IN a tucked away corner of a warehouse on a Cumbernauld industrial estate, Jim Elliott is showing off an impressive collection of swords and guns.

It is here at Wardpark Studios that the hit US television series Outlander is filmed and Jim, 57, from Glasgow is the man who oversees the weaponry used in the many battle scenes.

Based on the bestselling books of Diana Gabaldon, the show charts the adventures of Claire Randall who, during a second honeymoon to Scotland with her husband Frank in 1945, is transported back to 1743 through a mysterious set of standing stones.

On the brink of the last Jacobite rising, she meets dashing Highlander Jamie Fraser and their powerful love story unfolds.

The second series, which will air next weekend, is adapted from Diana's book Dragonfly in Amber.

It sees Jamie and Claire – played by Dumfries and Galloway-born Sam Heughan and Irish actor Caitriona Balfe – travel to Paris in an attempt to meet Bonnie Prince Charlie and prevent the Battle of Culloden.

Sony Pictures Television films the series on location across Scotland with many of the interiors shot at the Cumbernauld studio, a former factory that has been converted into a production base and four state-of-the-art sound stages.

Inside the armoury, a 60-strong collection of broadswords lines one wall while another is filled with targes, the distinctive circular shields used by Jacobites.

The guns are under lock and key in nearby containers.

Jim hands me a Brown Bess – the nickname for the British Army's muzzle-loading smoothbore musket.

My arm almost snaps in half while trying to take aim with the unwieldy contraption, which weighs 14lb, balanced against my shoulder.

Jim began working as a prop master in 1990 and looked after weapons as part of his wider role.

After the 1996 Dunblane massacre, new laws meant firearms used in filming required a trained armourer.

Working on Outlander and striving for 18th-century battlefield authenticity has not been without its challenges.

"This is my first big job with gunpowder because for 15 years I have stayed away from it due to its unpredictability and the Scottish weather – if it rains, it ain't firing," says Jim.

"That is what I have to tell the director because I'm not a magician.

"It didn't fire back in the day. Three hundred years later we are using the same stuff and it still won't fire.

"We can cheat nowadays because we have special effects and can put charges and small powders down the barrel and electronically fire them wirelessly."

He admits his heart sinks when bad weather rolls in on the days that big action scenes are filmed.

"The worst thing for the weapons is the rain and the cold because they do rust," he says.

"We come back from four days in the Highlands, open the gun boxes and there is surface rust on weapons.

"That means a day sitting here, cleaning swords and the muskets, just as they would have done 300 years ago."

When we meet Jim is preparing his arsenal for a staging of the 1745 Battle of Prestonpans, a scene involving 600 weapons.

It may be acting but Jim, who has previously worked on Cloud Atlas, World War Z and Under the Skin, is always switched on to potential dangers.

"Of course, it is real gunpowder," he says.

"They are test-fired in here to make sure it looks good enough on camera.

"We only put in 50 per cent of what it is capable of. That way it is a safer for the person using it, the camera still sees what it needs to and the viewer thinks: 'Wow!'"

The weapons arrive on set shiny and new, but Jim has to make them appear tarnished and aged.

"That way it looks like it has been around for a few years," he explains, pointing to some nearby swords.

"Those ones there we set on fire with a blow torch to burn all the chrome off, then dipped them in water and put antique fluid over them."

Armourer is a job which calls for detailed historical research and clever improvisation alike.

Jim recalls the time Outlander's executive producer Ronald D Moore requested a curved sabre to be made for the villainous Redcoat captain Jonathan "Black Jack" Randall, played by Tobias Menzies.

"I had to say 'you can't have that' because in 1744 the Redcoats were still using straight swords and they didn't switch until 1788, so he was pre-empting history by 40 years," he says.

"Luckily he listened to me, but he could easily have said: 'I don't care, I want it.' But Ron is a stickler for detail.

"I went to my sword-maker and showed him a tiny picture in a book.

"In the end, we gave it the slightest of curves – it is actually a copy of a 1730 Prussian sabre."

Outlander season two will be available exclusively on Amazon Prime Video from April 10 with new episodes airing weekly