Project Round Up! 11th of August 2018

Heya!

Just wanted to do a bit of an update on all current project I’m working on at the moment. Most projects are on hold as I’m a one man crew with limited free time and since I’m taking commissioned work, I don’t really have the time to work on everything. I’m usually working on 2 projects at once: Commission stuff first and then personal stuff if I have some time in the week ends. I won’t list things I wanna make, just projects I have actually started. Some of them will be finished, some of them might not due to a lack of time. Let’s do a round up!

F-11D Blaster from Star Wars (Commission)

State of the project: “Non LED” version was made one or two years ago. The goal of this commission is to add LEDs and improve the 3D model.

Features: Red side LED and front lamp. Also, the front handle was glued on the previous version so I added a small snap mechanism to have it movable. I also took the time to tweak how the model was split for printing to gain sturdiness and to help save some time during post process

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N7 Crusader from Mass Effect (Commission)

State of the project: DONE!

Features: None, just a painted prop.

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N7 Valkyrie from Mass Effect (Personal Project)

State of the project: 3D model is almost done. I need to slice it up intelligently for 3D Printing.

Features: None, just a painted prop. Might add LEDs if it’s not too much trouble.

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M7 Caseless SMG from Halo:3 & Halo:3 ODST (Commission for family/friends)

State of the project: ODST Version is done!

Features: Retractable butt and front handle, Removable clip, sight and silencer for the ODST version.

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Custom Light Saber (Personal Project)

Further discussed here

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Data Knife from Titanfall 2 (Personal Project)

State of the project: I already made a regular Data Knife a while ago but with no electronics whatsoever. I’m still figuring things out as space availability is rather thin.

Features: LEDs animations when trigger is pulled. A small video is available here

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R201 Carabine from Titanfall 2 (Personal Project)

State of the project: Just started the 3D model and as usual, Titanfall 2 props are highly detailed and require A LOT OF TIME.

Features: Removable mags. Maybe more stuff as I go along.

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L-STAR from Titanfall 2 (Personal Project)

State of the project: 3D model is almost done. I need to slice it up a bit and optimize everything for 3d printing without compromising ease of assembly and electronics accessibility. I got the electronics almost sorted out but since I learned new tricks with the lightsaber project, I might go back and change a few things

Features: Trigger responsive rotating parts. LEDs.

Here a small timelapse of my first 3D modeling sessions:

And here’s another small video from my Twitter account of the electronics that will go inside it

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SE-44C Blaster from Star Wars (Personal Project)

State of the project: 3D Model still in the making.

Features: TBD

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 That’s all folks!

I actually have some other stuff but I wanted to focus on the more defined projects. I’m also learning Zbrush to be able to tackle more organic designs like this Harry Potter Elder Wand I made a few month ago. Perfect to start practicing Zbrush!

 

10mm Pistol from Fallout 4 – Project Updates!

Small recap of a recent project: Someone contacted because they saw my Fallout 4 AER9 Laser Rifle and wanted another prop from the Fallout saga: the 10mm Pistol from Fallout 4.

I usually 3D model everything myself but being quite busy as always, I went another way. I remembered that Daniel Lyligreen aka lilykill1 once made it and I found the model online. As I already did about 2 years ago with a Fallout shotgun for cosplayer Supaflyy86, I contacted him to see if I could use his files for this commission and he agreed.

So after a few hours of printing (The benefit of having 5 3D Printers), I was able to start cleaning and gluing the prop. Thanks to Daniel’s good modeling and engineering skills, it was very easy. The prop is broken down in a smart way. Each part can be printed in the best orientation possible so that details are more accurate. When I was more present on MyMiniFactory, Thingiverse and sites alike, it was almost heartbreaking for me to see good and accurate models completely ruined by a lazy mid section cut that completely went thought extremely detailed areas (and would either let a big seam appear or would make the task of hiding the said seam extremely difficult). No problems like that with Daniel’s 3D models.

A few rounds of filling and sanding, a bit of priming and a coat of gun metal paint with the airbrush and the prop was ready. A simple metallic effect and a brownish handle. No real challenges on the paint job, which felt like a breeze of fresh air compared to the super detailed Titanfall 2 props or some Mass Effect props.  I did had some fun weathering it though. That’s what I love about Fallout props, you can be messy as hell and it will still look good and on point.

 

Great little project. It felt nice to make something this quickly. Again, big thanks to the awesome Daniel Lilygreen!

His website: http://www.lilykill.com

And if you wanna support him and get a lot of cool 3D models for 3D Printing, be sure to check his Patreon and consider pledging: https://www.patreon.com/lilykill

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For more information about my current projects, don’t hesitate to check my Twitter, Facebook page and/or Instagram account where I post almost daily about what I’m doing!

 

Now off to make more stuff! Thanks for reading and see you soon!

PS: I’m trying to improve the website and possibly adding a store, let me know what you think!

Falchion from Fire Emblem – Project Updates!

This project is not particularly new but I made myself a new one under weird circumstances so here’s a small recap of this project.

Fire Emblem is easily is one of my favorite video games saga. So naturally, I decided to make a prop from it. I went with Falchion from Fire Emblem Awakening because it’s one of my favorite game of the saga and because I really like the look of this sword. It’s so unique and beautiful! Arghhh!

 

 

So I started to work on the 3D model. Nothing super difficult. The center of the blade is hollowed out to insert a 5mm metal rod to strengthen the blade and the whole sword was broken down to fir the buildplate of the Ultimaker.

After a few days of 3D Printing, and a few days of the ol’ clean/glue/fill/sand/paint routine, it was done and I was ecstatic to finally hold such a wonderful design in my own hands!

This wasn’t a commission so I kept it for myself. But as I posted it on all my social medias, I got people asking me to make one for them as well. I wanted to save some time and decided to send this one to the first person who bought one from me. I made a small run and after a while I stopped making them cause the shipping was too much trouble… One of the last sword I sent was damaged during transport (the tip was broken). The damage was minimal so I paid the shipping back to the customer and instead of waiting for the prop to be returned and fix it, I decided to make a new one entirely. Once the issue settled and the customer happy with his new intact Falchion, I was left with a broken Falchion (that got damaged even further during the second shipping, the tip was broken and the upper part of the blade was slanted). I was a bit too bitter with this project so I left it in a corner of my shed for a few month, where it just laid there… gathering dust. A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon it and decided to slowly work on it. A few moments here and there while waiting for others projects to dry.

 

And now, I have my own Falchion. Again. Just need to make new pics of it with a proper background 🙂

 

For more information about my current projects, don’t hesitate to check my Twitter, Facebook page and/or Instagram account where I post almost daily about what I’m doing!

Now off to make more stuff! Thanks for reading and see you soon!

PS: I’m trying to improve the website and possibly adding a store, let me know what you think!

 

Halo 3: ODST SMG – Project Updates!

So… the month of July has been quite hard on me.  A lot of commissions to do with a lot of heatwaves that made the 3D printers go haywire due to extreme temperatures and some blackouts due to storms… Also, phone lines have been affected by high wind and internet has been shut down for a few days…my phone line is still not working at this moment, I’m working using a 4G dongel…

That being said, let me show you the goods I’ve been working on! You may remember that I talked about a project of mine: the M7S Caseless SMG from Halo 3 ODST, well this was the current status of the project:

 

The prototype was functional and overall good, but the sizing was slightly off. So I tweaked it and scaled it up. I also changed the way the prop was sliced based on a few new tricks I learned in the past months. I used to like pegs but I’m designing more and more with intricate parts that interlocks in one another. I still use pegs to align mirrored parts but the interlocking parts makes the prop easier to assemble and more sturdy. Only downside is that it uses more support material while 3D printing and it require a tiny bit more time but I prefer to make my 3D printer works a few extra minutes instead of me having to clean/fill/sand more haha!

Here’s a 3D render to show you guys how the prop is sliced. It’s missing the magnets and the bolt/nuts but I didn’t wanna waste 10 minutes modeling and placing them accordingly.

After some struggles due to the heatwave that made my 3D printer’s steppers overheat and the breaking of my fifth’s 3D printer power source (160€ to replace it, ouch), I was able to print everything. Post processing could finally start! Not much to say about this part except the usual: Cleaning, sanding, glueing, filling, sanding again, filling, etc…

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And here’s the final result:

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I’m quite happy with how this project turned out! For more information about my current projects, don’t hesitate to check my Twitter, Facebook page and/or Instagram account where I post almost daily about what I’m doing!

 

Now off to make more stuff! Thanks for reading and see you soon!

PS: I’m trying to improve the website and possibly adding a store, let me know what you think!

 

N7 Crusader is done! – Project Updates!

Heya!

 

I’ve finished the N7 Crusader! but let’s start this post where we left the previous one. I was wetsanding the hell out of it and I continued. The was coat is usually a black or grey primer that I sand down at either 400 or 600 grit (or higher if I need a super shiny paintjob).

Once it was done, I applied a black primer and started applying the base coats with my airbrush.

I made myself some 3D Prnted stencils to make the N7 logo and the red/white strips.

 

I assembled and glued everything, weathered and added some shadow in the right places. The photo album can also be found on my facebook page

Aaaaaand that’s all for that commission (actually, no I have a bit of customizing to do for the person who commissioned me. She wants the paragon/renegade logo on both side of the handle). So what’s next? I got a few customs paintjobs to do that I’ll post when they are done.

 

 

N7 Crusader WIP – Project Updates!

All current personal projects are on hold for a few reasons:

First, I’m waiting for parts to be shipped (mostly for the lightsaber project, which is #1 on my personal list cause I want one so bad)

Secondly, I’ve been too busy repairing my printers: There was a big heatwave in France and my printing room was about 40°C-45°C which is a bit too hot for the electronics. The steppper motors start to miss some steps meaning I ended up having either some light later shifting or under extrusion (or a bit of both) in the early afternoon (when the heat was at it’s maximum)

Last reason: Personal projects are on hold because commissioned work is always prioritized, which brings me to the main point of this blog post: the N7 Crusader.

Despite the crushing heat, I was able to print everything in a few days thanks to my 5 Ultimaker UM2+.

The main body is locked to the humongous canon part with PVC tubes and a metal rod to straighten everything. At this point, nothing is glued. I usually glue everything near the end of the project, after base colors are applied cause having separate parts eliminate the need to use mask tape and thus makes painting way easier. But before I can do any painting, I need to fill and sand down everything multiple times to get the surface smooth. I usually raw sand at 80 (120/240 for detailed spots) first, then apply a few coats of filler, raw sand again and fill one more time before doing some wet sanding (120/240)

And here is what I have so far. I’m gonna do a couple more sanding/filling sessions with 240/400 sandpaper and then I’ll be able to prime it and start painting it.

 

Project Round Up! 27th of June 2018

Heya!

Just wanted to do a bit of an update on all current project I’m working on at the moment. Most projects are on hold as I’m a one man crew with limited free time and since I’m taking commissioned work, I don’t really have the time to work on everything. I’m usually working on 2 projects at once: Commission stuff first and then personal stuff if I have some time in the week ends. I won’t list things I wanna make, just projects I have actually started. Some of them will be finished, some of them might not due to a lack of time. Let’s do a round up!

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N7 Crusader from Mass Effect (Commission)

State of the project: 3D model is 100% done. It is sliced up and ready to be 3D printed!

Features: None, just a painted prop.

N7 Valkyrie from Mass Effect (Personal Project)

State of the project: 3D model is almost done. I need to slice it up intelligently for 3D Printing.

Features: None, just a painted prop. Might add LEDs if it’s not too much trouble.

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M7 Caseless SMG from Halo:3 & Halo:3 ODST (Commission for family/friends)

State of the project: Prototype is ok but 3D model needs some tweaking.

Features: Retractable butt and front handle, Removable clip, sight and silencer for the ODST version.

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Custom Light Saber (Personal Project)

Further discussed here

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Data Knife from Titanfall 2 (Personal Project)

State of the project: I already made a regular Data Knife a while ago but with no electronics whatsoever. I’m still figuring things out as space availability is rather thin.

Features: LEDs animations when trigger is pulled. A small video is available here

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R201 Carabine from Titanfall 2 (Personal Project)

State of the project: Just started the 3D model and as usual, Titanfall 2 props are highly detailed and require A LOT OF TIME.

Features: Removable mags. Maybe more stuff as I go along.

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L-STAR from Titanfall 2 (Personal Project)

State of the project: 3D model is almost done. I need to slice it up a bit and optimize everything for 3d printing without compromising ease of assembly and electronics accessibility. I got the electronics almost sorted out but since I learned new tricks with the lightsaber project, I might go back and change a few things

Features: Trigger responsive rotating parts. LEDs.

Here a small timelapse of my first 3D modeling sessions:

And here’s another small video from my Twitter account of the electronics that will go inside it

---

SE-44C Blaster from Star Wars (Personal Project)

State of the project: 3D Model still in the making.

Features: TBD

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 That’s all folks!

I actually have some other stuff but I wanted to focus on the more defined projects. I’m also learning Zbrush to be able to tackle more organic designs like this Harry Potter Elder Wand I made a few month ago. Perfect to start practicing Zbrush!

Projects Updates!

Hi there!

Just a very small text to say that I plan on doing a “regular” blog from now on as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter can’t convey all the info with as much details as I would like.

 

I put regular into quotation marks as I’ll mainly do this when I have some time so if I have a very busy week, I won’t have time to write anything but I plan on writing a blog entry about once a week to talk about current projects.

What you can expect:

• Information on ongoing projects, commisions, etc
• WIP pics of 3D modeling, 3D printing, post-processing, painting etc…
• Articles on specific aspect of propmaking
• Some tips and advices on general propmaking
• And probably other prop related stuff I forgot

See you soon!