accurately measuring dimensions of a gun from a picture?

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JDP12
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Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:08 am

I'm interested in building a replica of a rifle (unsure which one) for airsoft, and would like to get it as close to the real thing as possible.

I'll most likely be using aluminum and wood, perhaps some acrylic as well.

The problem i encountered is finding all of the dimensions of the gun. if i took a picture of it

then measured the total length of it on the paper, and compare that to the guns length and set up a scale?

Would that work? I think it would- wouldn't it be the same principle as a map?

any other tips? I can't seem to find a diagram of its actual dimensions, so would this method work?
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jitup
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Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:53 am

It would work if you know the correct scale factor.
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raptorforce
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Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:56 am

yea just find a dimension of one part of the real size gun measure it and lets say it 6 inches and lets say on the pic its 2 so do 6/2 and your answer is 3 so in your picture times everything by three and you will have the real sze dimensions.
but most likely its not gonna be a perfect 3 i did this to find dimensions of the m1 garand and the scale was like .6246783284 or something really werd number
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jackssmirkingrevenge
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Wed Dec 17, 2008 11:00 am

What I do is take a picture the side profile of the gun in question, crop it until the ends of the picture are the ends of the gun, scale it up (using actual dimensions) with a photo editing program to the known length of the actual gun then print it out actual size et voila, plans ;)
hectmarr wrote:You have to make many weapons, because this field is long and short life
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jitup
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Wed Dec 17, 2008 11:02 am

JSR, what type of massive roll of paper do You use to fit a whole gun on the paper?
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jackssmirkingrevenge
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Wed Dec 17, 2008 11:12 am

jitup wrote:JSR, what type of massive roll of paper do You use to fit a whole gun on the paper?
A4 papers and tape ;) image editors usually have a "print on multiple sheets" type option.
hectmarr wrote:You have to make many weapons, because this field is long and short life
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jitup
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Wed Dec 17, 2008 11:14 am

Oh, I was under the impression you had it printed on 1 sheet. I guess it is possible if some one had a blueprint printer.
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ALIHISGREAT
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Wed Dec 17, 2008 11:48 am

if you fail with the image editing thing, just get a side on profile of the rifle and whip out your ruler and calculator :wink:
jimmy101
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Wed Dec 17, 2008 1:05 pm

Photograph the object next to a ruler. Print the photo, cut out the ruler and use it to measure the photo.

We don't need no stinkin math ...
Image
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JDP12
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Wed Dec 17, 2008 1:21 pm

unfortunately, i don't happen to have a bunch of sniper rifles laying around jimmy :P if i get what your saying..

so basically what I outlined would work... or blow it all up until it is actual size?

JSR- how would i scale it up correctly? Is that like make sure to change width and length, and not just both?

Just a bit unclear on that part. maybe i'm just stupid right now tho :P
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Daltonultra
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Wed Dec 17, 2008 6:54 pm

ilovetoblowthingsup wrote:I'm interested in building a replica of a rifle (unsure which one) for airsoft, and would like to get it as close to the real thing as possible.
Got a picture? If it's a real gun, I or my Brother can I.D. it for you and give you dimensions.
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inonickname
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Wed Dec 17, 2008 7:37 pm

Just make a simple scale, and then figure out what caliber it is for your barrel size. Then work from that.
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Ragnarok
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Thu Dec 18, 2008 8:19 am

ilovetoblowthingsup wrote:unfortunately, i don't happen to have a bunch of sniper rifles laying around jimmy :P if i get what your saying.
I'm pretty sure he's not being entirely serious.

However, he has a good point. You could print it out at any size, then use a scaled ruler to measure it, which would save on possible conversion errors - and printer paper.
Does that thing kinda look like a big cat to you?
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pocket
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Thu Dec 18, 2008 9:07 am

to make a M16 rubber band gun for my nephew i simply used what i already knew such as the stock would be 10 inches and mentioned above i used a scale and calculated the rest after this my nephew took it to my brother who has an AR15 in nevada and what do you know they were very closely identical.
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jackssmirkingrevenge
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Thu Dec 18, 2008 10:30 am

Just crop the width of the picture so that the muzzle and butt touch the edges, then resize in dimensions units (cm or inches, not pixels) corresponding to the actual length of the gun (which can be found at places like this one) and print it out actual size.
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