Of Portals and Their Turrets - Portal 2 Turret

Re: Of Portals and Their Turrets - Polyurethane Resin Amounts?

Hey guys,

just to let anyone who was interested know, I'm probably going to be switching this build to the Portal 2 turret.

I've had a spate of problems with the P1 turret build. Mostly my own fault for not thinking it through enough, I just kind of pushed ahead at the beginning despite pieces of it being damaged (i.e. side panel and gun box being run over by a car), but that affected the structural integrity more than I originally thought.

I also built the side arms, but they weren't able to support the curvature for some reason, and just kind of 'deflated', which is the best way I can think to describe it. I believe it may have been due to some bad weather we had around the time of building them, they must've absorbed some wicked humidity.

Anyway, I'm probably just going to scrap what I've done so far and restart on the P2 build. Now all I gotta do is get a P2 turret model.

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Re: Of Portals and Their Turrets - Polyurethane Resin Amounts?

Well, got myself a workable copy of the Portal 2 turret.

I had to amalgamate it from several pieces of turrets throughout the game. I used the standard in-game model, the model from the assembly line (Which has given me a box too), as well as grabbing a few pieces from the 'Turret Redemption Line' such as the hopper, the eye and the power supply, as they were more highly detailed.

I have decided to do this in stages as I think my previous build suffered from there being too much going on at once. I have finished the Pepakura template for the following:

  • Base Frame
  • Hopper
  • Gun Box
  • Arm Supoport/Extending Bars (Which I will most likely end up turfing in favor of something sturdier when I resin this)
  • Service Tag (I assume this is what it is because it looks kind of like those things you get on fire extinguishers that tell you it probably wont explode in your hand.)

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I have already finished assembling the Hopper and the service tag, and am in the process of putting the gun box together. I'll post photos when I get the chance.
 
Making more progress, here's images of the completed gun box.





Here's an image of the completed Service Tag and some miscellaneous discs.

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Finished unfolding more components. I'll proably wait until the previous set is all assembled before printing this one out.

 
Just as a thought, the way I always thought of doing a turret (Portal 2 would actually be easier I thought), would be to create the model of the main white part of the turret outer shell as a solid piece, then get that vacuum molded, so you essentially have a plastic shell.

This shell you can then cut into pieces, which you can then paint and attach to other parts of the turret.

A usable idea?
 
I said a couple of posts back, but I have already switched to the Portal 2 turret as I actually believe, agreeing with your thoughts, it to be an easier target despite looking more complex.

The approach I am taking is basically what you described, but I'm building it from the inside out. I have already assembled the parts I have posted here, and I have started building the frame. The shell is a seperate piece of the model which is separated into two halves, I will then fit it over the top of the frame.

I was considering fibreglassing it after making it as I don't have access to a vacuformer.
 
Here's the front of the frame, it's a good base, but it seems slightly twisted. Will definitely require much Plastibond and sanding.
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Here's a picture of the completed pieces so far; There are several other pieces in progress.
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Very nice! I've started on a set as well, although I think they will either remain closed turrets (since they look the same in both Portal 1 and 2) or I will . . . do a lot of work and make them into Portal 2 turrets, but I really need to learn to make molds and cast stuff. I could then support the hobby by selling kits, as well as make better stuff. Here's a video of some of my other portal stuff. I get away from the speakers and look at the other (unfinished) stuff around 5:40. ‪The Requiem of Ratman‬‏ - YouTube

Also I really need to buy and start using pepakura. It's just such a good tool. So many people make unbelievable stuff with it. Doing it the old hard way like I've been doing is just so much harder and more expensive.
 
dstilgar said:
Very nice! I've started on a set as well, although I think they will either remain closed turrets (since they look the same in both Portal 1 and 2) or I will . . . do a lot of work and make them into Portal 2 turrets
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I would say that for display purposes a closed turret would be waaaay easier, and if I was a bit smarter and less naive I probably would do that myself. Haha.

dstilgar said:
but I really need to learn to make molds and cast stuff. I could then support the hobby by selling kits, as well as make better stuff.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty much in the same boat, I've never made a mold in my life, and I am basically making up for a lack of skill by spending an inordinate amount of time on things instead of knowing what I'm doing. :lol

dstilgar said:
Also I really need to buy and start using pepakura. It's just such a good tool. So many people make unbelievable stuff with it. Doing it the old hard way like I've been doing is just so much harder and more expensive.
Click to expand...
A lot of great prop builders prefer the old way, but I'm a stickler for details and it seems, to me at least, that getting it from the source is a much easier way of garnering accuracy. However this is also probably just me being naive. :lol
 
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Awesome work! I'll be following this.

I want to get into props like these but it's the cost that always scares me... I mean paper is cheap but resin is hella expensive!

I wanted to make mine the old fashioned way as it would be cheaper but also more hard.

I don't know but I like to have a portal turret one day..... Maybe that by portal 3 I'll have the skills and money I need to make one for myself :)
 
Well, I've done some more work on the frame and this is what it looks like.



Looks good! OR DOES IT.

Sadly I won't be able to use it. As it was built I noticed it twisting somewhat, but the worst area affected was the struts going across the top, one of them was fine, but the other veered inwards amazingly.

I think it may have been that the card I was using was too thick, it was printed on 300gsm (about 165lbs) and it's very stubborn to work with.

It is a horror show; I can't attach these two halves together the way they are.



Upsetting really!



So! It is now time to re-plan!



I have detached the struts and capped the ends where they were detached from. I have also gotten this one printed in 250gsm instead of 300gsm, and the resulting print is a bit easier to work with.I will see how I go with this, hopefully lighter card and the detached struts will aid in making a more cooperaive piece. (By that I mean I can make them, resin, then attach them instead of worrying about each side warping)
 
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