There are people who have no innate ability to construct anything with LEGOs, so they just build towers. Some people are content with building houses. More advanced builders are more ambitious build fire trucks, police cars, and even the occasional Star Wars vehicle. And then there is Nick Jensen, who builds Halo weaponry.

With ten custom build LEGO weapons from the Halo universe, Jensen has quite a fictional arsenal at his disposal. His most recent creation from Halo: Reach may have been his most ambitious: the SRS99 Anti-Material Sniper Rifle.

The process began with choosing the right weapon. Either the sniper rifle or the shotgun was going to be his next project, but while the shotgun was his preference, it proved to be too complex. Scrapping the idea, he went back to the longer range weapon. Using the rich textures and environments from the game, he captured many close-up screenshots of the sniper rifle in Halo: Reach’s theatre mode. Using references from Halopedian.com, action figures from McFarlane, and another LEGO builder for reference pictures, the project began.

The length of the rifle was initially viewed as a stumbling block, considering the weight it would be supporting. At 5.5 feet in length, Jensen believed it was incredibly difficult to build any replica LEGO weapon that long. It seemed the task was too daunting.

However, he broke the project down into more manageable sections, taking them one at a time (body, barrel, and scope), and focused only on building a section instead of the entire gun at once. Having already built an assault rifle, the sniper rifle would borrow many of its features from it, but only with a much longer barrel.

The Halo: Reach SRS99 Anti-Material Sniper Rifle is approximately 5.5ft long. Using a tape measure constantly locked at 5.5 feet for reference, Jensen built the body of the sniper the same way he built the assault rifle, SMG, and pistol: start from the front and work towards the back. The barrel was relatively easy, covering a supporting rod with 2×2 quarter cylinder bricks. The body and the scope were considerably tougher, but taking the approach of one section at a time, the project eventually was completed.

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Here are the final statistics:

  • Length: 63 inches (1.6 meters)
  • Weight:  about 10.5 pounds
  • Non-LEGO used: dowel rod, custom waterslide decals
  • Features: Removable magazine, sliding bolt, moving safety
  • Time spent building: about 4 months
  • Piece count: More than 1, less than a billion

Think that's cool? Be sure to check out the LEGO Gears of War lancer (that actually works!). And for more LEGO creative video game fun:

Are there any LEGO builders in our loyal audience? Would you ever invest the time and money into building weapons/vehicles/anything from a video game?

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Source: The Brick Brothers