How to Make Din Djarins Blaster from Star Wars The Mandalorian out of Foam with Free Blueprint

welcome to the shop steve here at sks props and in today’s video i’m checking off a prop that’s been on my build list for a while this is din djaren’s blaster from the mandalorian now this is an almost complete foam fabrication let me say that again foam fabrication you would never know it until you picked it up because it’s light as a feather it’s made out of my hd phone which you can find over at blick art materials and i want to thank everyone that’s been supporting me and purchasing my products it has been awesome to see your guys creations now if you are buying hd phone be sure to buy it through any of the links that are in my description section or on my website because i do receive a small vendor affiliate and that helps me continue to build awesome things like this and show you how to do it now this video is going to go over all of the construction techniques as well as painting and weathering these wood grips are nothing more than paint i’m going to show you the super simple steps to do that all of the metallics on this are graphite powder that has been buffed you know these are all techniques that you can build upon pick up use them in future builds so i want to show you guys what it takes to put this blaster together let’s go ahead and get started now the first thing i do is print off and tape together the templates that i created in photoshop these blueprints are free to download so if you’d like to build your own blaster i’ll have a link over in the description section i cut out both front and back these templates will give me a road map when creating all of the details for this blaster and make sure that i’m scaling everything properly for sections that i’m cutting apart i tend to mark them so i can line them up later on basically what i’m doing is i’m taking away all of the details until i have the main section of the blaster blocked out this section of the template is then transferred onto some 10 millimeter hd foam now one sheet of 10 millimeter is not thick enough so i need to sandwich two of these together to keep them perfectly symmetrical i first rough cut another piece of 10 millimeter hd foam then small dots of super glue are used to tack these two pieces together this technique is not permanent it’s just enough adhesive to tack them together while i cut this out this block is then ran through the bandsaw until i have the basic shape of the blaster cut out now if you don’t have a band saw it’s not a problem you could still do this process with a utility knife once i have the blaster in hand i realize that i want to add a small metal rod to reinforce the core but before i do that i need to drill out the trigger section and to do that i’m going to be using a large forstner bit on my drill press notice that the forstner bit doesn’t drill all the way to the edge of my lines i’m going to clean this up with a rotary tool later on now the two halves of the blaster can be pulled apart and i bend the metal rod to conform to the shape this is then traced around with a pencil because i want to cut out a channel now remember when you’re working with foam you always want to make sure to use some kind of a dust mask and eye protection i use a stone bit on my dremel rotary tool to cut a channel into the foam that this rod will sit in the rod is then flipped in the same process as also done to the opposite side now i need to glue these sides back together so i do a light heat treatment to seal the foam now for my adhesive technique i’m going to be using contact cement for the main portion of the exposed foam and super glue along the exterior this double adhesive method makes sure that it’s a tight bond but it also keeps it a very clean build the two halves can now firmly be pressed together and i really like the rigidity this metal bar gives to the blaster once the adhesive has cured i can start marking other details like the trigger guard on the opposite side for the barrel of this blaster i’m going to be using a half inch pvc pipe i once again use a band saw to cut the pipe to length and i use a sanding sponge to remove the decals and rough up the surface the end of the pvc pipe is then marked with the approximate location of the barrel details these details will be cut out of strips of six millimeter hd foam contact cement is applied to the pvc pipe and the hd foam and a little bit of super glue is applied along the exterior once the contact cement has become tacky the hd foam can then be wrapped around the end of the barrel now there’s some excess foam that can be trimmed away with the utility knife and then i go ahead and mark where the barrel needs to taper this gradual reduction of the foam is done with a dremel rotary tool and a medium grit sanding drum after my sanding was complete i add a little bit of heat to get rid of any of the foam fuzzies and check for fit to fabricate the rings i glue and wrap strips of six millimeter hd foam around the pvc pipe these can then be refined with a dremel rotary tool until i get the outside diameter that i need more heat is added to seal the foam off and i slide the rings down to check them against the fit of the barrel after checking the scale the rings look great so super glue is added and they can permanently be put into place a scalpel blade is used to cut a shallow ring into the block of the blaster this will greatly help reinforce the pvc pipe the scale of everything looks good so super glue is added to the bottom of the pvc pipe and the back of the ring and then the pvc pipe can be pressed into the block between the pvc pipe and the metal rod this blaster feels really stable i use a medium grit sanding drum to remove the bulk of the material as well as in the trigger guard once complete i can then refine all the sanding passes with a smooth sanding drum now it’s time to move on to the handle grips i cut out the template for the pattern and trace its location onto the blaster then i take that piece and transfer it onto some six millimeter hd foam just like the bulk of the blaster the grips are rough cut and then tacked together with a little bit of super glue this allows me to use my rotary tool to make the match perfectly at the top of the grip there’s a little bit of a depression that i mark with the template and then remove using a smooth sanding drum the grips can now be glued to either side of the blaster and i do that using some bobsmith super glue to make the handle a little more comfortable i draw on the foam with a pencil exactly where it needs to be tapered i can gradually remove foam from the front and the back and it’s a lot more comfortable to hold next up we have this l bracket that goes along the side of the blaster this is cut away from my template and then traced onto some six millimeter hd foam to cut this piece out i used my band saw and carefully cut along the line that i had traced the rotary tool is once again used to clean up the edge i marked the placement on the side of the blaster to make sure this works before i move on to the next step at the end of this piece there’s a lot of little detailed indentations and to simulate these cuts i’m going to start by marking them with a pencil i then take my utility blade and cut about halfway through the six millimeter foam all these little cuts will open up with the introduction of heat from my heat gun and it’s little tricks like that that will simulate great details in foam this piece is once again checked for fit before i glue it down with some super glue from my template i isolate this front section detail i first off trace around it on the main blaster i also trace around the sunken groove template at the very end to sand this groove down i’m going to be using a sphere stone bit attached to my dremel rotary tool this is where having a flex shaft comes in big time because you want to be able to see your template but have as much control as possible with the groove complete i transfer my template onto some two millimeter hd foam and cut it out with some shears this piece can now be glued down and lined up with the marks that i placed on the side of the blaster earlier in front of the groove there’s a little lip that i also cut out of two millimeter hd foam this piece kind of rounds over and glues to the bottom of the groove in the bottom of the rail that i attached earlier you can see here that the lip is a little too pronounced so i take my dremel rotary tool and knock it down next up i’m going to be working on the housing on the side of the blaster this template is traced onto some 10 millimeter hd foam and cut out glue is added and the piece can now be pressed into place you can see because it’s a 10 millimeter foam here that stacking these pieces really starts to give this blaster some character remember earlier where i said i marked pieces that i have to tape back together this is one of those situations this block detail is gonna fit right here against this 10 millimeter piece but as you can see there’s a gap underneath so i first transfer the block onto some six millimeter hd foam and then i glue another piece of six millimeter foam to the bottom this will even out the piece and fill the gap now because it’s two six millimeter pieces glued together it’s a little too thick so i take my dremel rotary tool and knock it down until it fits flush once i’m satisfied that it works glue can be added and can be pressed into place there’s an additional block on the side of this housing this is just cut from some 10 millimeter hd foam and glued down i cut out the pattern for the block at the top and once again the foam needs to be doubled up i cut it out and sliced off about one millimeter off the side so it’s slightly smaller than the bulk of the blaster this piece can then be heat sealed glued into place and you can see how it’s just slightly smaller next i’m going to cut a couple of strips of two millimeter foam these are going to cover the top of the housing on the side of the blaster these strips are a little small so i used some tweezers to help me line it up with the top of the block for the rail at the top i cut a strip of six millimeter hd foam mark it and cut it to length just like the rail on the side i do the cuts once again for the linear details but notice that i stopped about midway through this front section i remove with my rotary tool and then i can do the heat treatment once again to open the foam up this strip can then be glued to the center of the blaster which makes another great detail for this piece over time the end of the glue bottle gets pretty bad but luckily you can buy these replacement tips so you can put the glue exactly where it needs to go the hammer pattern is cut out and traced onto some 10 millimeter hd foam now this piece has an additional cylinder detail on the back and i’m going to create that using some 10 millimeter hd foam round dowel i use my rotary tool to remove enough material so that the 10 millimeter round down fits snugly and then i use a stone bit to burrow into the dowel to give it an additional detail the dowel can then be glued on and the entire hammer can be attached to the back of the blaster the block at the top is cut out of some stacked 10 millimeter hd foam i first use a pencil to mark these separation lines and then i use a utility knife and a scalpel blade to score into the foam i’m going to do the heat technique to open these lines up but i make sure to use some tweezers because the heat gun gets extremely hot there’s a screw detail at the top of the blaster and to simulate this i’m going to start off by using a 15 millimeter hd foam round out this piece can then be glued into place and then i use a 10 millimeter hole punch on some two millimeter hd foam the latch that goes underneath this is also drawn on and cut out of some two millimeter hd foam i glue the back of the strip under the screw point and then round it over to give it a slight curve this additional detail in the housing was cut out some two millimeter hd foam and then glued into place to detail the head of the screw the utility knife is once again used along with the heat gun to open it up i use a leather punch to cut out some of the really small rivet details for the side of the blaster now these pieces are so tiny it’s easier to put some glue down first and then use tweezers to put them into place the additional block detail at the top is cut out of some six millimeter hd foam rounded over with a rotary tool and put into the middle of the blaster additional rivet details are also glued onto the side of the blaster to make the circular detail on the side i start by cutting a circle and then using a sharpened pvc pipe to remove the middle this ring can then be glued down and then an additional 10 millimeter circle can be placed in the middle one more 10 millimeter rivet and this side is really looking complete the trigger is traced onto some 10 millimeter hd foam cut out and refined with a rotary tool super glue is applied and it can be glued to the middle of the blaster to start on the opposite side i’m going to be scoring and heating a detail line at the top of the blaster this will give me a good reference for where a lot of these top details need to go first off this oblong piece is traced onto some six millimeter hd foam and cut out the center of the template can then be removed and traced that way i know exactly how much material to remove now the end of this would be difficult to cut out with a scalpel blade so i use my rotary tool to clean it up bob smith’s super glue is added and this piece can be attached to the side of the blaster for the detail inside this piece i cut out some very thin strips of one millimeter hd foam now this strip is so small that i have to end up using a pointer to put it into place two more little pieces of one millimeter hd foam are cut out and i use some tweezers to put them where they need to go the additional detail on the back of this housing is cut out of some two millimeter foam and glued down just like the opposite side the groove here is removed with a sphere stone bit for the detail rod on the side i cut to fit a 3.2 millimeter styrene rod i then cut out and drill into a small block of six millimeter foam this will be the cap for the end this piece is then rounded over with a rotary tool until i get the cylinder size that i want for the slits at the other end of the rod i use a pin file to carve away the styrene this rod is complete and now can be glued to the side of the blaster in practicality there’s a little latch detail that holds this rod into place this template is transferred onto some two millimeter hd foam cutout with some shears and refined with a rotary tool this piece can then be pressed down and glued as though it’s holding the rod onto the side of the blaster there’s a little hex nut detail that i cut out of some two millimeter hd foam and glue down to the piece while i’ve got my tweezers handy i go ahead and add the rivets to this side of the blaster and then use a ballpoint pen to add an additional rivet detail to the hex for the cylinder at the bottom of the handle i’m going to be using a 15 millimeter hd foam round dowel the template is used to mark on the handle where the dowel will go and then i use a rotary tool to remove enough material so that the dowel fits in properly now this style has a circular detail on either side so i use a punch to score the foam i then glue this to a scrap piece of foam so don’t burn my hands and then use a heat gun to open it up once complete the cylinder can be glued to the bottom of the handle the front detail template is then transferred onto some 10 millimeter hd foam now for this piece i glued on more material than was necessary but once attached i drew on the shape that i needed and cut off the remaining material on my bandsaw this made sure that i could line up everything properly for the detail flange that goes around this i cut out a strip of two millimeter hd foam this was glued to the front and then wrapped around this lower piece a small 10 millimeter rivet was glued to the front of the blaster the sight for the front was cut out some two millimeter hd foam and placed in the middle of the barrel for the separation line at the end of the barrel i scored it with a utility knife added heat until the foam opened up the safety switch on the side was traced onto some two millimeter hd foam and then i used the template as a guide i glued down the two millimeter strip along with a piece for the thumb switch and then a small foam rivet was added to the front i did a light heat treatment to the entire prop i’m going to seal the foam using two light coats of plasti-dip now remember with plasti-dip to wear your respirator and work in a well-ventilated area for a dark metallic sheen i’m going to use rust-oleum hammered oil rubbed bronze the hammered spray paint will give it a nice warm look while also giving it a decent gloss to paint the wood grain grips i’m going to start off by using liquitex heavy body unbleached titanium this is applied with a filbert brush allowing some of the black to still show through as a variation the main point here is i’m using a lighter color but trying not to get it onto the metallics this is going to be the base color for the wood grain and we’re going to put washes on top after that first coat is dried i then go in with a filbert brush that’s a little bit older so the bristles are not quite uniform i use the same color but less water more pigment and i start streaking it in the grain direction liquitex heavy body burnt umber is the color i’m going to use to create the dark streaks in our wood grain i start off by using a one inch mop brush and pulling the burnt umber in the grain direction after that i switch over to a detail brush and i water the paint down to start creating the individual lines i’m not trying to keep these lines uniform but i am trying to keep them in the same direction i add some additional lines that are a little bit thicker here and there for some contrast and i lock all this in with my hair dryer i used some more unbleached titanium and that filbert brush that i used in the beginning to lightly go over the lines just to subdue them a little bit additional lines of the unbleached titanium are also put in with the detail brush to act as highlights so this is where the magic happens utrecht brand burnt sienna is used as a wash over the entire surface this will knock all the colors down but you can still see all the shadows and highlights underneath i use a hair dryer to lock this wash in and here you can see no wash versus the wash this same process was done to the opposite side and after looking at them i wanted them a little bit darker so i added an additional wash on top now these paints are pretty matte so to give these grips some life i’m going to use vallejo brand gloss varnish this is going to help our faux wood grips look as though they’re sealed with a polyurethane and this is a perfect example of why i usually do not seal my props because in all gloss or matte sealant can definitely change the way the colors are observed underneath now a painting tip i learned from my buddy core geek i’m going to be using graphite powder to give this blaster a realistic metallic sheen so i take a shop towel dip it into the power and smudge that onto some craft paper this will dilute the powder a little bit and then i can apply it directly to the blaster i’m putting this powder on parts of the blasters that would receive heavy wear and this is one of those techniques where less is more but you can see even in a first pass just how reflective this graphite powder can be i’m going to stop talking just for a little bit so you can enjoy this graphite powder transformation now i don’t seal my graphite powder because i don’t think it’s really necessary this is more of a display piece than a cosplay prop but if you wanted to seal your graphite piece test stores make some metallic sealant that you could airbrush on top the details at the end of the barrel are slightly lighter so i use some liquitex heavy body iridescent rich silver now this part of the end of the barrel has some discoloration so i add some burnt sienna in with the iridescent rich silver to shade the end of it i mix in some fx brand gauntlet with the iridescent rich silver this is applied to the tapered part of the barrel a completely dry filbert brush is then used to feather this color up and even though it’s just paint it’s pretty convincing weathering on this end pure iridescent rich silver is also applied to the thumb latch vallejo brand polished gold is going to be used for the rod on the side of the blaster this color is not painted on as a complete coverage because i would like it to look a little bit tarnished this same polished gold is also applied to the latch and trigger i use the fx brand gauntlet to paint some of the darkest recesses and din jaren’s blaster is good to go so you all can see what it takes to put together den djarin’s blaster from the mandalorian and now i have a way to protect the child now this is the type of build that has a bunch of different techniques in it that you can use on future projects and hopefully learn something from this if you guys are enjoying all this content be sure to give it a thumbs up share it with your friends and family and remember if you’re building any of my builds or using hd phone be sure to tag me at sksprops on twitter and instagram because i want to see your creations until next time build your best with the best hd foam .