How to Make Halo 3 Paper Guns

"Halo 3" is the kind of popular video game that makes you daydream that you're in the midst of battle, taking on dangerous and evil enemies. Part of the fun is the weapons that the Halo fighters use. They're big, deadly and look cool. You can make one of these fearsome weapons by yourself with just paper materials, such as cardboard, some tools and some manual dexterity.

Things You'll Need

• Cardboard
• Printer
• Printing paper
• Cellophane tape
• Empty cereal box
• Utility knife
• Small metal spring
• 1.5-cm length wooden dowel
• 1.5-cm length copper plumbing pipe
• Metal knitting needle
• White glue
• Metal wire
• Halo gun blueprint
• Telephone books
• Tracing paper
• Pencil
• Large wide rubber bands
• Needle-nosed pliers
• Portable drill

Instructions

1. Put some newspaper down on a work surface. Assemble the tools and materials that will be needed and put them on the newspaper.

   Print out the Wizard of Flight's Halo blueprints on 405th.com. Scale the blueprint if the Halo weapon blueprints printed off of the computer are 12-cm long, and you want the finished Halo weapon to be a life sized 89.9-cm. Divide the 12 cm by 89.9 cm to have your scale. Reprint the blueprints to the proper scale and print out them out. Tape the pages of the print outs to form the properly scaled blueprint of the Halo weapon.

2. Use the utility knife to cut seven identical copies of the Halo weapon out of cardboard using the blueprint, but do not cut out the barrel. Line up all of the copies cut out to make sure they are all the same length and width.

3. Put one copy of the Halo weapon down on the newspaper. Apply white glue around all of the edges of the Halo weapon about 1/4 inch in from the cardboard's edge. Put another copy of the Halo weapon on top of the one that is on the cardboard. Put the telephone books on top of the Halo weapon and let the glue dry for at least five hours.

4. Take off the telephone books and apply white glue to the copy of the Halo weapon in the same fashion as was done before. Place another copy of the Halo weapon on the one that is on the newspaper and put the telephone books on it. Let the glue dry for at least five hours. Continue doing this until the last copy of the Halo weapon has been glued down to the one before it.

5. Remove the telephone books when the glue has dried. Use the utility knife to make a cut at the top of the weapon in the center. Pull the inside cardboard down about half way. Cut a square section out from the cereal box that is the same size as the hole you just made in the top of the Halo weapon. Put the cereal cardboard section into the well at the bottom of the hole in the Halo weapon and glue it down. Let the glue dry for at least five hours.

6. Cut out the side grip from the blueprint. Place it on a scrap of cardboard and cut out the side grip using the utility knife. Trace the side grip on the blueprint by covering it with a piece of tracing paper and then drawing on the tracing paper with the pencil. Flip the tracing paper over and cut out another side grip out of a cardboard scrap using the utility knife. Glue each side grip to one of the sides of the Halo weapon as was indicated by the blueprint. Let the glue dry for at least five hours.

7. Cut the foregrip part out of the blueprint. Trace the foregrip onto a scrap piece of cardboard and cut it out with the utility knife. Flip the foregrip piece that was cut out over and trace it onto another piece of cardboard. Cut the new foregrip piece out using the utility knife. Cut out the area where the foregrip goes on the Halo weapon with the utility knife. Glue both of the foregrip pieces to the Halo weapon, one on each side, using the white glue. Let the glue dry for at least five hours. Cut some pieces of the rubber band using the utility knife and glue them to each side of the foregrip with white glue. Let the glue dry for at least two hours.

8. Cut a piece of the copper pipe with the hacksaw. Drill a small hole through the piece of copper pipe about 2 inches in from the end. Cut off the head of the metal knitting needle leaving just a bit of the rod. Insert the metal knitting needle. Attach the spring to the end of the needle and twist it to the needle with the needle-nosed pliers. Insert the piece of the metal knitting needle into one of the holes in the piece of copper pipe and push the needle the rest of the way through to the other hole in the piece of copper pipe. Bend the ends of the metal knitting needle so that the needle cannot be removed from the copper pipe.

9. Run the wire through the pieces of the Halo weapon from where the charging handle well starts at the bottom and out through three or four pieces of the Halo weapon that is glued together. Run the ends of the wire onto the ends of the needle on the piece of copper pipe and crimp them down with the needle-nosed pliers. Put the piece of copper pipe into position on the charging well.

10. Trace the charging handle's open area with tracing paper using the pencil. Put the tracing down on a piece of scrap cardboard. Cut through the tracing paper and cardboard using the utility knife. Score the piece of cardboard that has been cut out with the utility knife so that you can bend it over the area of the charging handle. Glue it down using the white glue. Let the glue set for at least five hours.

11. Cut the wooden dowel to the length of the barrel with the hacksaw. Drill a hole in one end of the dowel a couple of inches in with the portable drill.

12. Place the dowel into position where the barrel would go on the front of the Halo weapon with the end with the hole facing out. Glue the dowel into position with the white glue. Let the glue dry for at least five hours.

13. Cut the copper pipe with the hacksaw to the length of the flash hider using the blueprint as a guide. Put glue around the end of the copper pipe that doesn't have the hole drilled into it. Insert the end with the glue into the dowel. Let the glue dry for at least five hours.

14. Score detail into the flash hider with the utility knife. Place the flash hider over at the side of the barrel and glue it to the barrel with the white glue. Let the glue dry for at least five hours.

15. Pick up and pretend to use your Halo weapon. Add details and paint if you want it to look more realistic.

Tips & Warnings

• A vice will come in handy for safer cutting when using the hacksaw.

• Don't take a gun out in public, even if it is made out of paper. Someone might think it's real and call the police.

References

• 405th Infantry Edition: "How to Make a Weapon Prop"
• 405th Infantry Edition: "Wizard Of Flight's Weapon Blueprints"

Resources

• Sector 7: "Halo Weapons & Vehicles"