How to Make an SK-9
In preparation for Comicpalooza I recently went about making a prop SK-9 pistol, Maarkean Ocaitchi’s preferred pistol from Aristeia. I’ve dabbled in prop making when I made a lightsaber for a Jedi Halloween costume a few years ago. My skills are, how shall we say, amateur. However, it’s a lot of fun to do.
I’m going to try and outline what I did to make the gun but I unfortunately didn’t think to take pictures as I worked on it. I only have a finished picture.
The materials for the gun weren’t to expensive. Most are plumbing supplies I got from Lowe’s and a toy gun.
- 1 1/2 x 8″ PVC sink tailpiece ~$2.24
- 1 1/2 x 6″ PVC sink tailpiece ~$1.98
- EMT Set Screw Coupling $1.50
- Superglue $1.97
- 1/2″ CPVC Coupling Fitting $2.14
- 3/4″ x 1/2″ Insert Coupling $0.54
- 1/2″ PVC SCH80 Nipple $0.68
- Black Spray paint $6.27
- Silver Spray paint $4.24
- Big Tex Pistol $12.22
For tools I used:
- Screw driver
- Electric drill
- Dremel tool
To start, I took the two tailpiece pipes and trimmed them down to two inches. In the end, you could make do with one tail piece and just cut it in two. I trimmed on piece with a curve on one side so that it could slide over the ammo chamber on the pistol.
Then, drill two holes in the 1/2″ PVC Nipple so that the two holes line up with the screws on the EMT Set Screw Coupling. You’ll have to drill holes in both side of the Nipple so that you can get the Coupling screws inside the Nipple tube and then screw them back into the Coupling. This will attach the bottom part of the pistol barrel.
Take the 1/2″ CPVC Fitting and cut off all but the cap piece. You’ll then unscrew the cap, insert the 3/4″ x 1/2″ Insert Coupling so that the smaller portion sticks out of the cap. Screw the cap back on securing it. This is the nozzle of the gun.
Now, you need to super glue the nozzle piece to the non trimmed piece of cut tailpiece. Once it dries, line up the bottom part of the pistol barrel with the tailpiece and drill a whole through both pieces. You’ll stick a screw inside the tailpiece and down into the bottom piece, securing the two together.
I did not do this next step but I would if I had to do it all over. Do the same as above, drilling a whole through the other tailpiece part, the one that side over the pistols ammo chamber, and into the bottom piece. This way you secure the middle EMT Set Screw Coupling and bottom piece of the gun to both the rear chamber and front nozzle. This would make the final assembly far more secure.
What I did require super gluing each piece together. And the super glue kind of sucked. In the end, its not super stable. But it holds together reasonably well. The more things you can screw instead of the gluing, the better.
I originally planned to add a scope to the top but did messed up. I assembled the gun before thinking about the scope. I could have attached it with a screw into the rear tailpiece cover but once its assembled, there’s no way to get a screw in there.
Once you’re done, wrap the pistol’s grip in painters tape and paint the nozzle silver (you could also do this before assembly, which would be smarter). Then once its dry, cover it and spray paint the rest of the gun black.
I imagine these instructions are fairly confusing. But they’re there if you wish to decipher them. If you come to Comicpalooza you can see the gun in action as I’ll be having a Maarkean and Saracasi impersonators at the Con. It should be awesome.
