Props Halo 5 - Arclight ARC-920 Build

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ADarkOne

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Hey everybody, I figured I would splinter off of the other model threads and start another one just to have the progress on my build of mBlackwell1002's Arclight 3D Model. I actually started with CPO Mendez's railgun model and I am actually continuing the buildout with both models since they both have advantages, but this post will contain my progress on the Arclight.

However a few of my shots do show my arclight print vs the railgun print if you a curious.

Here is the print of Part 1 of 8

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A couple of quick comparison pics between the barrels of the Arclight vs the Regular Railgun Model

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Here is a closeup of the seam between the pieces:

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Still needed a bunch of sanding and some bondo that you can see in later pictures, but it wasn't bad. I had been experimenting with some different joining techniques, one of those being a "lego" style connector which ended up working pretty good.

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And Finally here is my progress so far with 5 out of 8 pieces printed. You can also see the metal rod I am using to give it some structural integrity. There are spaces for two rods, but I only have one cut to size just yet.
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I should have the last three pieces printed out by the end of the weekend and I will post pics when I do.
 
Dude, that looks great! I'll tell ya', it's a funny feeling seeing something you've made virtually, come to life.

Your print quality is great, man! Let me guess...0.1mm? it looks very smooth! keep up the awesomeness!
 
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Dude, that looks great! I'll tell ya', it's a funny feeling seeing something you've made virtually come to life.

Your print quality is great, man! Let me guess...0.1mm? it looks very smooth! keep up the awesomeness!
Thanks. I figured it anyone would appreciate the pics you would. I've been running it at 0.06mm which is probably better than I need, but I only wanted to print this beauty once. Hopefully I convince the wife to let me mold and cast this thing, and when she does you'll have to let me send you one as thanks! :)
 
I'm always amazed as to what people can create with 3D printers. My question is how much does the material weigh for something of this size? Great work. I am waiting with baited breath to see the finished product.
 
I'm always amazed as to what people can create with 3D printers. My question is how much does the material weigh for something of this size? Great work. I am waiting with baited breath to see the finished product.
Without the metal rods installed it should only weigh about 5 pounds. I didn't get my scale out yet but probably only 7 or 8 when its done and painted. The cast versions will just depend on how much material i use, but they will probably be closer to 10 -15 if I can keep the weight down on the casting.
 
10-15 lbs? Hrm. I expected the cast to weigh less than the print. What if you use some microballoons on the inside? like, do a thin resin coating on the inside of the mold, then pour some microballoons into the remaining resin, and then pour the microballoon-resin in the mold? I'm thinking that it would retain quality while making a lighter cast, but it would probably be more brittle, but cheaper, too. I've heard of this method before, but I've never messed with casting before.

Eh, I don't really know anything about casting. I'll just leave it to the masters. :p

also, I do this for everyone as a whole, and I thoroughly enjoy the process. I'm always happy to help out! :)
I guess I just like to do little gifts to the community.
 
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Without the metal rods installed it should only weigh about 5 pounds. I didn't get my scale out yet but probably only 7 or 8 when its done and painted. The cast versions will just depend on how much material i use, but they will probably be closer to 10 -15 if I can keep the weight down on the casting.

I've been dealing with this with my ships. my solution is doing a resin slush-cast with expanding foam to fill the hollow cast. its a pain to have to roll and tumble your whole cast for upwards of 10 minutes, but you end up with a nice, light, resin model if you do it right. the expanding foam also means that its VERY impact resistant.
 
This is looking great. I will definetly be printing one of these at some point. Thank you for sharing the build and thanks again mblackwell1002.
 
I've been dealing with this with my ships. my solution is doing a resin slush-cast with expanding foam to fill the hollow cast. its a pain to have to roll and tumble your whole cast for upwards of 10 minutes, but you end up with a nice, light, resin model if you do it right. the expanding foam also means that its VERY impact resistant.
Which slush cast resin do you typically use? I've used quite a few smooth-on products, but haven't tried the foam. Might have to give that a try considering the size of this beast.
 
Which slush cast resin do you typically use? I've used quite a few smooth-on products, but haven't tried the foam. Might have to give that a try considering the size of this beast.

i actually JUST did my first test run with a new type of slush cast (smooth-cast 65D). apparently its better for small detail because it cures slowly over the whole 10-15 minutes, instead of staying liquid for 8 minutes and then hardening super fast in the last 2 minutes. all my ship molds are two-part molds with holes meant for a solid resin cast, and it still worked fine with some added duct tape, so that's another plus!

Here's the whole process:
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I have the same ship in solid resin too, and this slush cast is barely a third of the weight. it also took me maybe 20-30 minutes from opening the jugs to pulling out the finished cast, so its stupid quick as well. (i believe the resin has a 2.5 minute pot life and 10-15 minute cure time, and the expanding foam goes up in barely a minute)
 
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Just a quick update as things have been pretty busy on my end. I finally have the whole thing assembled as you can see from the pic. If you are wondering why it is brown that is because I needed a primer that wasn't white or gray to help me see patches that needed more work. I still have to bondo and sand the last center seam and a few of my other seams need a little work as well. I believe it was mBlackwell1002 who mentioned that if I used superglue I would have to be careful because the bonds between printed parts could shatter, and sure enough it did happen, so I had to go back around and re-glue. This time I experimented with liquid nails and that seems to be holding up really well.

The inside is supported by two steel rods (one on each of the top and bottom rails) and hopefully that will give me some good long term support.

The whole things weighed in at about 2.2 kg (just over 4 lbs) which will be really nice to do cons with.

Most of this I have sanded down to 800 grit and it looks really nice. Cant wait to finish it up and get a real paint job on it. More to come.
 
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