Hi,
I've finally made my way onto this forum, so I thought I'd start off by posting one of my completed builds.
This is the Dominator gun from the recent anime Psycho Pass. The one thing that interested me was the gun's ability to transform into various modes, each being more complex and powerful than the previous. Unfortunately I wasn't able to incorporate moving parts into the gun, due to my lack of engineering skills. However, as a personal challenge, I attempted to do a static build of the gun in its Destroy Decomposer form.
I started off by making a 2D blueprint of the gun in its default mode using Illustrator. With the default gun as a base, I worked it into its Destroy Decomposer form by moving the various parts around and adding in the hidden parts.
Next, I used the 2D blueprint to help me visualise the gun in 3D, taking into account the thicknesses and curves. I split the gun into a number of layers which I could later stack together to give me the rough form of the gun.
All of the parts were laser cut/etched in acrylic and styrene of various thicknesses (0.75mm - 3mm).
I initially ran into some problems with laser cutting styrene. The edges would tend to burn away slightly, and in worse cases, deform horribly, which left me with a fair number of unusable pieces. I ended up switching to acrylic since it proved to be more heat resistant.
I began stacking the layers together. Acrylic glue worked pretty well, even with bonding acrylic to styrene.
For curved and slanted areas, I filled them with polyester putty and sanded off the excess.
I used masking tape to cover the laser etchings while applying putty, in order to prevent any mishaps.
Certain parts with complex geometry and slants had to be sanded down with a dremel before being glued together.
Details such as small indents and textured surfaces were created using needle files.
Painting and assembly. There was a total of over 50 parts. The gun was given a black acrylic base coat. The numbers and letters were done with a silver enamel wash. The glowing areas were with a blue/green enamel mix, while the gun handle area was done in a bronze.
The many 'floating' parts in the gun were glued to the main body with 4/6mm acrylic rods. This unfortunately, made for a highly fragile piece.
I've finally made my way onto this forum, so I thought I'd start off by posting one of my completed builds.
This is the Dominator gun from the recent anime Psycho Pass. The one thing that interested me was the gun's ability to transform into various modes, each being more complex and powerful than the previous. Unfortunately I wasn't able to incorporate moving parts into the gun, due to my lack of engineering skills. However, as a personal challenge, I attempted to do a static build of the gun in its Destroy Decomposer form.
I started off by making a 2D blueprint of the gun in its default mode using Illustrator. With the default gun as a base, I worked it into its Destroy Decomposer form by moving the various parts around and adding in the hidden parts.
Next, I used the 2D blueprint to help me visualise the gun in 3D, taking into account the thicknesses and curves. I split the gun into a number of layers which I could later stack together to give me the rough form of the gun.
All of the parts were laser cut/etched in acrylic and styrene of various thicknesses (0.75mm - 3mm).
I initially ran into some problems with laser cutting styrene. The edges would tend to burn away slightly, and in worse cases, deform horribly, which left me with a fair number of unusable pieces. I ended up switching to acrylic since it proved to be more heat resistant.
I began stacking the layers together. Acrylic glue worked pretty well, even with bonding acrylic to styrene.
For curved and slanted areas, I filled them with polyester putty and sanded off the excess.
I used masking tape to cover the laser etchings while applying putty, in order to prevent any mishaps.
Certain parts with complex geometry and slants had to be sanded down with a dremel before being glued together.
Details such as small indents and textured surfaces were created using needle files.
Painting and assembly. There was a total of over 50 parts. The gun was given a black acrylic base coat. The numbers and letters were done with a silver enamel wash. The glowing areas were with a blue/green enamel mix, while the gun handle area was done in a bronze.
The many 'floating' parts in the gun were glued to the main body with 4/6mm acrylic rods. This unfortunately, made for a highly fragile piece.
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