Steampunk Crossbow Tutorial

Yep this is an amazing piece of toy tech. Follow this tutorial and you should be able to produce one in no time...well, in a few days... ;)

STEP 1

Get your hands on one of these hand held nerf crossbows. They go on ebay for about a tenner.




STEP 2

When it's sunny, get outdoors and spray the whole thing with black spray paint. Then hang up for a few hours to let it dry completely.






STEP 3

Get out the Rub n Buff Antique Gold and apply it all over. Don't worry too much about creating a shadowy dirty look yet, that will come. Next, grab a junior hacksaw and get to work sawing off the top bit sitting above the bow release clip.






STEP 4

Once that's done, get some sandpaper and sand down the edge on the gun you have just cut through. Use needle nosed pliers to pull out any pink bits that you can. Then get a black permanent marker and colour in the bits the cut has revealed. Then check around the gun for any bits you missed with the black spray paint and colour them in.












STEP 5

Using a silver marker, add some metallic silver detail if you like. I chose to go for a silver bow string here...All will become clear why later on...






STEP 6

Now onto the shadowing and dirty stuff, which was my favorite bit. Get some black acrylic paint and a small paint brush. Put a very small amount on the brush and wipe most of it off on a rag. Then dust it onto the crevices and edges of the gun, and over bright parts. Once you have done this for a bit you will develop an understanding for how much paint to use. Start on bits under the gun to practice. Remember that it wants to look realistic, so consider where the paint would have logically worn away if the gun had been held and used repeatedly. Also, if you have totally messed a section up, just colour over it all with black permanent marker, let it dry and start again. Ah markers are magical things....and they smell nice too!
















STEP 7

Once you are happy with the gold and black,  go back and add any more colours and designs you with. I went for some more silver on bits. After this, doing any painting will be hard so make sure you are totally happy with the paint job before you proceed with the next step.












STEP 8

This is the part you should do just before you go to bed. You need a big clockwork mechanism to stick onto your bow. I use GORILLA GLUE for this (the one that foams ups, it's about £5 on Amazon, and honestly, this caps all over superglue and any other glue I have ever used, it's amazing,  but ONLY USE A LITTLE AS IT FOAMS UP LOADS). Glue the mechanism on the top of the crossbow over the bit you cut off, making sure it sits flush within the crossbow.  Then turn it upside down so gravity in pressing down on the crossbow onto the mechanism,  and leave overnight for at least ten hours.






STEP 9

Once the mechanism is secure, now it the time to add wires and cogs etc IN A LOGICAL MANNER. .think kids toys that look like they could work. I'll walk you through what I did but please don't feel you need to copy, please just use it for ideas.
First, using the GORILLA GLUE SUPER GLUE and then wire, I attached a quartz crystal to the centre. I then make a circuit using wire and some clock insides and attached them to the crystal and each end of the bow strings. My logic was that the power generated by the clockwork mechanism would travel down the silver bow string, into the little clockwork mechanisms and down the wires into the crystal,  and shoot out a mighty crystal beam of laser light!  See, logical!










SO THAT'S IT. Here is the final crossbow in all its glory. Good luck making yours!













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