Great question! There’s just SO much that goes into modeling an animating something like the weapons that a good foundation really is needed before jumping in so that you can modify the designs or animations to make them look like what you want rather than just exactly what the course shows.
The Fundamentals would be a perfect next place to start. Specifically these:
https://cgcookie.com/course/fundamentals-of-3d-mesh-modeling-in-blender
https://cgcookie.com/course/fundamentals-of-animation-in-blender-2-8x
https://cgcookie.com/course/fundamentals-of-blender-materials-and-shading
https://cgcookie.com/course/fundamentals-of-texturing-in-blender
Then, if you feel like you want more modeling practice, I would recommend this course:
https://cgcookie.com/course/mesh-modeling-bootcamp
And, the normal map course will still be helpful:
https://cgcookie.com/course/intro-to-normal-map-modeling-for-games
Feel free to skim the lessons that don’t directly relate to your goal, but I’d still encourage you to watch them as they will probably cover things that you’ll run into later and you’ll want to know where to refer back to. Hope that helps!
