you could start with a cube, make it editable and run the optimize command to make sure nothing is seperated.
Click to view attachmentThen you take 4 (of the 7) parts in front and extrude them several times untill you have the length you need (rotating as desired)
Click to view attachmentThen you do the same with the other side (as a whole off course), also rotating as desired. Then after that its tedious tweaking time: more rotating, scaling etc... until you have the shape you want.
Good reference images viewed from all sides (front, up, side and perspective) are a plus in such cases, even with seemingly simple objects.
I didt tweak a lot (20 mins i think) and got this:
Click to view attachment