N7 Valkyrie Rifle - 3d Printed

[Dainbramage546]

My M8 Avenger needed a friend so naturally I was really excited when we were commissioned to do the N7 Valkyrie Rifle. Originally the M8 was made out of MDF and later molded. For this project we wanted to take a different approach and decided to 3d print the entire rifle in parts.


The first step was research and modeling. We modeled the rifle in Autodesk Inventor.

It was modeled in parts and ended up being printed in 23 separate parts. Each piece was done in halves.

On average each piece took between six and ten hours to print. Here's a picture of all of the parts.

(Printed with several Makerbot Replicator 2s)

I'll do a longer update tomorrow!

 

[Dainbramage546]

After getting all of the parts printed they were sanded with varying grits of sandpaper and glued together.

I don't have very many pictures of the cleanup but it involved several layers of Bondo Spot Filler and 120,150 and 220 grit sandpaper, finishing with 320. When we thought it was smooth enough it was coated with a sandable primer, then sanded with 400 and coated again. After that dried it was sanded again with 600 grit. This process took a good chunk of time but the end result was worth it.

Here's a few pictures of the pieces loosely test fit. I forgot to put the screws in it until I had all of the parts finished, hence the random white rings around some of them.

I just ordered a gallon kit of Rebound 25 and Smooth-Cast 65D. They should be here at the end of the week or early next week and then we can begin molding this bad boy!

 

[Sean]

I'm In love....sweet rifle.

 

[KagaSakai]

Beautiful! Amazing work!

 

[flyaway]

I'll second what sean said, it looks fantastic!

 

[Dainbramage546]

Thanks! I can't wait to get it cast, painted up and wired with LEDs. Now I just get to play the waiting game.

Here's a quick picture of the parts for the N7 next to my M8!

 

[Sushigod]

Thats a work of beauty!! Nice job.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

That is really cool! Thank you, thank you, thank you, for cleaning it up and filling holes/res lines. That's one of my biggest problems with printed props on here.

 

[Noeland]

The rifle looks really good all black! I know that's not how the finished piece will look, just saying. I'm really enjoying seeing more and more of the 3D printed pieces too, but glad that scratch building isn't going to be a lost art as well.

Looking forward to seeing more. Never played the game, but I love all the hardware from it.

 

[Nbraam08]

I know I shouldn't ask for I'll get all worked up again but are you planning on doing a limited run of these? Because when you said commissioned, I got butterflys in my stomach.

 

[Dainbramage546]

Our mold making materials are here and we're going to start on the molds tonight! I'll post an update later when we finally get the molds rolling.

I know I shouldn't ask for I'll get all worked up again but are you planning on doing a limited run of these? Because when you said commissioned, I got butterflys in my stomach.

We are planning on offering the kits as well as completed rifles! I'll make a thread in the junkyard when we get the molds all done and ready for a run.

That is really cool! Thank you, thank you, thank you, for cleaning it up and filling holes/res lines. That's one of my biggest problems with printed props on here.

Thanks! 3d printing is an incredible technology but it takes a lot of time and effort to actually finish the pieces. The final result is definitely worth it.

The rifle looks really good all black! I know that's not how the finished piece will look, just saying. I'm really enjoying seeing more and more of the 3D printed pieces too, but glad that scratch building isn't going to be a lost art as well.

Looking forward to seeing more. Never played the game, but I love all the hardware from it.

Scratch building with some of the more difficult parts 3d printed is the way to go. This rifle probably took 200+ hours of printing and I don't even have a ballpark guess for clean up time.

 

[Nbraam08]

So THIS is what a joygasm feels like

 

[Kevin Gossett]

I've never played the game, but this is beautiful. Great job on the finishing!

 

[Kevin Gossett]

Whatever happened with this project?