STA-52 Stahl Arms Helghast Killzone

I thought it would be appropriate to show the build progress for the STA-52 wooden assault rifle from start to finish, rather than just post the completed pictures; so here we go.

First off, do plenty of the research (Google images and forums), then produce a full size drawing, which I did in two parts. First part is to scale the image and sketch directly from the screen; then the second part is to draw accurately to the millimeter the drawing which will be used to create all the components.

This is then followed by studying the images a drawings to work out a build and assembly method, since all the separate pieces to be made must fit together correctly. Once all that is sorted out it was off to the workshop. Don't forget to take plenty of printed pictures to aid the build.

I started with cutting out the hand grip and hand guard, and then shaping and sanding until the desired result reached, as you can see in these first pictures.

I routed out two notches in the hand grip, top and bottom to locate, but this will be the last to fix, as there will be a locating screw behind the grip and access will be needed.

Next I started to make some of the parts that will be attached to the main body a bit further down the build.
As time is against me on this project, I am rushing it along a bit, but you can see from the next set of pictures I added more detail to the grip, using MDF and pine dowel. I'm not that keen on the appearance of MDF, but it is an easy material to work with and finishes very good, certainly suitable for modelling which will be later painted, but not by me.

I've also made the iron sight arrangement, comprising of three components, which attaches to the handle. Also shown in the pictures is the spent cartridge ejector port, which I'll fix to the right hand side of the gun, and on the left will be a few buttons. I've noticed that on a few web pictures the ejector port appears on the left hand side, which seems a bit odd (possibly the photo has been flipped or a lefty version?), since you don't want shells ejected across your body, instead it's best to spit them all over your comrade to your right!

Now I decided to make the main body and the handle. The main body of the gun was a little awkward to say the least, so I planned the layers of routing to ensure as much detail went into it as possible. No time to chisel the corners of the insets square, but the end result still looks the part with a tight radius.

The pictures below show all the parts so far, and at this point non of them are fixed together yet.

I'ts all now starting to take shape and look similar to the assault rifle of the game Killzone 2, and once painted it'll look awesome.

Now all that's left to do is the enormous magazine drum, hand guard and the barrel, so more to come.

Now done the drum magazine and assembled all the loose parts you can see in the pictures below. The drum magazine started life as a piece of 4x4 and was planed and sanded cylindrical, and then attached to the two circular ends, cut twice, once perpendicular and then at 45 degrees.

All the components are glued and screwed together to ensure they are secure.

I will be attaching the hand guard and barrel next, and then I'll post more pictures and a video of the completed gun.

Job done! The hand guard and barrel have been made and attached to complete the wooden assaul rifle. The hand guard was a bit time consuming with so many grooves, but the finished effect looks pretty good. Take a look at the pictures below of the completed Killzone 2 Stahl Arms Helghast STA-52 model assault rifle, and please feel free to leave comments below.

Video to follow shortly of the completed wooden model STA-52 assault rifle.

As promised, here is the video.

I enjoyed making it, but no time to waste, now on to the next, and thanks for looking.