Yoko Ritona Sniper Tutorial
Hey everyone :D
As I said, i hoped to help people with their future cosplay projects, so as I experimented with my first major prop I thought id let everyone have an inside view of what i did :D
If you follow the cut you'll find a basic tutorial for Yoko Ritona from Gurren Laganns Sniper Riffle
For starters, i made a supply list:
- 2 cans of black plastic spray paint
- A toy gun (real cheap, to use for the trigger)
- 1 five foot tall and 3/4 inches wide PVC pipe
- 1 five foot 1/2 inch wide PVC pipe
- Poster board (which didn't work all that well, as you'll see later)
- 2 Liter pop bottle
-1 liter pop bottle
- decent size cardboard box
- hot glue gun
- red and yellow paint
- Razor to cut the cardboard, i recommend the razor be sharp because mine wasn't and it made my job harder
- Duct Tape or other strong tape
1st step: The End Box
Decide the size of the boxes for the gun, for the back of the gun i chose to make the box apx. 1/5th the size of the pipe (which the base pipe is the 3/4inch pipe). I then based the width off the width of the pipe, i was able to make the box the way i wanted it by cutting out each side and then glueing them together to make it into a box.
(I had also at this point used the poster board to cover the rough edges of the cardboard to make it look cleaner, but that was a mistake because it made it really hard for the spray paint to stick, so its not recommended)
Step 2: Trigger
Now i did a size up on the end to make sure that it fit the way i wanted it too in comparison to the main body of the gun, at this point i also chose where i wanted the "trigger" AKA the small gun that will be strapped to the side
(I apologize that after this point i was trying to work quickly and i forgot to take pictures, but i will be able to point out in the picture where each step is following this point and explain each step carefully :D)
Step 3: The Next Box
I noticed in the pictures i obtained of her gun, that the other box part of her gun was just a little bit smaller than then the other one i'd already constructed so i used almost the same measurements, making them a little bit smaller. I first made the top part of the box leaving the bottom open, at this point i constucted the bottom part, careful to make it just a little bit smaller then the top box, so that i could slide the bottom into the top to make the complete box. Once again, i wouldn't suggest using the poster board to cover as i did. And i also used duct tape to make sure the bottom part of the box wouldnt slide out of the top of the box.
Step 4: Putting pieces together
I set up the two boxes on the gun, adding the trigger and noting the space i had left to make the triangle piece that's attached to both the side of the box at the bottom of the gun and to the actual PVC pipe, this piece is just a cardboard piece cut to be able to be glued to the side of the box and the pipe in the shape of a triangle.
Step 5: Little Tidbits
After i finished mapping out the pieces and setting them in the right places, i used the duct tape to tape all the pieces to the pipe, unfortunatly i wish i had another way to attach them because the duct tape doesn't leave an even layer, but it does the job. Unfortunatly also with the toy gun i bought, i couldn't rip it apart without it breaking horribly, so i ended up sliding a piece of cardboard inbetween the gun and the pipe so that it would lay evenly and not wiggle around too much.
Step 6: The Barrel
To make the top I used a pop bottle and small pieces of cardboard cut in rectangles to go around the bottle. I first cut off the bottom end of the pop bottle, hopefully if you're lucky the end of the pop bottle where the cap usually screws on will fit over and onto your PVC pipe (if you chose to use 1/2 inch PVC for the main part then it should fit but of course, since i chose to use 3/4 in i wasn't so lucky. At this point i had to cut off the top where the cap usually goes (called the neck of the bottle) be careful not to cut to far or the hole will be too big. After i made sure the bottle would fit over the end of the PVC pipe, i secured it using duct tape.
From there, i began to create the otagon shape of the top by using the rectangle pieces of cardboard i cut out earlier, glueing them together as i went along (and dont actually try to hot glue them to the pop bottle, because it just melts the bottle and makes a mess XD) Then i pushed it down on the bottle to make is snug and i began to pull duct tape over the opening to make a smooth surface for the barrel of the gun.
(Mine turned out a little funny looking because of the way that i did my rectangles, so just take your time and make sure they look even)
Now i also had a problem because the tape didn't stick very well to the pop bottle because i cut the neck to far, so just make sure its very secure.
This is what should be done up to this point (sorry my rooms messy):
Step 7: The Scope
This is where the 1/2 inch PVC pipe comes into play. These next steps deal with the "scope" of the gun. I first measured out in comparison to what i had done on the body of the gun, and then i wrapped tape where i wanted to cut the PVC pipe. This part of the gun is easy the easiest part to constuct. I then used a 1 liter bottle, because it's smaller then the one used for the barrel and started by cutting off the bottom. I was lucky on this part because the neck of the bottle fit perfectly onto the PVC pipe.
The next step i took was to saw off the part of the PVC pipe i didn't need, i just used a simple hand saw to slice through it. Since the end that i sawed was a little rough, i used that end to put the neck of the bottle onto. To secure the bottle tightly i duct taped it firmly to the PVC pipe. I then did the same thing i did in Step 6 but using the duct tape to make the end of the bottle smooth and straight.
I'm sorry for the crappy quality pictures, my camera decided to stop working so i'll upload better copies when i get i working again :D
Step 8: Attaching the Scope
I wanted to give the scope some support to be able to hold itself up, so i cut out two rectangular pieces of cardboard, cutting round slits into the bottom and top so they would fit snuggly against the PVC pipe of both the gun barrel and the scope. After i made sure everything was even, i hot glued the pieces to the barrel and waited for them to become steady, then i CAREFULLY laid the scope on top of the cardboard pieces, attaching them with hot glue and holding it steady. If you dont do it carefully, you may end up ripping the cardboard off the base and having to start that step over again.
Now to make sure that they stayed secure, i cut two pieces of duct tape and laid them facing each other so that the sticky sides would stick together, making a strong piece of non sticky tape, which i then wrapped around both the gun barrel, the cardboard in between the scope and barrel, and the scope of the gun, pulling it tight. I then did the same thing for the other piece of cardboard. (Doing the sticky sides together makes it so that it doesnt stick to everything when you're moving the gun around)
Step 9: The Rivets
Now being a person on a very small budget, i noticed that i hadn't gotten anything for making the rivets on the sides of the boxes, so i improvised and used my glue gun to make dots of glue, just be careful because you may get airbubbles if you do what i did.
Step 10: Painting
Now comes the fun part: PAINTING! I just laid out the gun (outside if possible) and started spraying it, just be careful to try and not be too close or you'll get run marks. As i said i had problems with the poster board just soaking up the plastic paint, so i just used some regular spray paint and it seemed to work fine.
FINAL OUTCOME:
The Gun stands about 5 1/2 feet tall
Well you can't really see from these pictures, but the bottle i used for the barrel is getting droopy so i need to fix it, as well as needing do another coat of black paint and to finish the red and yellow paint, but i hope that this gives everyone a good enough idea on how i made my yoko gun :D
This is a bit of a cheaper way to go, and i probably spent about 20-30 dollars to make this prop. I know that they're are probably better ways to do some of the things i did, and i would love to hear them for the future :D Thanks for reading my tutorial and i hope that it helps at least someone in the future. Let me know if you have any questions about anything i did :D