Oct 19, 2015 | By Benedict
Back in September 2014, Bungie and Activision released the first instalment of their Destiny series of video games—Bungie’s first franchise since the uber-popular Halo series. Although the game is yet to garner the kind of critical adoration received by Halo, it still enjoyed the most successful launch of a new game franchise of all time, earning $500 million on its first day of release.
Those in the 3D printing community will be aware of the significant overlap between additive manufacturing enthusiasts and gamers. Way before Destiny was even released, a Bungie team member was already showing off a 3D printed ‘Thorn’ gun, an ‘exotic’ (rare) hand cannon and one of the ‘Weapons of Sorrow’. Over the years, we’ve also seen a 3D printed Combat Evolved pistol, taken from the Halo franchise, and, more recently, a Master Chief helmet designed using Autodesk 360, inspired by Halo 4.
The latest case of 3D printed game fandom comes from Canterbury, United Kingdom, where Fabbdea 3D Printing is based. Fabbdea, describing itself as an ‘ideas fabricator’, offers a range of additive manufacturing services, including the production of bespoke projects for gaming fans. Earlier this year, one of those fans—Jay—got in touch with Fabbdea’s Adam Malkowski about the possibility of producing a replica of the ‘Arcus’ exotic auto rifle from Destiny, a weapon that would later become known as the ‘SUROS Regime’.
Image credit: Adam Malkowski
Adam was happy to oblige, and set about planning the print. Getting the initial blueprints for such a design was made much easier by the Destiny .stl generator website, from which Adam was able to download a preliminary design. However, to get the design into a format compatible with his 3D printer, he had to tweak and remodel it using the Blender 3D software.
The parts of the replica weapon, which numbered around 40 pieces in total, were 3D printed in PLA with a 0.2mm layer. At 120mm/s, the total print time was around 400 hours. Wanting to make the model absolutely perfect, Adam thought about how he could add weight and structural integrity to the weapon. He decided to add a copper pipe to the inside of the Arcus, the significant weight of which added an extra degree of realism to the gun.
When all the pieces were 3D printed, the Fabbdea team, with the help of a local artist, sanded and painted each part with extraordinary attention to detail. Three primer coats were followed by three layers of paint, over which two layers of lacquer were added before the rifle could finally be assembled. Adam implemented a removable magazine into the model, at Jay’s request. A small board, speaker, and LED lights were also added to replicate the in-game characteristics of the weapon.
Most importantly, Jay was happy with Fabbdea’s work. About the replica Arcus, which was his first encounter with 3D printing, he claimed to be “really impressed with it.” "It is very well made and i really like it ..." he said. He was particularly pleased with the realistic weight of the gun, " ... thank you very much for taking the time to create this thank you."
We look forward to seeing what Fabbdea 3D Printing creates in the future!
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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