Sep 8, 2015 | By Alec
As both cosplay and 3D printing technology are becoming more popular, it’s no surprise that the two are increasingly meeting. A basic desktop 3D printer is after all perfect for producing cool and unusual accessories to complete your costume, as a team of guys using a Finnish-made MiniFactory 3D printer remind us. They recently attended a huge summer festival Provinssirock in their native country, and used their 3D printers to complete an immensely cool Ghostbusters outfit to complete the experience.
As they explain, the Provinssirock festival was the summer’s prime event, and the three men were pondering about what to wear. ‘At summer festivals, you can often see Supermen, Borats and even walking bananas. This time, we decided to go one step further. Since our team included a 3D-modelling aficionado with a miniFactory 3D printer in his living room, a person good with paintbrush, and a person with a number of great ideas, we called it open season for ideas,’ they say.
Eventually opting for childhood-forming movie Ghostbusters, they decided to 3D print a number of accessories to complete their outfit. ‘They had Ecto Goggles for some ghost spotting, a Proton Gun for capturing the otherworldly nuisances, and Ghost Trap for long-term spook storage. Additionally, there were the PKE Meter or ’ghost radar’ and Utility Belt – and the legendary Ghostbusters overalls with nametags. There was a lot of work to be done, but we were ready and willing!’ they add. Originally only planning to do the gun and ghost trap, they had so much success with designing the trap in Solid Edge and 3D printing it on their miniFactory, that they decided to go for the full package.
They immediately moved on to the Proton Gun – an iconic piece of Ghostbuster history – and modelled it after some images found online. ‘In this stage, we also considered possible LED lights and electronics, for which reason their positioning and wiring was included under the 3D model design. Another special feature was a PVC pipe used in the Proton Gun in place of the tubular parts. The parts remained hidden and served as a good fastening surface for other components,’ they say. While it took three iterations (especially to fit all the wiring and lighting), the final gun looks amazing and closely mimics the movie’s original.
Strengthened by this success, the PKE Meter and Ecto Goggles quickly followed. ‘PKE Meter was a rather quick project, once we reached a consensus regarding its appearance. We also had an excellent idea on how to make the meter look more vivid and truly stylish. We modelled a space for two white LEDs in the cover, which were located at a distance of approx. 1.5 cm from the cover top surface. To cover the LEDs, we printed out a 0.5 mm thick white plate serving as a reflector/display,’ they say. The lights can be turned on with a switch on the front panel, for added effect.
The goggles themselves were based on some gas protection goggles with real glass purchased earlier, but they preferred non-glass parts because of all the heat at the festival. ‘All of a sudden, we had an idea: since we have the 3D modelling software and miniFactory 3D printer right under our nose, why not print the lenses out by ourselves? Naturally, transparent lenses were not an option, but striped lenses would be a perfect start,’ they say. The result, with some LEDs, reportedly looked amazing during the night at the festival.
In total, they 3D printed approximately 50 different pieces, including prototypes. ‘We used up some two spools of PLA printing filament and some Nylon 645 Filament for the whole project including the prototypes. The total printing time, prototypes and parts included, was around one week,’ they say. All parts were first primed in matte black spray paints by Maston and RAL9005, to which other paints were added to create cool surface effects and details. The parts were assembled after painting, and almost everything snapped into place easily.
These fantastic accessories completed a very cool Ghostbuster outfit, alongside a couple of British RAF overalls ordered online, and some patches, belts, gloves boots and face paint. The result? A absolutely awesome cosplay, finished just in time for the festival.
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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Cool project!
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