How I made my Steampunk Pistol!

Tada! I promised this, last week, and now I deliver! It's my steampunk pistol! Yay!!!

Okay, let me just say first and foremost, it's not the coolest steampunk pistol ever. I know that. It is the coolest steampunk pistol I've ever made, though. I really wish now that I had taken pictures of the process along the way. I'd love to show you exactly how this started out.

I'm going to describe how I made it, and I think that may just help enough for if you are wanting to make your own.

1) the 'handle': That's right, I don't know the proper name for that part of a gun! Hehe. Anyway, I can tell you what it is. It's Cardboard! Four layers of cardboard, I think. I took cardboard and cut out the handle several times, then glued them all together with wood glue. I cut them both with the 'grain' of the cardboard, and against the 'grain' so that they'd be stronger together.

2) the barrel: It's a piece of pvc pipe. The little end cap on the back of the barrel is just a little cap I found that would fit on the end. I think it was from a bottle or something, but I'm not sure what.

3) That red thingie on the front of the gun: That's the only piece that may have some 'specialty' parts to it. It's a short piece of PVC pipe with a couple of domes glued to either end. The domes are something to do with model railroading, but I got them so long ago that I'm not sure what they are actually for. Anyway, they covered the ends of the pipe so perfectly that I glued them in place with Gorilla Glue....which is great stuff.

4) the trigger: I found a brass plated ring in my studio amidst all the clutter and junk *way too much clutter and junk. I took this little ring, clamped it, and cut it in half with my Dremel's cut-off wheel. Then I took one of the grinders for the Dremel and rounded the end of the 'trigger'. It's stuck in the cardboard of the gun with Gorilla Glue!

5) All the extra stuff: The body of the gun is cardboard, no lie...but there's a few widgits here and there to look 'cool'. The front of the body has a plastic piece screwed on that's from the end of set of blinds. The key sticking out of the side of the gun is just an old key that I glued in place. the sight on the gun is the foot from something like an 'easy stitch' hand sewing machine (which is the best use for that piece of junk ever). And there are undoubtedly a few bits of plastic here or there on gun.

Most of the 'extra stuff' is plumber's epoxy. It's a two part compound that you mix up and then smash into shape. It dries hard as a rock. I did that to hide all the cardboard texture and add some strength. I used both the kind that Billy Mays sold, and Milliput. I'm sure there's a billion more brands out there and they probably all work about the same. I will say that the Mighty Putty hardened a LOT faster than the Milliput, though. If you want to be all artistic and sculpt with the stuff, I suggest the Milliput. If you are just filling in holes, the Mighty Putty is cheaper and faster.

The red thing on the front was painted with glossy acrylic paints. The 'brass' parts of the gun were spray painted black then coated in brass 'rub 'n' buff' stuff. and the green patina in places on that is just green acrylic paint.

Hope that you found this entertaining or helpful or interesting or all three. If you made your own steampunk pistol, I'd love to see it, so send me a picture!!!