3D Printing Babylon 5 PPG

doctorwholittle said:
Wow, that is a thing of beauty, Skiffy! I must have one... y'know... if'n you'd be amenable to that.

Regardless, awesome workmanship!
Click to expand...

Thanks doctorwholittle! There won't be any more printing for a while. I'm losing the room from tomorrow - the daughter's back from college for a few weeks so I've been lucky to get as much time on it as I have. I'll be concentrating on sanding/filling these pieces. Keep an eye out though, I'll have the room back (or an alternative) soon. :)
 
I took a better picture of the assembled print in daylight. Mostly to motivate myself to get on with the prep for paint. :)

PPG_Table.jpg

..and one of how it sits in the hand.

PPG_InHand.jpg
 
skiffy said:
I took a better picture of the assembled print in daylight. Mostly to motivate myself to get on with the prep for paint. :)

View attachment 715196

..and one of how it sits in the hand.

View attachment 715197
Click to expand...

I have to say that is looking sweet !! What material are you using and is it easy to sand? The reason I ask is that I am concerned about one section on your print, it looks rather thin and sanding it may be a bit if a bear.
PPG_complete 01marked.jpg

Don
 
19narvik40 said:
I have to say that is looking sweet !! What material are you using and is it easy to sand? The reason I ask is that I am concerned about one section on your print, it looks rather thin and sanding it may be a bit if a bear.

Don
Click to expand...

I have some needle files that will help with that section. The PLA material is pretty hard and will take quite a beating. I went for a 10% fill on these pieces to try to get them all done in time before I lost the room so there will be some filling needed too. I may re-print some in finer detail and a more solid fill if I get the space/time. :)
 
skiffy said:
I do plan to post a remix, referencing your original build when this is done - if that's OK. As far as references and slight inaccuracies go, I'm just happy at this point to have a PPG at all - and that's thanks to you. :)
Click to expand...
You're very welcome. Looks like it came out great! Yes, please post your remix.
 
So, it's been warmer today and I've been able to spend an hour or two in the workshop. Priming, sanding, priming, sanding.

Priming.jpg

As you can see - the grips don't look that great once primed. I think I'll have to re-print them in a different orientation as I hinted at earlier. The dremel has helped with some of the pieces but they still need a lot of sanding/filing.

Dremel.jpg

I tried some of the chrome treatment on a pre-prepared smooth patch of the main body. It's just brushed on but I think I'll airbrush the final coat on. I'll probably have to spray a gloss on there first to form a nice slick hard coat for the chrome to reflect.

chrome.jpg
 
Hello skiffy

I was just wondering if you ever posted the "kit" to the thingiverse or some other files site??

Thank You!!!
 
darkev2 said:
Hello skiffy

I was just wondering if you ever posted the "kit" to the thingiverse or some other files site??

Thank You!!!
Click to expand...

Hi Darkev2 - thanks for the interest!

I've been meaning to update the files first since I re-configured the spread of parts to make sanding/finishing easier. I'll do a final post with the finished article and the link to thingiverse once that's done.
 
Hi skiffy

Its been a while but I was wondering if you ever uploaded those revised files to a site???

Thank You

Darkev2
 
Sorry for the necro-post but there's progress on this now.

Darkev - I'll dig out my files and either upload them to Thingiverse or host them.

I was never happy with the pattern on the grips (the way I set it up to print) and since 3d printing and printers have moved on so far since then I'm giving it another go.

The grips are currently printing in two halves with a horizontal split where the '5' insert goes. Once they're done and glued together I'll do an update post. I changed some other aspects of the build too - adding sheet styrene for some of the flat panels - life's too short for hours of sanding 3d prints.

1025443
 
So, here's the print of the grip - just held together, after a little clean-up (really just a light sanding on the contact faces).

1025757


It looks great, a lot better than my earlier print.

Here's the state of play as of today.

1025758


I'm going to abandon the original printed side plates (at top-right) the finish is just not there. I've cut some out of sheet styrene instead - quicker to produce and better looking so I'll detail those. The paint is from a Molotow chrome pen. I'll try the airbrush route with this when I get a fresh supply.
 
Sorry for spamming my own thread - I made a bit more progress this afternoon. Test fit is looking good. Details still to add, including the '5' grip badges. I might re-print those.

1025810
 
Thanks Kokanee. I made a little more progress today.

I started filling the seam and any rough spots from the print.

1026281


Then I added a first coat of satin black to see how it would lay.

1026282


Lastly - I re-printed the '5' grip badges and gave them the Molotow treatment. They're not fixed in place yet - I'm going to give them a brass/bronze finish and a pin wash to bring out the detail that gets lost in the chrome glare.

1026283


There's other detail to add to the gun body - I've been saving up black screws and such, so they'll get added along with another overall coat of Molotow chrome.
 
Some constructive feedback? If you masked off the knolled areas of the grips and hit the rest with an automotive filler primer, a few coats and some light sanding would take care of those print lines.
 
Kokanee said:
Some constructive feedback? If you masked off the knolled areas of the grips and hit the rest with an automotive filler primer, a few coats and some light sanding would take care of those print lines.
Click to expand...
I hear ya. I've picked up some filler primer and that's the plan.
 
awesome, should be the final touch on an awesome piece..... I think i'll grab some files and do one of these later this summer nice looking prop.
 
I ended up printing out hex bolt heads - it was easier to get exactly what I wanted.

1028429


Unfortunately the adhesive I used to apply these to the gun was old and affected the bonding AND the paint-job.

I've pulled them off and will sand down the surfaces, print a fresh set and re-apply.
 
I've got the build just about done. All the bolt-heads are there and the 'clip', 'charge-pack' or whatever it is that plugs in the back is held on with a magnet.

I couldn't get the Molotow chrome to sit right (at least on large flat surfaces) so I resorted to rattle-can silver for now. Sorry for the crappy phone pic - better ones to come later.

1029073
 
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