Starcraft II AGR-14 (C-14) Rifle

[lightz]

I've been working on a replica of the Starcraft AGR-14 rifle, commonly used by Spectres within the game. It is essentially a scaled-down version of the Marine's C-14 Impaler Rifle. It's a project I've had in the works for a couple of years now. Hopefully I'll get it complete by the end of this half of the year.

 

[dasAdam]

awesome stuff! will certainly look great! hopefully you were aiming for that trasnparent feel of the plexiglas? isnt the rifle grip to braod? i would make it half the thickness it has right now. it feels way too blocky

 

[lightz]

awesome stuff! will certainly look great! hopefully you were aiming for that trasnparent feel of the plexiglas? isnt the rifle grip to braod? i would make it half the thickness it has right now. it feels way too blocky

It'll be painted over after it's complete. I'm just using plexiglass because it's currently the most viable material for me to put through a laser cutter. You're quite right to say that this rifle is essentially a block. This was even after I reduced the width by about 15% from the original size.

 

[lightz]

I guess this has been long due for an update! Did a lot of putty and sanding work to fix the imperfections all around. The rifle is only lacking the details at the top now (iron sights, whatever it is). I'm considering 3D printing the remaining pieces, since it'd be more of a hassle to build those small pieces from scratch.

 

[Noeland]

Really cool build!

How uncomfortable is that grip?

 

[lightz]

Really cool build!

How uncomfortable is that grip?

Now that the grip's been filled in and sanded, it actually holds pretty well! Of course, that's not counting the fact that the whole rifle, grip included, is bulky by regular standards. There's enough allowance for your fingers to reach the front of the trigger, but that's about it.

 

[trelah]

starcraft props <3

 

[lightz]

The 3D model's done up, now awaiting the quotation for a 3D print. Hope it doesn't blow a hole in my pocket.

 

[lightz]

So, it seemed like the iron sight which I asked for a 3D print quotation for came out to around $140. Way out of my budget, I tried out pepakura instead. Eventually, I just decided to save the time needed to resin the pep. I ended up laser cutting the pieces and manually assembling them. It came out to $35, saving me $105 over a 3D print.

With that done, all of the pieces of the rifle are ready: a total of 6 main parts, and 2 iron sight parts. Busting out the silicone rubber now.

 

[lightz]

The molds are finally done. A total of 9 molds, since I forgot to stick on a bunch of parts to the main body and had to mold them separately. Praying hard for the casting.

 

[lightz]

So, I managed to pull out a bunch of casts from the mold. I filled the two halves of each mold with a few layers of Smoothcast 65D, reaching as close to the edge of the seams as possible. Once the walls were thick enough, I poured in a final cup of 65D, sealed the two halves of the mold together and rotated it to cast as much of the seams as I could. The end result is a lightweight hollow cast without a pour spout.

Most of the casts went fairly well, but the casts for the main rifle body and butt ran into some issues. Because those pieces were so large, I couldn't manage to seal up all the seams with a single pour of 65D, and ended up with areas with long open slits along the seamlines. It probably can't be avoided, but I think I'll have to cut out a pour hole for them.

 

[vidman]

I must say , this is an AWESOME build. Very interesting rifle. I am very impressed that you used plexy for the build :thumbsup

 

[lightz]

Haha, plexiglass has been the most easily available material for me, therefore I've taken quite a liking to it. I haven't had any plans to get a personal 3D printer, so 3D printing is out of the question for now...

 

[lightz]

So far so good! The pour hole fix worked to give a good cast of the butt. Previously, the cast ended up with running slits at the seam lines due to inadequate coverage from the resin. Since the mold had no pour holes, I could only afford a single pour of resin before having to quickly seal up the two halves and rotocasting. Obviously, that single pour wasn't enough to build up a strong enough sealant.

Now, the pour hole allows multiple pours into the mold after it has been sealed up, properly filling up the seam lines and strengthening the adjacent walls. A rubber stopper was used to temporarily plug the pour spout in between every pour to prevent resin from leaking out.

Some before/after comparsions of the butt cast:

 

[lightz]

Small update. The second cast of the rifle body came out awesome. With that, the last piece of the rifle is done, and I'll be moving on to cleanup and assembly.

 

[SofaKing01]

Despite the "few" problems you ran to - this is a stunning piece of work! Don't you just love the laser cutter?

 

[lightz]

Despite the "few" problems you ran to - this is a stunning piece of work! Don't you just love the laser cutter?

Thanks! Yeah, the laser cutter's been the main star of many of my projects recently. I'd love to get one of my own, if not for the steep price and lack of space in my house.

 

[Halo_1]

Les, glad to see you here! I'm glad the fixes worked! Awesome work!

 

[lightz]

Les, glad to see you here! I'm glad the fixes worked! Awesome work!

Hey Tim! Great to see you here! Thanks for the tips again.

Also, another update before I forget. The casts have been cleaned up enough for the pieces to be put together. A bit more work on the clean up, and it should be ready for painting.

 

[Halo_1]

Now that is looking wicked! Nice pull bro!