Halloween filter: How do I make a cost-effective Han Solo replica gun?

September 24, 2007 9:17 AM

Halloween filter: How do I make a cost-effective Han Solo replica gun?

I bought this with the plan of modifying it so it looks more like han's blaster from the first star wars movie. My plan is to find a used/broken scope from somewhere and mount it on the top. I also am going to the Home Depot to buy some kind of pipe to put on the nozzle so it looks more like the real one. The few howtos I found on the internet assume a lot of experience doing this kind of thing.

My concern is that I've never done this kind of thing before. I'm mechanically inclined and am comfortable with small home repairs, hot glue guns, and spray paint. I probably have access to a drill but am not sure what kind of bits I have.

Could someone more experience than me help me answer these questions or provide some general commentary?

1. What should I look out for at home depot? Should I just buy a small pvc pipe and some kind of funnel, glue them together, spray paint them, and glue them to the gun's nozzle? Is there a better way to do this?

2. What kind of scope can I mount on here? Is there a toy scope I can get cheaply that I can just glue on there? I imagine a real rifle scope would be too big and probably too heavy.

3. How can I paint this properly? What kind of spray paint would I need?

4. Is there a good way to fake the wood grain or other details without spending too much money? I've never really cut wood and dont have the equipment for it.

5. Any other advice?

Or if my approach is all wrong, please let me know what I should be doing. Thanks!

posted by the ghost of Ken Lay to media & arts (8 comments total)

Also if the hobbytron gun is too cheesy Im willing to buy a better one, but I'd like to keep the price under 20 dollars.
posted by the ghost of Ken Lay at 9:23 AM on September 24, 2007

I'd watch this auction to see if the price stays under your budget.
posted by mikepop at 10:07 AM on September 24, 2007

The thing on the muzzle of Han's blaster looks remarkably like a duck call.

Your basic acrylic spray paint should be fine. I would sand down edges for the appropriate shabby-space look.

The rest of it looks so close that unless this costume is for a Star Wars convention, it would easily pass without further modification: the majority of Halloween partygoers are not going to notice details like wood grain on the handle, at night, in a party setting.
posted by jamaro at 10:11 AM on September 24, 2007

Deal Extreme has some cheap scopes (or Lasers) with free shipping.
posted by Mitheral at 10:34 AM on September 24, 2007

I did a stormtrooper blaster for my birthday. If you want movie accuracy then I think you'll have to break the budget with one of the kits that have resin parts designed to glue onto the original Mauser, or the Kenner toy blaster. Remember though that 99% of people going to your Halloween party aren't going to remember what the D-44 is supposed to look like. They'll be more impressed by your creativity than your accuracy.
When I did it, I chopped up various bits of plastic tubing and funnelling, from odd bits of trash including a small petrol tank. I then used regular matte black and silver spray paints, to paint and weather the gun when it was all glued.
posted by roofus at 10:36 AM on September 24, 2007

My favorite thing to do, when working on a craft project like this, is just to print out a picture of what I want the end product to look like, then wander aimlessly around Home Depot until I find what I can use. The thing on the muzzle can probably be found in the plumbing section; it looks a lot like the spray-attachments for the ends of garden hoses.

So no, there's no "better way" to do this; the best-looking component pieces tend to be found just by scanning the aisles, in my experience.

For the shabbiness, I agree that sanding works nicely, but you also might try painting with a sponge. You've got flat black already, so now you can lightly dab with a bit of grey/silver to give it a slightly mottled and weathered look.
posted by Greg Nog at 12:11 PM on September 24, 2007

I have to agree with the Home Depot/Lowe adventure. Roaming about with an open mind, you find all sort of things that have uses for other things..
posted by sandpine at 2:04 PM on September 24, 2007

For a video project I built several blasters from Home Depot parts, rifles and pistols. PVC pipe, lead pipe, reducers, clamps, etc. Add a little spray paint and you've got a pretty cool gun. Cut up a 2x4, sand it down and paint/stain for the stock.

I'll poke around at home later tonight and see if I can come up with some pix.
posted by trinity8-director at 3:54 PM on September 24, 2007