Miniature Transforming Crescent Rose, RWBY Scythe

I want to share how I made a miniature version of Ruby's scythe, Crescent Rose. I made an older version of this project a few years back but decided it was time to give it another go. My first Crescent Rose, while a little crude-looking, was able to transform to some degree, but for the new version, I wanted to take the design even further. Before diving into making it, here's a little information on what Crescent Rose is.

In the web series RWBY, Ruby's weapon is a hybrid between a high-caliber sniper rifle and a traditional scythe. It can transform into three different states, a storage mode, a rifle mode, and a scythe mode. During combat, she uses the massive recoil of the rifle component to aid her fighting abilities. The kickback can propel her into the air and add force as well as speed when making a slashing attack.

If you haven't seen the "Red" Trailer yet, I highly recommend it. It gives a perfect demonstration of the weapon and all of its capabilities.

Now, onto making our mini version!

Step 1: Supplies

Scissors (Having smaller sewing scissors can help with more intricate cutting details)*
A Pencil or Pen
A Ruler
Cardstock
Brass Fasteners
Straws
Super Glue
Hot Glue
Velcro

It’s best to have a lot of cardstock, straws, and brass fasteners on hand. I went through a number of the mentioned items while making this. You never know if something will get thrown out when cleaning up the paper fragments. And cardstock, although durable, is still prone to ripping, especially when working on such a small level.

I decided to go with red and brown cardstock to make it more visually appealing. The brown parts represent bladed portions.

Step 2: Finding References

Finding a good reference image for Crescent Rose was a little difficult. There are a lot of pictures out there, but all have some variation in style or transforming ability. I knew from the start mine wouldn't be too detailed, so I was more interested in pictures that favored functionality over appearance.

Once I found a good one, I printed it off and made a few marks of what pieces I wanted to cut out, where it would fold, and where the fasteners would go. Luckily, most of this already was figured out thanks to my original, now acting prototype.

Step 3: Making a Template

This is one of my templates. I used the ruler to angle out the sizes I wanted. When mapping you have to take into consideration the size of the brass fasteners. If the place you decide to put one is too close to the edge you run the risk of ripping the cardstock. The small X's represent where a fastener will go.

Step 4: Cutting and Shape Laying

Once you’ve cut your pieces out, make sure they can lay snuggly within each other. When doing this, it’s better to start off cutting larger sections then trim them down as needed. This is an example of one of the blades. To keep sizing consistent, cut out one part first and lay its counterpart on top. That way when you cut out its twin, they will have a much closer size and shape.

This is also important when you go to add the fasteners. Puncture one part first then lay it on the second part to line the holes up.

Step 5: Attaching the Pieces

After my pieces were cut out, I set them on top of one another to see how they would look. I then added the fasteners to hold them together and cut the metal so the blade can fold in on itself.

The dorsal and 2nd ventral blade are both connected to the 2nd fastener.

The 1st ventral blade behind the nose is connected to the 1st fastener and will fold up neatly into the bridge.

Step 6: Making the Crossbar

The scythe won’t close properly without a piece to join the front and back sections of the scythe. This is where the "crossbar" comes in. This piece can be tricky to make because the cardstock will be folded across the straw in two places.
I used a pencil to punch the holes in this time because the fasteners were not strong enough to push through the cardstock. After that, I attached both portions and snipped the folding parts of the fasteners.

Step 7: Making the Telescoping Straw

The first step in making the rifle component of the sniper scythe is to make sure the straws can telescope into one another. One straw was already slightly larger than the other and saved me a step.

I hot glued the blade of the scythe to the smaller 1st straw then fit it into the larger 2nd straw

Once I was sure that’s where I liked it, I marked the maximum pull point on the 1st straw. That way I would know when to stop pulling when transforming the weapon from compact to scythe form.

The end of the scythe (3rd straw) needed to be even smaller to fit into the 1st straw. For that, I had to cut the 3rd straw open and tape it back smaller. Not so small it would fall out, but just small enough to fit comfortably.

Like the 1st straw, I marked it with a maxim pull mark.

Wrapping a little bit of tape around the base of the 1st and top of the 3rd straw helped give it a small amount of grip to stay in place.

Step 8: Making the Rifle Box

For the rifle box itself, I cut out smaller portions of cardstock and made a rectangle around the 2nd straw. I secured the pieces with a bit of super glue. (Super glue is less messy than hot glue.)

I'll add the rifle magazine once everything else is finished. The magazine should be the last added because it's fragile and held on only with glue. For that part, I'll use hot glue that way it has more of a base.

Unlike my prototype, I decided not to give this one a scope attachment.

Step 9: Making the Rifle Stock and Butt Spike

Making the rifle stock was quite similar to the rifle box, only a fastener was inserted through the 3rd straw. The butt spike was a little trickier. I wanted it to vanish when in its collapsed form, but the stock wasn’t big enough to accommodate the spike. So I added a tiny bit of Velcro on the inside of the stock and the spike itself. I also added a bit behind the main blade base to attach the spike when folded.