www.3ders.org

July 13, 2015 | By Alec

Over the past few years, 3D printers have been increasingly making a name for themselves in the cosplay world. And that’s hardly surprising, as even a basic model can be used to produce a few cool and unusual accessories to complete your costume. But then again, some people take things a bit more seriously. People like Nimi Becza and Lael Lee, who have together realized a truly amazing addition to any Destiny cosplay: a highly detailed Bad Juju rifle replica.

Destiny, as any gamer will tell you, is a huge MMO shooter from the makers of Halo. It has been quite a hit since its release in September of last year, largely because it has somehow successfully managed to take Halo’s praised competitive combats into the MMO realm. It is therefore somewhat unsurprising to find out that a rifle was chosen by Becza and Lee to recreate using 3D printing technology. Lee, for your information, is a designer over at Blender responsible for a large collection of cool 3D models, while some of you might remember Becza from this very cool 3D printed dagger from the Game of Thrones tv show. While Becza hasn’t been 3D printing for a long time (since February), he has been cosplaying and making props for more than three years now. [3D printing] has opened a whole realm of possibilities in which I fell,’ he says.

As he continued to explains to 3ders.org, this project simply grew out of their love for the game itself. ‘Friends and I have been following the development of Destiny since the game was announced and we loved the art concepts they have released at the time. So once the announcement for the release date was closer we started working on our Guardians (the in game avatars) for an upcoming convention (October 2014),’ he says. ‘At the time 3D printing for prop making was still a far-fetched idea for me but once we invested in our Makergear M2 I knew which rifle I wanted to replicate for my costume.’

Now some of you might not be satisfied by simply 3D printing someone else’s design, but then few of you get to work with a high level designer like Lee. ‘I personally prefer working in Solidworks for my models but this particular rifle is still above my skill level. The rifle itself has a couple moving parts operated by springs and magnets such as a removable magazine, movable trigger and movable charging pin,’ Becza said of the amazing design.

But 3D printing is his forte, and he used a Makergear M2 to 3D print all of the thirty plus components. ‘Our 3D printer is optimized for PLA printing at the moment. The parts were printed with various rates of infill ranging from 15-25% depending on a part to part basis,’ he says. Really only the leather straps (made from upholstery leather) and some screws are the only non 3D printed parts on this cool creation.

But the post printing processing was what truly made the difference here. ‘I wanted to give the prop an entirely smooth surfaces with no printed layer lines showing through, so I started with a 100grit sandpaper and worked my way up to 200 then 400. Some of the parts, such as the skull, were coated with XTC 3D coating resin which worked great on the curved surfaces but unfortunately I wasn't so lucky on smooth surfaces and sharp edges,’ he explains. This was followed by several coats of flay grey primer, followed by a metallic lacquer for the main body, with the shrouds airbrushed with a faded turquois and the skulls dry brushed with acrylic.

But the results definitely show all the effort that has gone into this project. Who wouldn’t want to take this gorgeous piece to a con? Becza and Lee, meanwhile, are already working on a follow-up project. ‘Our current project is actually very similar but with a bit more engineered functions (more moving parts, more LEDs). It is another Destiny exotic rifle called the Hard Light. This project is for my friend who cosplays from Destiny along me,’ he tells us. So the next time you see some amazing Destiny guns at a con, you probably know exactly who’s behind it. 

Posted in 3D Printing Applications

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