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Sisters of Battle-themed side plates for my 40k Plasma Pistol

3D printing files for the side plates available here - https://www.artstation.com/a/5659842

3D printing files for the pistol itself available here - https://www.artstation.com/a/2241490

Starting assembly on the test print of this Laspistol Sculpt - Step 1, remove supports and clean up any particularly rough edges with 240 grit sandpaper

Next, glue the main body and the power cell together using superglue

Then, add the smaller detail pieces, again with superglue - any big gaps get filled with body filler and sanded flat-ish

The assembled body, power cell & barrel are ready for the next step

Time to magnetise the power cell into the mag well

The magnets are 6mm x 3mm cylindrical neodynium magnets, held in place with superglue.

Step 1 is to glue the magnets into the power cell

Then, use the magnets on the power cell to position the magnets in the main gun

Test assembly to see what it looks like in one piece

Everything gets a coat of grey primer (greybecause it makes it easy to see when I've covered the previous black primer coat)

First lesson from this test print - the D & M in the Departmento Munitorum need to be tweaked to print better

Gave the body of the pistol a coat of green, followed by drybrushing with a lighter green

The body got masked off, then the metallic parts got a coat of gloss black primer followed by gunmetal.

The handle got a coat of matte black primer, then the trigger, trigger guard & lanyard ring got a paint of gunmetal with a regular paintbrush.

The best bit of masking is the big reveal at the end when you peel the masking off

All the details get a coat of gloss black paint by hand

Then gunmetal/gold/black metal as appropriate, followed by drybrush highlights.

Weathering was done with a mixture of blue & black water-thinnable oil paints

Once the weathering was done, the muzzle lens & ammo indicators were painted by hand

Finally, everything got a couple of coats of satin varnish with an airbrush, followed by some gloss varnish by hand on the ammo indicators and muzzle lens - All that's left now are the beauty photos!

All finished! More photos & lessons learned below the break

Good news - Everything fits together

Changes needed:

1) The "19 MEGATHULE" text is too shallow and some of the strokes are too thin to survive the filler primer & sanding - Switched to a different font & slightly deeper engraving

2) The knurling on the laser sight is a bit too fine - it survived the filler primer but fewer, deeper cuts would be better

3) The Departmento Munitorum stamp on the charging handle is a little small - made bigger

If you want to make your own version, .STL files are available for sale HERE

Printing the cylinder took 3 attempts - first print came loose from the print bed; second print I forgot that you need panel gaps if you want details to be visible from a distanct.

Luckily I modelled it in Fusion360 so I could tweak individual settings without too much difficulty

Drilled a shallow hole in the rear half to hold the spindle

Starting to look like a revolver now

For the muzzle & front cap, I printed them with a raised chamfered lip so I could sharpen the edge and then use them to cut slightly into the foam.

Then they got superglued into place

For the round details, I wanted to try and cut them out with a sharpened tube because I didn't want to try freehanding a circle with a knife. It turns out you can 3d print cutters from PLA and after sharpening with sandpaper they work ok! They do need frequent re-sharpening though.

Cut out part of 2 of the big circles, glued to the other big circles, then added the small circles on the other side - and the hinge details are done

Propped up like this for a progress shot because I don't want to glue the cylinder in before painting.

Not much left to actually make before painting either...

First a coat of grey rattlecan primer to try and seal the foam, then a coat of yellow filler-primer followed by sanding to try and smooth out the texture (especially on the 3D printed parts)

Following a final priming with black polyurethane primer, the pieces were basecoated by hand

I did edge highlighting, because I didn't want drybrusing to pick up on the mistakes made when I was making the foam pieces. The wood texture was done with a thin brush.

Finally, weathering with water-thinnable oil paint.

All that's left now is sealing and the final photos!

And it's finished!

Drawings and STLs to make your own are available for free HERE

Lessons learned:

1) I should have sealed it with modpodge before priming - sealing with rattlecan primer worked, but there's an obvious difference in finish depending on face or edge of foam sheet.

2) Trying to cut perpendicular curves with a knife is HARD

Time for a hellpistol to provide a bit more firepower (from the same forgeworld as the laspistol)

I'm not glueing any of the small details on until after the first coat of filler primer, to make access easier for sanding

Another tip - put some body filler on the areas that show the most layer stepping and sand it down before the filler primer. I'm sure I'll be adding some more filler, but it's good to get the worst areas a bit tidied up first

First coat of filler primer

and after sanding

Followed by a coat of regular grey primer to see where more sanding was needed

Big pieces got another coat of filler primer, then a final sanding and assembly

Once everything was glued together, a final light coat of filler primer to fill any sanding marks

Then a coat of light grey primer, followed by black primer (using an airbrush) and then the nooks and crannies got primed with a paintbrush.

Step 1 - green basecoat for the body trying with an airbrush, followed by a drybrush highlight

Step 2 - mask off the large metal areas for a coat of gloss black primer, followed by gunmetal.

Drybrush highlight with the masking still in place, then peel in preparation for brush-painting the other details.

All the details got a coat of gloss black primer with a paintbrush to cover up any green. Even the handle, which I meant to use matte black on 🙃

The gold skull and wing got an undercoat of copper, followed by a topcoat of gold

The other metal details got a coat of gunmetal, followed by a drybrush with steel. This is the point I realised if I hadn't glued all the details on I could have done this a lot easier with an airbrush 🤦‍♂️

The little radiator fins got a coat of black metallic paint, then a drybrush with gunmetal.

Fire selection indicators get a coat of red paint

rear sight - two white dots; front sight - one red dot (there are little dimples in the sculpt)

The muzzle lens was painted by hand with a simple gem highlighting scheme. Finally, the power indicator was handpainted with a couple of bits of masking tape to keep the borders clean.

Painting is now complete!

I wanted to keep all my power cells interchangeable, so I had to match the magnets to my existing power cells. This was pretty easy - put the magnets on the existing power cell, then mark the top with sharpie

Then it was just a matter of supergluing the magnets in place with the sharpie mark facing up. Finally, I wiped off the sharpie with a kitchen towel and some IPA.

I then used the power cell to position the magnets in the magazine well - I sprayed it with superglue accelerator first, so the magnets glued almost instantly.

All that's left now is the weathering!

Once the painting was finished, everything got a coat of satin varnish to seal it before weathering. OR THAT WAS THE PLAN

Spoiler: It turns out I didn't use enough varnish...

...so when I tried to wipe away the excess oil paint I was using for weathering, I ended up taking the varnish off as well 🙃 In some places, when I used IPA I ended up taking the paint off down to the primer 🤦‍♂️🙃🤦‍♂️

By being gentle with the q-tips and kitchen towel (and some careful reapplication of paint where needed), I was able to get it to a presentable, if rather heavily engrimed, state. Before anything else went wrong, I gave the whole thing a much heavier coat of varnish and called it a day

All finished!

If you want to make your own, the .STL files are available for sale HERE

From L to R: Mk1 Power Cell; Mk2 Power Cell; Small Power Cell

The small power cell makes the laspistol easier to holster

Added Mk2 Power Cell and Small Power Cell to the 3D printable Laspistol files on sale HERE