Warhammer 40k Imperial Commissar- Airsoft Bolt Pistol build thread

[demoncase]

So- there's going to some folks here going to have a lot of 'Huh?!" going on in this thread and for this I apologise:....Where to start?

So: Preamble
1. There is a desktop roleplaying game called Warhammer 40,000k- This features a huge galaxy spanning Empire Of Mankind living in a horrible dystopia with all kinds of horrors....It is very complex with a huge, deep and varied backstory taking all kinds of sci-fi fun and mixing it up
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warhammer_40,000

2.The armies of man tend to be conscripts and are unsuprisingly a bit shaky on the morale front when facing 20 foot tall demons that can explode your head, alien psykers who can melt your head and alien xenos who only want to eat you. The Imperial Guard- these armies- are not given a 'safe space' and a Jolly Rancher....No, every Imperial Guard Regiment is provided with an Imperial Commissar- a man with the power to dispense immediate summary execution to anyone (regardless of rank) who retreats, fidgets on parade, shows cowardice, looks like they might show cowardice, mentions heresy against the Emperor.....you get the idea..
Imperial Commissars get a very spiffy peaked cap, a chainsword and a bolt pistol- which looks all rather awesome.
Like so:

Note the Bolt pistol- a .50 semi and full automatic weapon that fires a mass-sensing ceramite tipped rocket-assisted explosive round

3. There are a series of immensely fun books set in the 40k universe by Dan Abnett called the Gaunt's Ghosts series, featuring one Commissar Ibram Gaunt who is- basically- king of the sci-fi badasses.

4. Finally: I used to play the tabletop game as a lad. Since then I've played airsoft and wanted forever to combine the too....I'm never going to be a 8 foot tall Adeptus Astartes Marine- but reading Gaunt's Ghosts back-to-back made me want to do it more....The problem being that the future pew-pew guns don't really look anything like the standard infantry weapons available as off-the-shelf airsoft kit...

Right? All caught up?....got some snacks and a tasty beverage?....Right!

Start point: an Chinasoft plastic bodied M4- one of these:

Why an M4? 2 Key factors (availability and construction)- The front end comes off in one piece as does the stock- that makes conversion easy. Unlike the G36 (another possibility) or G3SAS (another choice) the HOP unit is inside the body, meaning however I decide to build the new body I won't have worry about how to keep it functional.
Plastic bodied for the reason of lightness. I want something I can reasonably use one handed.

So: Hacked the outer barrel and inner barrel down to about 5" (No shorter than the many G&P Tank CQB models). Cut off all the sticking out bits, as we're going for slab-sided. Pull out the cocking handle to save weight.

38mm PVC wastepipe becomes the fake bolt-pistol barrel- the real barrel becomes a fake 'gas tube'
To increase the 'chunkiness' factor, I'm adding another length of tube on the top using miliput straight to the top rail. It's also a place to hide a battery. This gives me a solid core to bolt the 'skin' around....This is where the big profile of the bolt pistol pays off.
Added a trigger shoe and funky trigger guard to mask the classic 'M4' profile a little. Cableties are a temporary measure while building.

So- Lots going on here with the help of a Roadie :)
Body has been fabricated from 5mm matt black acrylic sheet- as with the PVC barrel- my aim is something I can actually LIFT and use all day.
Guts have been sprayed satin silver so that when the 'skin' is bolted on, there's a pretty contrast between the two.

Mocking up stage- waiting for the paint to harden off then glueing in place. Also note I've added a 5mm eye bolt to the rear- this keeps the gearbox supported (no stock bolt) and gives me a locating point for a single point sling.
The skull lanyard is a temporary measure.
Means I can hang it on my gear without the faff of having to create a holster.....Plus a good Commissar keeps his tool of office ready to dispense justice at all times, so no holster for me.

Getting there. Glued in place the side shields- had to create Miliput spacers to keep everything in square.
Grip wrapped in neoprene- this hides the M4 origins a little more.
Weighs about as much as a good target pistol. Manageable with one hand even with a Nimh in place

Hand cut Aquila stencil from standard paper- gold paint sponged on as I'm aiming for the 'mass produced' issue arm look.
Adding a fake cocking handle and tidying up begins

I'm thinking the Bolt pistol is open bolt to aid cooling. Hence cocking handle is back- need to add a little more here to make it look like part of the mechanism

Here's a friendly public service announcement from me- your newly appointed regimental Commissar....I have become my own meme. :D

The weirdos in the Adeptus Mechanicus have purified my tool using magical Purity Seal (Volvo Sunburst Red, aged with black boot polish and paper aged with tea)
(FYI- that'd be NIN Head Like A Hole chorus in Latin in my own fair hand-
"Head like a hole/Black as your soul/I'd rather die than give you control/ Bow down before the one you serve- you're going to get what you deserve").
Converted a pouch and belt buckle for duty too....just need a chainsword now. (watch this space, heretics)

More finishing- ally perforated plate finishes the spaces without adding weight. And looks badass.
Rubber bungs added to the battery tube.

Chainsword has arrived.....for the glory of the Golden Throne!


Made the full width mag full of future pew-pew rocket bullet things and did a whole load more finishing

.....Next up- loadout photos and 'combat' use

[demoncase]

In the field:

The Commissar Of Disapproval looks in your direction and is......disappointed.

CHARGE!

Onward to glory, cowards!

Note the Warhammer 40k patent Space Cape to keep off all that rain. In space.....

[remnar]

Awesome build! :) :spyder:

[JT]

:D :D :D :D
Thanks for the fun read!
You dig Star wreck too, I guess :D Hilarious stuff, all of them!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wreck

[SpyderEdgeForever]

THANK YOU for this very cool thing, demoncase! Amazing construction work on the prop/devices and everything.

Now you got me interested in the War Hammer world. Technologically is it sortof like a mix of Tolkien's Middle Earth with bits of advanced technologies and modern technologies all rolled into one?

One of the War Hammer fans said that in the War Hammer universe there was once a very super advanced Imperium and due to attacks from the "chaos forces" a lot of the planets and people got separated and lost a lot of their original technologies.

If the issue of knives and cutlery tools in War Hammer came up, what are some you know of, such as the Chain Sword? Would steel be considered primitive to them and what sorts of materials are commonly used in armor?

Here is one page I found about it where someone asked about this:

http://scifi.stackexchange.com/question ... technology

[demoncase]

THANK YOU for this very cool thing, demoncase! Amazing construction work on the prop/devices and everything.

Now you got me interested in the War Hammer world. Technologically is it sortof like a mix of Tolkien's Middle Earth with bits of advanced technologies and modern technologies all rolled into one?

One of the War Hammer fans said that in the War Hammer universe there was once a very super advanced Imperium and due to attacks from the "chaos forces" a lot of the planets and people got separated and lost a lot of their original technologies.

If the issue of knives and cutlery tools in War Hammer came up, what are some you know of, such as the Chain Sword? Would steel be considered primitive to them and what sorts of materials are commonly used in armor?

Here is one page I found about it where someone asked about this:

http://scifi.stackexchange.com/question ... technology

Mankind had spread out into the stars- then during the Age Of Strife, the Chaos gods broken through from outside the material universe and every world was isolated.....Some carried on being advanced,other reverted to previous points in history all the way back to feral, caveman like.

The problem is that now- in the huge and sprawling dystopian Imperium that has taken back much of the universe- is that people no longer understand technology and so much has been forgotten- The Adeptus Mechanicus closely guard the secrets they do understand and surround everything else with mysticism and the Cult Of The Machine.....If you needed to repair an engine, the first step will be to light incense and say the Litany Against Heresy.

Stuff like basic steels and knives are made using the techniques of the past- because anything new or innovative is viewed with suspicion....When stuff breaks down, no-one knows how to fix it. Things are made to standard templates centuries old- and finding previous lost 'standard template construction' units from the Dark Age of Technology (Now!)

Weapons like the Chainsword are basically a 1000 year old design which the manufactures are going through the motion of making.
The ceramite powered armour of the Space Marines are centuries old....Again, no-one is making anymore.
The lighter flak armour of the Imperial Guard is stamped out in the giant planet-sized hives to a standard pattern from materials that no-one understands anymore.

Now, the pinnacle of 'cutting tools' in the grim-dark 41st century are power-swords- an energy sheathed steel, admantium or crystal....But again, these are all heirloom weapons and they have forgot how to make them

Trading with xenos (aliens) to get new kit is heresy- and you will get a visit from the Inquisition if you are unlucky.
Using alien weapons is also heresy- and in the Imperial Guard, you will get a Commissar having a word with you. That word would be "Die heretic!* *BLAM!* :D

(I should add that the strictures of this idea-set isn't the same in the alien races- the Tau are constantly developing their tech, a reason for the Imperium to treat them with aggressive suspicion)

[demoncase]

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Power_Sword

[SpyderEdgeForever]

How would the present (in the WarHammer universe) Inquisition and Imperial Guard react to a citizen who was say a "backyard garage tinkerer" type, and they somehow discovered a process or rediscovered an ancient process, to cheaply make plasteel (which I speculate is a combo of something like diamond nanothread with steel or plastics) or ceramite, and approached them and said "Check this out, guys. I want to do what I can to help bolster and support our Imperium, and make life better for everyone."

[demoncase]

How would the present (in the WarHammer universe) Inquisition and Imperial Guard react to a citizen who was say a "backyard garage tinkerer" type, and they somehow discovered a process or rediscovered an ancient process, to cheaply make plasteel (which I speculate is a combo of something like diamond nanothread with steel or plastics) or ceramite, and approached them and said "Check this out, guys. I want to do what I can to help bolster and support our Imperium, and make life better for everyone."

Immediate execution as a heretic- possibly in league with xenos....

All items passed on to the Inquisition and then the Adeptus Mechanicus....All friends, family and passers-by rounded up by the Inquisition and likely executed to prevent the 'taint' of heresy spreading.

And that's if your lucky- if you inspiration came from 'visions' then you're possibly an unsanctioned psyker and your life is about to get more painful than you can imagine.

If it's bad enough- planet wide- then there's always the standard "Exterminatus" order- which is orbital bombardment with viral missiles followed by cracking the planet like an egg using fusion torpedos from the system boundaries.

[remnar]

Well that sounds a little harsh. :)

[demoncase]

Well that sounds a little harsh. :)

I did say 'dystopia' and in 40k they really, really mean it:

Example:
In one of the Gaunt's Ghosts books, a Guardsman starts getting premonitions about the potential disasters that are about to befall the regiment, the lead charachters and (ultimately, because it's that kind of plot) the fate of the war in this region of space.

He saves countless lives and the war turns an important corner due to these premonitions.

His reward?

He's handed into the Inquisition by the regimental Commissar (whose life was also saved) as an unsanctioned psyker.
He's then taken to the Black Ships, has his eyes and voicebox removed and augmetic 'restraining' implants fitted into his head to turn him into a 'sanctioned psyker'- who is then regularly tortured to provided the needed 'psychic powers' for the Imperium....and dies screaming inside in a cage in a desert (in a later book).

In the 41st century- there is only the grim darkness. :D

[remnar]

Well that sounds a little harsh. :)

I did say 'dystopia' and in 40k they really, really mean it:

Example:
In one of the Gaunt's Ghosts books, a Guardsman starts getting premonitions about the potential disasters that are about to befall the regiment, the lead charachters and (ultimately, because it's that kind of plot) the fate of the war in this region of space.

He saves countless lives and the war turns an important corner due to these premonitions.

His reward?

He's handed into the Inquisition by the regimental Commissar (whose life was also saved) as an unsanctioned psyker.
He's then taken to the Black Ships, has his eyes and voicebox removed and augmetic 'restraining' implants fitted into his head to turn him into a 'sanctioned psyker'- who is then regularly tortured to provided the needed 'psychic powers' for the Imperium....and dies screaming inside in a cage in a desert (in a later book).

In the 41st century- there is only the grim darkness. :D

It seems like they could have saved themselves a lot of trouble if they had just asked the guy nicely to apply for the sanctioned psyker program. Now if he had refused, well then anything goes. :D

[demoncase]

Well that sounds a little harsh. :)

I did say 'dystopia' and in 40k they really, really mean it:

Example:
In one of the Gaunt's Ghosts books, a Guardsman starts getting premonitions about the potential disasters that are about to befall the regiment, the lead charachters and (ultimately, because it's that kind of plot) the fate of the war in this region of space.

He saves countless lives and the war turns an important corner due to these premonitions.

His reward?

He's handed into the Inquisition by the regimental Commissar (whose life was also saved) as an unsanctioned psyker.
He's then taken to the Black Ships, has his eyes and voicebox removed and augmetic 'restraining' implants fitted into his head to turn him into a 'sanctioned psyker'- who is then regularly tortured to provided the needed 'psychic powers' for the Imperium....and dies screaming inside in a cage in a desert (in a later book).

In the 41st century- there is only the grim darkness. :D

It seems like they could have saved themselves a lot of trouble if they had just asked the guy nicely to apply for the sanctioned psyker program. Now if he had refused, well then anything goes. :D

You missed the point- the forced surgery, torture and enslavement IS the sanctioned psyker programme. :eek:

[demoncase]

Mrs Demoncase got my stormcoat finished in time for the MCM Comicon in 2 weeks....so here's some full length shots of the full kit:

BLAM! (aka the classic Games Workshop 25mm minature post)

I'm afraid to say- it says here that you're a heretic.....Oh dear:

[remnar]

Nice! :D

[tvenuto]

This is...unbelievably awesome.

First, I used to play this game in middle school. And by play, I mean:
1. My friends and I would spend an hour or so gluing and painting (the fumes may have been responsible for the remaining steps).
3. We would then spend a few hours planning, calculating, and debating the best troop composition, often running afoul of the troop-type rules, and being sent back to the drawing board.
2. Then about 30 minutes arguing how we should set up the board, and whether or not unpainted pieces were allowed, and whether or not a primed piece counted as painted or unpainted.
3. We would finally get the board set up, play a round or two until we realized that no one had a firm grasp on the rules, and that there is actually relatively complicated mechanics for everything.
4. We would quit and run around outside, pretending, as it were, that we were dressed in the manner you are in those pictures.

Second, nice job on the build. You capture it both at arms length and in detail. I loved the aesthetic of the whole warhammer universe. It's like the opposite of steampunk. The far future with only somewhat more advanced, but in that era: archaic, technology.

Third, I was into the Chaos marines, since I liked tinkering with things. I'd cut off parts of one and glue it to another. I actually got pretty good at painting them after a while, which I did into highschool even though I had moved and had no one to play with. I pretty much just carried on painting the ones I hadn't gotten to and even bought some more just for the hobby of it. Maybe at some point I'll rummage around and take some pics of my work.

[demoncase]

Tarting about at Comicon today:


Contemplating the glory of the Golden Throne


"Says here that the three of you are heretics......"

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Very cool, I'm glad you enjoyed the convention :)

How would a squad or group of Warhammer troops decked out with all their standard issue weapons and equipment, and an Imperial Commisar be against a Star Wars Imperial commander and a group of standard Storm Troopers with their blaster rifles? And is there any weapon of similiarity in the War Hammer universe to a Light Saber. Perhaps a Force Sword?

[demoncase]

Very cool, I'm glad you enjoyed the convention :)

How would a squad or group of Warhammer troops decked out with all their standard issue weapons and equipment, and an Imperial Commisar be against a Star Wars Imperial commander and a group of standard Storm Troopers with their blaster rifles? And is there any weapon of similiarity in the War Hammer universe to a Light Saber. Perhaps a Force Sword?

We're better shots.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Cool, man that looks so fun, the live action stuff. At the Comic Con did they have a lot of War Hammer-related memorabilia, cards, and things for sale?