on the handle.

And so as promised here are Heavy Weapons

I had no plan for this I was just cutting & shaping sprue and then gluing .. and see where that will take me.Again sprues are chosen & cut to an appropriate size. So I decide for a twin over & under flak kannon. Holes are to be drilled before hand.

I then continue to choose bits of sprue to bulk up build.

More bits are cut & shaped using the tools shown.

Here is what happens when you use the wrong tool, I tried to form cold sprue which is basically a hard material & I grabbed in distraction a thin long nose. One of the points broke & flew... luckily not hitting me in the face. Pity I had that tool for ages, now I will have to find a replacement. It pays to be careful & not get distracted.

Another thing when you press grab it with both hands, this alleviates the pressure on your wrist. I had carpal tunnel syndrome lots of times ( basically severe hand nerve tingling ) due to over pressing with hand... who said scratchbuilding wasn't dangerous !!!??? 

The build continues until I had this.

And here is a selection of hmg's mortar, rocket launchers etc.... all using sprue.

The small tan one is a GW Epic squat thudd gun.

Thanks for your comments.

 Z