Mass Effect 1 Raikou Pistol

[Lazureus]

Hello!

Decided to try my hand at prop-making this year and decided my first would be the Ariake Tech Raikou Pistol from Mass Effect.
This pistol may look familiar to fans of ME2/3 as this is the predecessor of the Carnifex. This will be a set of 2 , both the base Raikou paintjob from the image below.. and the other with the Spectre Master Gear blackened metal paintjob for the other.

First step was to learn the Fusion 360 environment (quite comfortable coming from a 3D Studio Max background) to build the main design of the gun, the grips were moved to Z-Brush for molding and texture.

After a 20 hour print, cleaning and dry fitting, so far Very Happy!

Next was to Glue, Bondo, sanding and Basecoat.

Now I do realise I did make a slight mistake on the handle for this gun, it and the Carnifex have this heavy step where the fingers are supposed to grip but I believe that would be uncomfortable.. and I also made an artistic decision to make the mode select and other switches only on the left side of the gun instead of of having them all mirrored on both sides.

Currently working on the first of 2 paint jobs.. will update when I'm done the next step!

[EDIT 1] Raikou #1 Finished, well worn and used.

 

[Loneken]

Very cool! Will be following! Out of curiosity what scale are you making this at? I own one of the Project Triforce Raptor replicas and I can tell you that thing is huge!

 

[Lazureus]

I can attest, It's a Monster of a gun, I can see why they turned it into a "Hand Cannon" for ME2. 314mm x 202mm or 12 3/8" x 8"

 

[Lazureus]

Gluing and getting the first bondo pass on the Raikau and decided to do a second sanding and bondo pass on the Spectre MGP while I wait on paint supplies to get delivered.

I almost like the way it looks now

 

[Loneken]

Looks sexy! Will the second one be up for sale ?

 

[Lazureus]

To be very honest, yes I will be selling both. These are me trying to break into the props market, testing the level of my capabilities with a pair of guns from one of my favourite game franchises.

Considering the cost in raw materials alone, I am challenging myself to get these as good looking as possible to make it worth it.

 

[Lazureus]

Took a while to get the colour matching done for the Raikou, but I feel this is as close as I'm going to get without getting custom mixes done at a paint shop.

Next is to laser-cut some decal masks for all the text.

 

[Lazureus]

I uh... got impatient and just had to get the stripes on the gun.. Tell me what you think.

in comparison from the game:

 

[Lazureus]

Working on masking for the text work and I NEED YOUR HELP!

The top Rail is completely Ineligible and I wander what you wonderful people would think it should say
as well as the text above the selector toggles it looks like "(W-STNYPX unknown) ALPHA 1 T-32K Kyinz" but I wonder what you think it is.

Any help would be Greatly Appreciated to make this feel authentically in universe.

the mode select is Auto, Semi, Single, Safe. but I think I should make Single into Burst as the Raikou is a 3 shot burst pistol and the Spectre version is a Semi-auto.

 

[Loneken]

Can't help you much but loving the build so far!

 

[Lazureus]

Well, Since the wording on the "rail" already looks like alien language, I decided to rebuild the Quarian language into a Font for future uses and made a <SAFE DEATH> label for the guns... Why is it in Quarian?.. *shrugs*

 

[Lazureus]

Quick mock-up of the stenciling. What do you think?

 

[Lazureus]

Needs work but turned out so well considering the game version is illegible!

 

[Loneken]

Looks Great!

 

[Lazureus]

Last update for tonight, Just the heatsink and the barrels left to mask.

I've already learned so much working one this project!

 

[Lazureus]

First Weathering Pass done.. Metalic wear.
Up next pot-marking

 

[Lazureus]

Gun 1 of 2 finished! So much work and so much learning!

I Would love to get a hard-case for this and paint it in Ariake Tech colours.

 

[Loneken]

Looks great! Are you planning on adding the LED lights on your next build?

 

[Lazureus]

Not on these two.. but the next project will have electronics.. I may revisit the design of this to include LEDs

 

[Lazureus]

Oh the note of Hard-Cases .. I have a bunch of old Makita drill cases that I can modify.. buuuut it seems a little on the tight side (possible rubbing issues on 3 spots: 2 sightrails,1 base of handle)... Wondering if this would be fine or do I need to buy some cases with more space?