M7 Airsoft Project (ongoing)

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BuRnItWiThFiRe117

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Hello there, been a while since I've poked my head in here.
For the longest while I've wanted a Halo airsoft gun. It's unusually rare to see them online, though they do crop up here and there. Often they're not full replicas, but more "themed" weapons due to it often being awkward to bend real life to Halo.
I figured since I was embarking on such a project, that people would appreciate a work in progress update as I go along. I hope it might help inspire someone else to do their own. I'll post any progress updates on here, any issues run into etc.
The current progress is a lot of hours put into Fusion 360 and some hours printing prototype parts in PLA (the finished product will be PETG). When I started the project a month or so back I had very little experience in CAD and have kinda learned as I go along. I started with a mesh I found online (unknown author unfortunately) and as I got better with the program slowly replaced the parts with my own. I wouldn't recommend using mesh to anyone trying to do similar. They often have too many polys, aren't as accurate as you'd like, are a pain to work with, and reducing the poly count causes uneven faces and edges.
The airsoft internals I'm using came from a Vz.61 Skorpion, namely the AEP gearbox and hop unit / barrel. I'd like to make this a fully serviceable airsoft gun, rather than a gimmick. I may add options for rails and attachments later on, but for now the only attachments I have planned are the M7S additions (scope and suppressor, should be able to fit an Olight E3T). The biggest issues I've run into are tolerances (3D printing being the imperfect method that it is), support placement, imperfections in parts due to printing orientation and configuration (can be fixed to a certain extent with sanding, filler and paint), and the ease of assembly and disassembly. I also have to think of possible breakages or updated parts, and the ease of installing replacement parts. Mechanically, the only real issue I've run into is the magazine. I've had to upscale it a bit to make it functional, but even then I'm having serious issues with getting it to feed.
For now I'll just add some images of the CAD model, and will leave pictures of the prototype parts for later on. Delta Halo suite intensified while making this.

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The only part of the model I haven't replaced from mesh is the grip. Mainly because a lot of hours went into modifying it which would go to waste for little gain. I would say it's different enough to not trouble my consciousness if I ever decide to market these.

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A shot showing the removal of the upper reciever from the lower, showing the gearbox and hop-up.

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The barrel attachment is a QD system. push it on, twist, and a spring will push the lugs into some slots on the inside of the attachment. I hope that it's enough to support the full weight / stress of the suppressor. It certainly won't be as strong as a metal part. This may be revised in the future.

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This shows the mechanism / concept that the grip and stock both work on. A tension spring pulling an arm into a detent.

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The trigger will work on a microswitch, alongside a mosfet to allow the usage of more powerful batteries (limited by what the gearbox can actually take). This shows the somewhat complicated assemblage that it'll work on. It will be a straight pull trigger, with the safety being a physical one as opposed to electrical. It simply slides in place to impede the movement of the trigger onto the switch. This will likely take the most fine tuning for tolerances due to the "feel" of the weapon being largely down to the trigger. The next part which I have yet to even attempt is the fire selector due to the odd way it works on AEP gearboxes. On the plus side the default position is fully automatic, so if it's too much hassle it can be left out altogether.

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Here's the stock mechanism. Pretty simple. Quick note on the stock, When I printed out a prototype in PLA, the fit of the end piece was so tight that removing it also removed a large piece of the main stock. Turned out some extra grooves I'd made for alignment (overkill really) were locking it in place.

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Any questions I'll be happy to answer, and suggestions welcome. Hope you enjoy. More updates in the future. I may need some help from you all on painting it after it's done :) Debating what to paint it with and in what colours. I also hope to do a BR55 and at least a Halo 3 Marine helmet to go with. I'll probably go for a weathered look on the helmet, though likely not on this one.
Cheers! :D

(Oh and here's a picture of a couple of magazines I made. Annoying they don't work so well, were it so easy. )
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P.S. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with using plastidip for this kind of thing? I was thinking of using it for the stock / grips, but I wasn't sure if it's worth it or if it would be durable enough. Ain't cheap stuff.
 
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I live your enthusiasm, but unfortunately the 405th has a policy against airsoft and paintball. FANGS is pretty stonewall when it comes to that sort of thing, and I can't blame her.

You've got an incredible amount of great work here, just with a cursory glance, but I am going to tell you right now that it's best to not bring up airsoft or paintball. We'd all love to see how the project goes, but if you're going to keep updates here (which I really really hope you do), I'd recommend not telling us about the airsoft side of it.

Sorry, man. It sucks, but those are the rules.
 
Hello, Sean here has actually jumped the gun a little bit.

The 405th does have very stringent rules about the discussion of Paintball and Airsoft, but it is more that we do not allow any discussions about how to make your armor wearable for any activity that requires you to have some kind of protection. The rules as presented in the thread
are:

"We do not discuss using our costumes for use while playing paintball or in place or in addition to protective gear for any sport. Our costumes are purely for fun and for no protective purposes whatsoever and therefore we are not qualified to provide advice on any of the following:

1. Making armor to wear during paintball.
2. Making armor to wear over top of protective paintball gear.
3. Altering paintball gear by adding coloured film to visors which may in fact void your warranty.

You are more than welcome to share your build here, but any discussions with respect to that gear being used as protective gear or over top of protective gear for any purpose will not be allowed."

Since this thread is about modeling and making an airsoft gun itself and/or a cover or shell for one and not about using Halo armor or helmets themselves for protection, I am going to allow this.
 
Ah, that's my bad. I'll remember that for future posts. Cheers for allowing it.

Just out of curiosity, is there some history that caused that rule? The "just for fun" part seemed a bit odd considering that airsoft is pretty damn fun. I don't see what's wrong with making armour for that.
 
A legal issue, at its core. We do not allow any discussions about how to make your gear wearable for any activity that requires you to have some kind of protection because we are not qualified to comment on protective gear and the moment we allow conversations about it is the moment we are seen as condoning it. So, someone posts about using their Halo armor in paint ball or airsoft, and we allow them to post about it and encourage others to do the same. Someone then makes armor based on what they read here and tries to use it in place of proper protective gear and gets hurt. They, or their parents could then turn around and blame the 405th for encouraging or suggesting that they/their child use their armor instead of the correct gear.

As the administrative staff of the 405th, We can't allow the 405th to be put in the position of being the reason someone gets hurt. You only have to be 13 years of age to be a forum user here and a 13 year old isn't going to necessarily replicate everything you did that allowed you to wear your gear without being hurt. Heck some adults aren't either. At the end of the day your costume is your property and you can do what you want with it in your life, but on our boards we don't allow the discussion of using our costumes as protective gear, because they're not. They're costumes.
 
Just a quick update showing (most) of the rough prototype parts put together. This is to mostly test the fit / tolerances etc.
Nothing's properly held together by bolts or glue in this one, as you can see the foregrip is falling apart :D

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(It's printed at 0.2mm layer height, 10% infill, and only 0.8mm shell with generic black PLA. As you can see, the infill shows through very clearly on the upper receiver since it's so thin. )
 
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I might do an MA5 after a BR :D Just had some issues sourcing ABS in the UK, so I started with a smaller project. Oddly it's almost impossible to find in any plastic stockist for anything less than astronomical prices. Maybe someone on here might have an idea?
As for modelling experience, I'd only done a couple of very simple projects beforehand :D just kinda worked it out as I went. Got a friend of mine who has more education in CAD than I reeing at me not using sketches. Let me know how it goes :) And cheers, something tells me I'll need it to get the mags to work well.
 
He laughed at you? :( I guess there's always online tutorials, and I might be able to answer some questions, though as I said I'm still quite a newb at it. Always had quite a good mind for 3D objects though.
 
He laughed at you? :( I guess there's always online tutorials, and I might be able to answer some questions, though as I said I'm still quite a newb at it. Always had quite a good mind for 3D objects though.
Not in an offensive kinda way. more jokingly. I asked him if he could show me how to do stress and pressure tolerance calculations. I was told that would take 90h at least....
 
Oh wow that looks great :D *watched* Look forward to seeing how it progresses. I wish I could play with firearms more, but unfortunately the UK is scared sh*tless of them.
 
Just a quick update showing (most) of the rough prototype parts put together. This is to mostly test the fit / tolerances etc.
Nothing's properly held together by bolts or glue in this one, as you can see the foregrip is falling apart :D

View attachment 274337

(It's printed at 0.2mm layer height, 10% infill, and only 0.8mm shell with generic black PLA. As you can see, the infill shows through very clearly on the upper receiver since it's so thin. )
That’s awesome
 
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