Minimized Tommy 20, juiced up with a battery upgrade and cosmetic work. Once again, a piece for a local Steampunk LARP. The ranges are still fairly feeble, but the rate of fire is greatly improved, making it absolutely unstoppable within 30 feet. You can lay down a veritable torrent of foam. The powered-up flywheels also make a fantastic screaming sound when the trigger is pulled.









The hinged & latched box on the side is the new, larger battery housing.

OMC, Larping is huge. There are more than 500 "business" games in the United States alone, where larping isn't as popular as it is in Europe. At least two full feature-length movies have been made about it for general release in the last few years. It's everywhere, and it naturally coincides with nerf.

As a general rule I wouldn't recommend taking on a condescending air while addressing an Admin. I'm sure OMC knows how big LARPing is etc etc, but yeah, I'm sure he appreciates the information.

And as for bows in Nerf, evertime this stuff comes up I'm always at a loss for why you would use weapons meant for hunting and killing for Nerf. I always looked on it as a game where we take child's toys and make them more enjoyable... Hm don't know about you but I don't want to get shot at by a real bow.

-OfAll'

OfAll,

Please don't look for "condescending" where it's not. I'm answering OMC's question, not taking a cheap shot. Believe me, my interests here do not include flaming admins.

Being shot at by a "real" bow using boff/nerf ammo is not a big deal. Safety standards are pretty well-established... most of these games are businesses with liability issues. Bow strength is monitored. Remember, people have been doing this in numbers since 1970something. When it comes to nerf and larp projectiles, I've taken more shots to the face than Elton John in the '80's, with no ill effects. The only injury I've ever heard of from a larp arrow was at a terrible game (now closed) where someone fell on an arrow made from a golf tube and got cut.

Hey Tigger,

You might want to try nerf arrows that have the tips bulked out with foam from a pool noodle, to make the striking surface larger. I assume that Amtgard rules don't allow the use of core in projectiles? A modded BBB might look okay, although I have no idea if arrows modded in this way would be too front-heavy to be practical. Do you have your heart set on modding a gun for this purpose? There are some pretty amazing bungee-cord crossbows out there that fire nerf arrows, as well. They look appropriately "period".


QUOTE(One Man Clan @ Apr 27 2009, 05:37 PM)

What's with all the LARP crap popping up on this board lately?


OMC, Larping is huge. There are more than 500 "business" games in the United States alone, where larping isn't as popular as it is in Europe. At least two full feature-length movies have been made about it for general release in the last few years. It's everywhere, and it naturally coincides with nerf.

All of the blasters I've made and modded have been geared for a specific live-action role-playing game I attend in Massachusetts. To my limited knowledge, there are only two games near me that allow the use of nerf "guns", one being steampunk-themed, and the other sci-fi. "Geek Culture" is growing in popularity and acceptance in the US... larpers are even being lampooned in movies and tv series. Humans Vs. Zombies, a simple rules larp if ever I've seen one, is a nationwide phenomenon integrating larp rules and nerf weapons. I'm wondering if anyone else on the forums attends any larp events, and if so, have you been able to use your nerf arsenal there?

The only thing I don't like is the hole in the bottom of the grip. Did you misplace the piece that goes there?

Aside from that, it's fucking awesome.

AssassinNF, good point... the gap is for the insertion of a horse-hair tassel that hangs from the butt (hur hur hur) of the gun. At the time these pics were taken, I was waiting for enough horse-hair to actually finish it. I'll have to take a newer pic.

To answer your questions:

This blaster took about ten hours altogether to make (not including time spent drying and looking at the NerfHaven tutorials). A lot of that time was spent kinda staring at it, trying to figure out what should go where, and puzzling over how to assemble it with all the additions. The paint I used was Plasti-Kote for the metallics and very cheap generic acrylic paint for the other colors. The verdigris was accomplished using several washes of green, greenish-blue, and turquoise (a wash is a heavily diluted, very watery layer of paint that settles in the recesses of what you're painting). The Plasti-Kote is great, because it is very durable and adheres beautifully to plastics, but I had some problems with it melting my first layer of spray primer. The whole deal is sealed with three layers of a satin spray whose brand name escapes me.

I paint everything by hand. Someone who is more skilled than I could probably do it with an airbrush, but I am a lot more comfortable with the old-fashioned style, having come from a background of miniature painting.

Thank you all so much for your feedback and support. It's very inspirational.

@Busta, you honor me, sir. It really is incredible to see the gradual progression of skill and beauty when you browse through the PJ/Mods forums... what we do is getting within a hair's breadth of being an actual art form.

@ Bob, Hey buddy! Nice to see you on here.

@ Froot: Thanks man! I'm sure you're right about this not being totally worthy of a new thread. I R Noob.

@ Tantum, Herpestidae, and Splitlip, thank you very much for the kind words. I've been visiting this site for a few months, borrowing from the amazing ideas and innovations here, so I'm standing on the shoulders of geniuses. I'm just some dude who likes spending a lot of time making things with little practical value.

Some of you may be familiar with the "boffer" weapons used at many live action role-playing games. For the uninitiated, these are usually toy melee weapons made from a core of PVC or carbon fiber, surrounded by pipe foam insulation and covered with duct tape, kite tape, or painted latex. The idea is to create something that is reminiscent of an actual sword, axe, club, etc. that is safe to strike someone with in "lightest touch" combat. People have been doing this for decades, and although I have seen many breathtaking examples of well-made boffer weapons, I've never seen one that integrated a nerf blaster. This seemed to me like the time to try.

In the 17th-19th centuries, it was popular to combine a compact pistol or derringer with a cutlass, walking stick, or even a warhammer. This is my attempt to do so for larp combat.



The melee portion is carbon-fiber kite rod surrounded by a foam pool noodle, cut to shape with a hot wire. The striking surface at the head is soft, spongy open-cell foam. I integrated a heavily minimized NF tube and activation mechanism to the core of the weapon, using steel wire, epoxy, and layers of trimmed pvc.



The blaster is coaxial to the shaft of the weapon, and fired by depressing the orange thumb-stud trigger at the hilt. The thumb falls quite naturally in line with the trigger when the weapon is held in a saber grip. The tube is cocked by pulling back on the beaded lanyard.



The barrel of the NF is deeply recessed into a foam sheath that prevents the hard plastic from coming in contact with any fleshy bits while you bludgeon someone. I have used this at games in the past to great effect, being able to reach around a shield, shoot at point-blank range, and still keep fighting.



I hope to try and do something similar soon, using a Recon and a halberd.

This is just a fun little blaster made from a Crossfire. AR's removed, spring replaced, seals redone, o-rings, and a lot of sculpting and painting. Themed for a steampunk larp... specifically, this is supposed to be a "Native American" type pistol.









Sculpting work was done using cast-off pieces from a doubleshot shell, kneaditite epoxy, and plumber's putty. I am really happy with how the verdigris paint effect turned out.

Check pages 135-136 of the paintjob/mod picture forum for more of my work. Thanks in advance for any feedback, praise, or spirit-crushing mockery.

"Drachenfische"











The "lure" on the forehead is a flexible-neck book light. As with my prior posts, this blaster is for a steampunk-themed larp.

A few more:

"Dead Man's Hand"



"Officer's Pistol"



"Coyote's Revenge"



All these weapons were created for a steampunk-themed larp in Massachusetts.

The "Khenti Krait", adapted from that truly abysmal secondary blaster that comes with the longshot.





AR's removed, spring replaced, extensive external remodeling. The customer who bought this made a really sweet leather holster, decorated in hieroglyphics, to accompany it.

First post, hello NerfHaven.

"Two Thunders", a larp weapon based on a sawed-off Doubleshot.







Very few significant modifications besides the minimization. The blaster is cocked by pulling the beaded tassel on the butt.