I know I’ve been quite for a bit but life has been quite busy. My daughter and I go to an anime convention every year and we both cosplay. This year I decided to cosplay “Stun Gun” Millie Thompson from Trigun. I tend to pick my cosplays by their props and this was no exception. Her multi-barrel non-lethal gun was a lot of fun to build and got a lot of remarks at the con itself. 90% of this build was made from plywood cut with the Glowforge.
First test fit of the main body pieces. I didn’t realize I had made it about twice as thick as I should of until way too late.
yes!!! so cool to finally see some props pop up from the forge. I love how you are already combining materials and techniques.
I’ve got a Gears of War Lancer blueprint in the making for when I finally get my forge in. I’m going to love not having to saw out all the small parts.
Have you tried your hand on cutting some pepakura yet?
I’ve done a lot of papercraft and pepakura in the past but have not gotten to combining it with the Glowforge in any significant manner but it is on my list of methods to investigate.
Bit of a story to that. 5 days before the con the gun got knocked to the ground. I had left it leaning on the wall and it simply fell over. It broke into 3 pieces. I realized I had gone for lightweight and instead build fragile. While I repaired the damage I investigated what went wrong and where. Last day of the con at about the last hour the shoulder strap came loose while I was taking it off and it was flung to the ground violently. It suffered minor cosmetic damage that I patched up with hot glue and black duct tape.
Thanks! I look for reference pictures, the one I posted earlier, the one darkdesign showed and this one from the DVD were the best I could find.
With anime props I measure the person commissioning the prop and match the weapon proportionally to the anime. In this case the commission was for me. I am the same height as the character so that was easy. Measure pieces in relation to her body in the picture, measure me, and begin making rough sketches. Try to figure out any design challenges and then make blueprints. After that it’s lots, and lots, of inkscape, Glowforge, screws, epoxy, and a bit of Worbla.
Or, as darkdesign said, I copied the anime.
Honestly, duplicating an anime or game prop is much harder than just making my own. I am too much a perfectionist.
Soon, I have a friend cosplaying Million Knives who needs two.
Keep us posted! I’m a big Trigun fan and used to own all the figures too. My brother still has them on display. Sadly, no Angel arm though… One of the projects in my personal hopper is a replica of Vash’ pistol (those and Alucards’!)
Maybe you can make The Rock a Monev the Gale costume…
