Dark Heresy LARP Boltpistol

This was a personal project I build for a month Dark Heresy LARP I game in.  Been a LARP, costume is encourage and I knew my next character would have a Boltpistol in game so I wished to make one for my costume.

I went for balsa wood as the making build material for the pistol. I knew that it would be a bit delicate but it was the easiest material to work with so it was a chance I was willing to take. This scale is correct to what you would find in the RPG books, which is hugely over sized. The pistol is 4inces across and 13inches long.  I had build a HeavyBolter before so I knew how to go about making the base structure for the prop.

 

The pistol grip was the only real tricky part of the build. Getting the size and shape just right so that my hand fit around it naturally.

An extra layer of wood for the detail of the body, the grip sanded down and the magazine fit in nicely.

I made the mag separate as I want to be able to make a mold of it and cast a few extra ones to carry with me at the LARP.

Bolt pistols are normal coloured red or blue on the upper layer so I went for red. And seeing as how this is a weapon from the 40K Universe one always needs a add a skull or two.

A metal finish was added to the rest of the gun. This involves getting an old worn out brush and specking on silver paint in a few layers. It quite fun but takes a number of layers of paint to get looking right.

& here is the finished piece:

I know that more detail can be added to it & I will at a later time but I'm happy with how this guy turned out

-M