Making the Latron Wraith

I originally posted this on Imgur back in 2016, and I'm really proud of it. Props to @thecastle for goading me into doing it! You can see the original post here.

I played a shit ton of Warframe when I was unemployed. Actually managed to get this rifle from the Cryotic Front event! So on a whim, I decided that I wanted to make one. My plan was to eventually make my Vauban to go with it, but I'd start small. A friend of mine works for DE, and he got permission to send me some high res pics of the original asset. And yes, I have permission to share this. Thanks to @thecastle for helping me out!

So I started this the Sunday after Christmas, 2015. I bought a 4-foot section of 2x10, and started tracing. I had no idea what I was getting myself into...

And to top it off, I decided to do this in the most ghetto way possible. Spade bits and a punch saw to cut the hole out! What is wrong with me?

After cutting it out, I used a coarse wood file to grind out the shape I wanted. The wood wasn't too hard, so it was relatively easy to get the shape I wanted. My fitbit loved me during this time, though! I'd go work for an hour or two a night, and most of that would be counted as active minutes!

Pulling out the big bits, it's time for some destruction!

Turned it into swiss cheese!

Even this early on, I could tell I had the stock done up right. It just felt like it should. Even at this point, I was super stoked about this project.

Working shirtless because I'm such a rebel... :P

Working on the foregrip. I wanted to avoid using a saw for most of this part, in case I derp up and take out part of the wood I didn't want to lose.

Smoothed out, and looking just dandy!

I cut the hole here with a circular cutter for my drill. I didn't want to go too big, but I also didn't want it too small. Honestly, a lot of this work was flying by the seat of my pants. I really had no idea what I was doing!

The foregrip cleaned up nicely!

This grip took forever to do, but I'm so glad it turned out the way it did. It could have gone much worse!

This part...this was special. I needed a groove for the next part, but didn't have a nice guide. So it kept chopping around and being a jerk.

I work in IT at a call center for a Fortune 100 company. One of my coworkers used to do cabinet making, then switched careers. He custom built the cabinets in Prince's mansion. So he had tools and hookups! I had him cut the discs and the dowel, and he found some scrap poplar for me in his shop. Thanks, Rich!

The discs fit quite nicely, and the wood putty made a solid seal to hold them in place.

After a little bit of sanding to curve out the edges, I was able to attach them!

I wound up choosing a larger ball to work with for the tip. I used my cousin's drill press to drill a pilot hole for the dowel. Then I added that little nib and let the wood glue dry.

I also took a miter saw to the front of the rifle to make a little more space. The barrel is also supposed to overshoot the front side. Just as planned! I also put in the grooves by hand, bought a chisel set for way too much money.

For freehanding this entire thing, it's surprisingly straight!

I stuck a screw in the ball, drilled a pilot hole in the rifle, and filled it with wood glue. I felt rather smart for coming up with that idea!

Thinking ahead for painting time, I bought an eyelet and carabiner to hang it up.

For the flared portion by the grip, I decided to use craft foam to get the shape I wanted. I figured that was easier than trying to put a bunch of wood putty on there and sanding it. I'll pass, thanks.

I cut the foam from the template...

and then glued it on!

I used a bit of wood putty here to smooth out the edge. At least the stuff sands easily...

I used some extra dowel for this part. I used the file and some sandpaper to round out the ends, then laid them out.

A little bit of wood glue, and they're attached!

I took a page from these guys for this next part. I didn't want to use the resin coat, but the elmer's glue was a fantastic idea. Initially, I thought I needed to water down the glue, which turned out to be a mistake. This one was 4 parts water to 1 part glue.

This one was 5 parts water, 1 part glue. It really didn't turn out well at all.

Then I realized the folly of my mistake and started doing straight glue. By this point, I was able to get two good goats of glue to give it the plastic feel I wanted.

I hung it up and hit it with some sandable primer first before painting.

After hitting it with some gloss black, this think looks sick!

Close up of the fore grip and barrel.

And the grip and stock. I like how it looks without paint, too!

I goofed when painting the fore grip. I thought I was smart using painter's tape, but I forgot to put tape in the grooves! Oops...

Nothing a little black paint can't fix!

The red paint I used was really, really cheap. I needed to put down a good four coats to get the red that you see on the stock. The part around the trigger guard is one coat.

After everything looked good, I threw it back on the biner and hit it with a gloss polyurethane sealant to give it that nice shine. Shitty background is shitty, but I wanted to show Castle. I'll be honest, I was really giddy!

Here's a better pic. You can see the shine, too!

Cat tax. Because there's always a cat tax. Especially after a post this long. If you made it all the way down here, more power to you! This project was a ton of fun, I was in waaay over my head from the beginning, but I'm so happy with the outcome. Thanks to @thecastle for his help with the reference image, thanks to Digital Extremes for making an amazing game, and thanks to you guys for sticking around this long!