Both the stock and foregrip are (each separately) one solid piece of wood, both cut from the same block. The foregrip is not two pieces fastened with screws like the original Roughcut foregrip. Instead it is anchored using two stainless steel rods, which fit perfectly through the two circular openings for the original Roughcut foregrip. We made the foregrip a bit longer than the original, partly because it looks nice, but mainly for the benefit of larger (adult) sized hands.
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| Freaking rusty! |
The stock is anchored internally using several long steel eye-bolts drilled deep into the wood. A machine screw was installed from the (right) side of the blaster shell, through the largest eye-bolt, which was then secured with a nut and washer. We referenced multiple shotguns for dimensions, and measured the distance from trigger to butt of the stock. You can see the "real" machine screw used anchor the eye-bolt on the right side of the blaster, directly above the trigger. We drilled the hole right through the "fake" screw on the Roughcut shell -- which is still visible on the left side of the blaster. Little bit of rust and weathering and bam! you don't even really notice it.
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| Look at the scrape on one side and nail holes on the other. That's why is a "wasteland" themed rusty blaster! |
The entire internal anchor apparatus of eye-bolts and machine screw (internals not pictured) was then covered in multiple coats of two ton epoxy. The foregrip can still be removed by pushing out the pins/rods, and the shell can still come apart for further modification and/or repair.
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| We threw some sand in the crevices, then painted over it multiple times -- for that pitted rust look. |
Excellent question. We chose the heavy rust theme for several reasons; chiefly, the original wood piece, while excellent in quality and of fine grain and strength, had several cosmetic flaws; several nail holes on one side, and a large "scrape" or groove running down the other. The wood is incredible old growth with fine grain and we wanted to find a use for it -- essentially we would rather use this cosmetically flawed old growth over a cosmetically (unscarred) but low quality new growth. Fine grain (old growth) wood is increasingly harder to find these days. Old growth is by far much stronger, and quite simply looks way better too. Anyway, a scarred and scraped wood stock did not seem to lend well to a "clean" or fancy steampunk paintjob.
Secondly, with a rusty, beat-up paint scheme, the blaster can be dropped or scraped during an event or outing -- and any damage will just add to the overall "wasteland aesthetic". It can get dinged up and not make much of a difference!
