M41A Pulse Rifle prop build from EVA foam

That iconic Aliens firearm… in foam

This might get a little fangirlish, because this is my favorite movie weapon of ALL time and it appears in my favorite movie of all time, so bear with! The M41A Pulse Rifle is an iconic weapon, but as my favorite movie weapon, it was also one I did not want to attempt to make. I’ve been asked to make an M41A numerous times and I always decline, because, how do you make perfection.

A proper model of this movie gun is available, the last I saw sold for $1800. Not only out of my price range, but also illegal here in Australia. I was destined never to own this, my most beloved prop weapon.

M41A Pulse Rifle. Ten millimeter with over-and-under thirty millimeter pump action grenade launcher.

I then got to thinking… “how do you know you can’t do it unless you’ve tried to make one”. Well it wasn’t a commission, so there’s no money to worry about losing, just time. I could try an M41A Pulse Rifle prop made of EVA foam as a test, to see if it could be done. I set to work.

First I found schematics of the weapon. I also went through my Aliens tech manual and saved a multitude of different images of the different M41A model kits. It’s good to have reference material and I generally always do this when making something (top tip!). This entire build is made of EVA foam, other than a few greeblies, the barrel and rivets.

Foam is so versatile, I love it!

When it came time to paint it I went with the standard green color that’s popular with M41A enthusiasts (myself included as it matches the one in Aliens – mind you most model kits are brown and not green). I didn’t have an exact match so went with what I had to hand, here’s the result:

There she is, the M41A all ready for some cosplay or a shelf!

And that my friends is that! If anyone wants one let me know, semi deep pockets due to the time it took. You can comment on this build here, or over at the Facebook thread.

Till next time people… what do we say?! ….
DO GOOD THINGS!
Nerfenstein Out!

ADDENDUM:

Finished Pulse Rifle number 2, a commission for a lovely guy in my local area. Turned out better than my own I’m pleased to say, here’s a pic from varying angles:

This one turned out better / neater!

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Originally written for GirlyGamer.com.au home blog of Nerfenstein / GirlyGamer / BoardGameGran. Catch up with me on my Facebook page, or if you Tweet… there’s always Twitter and guess what, I actually reply!