Been working on this Star Wars inspired bad boy for the Bizon. Main reference used was the Star Destroyer ( http://img.lum.dolimg.com/v1/images/Star-Destroyer_ab6b94bb.jpeg ), though I've put my own touches on the style. Still need to finish the detail pass, polish a handful of areas up and possibly re-introduce a bit more rest for the eye.
You can use normal maps in source? awesome! Joining this contest as well
This gun does look intimidating though XD
Sadly you can't use them straight up, like I mentioned previously I only use them in the process of creating the final diffuse texture. You can only input a diffuse texture with some finish types in the game having an extra map in the alpha channel (depending on the finish type it functions either as a gloss map or as a wear influence mask).
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Almost done:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=681167241
This gun does look intimidating though XD
I use it to create curvature maps, detail AO and to bake lighting in 3ds Max.