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Watch out! Darth Zardoz,
the Sith Scope can see you!
MATERIALS LIST
*WARNINGS*
I got this idea of building a periscope from Gary James' Terragenesis site, where he originally got the idea from David Helber's Major General's Tabletop Periscope site. The tutorial here is very much the same idea with a few creative liberties on my part, namely a pattern which you can print out and the addition of a lip on the base for added stability and an LOS line.
- See below for downloading and printing out the pattern to cut out from the foamboard. I recommend printing onto a Legal Size (8½x14") sheet of paper though the pattern is roughly 7"x11" in size.
- Affix the pattern onto your workpiece. Shown here I used push pins to hold the pattern onto the board.
- With the metal straight edge and knife score the pattern onto the foamboard. Use little pressure with multiple passes to cut through the top layer off the board. Only cut at the points and along places where the lines meet each other.
- Take the straightedge and with your pencil or pen draw the lines onto the areas you just marked. Take note and "fill in" or mark the areas that had the checkerboard pattern. Refer to your pattern again to make sure you got everything.
- The checkerboard pattern around the edges of some pieces show the areas to be rabbeted, that is form an overlap to the piece it's being attached to. Cut the top piece and the foam, but not all the way through to the bottom piece. Slide the blade of your knife between the board and foam along the sides and bottom. Once again use slight pressure and multiple passes of the blade to cut away the foam and remove the waste. Repeat this process with the sides of the Front Bottom and Front Top pieces.
- If you dry fit the pieces you'll notice there's a little lip that protrudes up where you look into the scope. You can of course keep it that way but if not you'll want to miter that edge. Place the Side piece onto the Back piece and mark the interior and exterior where the back extends. Once again with your straight edge carefully cut both sides of the board but not though the foam just yet. When you assemble the scope with the Sides and Bottom piece you'll find it easier to cut off the excess. When the glue dries, place the scope on it's side and with a gentle sawing action, remove the lip.
- One edge you will have to miter is the bottom of the Front Top piece. You'll notice once again if you dry fit the scope, there's a gap between the Front Top and Front Bottom. Cut roughly a 45° angle off the bottom of the Front Top so the two pieces will sit flush up against one another.
- Glue the two Mirror Brace pieces onto the back of one of the mirrors. Glue the other mirror to inside of the Front Bottom piece.
- If you are not using black foamboard, paint the interior pieces black. This will limit the amount of light reflected inside the scope giving you a clearer picture. Do not paint the edges where you will glue or the Front Bottom piece where your mirror will be attached to. Use the braces on the mirror to trace an area to give you an idea where not to paint. You can either mask and spray the interior or if you're a bit of a masochist like me, brush the paint on.
- To cover the edges and prevent them from coming apart, it's a good idea to tape them down with masking tape. Shown here I covered the entire scope in with wide masking tape. I then primed the entire scope and cut the tape off of the openings. I recommend this procedure if you intend to cover your scope with spackle or textured paint as the foamboard usually warps when painted.
- After all that you may decide on a paint scheme. I recommend disguising it as a building that you are using in your campaigns. If you do more than one type of archetectural style in your battles this gives you an excuse to build more than one scope. BUT warn players before hand that the scope is not actually part of the terrain. One player got upset with me when I moved the scope without warning him, exposing his squad to the enemy.
- If you'll excuse the blurry photo above, you can see two Stormtroopers in the circle. The "shadowy" figure in front of them is a soldier from an opposing army. The view from the scope clearly(?) shows that the figure has a clear shot at two Stormtroopers.
- The "Darth Maul" graphic for my periscope was done in Paint Shop Pro with the Maulbats (capital letter "E") font available in my Fonts section.
Click the Pic above for the Periscope Pattern PDF.
Print out on Legal Size(11in. x 14in.) paper.
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