Dredd 2012 Lawgiver 3d print (YES! ANOTHER ONE!)

Hey gang,

Well... everyone's building LGs it seems (they're fast becoming the new Iron Man methinks) and since I long anticipated (as well as subsequently LOVED) the new movie I had to throw myself into the ring on this one as well.

It's still very much a WIP but I've been on this for a few weeks, pouring over the details. I THINK I managed to catch a few things others have missed so maybe this thread will bring at least something new to the table, but I guess we'll know in a few weeks. One thing I HAVE noticed is that certain details DO seem to be different on the various copies of the gun shown.

My build is a hollow shell for 3d printing, made to fit a GBB Glock from WE. I am modeling it in several parts so that I can choose to either have it printed in one piece or break it up into several. Magazine will be removable and the slide/cocking will still work.

I'm forming the shell around a (supposedly) accurate IGES-file of a Glock that I found, but I have to make a lot of changes to bring it into line with the WE G17 replica. (For one, the slide was about 2mm off.)

More later as I make more progress. Hoping to have this done in the next few days.

Nice work mate. Looks spot on. Do you have a rough price or even eta on it? Keep up the great work mate.

Sent from Asus

That's looking great! What software are you using? I have a friend who is great with 3DS Max and Maya, I've thought about asking him to model this for a 3D print but i'm not sure if those programs export to the correct file type? Does it have to be .OBJ ?

skeg said:

Nice work mate. Looks spot on. Do you have a rough price or even eta on it? Keep up the great work mate.

Sent from Asus

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Well, this was really supposed to be done BEFORE Christmas but I kept dragging on since I wasn't satisfied with a lot of details. I've rebuilt parts of it several times as I've seen new details in photos. Right now the sticking point is the rear grip-cover- it's a fairly complex shape to get absolutely right. I've redone it 3-4 times already and right now I'm actually (finally) getting into sub-division modeling with "weights" to get the shape I want. (I've just never had much use for it before since I mainly model hard shapes.)

As for a price... well, I wasn't really planning on this being made into a run or anything since there are already a couple of those in progress. I WILL let those interested order prints for themselves through my shop but the print cost for this is VERY high if you use the "fr*sted detail" material that I'm going for- possibly 300 for just the shell! It will of course print in the cheaper "strong flexible" plastic that I usually use too (and that would cost half as much I think) but since this has a lot of edges and things I don't want to have to deal with a lot of filling and sanding- I just want to paint and be done with it.

I Am The Law said:

That's looking great! What software are you using? I have a friend who is great with 3DS Max and Maya, I've thought about asking him to model this for a 3D print but i'm not sure if those programs export to the correct file type? Does it have to be .OBJ ?

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I generally use Modo for modeling. It's super-powerful (and QUICK) as a modeling tool. (I used to use MAX but for pure modeling, I prefer Modo.) I export to Collada format and then convert to STL through Meshlab. They can take a Collada format as well but Meshlab automatically cleans up a few things and converting to stl just works without any hassles and things like size are easy to manage.

Awesome! i love this gun! Thank you for sharing and excellent design!!

To clarify, you will be sharing it on Shapeways?

Taff83 said:

Awesome! i love this gun! Thank you for sharing and excellent design!!

To clarify, you will be sharing it on Sh***ys?

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Thanks. Yes, I will be letting people order it, but note that it will not be a complete gun as they would not allow that- only the upper shell.

ah ok, thanks for letting me know, i was wishful thinking lol. still a prop gun would go under it very nicely i think, will you also have the mag cartridge as a separate piece to buy or will it come with it? sorry for all the questions i'm just very excited

It will be in at least four pieces: main body, magazine, rear slide and grip cover.

I MIGHT even break it down into more pieces but that is the minimum.

Thanks for the info Joatrash! :cool

Awesome count me in for one i was looking into the led display and using the Arduino circuit to give text messages? Trouble is i am pretty dumb on the electronic front!

judgedredd said:

i was looking into the led display and using the Arduino circuit to give text messages? Trouble is i am pretty dumb on the electronic front!

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If someone lets me know (very soon) how much space the led display needs depth-wise, in millimeters, I can see about leaving enough room to fit one under the shell.

this is one i found on ebay looks about the correct size ?

HD44780 1602 16x2 162 LCM Character LCD Display Module Blue Blacklight New | eBay

joatrash said:

If someone lets me know (very soon) how much space the led display needs depth-wise, in millimeters, I can see about leaving enough room to fit one under the shell.

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Good find JudgeDredd! Wonder how you'd go about programming it?

there are loads of youtube tutorials for the arduino just need someone with a little electronics experience to do a run : Experiments 5.x: Arduino LCD Tutorial - YouTube

I Am The Law said:

Good find JudgeDredd! Wonder how you'd go about programming it?

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@joatrash - please let me know when you sort it all out. Would love to get a set off you. Did you have an eta on the project?

Sent from Asus

This looks superb, wel done. You seem to have got the details correct.

A couple of questions though (as always)

1st. Never used Shapeways, but when you say "Strong Flexible" will have a lot of edges and things. Is that can be cleaned easily? Or is it a 'rough' print that will need to be completely finished by hand. I take it you mean £300.

2nd. Are the dimensions for the Glock slide wrong on the file or is the WE model off. I haven't bought a gun yet and would like it it fit right. What are the dimensions of the WE glock slide is what I'm trying to say?

Love the idea of the screen, but haven't got a clue on the electronics, sorry guys. A good high res print would do as a stand in. Would a piece of blue perspex etched with the symbols and side lit work, maybe paint the back black? don't know, just a thought.

Maybe a piece of thin black plastic with the display's details laser cut and a blue LED behind it to shine through the stenciled plastic? Thin sheet of transparent perspex over the front of it?

judgedredd said:

there are loads of youtube tutorials for the arduino just need someone with a little electronics experience to do a run : Experiments 5.x: Arduino LCD Tutorial - YouTube

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Nice!!!!

Yes, that's the idea. Like this sign. Lit from the side, but thin. (You would need a very thin electronic display to fit if you wanted a working airsoft gun, the electrontics could go in the magazine) Obviously this would be a static display, but could get interchangable ones if required. I would reckon dna/hand print scanning may be a bit more difficult.

judgedredd said:

this is one i found on ebay looks about the correct size ?

HD44780 1602 16x2 162 LCM Character LCD Display Module Blue Blacklight New | eBay

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The width and height of that might work, but it is much too thick to fit. There is only maybe 1-2mm of space between the outer wall of the shell and the Glock slide inside. It's pretty tight in there and all photos I've seen suggest it was just as tight on the original prop. Most likely they either found a REAL thin display, added the info in post or built a special version only for the closeups (like they did with the Neuralyzer in MiB).

skeg said:

Did you have an eta on the project?

Sent from Asus

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I WANT to be done before the weekend is over! :lol

trt66 said:

This looks superb, wel done. You seem to have got the details correct.

A couple of questions though (as always)

1st. Never used Shapeways, but when you say "Strong Flexible" will have a lot of edges and things. Is that can be cleaned easily? Or is it a 'rough' print that will need to be completely finished by hand. I take it you mean £300.

2nd. Are the dimensions for the Glock slide wrong on the file or is the WE model off. I haven't bought a gun yet and would like it it fit right. What are the dimensions of the WE glock slide is what I'm trying to say?

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1: There are basically two materials that will work well for this piece: Frosted Detail and White Strong Flexible (the latter is available in a variety of colors, but the added expense is not worth it imo). Both FD and WSF are highly detailed and can handle thin walls. There are two bonuses to using FD- smoothness of print and a slightly higher detail level that will better preserve super-tiny details like the engraved lettering (serial number).

Most of the time, WSF is great for props IF you know how to prep it. You see, it has a VERY fine texture to it- like 600 grit sandpaper. WSF does not sand well, so you MUST use a heavy spray-filler to "cover" the texture and then smooth it out. (If you read my Hellboy Room Key project, you will see that it IS perfectly possible to get a perfectly glass-smooth surface with WSF.)

In the case of the Lawgiver, the actual shell of the prop has a LOT of edges, corners, indentations and such. That creates two "problems". First, using spray filler tends to soften small details- I doubt the fine text in the serial number will survive intact. (It might need to be replaced by a laser-cut plaque but I can't say until a print was done.) Second, it will be fiddly to sand some hard-to-reach areas of the shell unless I break the kit into lots of small pieces (which I MIGHT still be able to do- I'm looking into if it's worthwhile). Now, it would still be possible to get great results with this- it just takes a bit more elbow grease. (And in fact, if you're planning to "troop" with it, WSF can take a LOT more punishment than FD... the stuff sometimes feels indestructible!)

I did an early test and the print cost for FD will end up being around $290 (220 Euro in Europe) and the cost for WSF around $202 (153 Euro). I HAVE had contact with one of the master-casters here (one of THE most skilled people on the RPF) about offering resin kits but the shell might be too thin for brittle resin to handle- it would be very delicate. So, for the time being, prints are the best solution, even if they are expensive.

2: CORRECTION! I have an ASG airsoft- NOT a WE. (I just remembered the WE was sold out at my local shop.) The slide on my ASG is about 182mm- I think the original Glock slide is around 184. What I found is that a few areas are off by a couple mm. The WE is a clone of more expensive airsofts, as is the ASG... I doubt that the difference is so large that any of the higher-end airsofts would have any problem fitting. That said- if anyone has an airsoft that is vastly different I might be able to tweak the 3d file to compensate. (Once done, I can post the most important measurements.) The most important thing to consider is getting a THIRD GEN G17, not a 4th gen! (Not sure if that has been mentioned anywhere before.)

I Am The Law said:

Maybe a piece of thin black plastic with the display's details laser cut and a blue LED behind it to shine through the stenciled plastic? Thin sheet of transparent perspex over the front of it?

Click to expand...

I'll be doing something like this.

Whoa... lots of text... back to modeling!