For the connoisseur of stringing together Grunt Headshot Killtaculars
Before you drop into the streets of New Mombasa, make sure to bring one (or two for all you dual wielders out there) of these for optimal shieldless enemy disposal.
Major Features
Sliding Receiver
The back half of the receiver slides back and springs forward just as it does in game. The hooks there can easily support a tensional spring or a small rubber band. The tolerances on the inside of this piece are also slightly larger to allow it to actually slide along the grooves. The front half of the receiver features guiding grooves that make sure that the back half only slides backwards and forwards. Similarly, the root of the slide is angled so that no supports are required to be printed above or around the hook.
Removable Magazine
This shows the slide back as well where the magazine sits
This design features a removable magazine w/ separate bullet (easier to paint), that can actually be seen in the correct position when the slide is back. The magazine slides in easily but there currently is not mechanism to hold it in place. A little bit of double sided tape or folded tape should easily hold it in place while still allowing it to be removable as opposed to a permanent glue solution. Also if you print multiple you can have them all loaded into your ODST ammo pouches and isn't that just the coolest?
Flashlight Compatibility
The flash light in this pistol includes two pieces, a placeholder flashlight and the flashlight attachment. This is done because the placeholder flashlight is based on a keychain flashlight i found on Amazon small enough to fit into this pistol. The design allows this flashlight to be inserted and activated by just twisting the end as the back of the flashlight is locked in place by the attachment.
Modular, easy to print design
As shown in the assembly picture, this print was sliced in such a way that all seams are hidden along where they would naturally lie, so there is no awkward lines to cover up on the end product. Similarly, minimal support are required, with the only major supports required (depending on your bridging) being on the grip and receiver slide. While the design allows for mix and matching, one should definitely glue the pieces together once you decide as the pegs are not too long and will most likely not support the whole print and are mostly meant for alignment and testing out different configurations. I go into one exception later on in the "Builds" section.
Builds
Shown in this picture is my prototype print (Bottom Left), the classic all black ODST Pistol (Bottom Right), and my take on a sort of Desert Camouflage style, with some added accessories. A sort of battlepass skin if you will.
As you can see this is a prop that I enjoy building. I catered the design of the pieces to support easy, quick printing and no supports on most pieces. This means this pistol can be printed in its entirety in
*****LESS THAN A DAY*****
Obviously this depends on your printer experience, I printed these at .15mm layer height and I experienced no failures and was easily able to print all the pieces in one day.
Overall, there is not any major considerations or Cautions with printing this Model or any of its pieces. I would definitely recommend this as a fun weekend project.
This is one of my first fully flushed out models and some of the first props I ever made, so they don't have the super crisp, mirror like finish that some of my newer props do. I believe I went over the pieces really quickly with some 100 grit sand paper and just went straight to Rust-Oleum Metallic paints. One day soon, I hope to revisit this and make a prop using my newer techniques which I list below.
The above photo shows all the pistol using the real flashlight attachment mentioned above in the Major Features section. I mean slap some yellow outlines on everything and you basically have a screenshot of Halo 3: ODST with RTX on.
Here you can see the slide actually in action using a torsional spring. Small rubber bands also work.
What Next?
If you are looking to create you own models like this one feel free to checkout all of my tutorials on 3D modeling and prop making techniques.
If you are looking to purchase the model so that you can print your own you can find it in the store.
Lastly, make sure to check back in every once in a while to see what I've been working on
Thank you for your time