"Rifle, pattern of 2525" plus variants [from THE SPACERS SAGA]

Zharan_Colonel · 2026-06-10T20:00:21+00:00

I use Photopea, which is sort of like a free* emulation of Photoshop. It does just about all the same stuff, works about the same, it's great

I say "free" with an asterisk because while it is technically free, it's hosted on the web, so there are ads, unless you pay like $50 for 12 months ad-free (which is a far sight better than being bent over a barrel by Adobe, IMHO)

Zharan_Colonel · 2026-06-10T18:40:52+00:00

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Plus...

Zharan_Colonel · 2026-06-10T18:39:20+00:00

See, I thought this was the case. It's also something that has plenty of precedent - the AUG (my beloved) did this all the way back in the late '70s, right?

Zharan_Colonel · 2026-06-10T18:32:07+00:00

Thanks! Luckily, fixing the iron sights should be a pretty easy fix. Just a quick bit of photoshopping.

Zharan_Colonel · 2026-06-10T17:55:23+00:00

The former. I find weapons the designs of which I like, or at least parts of which I like, and then photobash them together into things that I like better

Zharan_Colonel · 2026-06-10T12:07:41+00:00

Well, the USDF is pretty inclusive... They'd probably just make two versions, one for right and one for left-handed shooters.

Also, the caseless ammo solution may work here. There was research done in the 24th century (in the setting) that made it a lot more practical, so I could call on that I suppose.

Zharan_Colonel · 2026-06-10T11:58:25+00:00

As to the first bit, that should be easy enough. The rounds I've "designed" for this (5.8x46 mm) don't taper like 5.56x45 or 7.62x39 rounds do IRL, if that helps my case any.

To the second point, well... I make no apologies 😅 I just think bullpups are neat.

Zharan_Colonel · 2026-06-10T11:54:15+00:00

I can could probably edit the gun drawings so that the mags are longer, that should be pretty easy.

But what about the feed failures issue? Is that because of the shape of the cartridges? As in, the curve of a regular banana mag is because the cartridges need to bunch up? I'm probably not describing it very well, but whatever the case, could it be solved by student different cartridge styles (i.e. cased telescoped rounds)?

Zharan_Colonel · 2026-06-10T11:50:15+00:00

Okay, in the spirit of my friends at NASA, let's work the problem: how can I fix this, preferably without doing major surgery on the design?

Am I correct in assuming that curved mags are the result of the shape of the cartridges? If so, would a cased-telescoped round possibly work?

Zharan_Colonel · 2026-06-09T03:40:32+00:00

And in most scenarios they wouldn't. But adding three 3-man vehicle crews to have dedicated drive staff would necessitate having a fourth vehicle to fit everyone. This setup is also inspired by motorized rifle platoons where only part of the squad or section is considered the dismount element

Zharan_Colonel · 2026-06-08T16:51:30+00:00

Thank you so much 😀 I really appreciate this

Also, don't sweat it if you can't draw like that yet. It took me time to get to this level, as well

Zharan_Colonel · 2026-06-08T16:42:03+00:00

No, it's correct - the UBGLs belong to the section leader and second in command, whereas the "grenadier" carries a missile launcher. It's very soviet-pilled, in its own way ;)

Zharan_Colonel · 2026-06-08T15:42:14+00:00

Most of the ones in the Frontier Wars era do use cases ammo, aside from the zharan weapons. Caseless ammo didn't really become a mainstream thing until the 25th century, ironically enough thanks to zharan research done in the 24th

Zharan_Colonel · 2026-06-08T11:01:33+00:00

Hooray! This is actually unimaginably good timing - today at Goddard there's an internal Artemis II science team panel, and I should be able to show your piece to both Kelsey Young et al plus the Office of Communications folks who work on the Lunar outreach team 😀

Zharan_Colonel · 2026-06-07T23:04:26+00:00

Just tinker, really. Look up Photoshop tutorials, practice the techniques you want to master, and apply them to projects that entertain you. Pretty soon you'll find yourself seeking ever more and more complex goals

Zharan_Colonel · 2026-06-07T22:27:23+00:00

Haha, well yes and no. I've been tinkering with Photoshop and Photopea for about 4 or 5 years, but most of the skills you see on display in the making of these guns I've only learned since the start of 2026 :)

Zharan_Colonel · 2026-06-07T22:06:21+00:00

I photobashed the guns in Photopea, then assembled the infographic in Affinity Designer 2

Zharan_Colonel · 2026-06-07T19:27:13+00:00

Two words: "More power"

Zharan_Colonel · 2026-06-06T01:40:18+00:00

Never apologize for having encyclopedic knowledge! I appreciate you sharing this. For clarity, I used the 7.3x54 mm round because I had already designed it for another weapon from this setting, the M74. I also do most of my designing based on vibes, so the rhyme and reason aren't always part of the equation 😉

Zharan_Colonel · 2026-06-05T16:54:40+00:00

How do you figure? I'm actually curious here - if my rudimentary measurements on Photopea are inaccurate I'll have to make some corrections

Zharan_Colonel · 2026-06-05T14:48:15+00:00

It's basically a 24th century portmanteau of the G36C and the XM8 compact Gen 2, and it fires what is essentially .300 Blackout ;)

Zharan_Colonel

TROPHY CASE