Fitting out gun cases - the French style

Fitting out gun cases - the French style 

With thanks to John G.

See also (also available at Matt's YouTube channel, ptdunk):

How to make an Antique Gun case for a vintage Oscar Will airgun

John posts:

There are many ways you can tackle this style. One excellent method has been detailed by Jimmie Dee here ( https://www.jimmiedeesairguns.com/gu...ir-pistol-box/ ) , which uses rigid foam (Plastazote LD18) . However, I was interested in the more traditional soft fabric effect shown above, where the main problem is getting a smooth, wrinkle-free finish. The following method I came up with uses fabric over flexible foam rubber, and is relatively simple, requiring no special skills or equipment to get a neat finish with no wrinkles. One advantage is that it involves only a minimal use of glue, so it is not messy and there is no waiting around while glue dries. Also any mistakes are easily reversed.

This is a summary of the technique:

You first need the following:

1. An appropriate box. This is your choice, but if you want traditional wood then fleabay is great for finding old empty mahogany, walnut or oak finish cutlery boxes at very reasonable prices.
2. A piece of foam rubber (or any other type of padding material), big enough to fit the box base, with a thickness roughly half of the gun’s cross-section. (You can of course use layers glued together if what you have available is too thin).
3. A piece of the desired fabric (loads of different colours and textures available on fleabay).
4. Three sheets of moderately stiff carboard, each slightly larger than the box interior.
5. Some thin cardboard, about postcard thickness, for cutting into strips.
6. A roll of strong double-sided sticky tape, about 1 inch wide.
7. A general purpose glue.

The first stage is to line the lid and base with the fabric. The following picture sequence shows the steps involved.

Cut a piece of the card to be a good (but not too tight) fit in the lid, and put double sided tape all around the edge as in pic. (1). On a flat surface stretch the fabric, good side down, using weights to hold it wrinkle-free, as in (2), and then press the taped card, sticky-side down onto the fabric, as in (3). Trim the fabric leaving about an inch excess all round. Apply double-sided tape all around the underside edge of the card and then turn the excess fabric over the card, as shown in pic. (4), and stick it down to give clean edges and tidy corners, as in (5). Apply glue to the back of the card and press it down in the lid to fix it permanently in place, and the result should look something like (6), with no wrinkles or creases.
Next the whole process is repeated again with a fresh piece of card, and the base of the box is lined in the same way.

In the next step, a fabric edging is applied is applied around the inside edge of the box base. This stage can be omitted if desired, but it does give a more professional look, and can help hide any imperfections in the wood. The procedure is summarised in the following picture sequence.

The edging strip is made by using the double-sided tape to stick a strip of very thin card, cut to the same width as the depth of the box, on to the fabric, as in Pic. 1 . Ideally a single length of fabric should be used sufficient to go all the way round the inside of the box. If there is not enough fabric to do this then you can make it up from shorter pieces, but try to ensure that any resultant joins will coincide with the corners of the box, otherwise they will be conspicuous. Once the card strip has been stuck down, apply another layer of the double-sided tape to the card and carefully fold the fabric over to stick it down, so giving a double layer of fabric, as in Pic. 2.. Excess fabric is then trimmed off to give the edging strip, as in Pic. 3. Check that the strip comes up exactly to the box edge top when in place and trim it before applying it if necessary. To fix the strip into the box base, tackle one edge at a time and apply double-sided tape to each inside edge, making sure it goes right up to the top of the edge. Stick the edging strip to this carefully, pushing it well into the corners to avoid any gaps or wrinkles, as in Pic. 4. The final result will look like Pic.5.

Next you need to make the cut-out insert that will house the box contents. The steps are summarised in the next picture sequence.

First draw out the pistol, and any other cut-out shapes needed for accessories, onto a piece of card (Pic. 1), which has previously been cut to be to be an easy fit in the box base. When drawing the cut-out for the gun, it should be a little larger than the gun outline, so that the gun will not be a tight fit in the final fabric-lined recess. Also avoid making the outline too detailed, as this will make it difficult to avoid creases and wrinkles. When making the outline for the barrel recess, this should not be any narrower than twice the depth of the recess, to ensure that when the fabric is cut and pushed into the recess it will extend to the full depth and not leave any of foam rubber exposed.
The outlines on the card are then cut out using a Stanley knife, and the card template is stuck firmly to a slightly larger piece of the foam rubber, or other padding material, using plenty of the double sided tape. Using the card cut-outs as template, cut away all the excess foam rubber, giving the resultant laminate shown in Picture 2.
Note: Although cutting foam rubber can be done with a sharp knife or scissors, this can be tricky with awkward shapes and tight corners. A useful tip is to use a kitchen electric knife, as with one of these you can get perfect cuts in the most complicated of shapes very easily. However, if you don’t have access to an electric knife, don’t worry, as any rough edges will eventually be covered with fabric.

The edging strip is made by using the double-sided tape to stick a strip of very thin card, cut to the same width as the depth of the box, on to the fabric, as in Pic. 1 . Ideally a single length of fabric should be used sufficient to go all the way round the inside of the box. If there is not enough fabric to do this then you can make it up from shorter pieces, but try to ensure that any resultant joins will coincide with the corners of the box, otherwise they will be conspicuous. Once the card strip has been stuck down, apply another layer of the double-sided tape to the card and carefully fold the fabric over to stick it down, so giving a double layer of fabric, as in Pic. 2.. Excess fabric is then trimmed off to give the edging strip, as in Pic. 3. Check that the strip comes up exactly to the box edge top when in place and trim it before applying it if necessary. To fix the strip into the box base, tackle one edge at a time and apply double-sided tape to each inside edge, making sure it goes right up to the top of the edge. Stick the edging strip to this carefully, pushing it well into the corners to avoid any gaps or wrinkles, as in Pic. 4. The final result will look like Pic.5.

Next you need to make the cut-out insert that will house the box contents. The steps are summarised in the next picture sequence.

Good luck if you decide to give it a go yourself. And remember, double-sided tape is the amateur’s best friend, as if the worst comes to the worst, you can always peel it off and start again.