Black Rock Shooter Arm Cannon

So I gotta say I have not watched this anime yet but I really really want to because the characters in it look awesome and they have the most awesome guns and swords out there.  So I was commissioned to make the arm cannon for the title character in the series and this is what the character looks like.

As you can see this is an awesome project!!  So I guess the cannon is in different sizes for the anime because I was asked to make it around 3 feet and light as possible so it can be posed with as well as light up.  Now if you know me making things light up is something I love to do so I was excited.  I don't have too many pictures of the progress of this gun since my camera was stolen and the first version I had completed and painted and was 1 day away from shipping out was ruined by water damage at the new place when we had a deluge of water and the floor drain in the garage was plugged up.  I lost a kingdom hearts key blade and this arm cannon. So bear with me on this one.

So I went with a concrete support tube for the main barrel of the gun and I went ahead and glued cardboard and craft foam to make the raised section on the barrel.  Also you can't see it but there is a wood dowel in the handle part of the gun to hold onto and everything is made out of cardboard and craft foam.  This thing weighs in at a little over 6lbs but it is surprisingly strong and durable.  I was very please with the detail I had in it.  For the lighting effect and the nozzle part of the gun I went with 5 leds 2 blue, 2 purple, and a blinking blue for some extra effect.  I went ahead and diffused the lights with 2 layers of semi transparent plastic to give the opening a nice glow.  I didn't want to compromise the look of the outside of the gun so I have he lights running directly off of a 9volt battery that sits in the inside of the handle and is easy to access for plugging in and unplugging.  But I am getting ahead of myself.  here are a couple more pictures of the colorful black rock shooter arm cannon.

Next step was the paint job.  I of course put about 3 coats of grey primer on it.  and then went with 2 coats of flat black and then I had a nice hammered effect black paint which i finished it off with.  Then of course the 2 coats of sealer to help with chipping.  I ordered black plastic chain for it and was a little disappointed with the size of the links and will definitely order larger size chain the next time I make this, that is if someone asks me to make another one of course.  here are some pics and please notice the new digs in the background,

And now the lighting effect that I talked about earlier.  Unfortunately the camera doesn't capture the different colors like I want it to but you can see it with the naked eye.

So I thought it came out pretty sweet it looks badass is pretty darn light my 9 year old can pick it up and point it like a gun and the lighting effect looks pretty sweet.  I was very psyched about making this arm cannon and I can't wait to get cracking on the giant sword from a character in the same series.