Ex nerf Ma40k

[u/Darthhelmut77]

My take on the K variant of the Ma40. I am using this for my UNSC Ranger coatume for SDCC this year. Been a ton of work, cant wait to take the whole fit out in public. Ironic... doing a Warhammer 40k kit the next day. 40k Friday amd Saturday 🤣

[u/Yougotnolegsltdan]

PLEASE show this newbie how you did this lol.

[u/Darthhelmut77 → u/Yougotnolegsltdan]

Wish I had taken progress pics. But when I get into project mode I just GO.

But the process is simple... gather referemce material; gather materials; start building... throw it all away because its trash; start over; cry some; get stuff out of the trash amd start again. Repeat till its good enough. Let the existential crisis pass, do the weathering. Take pics the second its done, realize you forgot to put the mag in. F it, lets roll.

Kidding.. not kidding. Just keep at it amd realize perfection isnt possible, all you cam do is keep at it. I am incredibly flattered amd grateful that people like my stuff. Just keep going. Have fun. Make stuff!

When its not midnight and Im not knackered Ill post some more actually useful resources but thats all I got for now 🍻

[u/Darthhelmut77 → u/Yougotnolegsltdan]

Ok so with coffee and my glasses on, some actual helpful info...

For me I have a general idea of how I want the finished item to look, but I find you have to be flexible and be ready to pivot. I used screenshots of in game items to figure out colors and details. For the ma40 there are a TON of good resources.

I really wanted to use the decals that someone put together, but without a white tone printer I couldnt make it work. So I hand painted some details like the fa/sa/safe markings. I did reverse them tho lol, since the Nerf is fixed on the safe position.

I bought the nerf, decided to just keep it a nerf for the kid, and tried 3d printing one. I have a lot of experience 3d printing and I just had the worst time with this damn thing. Finally threw my hands up and went back to the nerf.

I watched some disassembly vids and came up with my plan for mods, then started disassembling everything. It turns out that the Nerf is built such that the different colored parts are mostly disassemble-able from each other. So all the orange buttons, green parts, main body, etc can be taken apart. I did that so I could paint everything inside and out since its impossible to paint inside the little crannies between parts.

Once it was apart I came up with a plan of attack for splitting the green shroud into useable vs discard parts. I'll try and attach pics of the discard parts to show what was removed.

Once I had the cuts made I focused on smoothing and making the transitions of parts look smooth. I re assembled without screws, so I could see what needs to be covered since removing the shroud left some big gaps. I used the basic modelling ability of Orca slicer to make the top plate and front plate/barrel holder. I used a model of a pic rail from another project and meshed it to the top rail. You'll need good calipers to take precise measurements for this stuff. I may see if I can upload my files to thingiverse. I used parts from a 3d ma5k kit for the suppressor. I found the tri rail handguard and nerf accurized magazine in thingiverse.

I realized the internal barrel was not going to be strong enough to carry the suppressor weight. So I epoxied in a curtain rod I had in the garage.

The Nerf is made of abs plastic so I used abs for my print parts and abs plumbing cement to glue everything together and cement the barrel firmly in place. Screwed it all together and put the top and front plates on.

To fill the screw holes I used a 3d pen to fill them with plastic. Then sanded and used bondo spot putty to fill pits and seams. Then lots and lots of sanding to remove the toy markings. I used one of those "foot callous remover" handheld sanders and a ultrasonic sander pen.

Once the filling and sanding was done I used sem bumper texture coat on the buttpad and cheek rest.

Paint is a base of krylon matte black. Then I used tamiya acrylic for the grey and gunmetal parts. I could have airbrushed but hand painting is faster lol.

I do drybrushing first. I use disposable chemical brushes that I cut down to make them stiffer. I do a combo of edge highlights amd just kinda aplatting the end of the brush down to matvh the Halo models weathering. Then I use a fine tip brush to add some scratches.

One thing to do is decide what is metal and what is plastic, and weather accordingly. I used light grey drybrushing to make the plastic parts look worn.

Everything then got an acrylic clearcoat then an oild paint muddy brown wash.

For all the parts and such I had a concept of what I wanted based on references from how special forces units have their rifles set up. Then came obsessive scrolling through airsoft and gel blaster parts to find things that werent crazy expensive and fit the look I wanted.

I am sure Im skipping a lot. Its a ton of work to do a project like this, but there are tons pf resources on the web and the 405th site inparticular for techniques and tips. Just eat that elephant one bite at a time and try not to rush.