Marine Cannon Paper Model

One of my favorite guns from one of my favorite games. And it's real! Well... you can hold it but you won't be able to shoot the cat.

I always liked building things, but to be finally able to touch a dream, it's quite a feeling.

Through paper I discovered a medium that is more than versatile. How can a simple stack of paper sheets be transformed into an object that almost defies imagination? Because that's all that is - paper. Nothing else. No internal support of any kind, and can still withstand being dropped on the ground without any damage whatsoever.

Well it's finally done - one of the most complicated builds I've ever done, from one of the best game francize - the starcraft terran marine cannon. And it's every bit as cool as in the game. Actually no, scratch that - it's better, because I can hold it in my hands. And it's life size!

Well, actually it's just a picture in which you can see how big it is compared to the human body. Even if, basically, it's supposed to be carried by a marine in full armor.

Another thing that I want to mention is the fact that because this is such a complex project with hundred of parts, it took me a lot of time to make, sometimes with parts that are 1 millimeter wide, so unfortunately I don't have detailed pictures of all parts, but I did try to do my best for this instructable.

Highlighted in yellow and with different parts: split and together.

You can see in the second picture the actual barrel under the cooler, the cooler with burn marks.

The biggest part of the whole thing.

And as having said in the intro, even if the thing is all paper, it holds together without a single bend.

Also, it's obvious from the highlight, what a big percent of the whole thing the body takes.

Many, many parts in this part, and one with the smallest ones. Here it was necessary to work with tweezers.

Also here's one of my favorite parts - the trigger. Why? Because it's a spot of color on the whole thing. It's so cool, red, you know that if you press it, nothing will remain of the Zerg (another race of the game) enemies that face you. And it simply looks cool - for a while I've used it as a fidget toy, just turning it all over and admiring it.

And another yellow splash of color positioned on the back side.

Now, in my opinion, which you can see better details of in the second picture, this is the most spectacular part of all - many details all over, you really know you're holding a serious thing!

Some parts are not that spectacular, but each one has a special role to play.

If you look at the last two pictures, you can see the whole thing come together - so cool. I really liked how it all came together!

If you look at it from a certain perspective you'd never think that it's made out of paper...

There were people that didn't believe it's actually paper, so I added some shots and perspectives where you can clearly see it's just paper.

Hope you enjoyed my entry in this year's Paper Competition.

Thanks!