New Mass Effect Carnifex Pistol model - 3D printable - Andromeda

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jonnybischof
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New Mass Effect Carnifex Pistol model - 3D printable - Andromeda

Post by jonnybischof »

You may know that I'm a huge Mass Effect fan (already got over 75 hours playtime in Andromeda :-o ). So - naturally - I always wanted to get my hands on a Carnifex pistol which was the one and only go-to for my biotic builds.

Well, turns you can 3D-print anything :-D .
Jess made an awesome Carnifex model some time ago: Mass Effect Carnifex Pistol by Jessthemullet - youmagine.com
Now, you may also know that I'm obsessed about improving stuff, so I couldn't just print it but asked Jess about giving me a step model of his design - and he did!

- Huge thanks to Jess here! - (I wouldn't have gone through with it if I had to start the design from the beginning...)
- And of course, huge thanks to Bioware for making Mass Effect! -
carnifex screenshot.png
Jess' Carnifex design and my starting point. Colors are random. I know it looks off, sorry :P

Okay, now I need to share my design progress and hopefully get some inputs from you guys as well!
One more thing before I start: Yes, I might deviate somewhat from the Original design by Bioware, but only in a good way. If you want to print a Carnifex and care only about getting the most accurate replica possible, then you should print Jess' design that I linked to above.

The only real flaw ( ;-) ) about Jess' design is that it's not drawn in metric dimensions...
Here's my current design iteration:
carnifex wip 2017-03-29.png
I made some improvements with the trigger guard:
carnifex wip trigger guard assembly detail.png
In the original design, the trigger guard (grey part) is thicker and doesn't really integrate with the pistol grip and front grip. I made it thinner and just slightly modified the grips so that the trigger guard actually integrates into them. Should improve the ergonomics, and of course it looks more like a true assembly than just a game model where these things don't really matter.

I will be using black M4 cylinder-head hex socket screws to assemble the pistol. Apart from the fact that you can disassemble the pistol again, these will look much better than 3D-printed fake screws.

Last but not least (for now) the iron sights. I know - the original design doesn't really have any, but come on, a pistol without sights?
Carnifex wip iron sights rear view.png
Carnifex wip iron sights rear view 2.png
I adopted what I call the "Trijicon-style" - Glow-tube sights which are open in the top to let in sunlight. At night, they glow (tritium), and in direct sunlight they are even brighter because the sun shines into the tubes. True genius... Yeah, it's just a mock-up with orange filament bits instead of tritium-tubes, but I want it to be related to some real concept in order to get it right.

Also modified some tidbits like the bolt catch pin which lacked some detail, and the front grip curve that didn't match the knurled lower barrel detail.

To-do:
- Shelling and assembly (use screws, not glue for main parts)
- Add dummy weights for realism
- LED lights - trigger actuated
- Figure out how to integrate mods like heavy barrel, scope, melee or power amp modules...
- make those mods
- Thermal clips?

About the weight: I want the gun to have a somewhat realistic weight. I thought about making internal pockets and filling them with sand or clay. That should be the easiest way to make something that anyone can do at home. I know you can buy lead weights in RC stores, but that requires specific parts, and maybe the ability to modify lead chunks which is not a great idea imho.

Thermal clips:
I couldn't figure out how or WHERE the thermal clips go into this thing. It seems like Bioware didn't take that into account when they designed the gun. I "could" adopt the lower barrel to actually be a thermal clip instead of a barrel, but that might deviate too much from the original design. Anyone got an idea where the clip is supposed to be?
There is definitely not enough space in the pistol grip where handguns usually store their clips.
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Re: New Mass Effect Carnifex Pistol model - 3D printable - Andromeda

Post by Neotko »

So coool!!!
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Re: New Mass Effect Carnifex Pistol model - 3D printable - Andromeda

Post by jonnybischof »

barrel assembly.png
Working on the barrels:
I separated the front bracket from the body and modified the barrels so that they can be mounted onto that bracket from the inside. Also integrated the knurled part to simplify assembly. Inside the top barrel sits an M12 nut which will be used to mount any barrel attachments. I thought it would be simpler to use a nut and bolt instead of making a quick-detach system. The thing will be complex enough even without that... Maybe I change my mind later, but for now this will do.

Upper barrel is .50 cal btw (12.7mm). Lower barrel is slightly smaller (11 mm) which doesn't make any sense, but it's supposed to be smaller...
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Re: New Mass Effect Carnifex Pistol model - 3D printable - Andromeda

Post by jonnybischof »

internals wip.png
Some work on the internals from yesterday. There will be an outer shell that prints in two pieces (like Jess' original), but hollow and open in the bottom. These shells slide over the body (green in the pic, and wip) which holds the moving parts, electronics, and weights. The two screws in the rear of the gun (where there is no green part) don't make sense yet. We'll see if I find some use for those..
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Re: New Mass Effect Carnifex Pistol model - 3D printable - Andromeda

Post by reibuehl »

I think I would put at least some weight in the handle part. If all weight is above the hand grip, it might be very uncomfortable to hold - and have a flimsy handle :-)
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Re: New Mass Effect Carnifex Pistol model - 3D printable - Andromeda

Post by drayson »

... next step... <§"$)(/%§$# an Lultz Liberator in .38 into it...
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Re: New Mass Effect Carnifex Pistol model - 3D printable - Andromeda

Post by jonnybischof »

.38 wouldn't do it any justice...

A quick scope mockup (needed to make the mount, so I needed the scope...)
scope wip 1.png
Decided to make a magnetic scope mount. Main reasons: It doesn't change the gun's looks too much when no scope is attached. And it doesn't interfere with the iron sights. Something like a picatinny rail would just not fit the Carnifex.
So the scope just has some alignment bosses and magnets which are highlighted:
scope wip 2.png
scope wip 3.png
Things are starting to git guuuhd :D

/edit:
Forgot about the rear view:
scope wip 4.png
Already removed the body mirrors again, but the important part's there. No co-witness, but we don't want things to get out of hand :P (and stay close to the original models)
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Re: New Mass Effect Carnifex Pistol model - 3D printable - Andromeda

Post by LePaul »

I'm very impressed !
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Re: New Mass Effect Carnifex Pistol model - 3D printable - Andromeda

Post by jonnybischof »

orange muzzle cover.png
Orange muzzle cover for those poor sods who need it :P
/ on that note: Is there some specific law on how these must look? Do they need to cover the entire muzzle opening (like on the lower barrel), or is it ok to leave that black screw visible (looking like the barrel is still open) ?
I mean you could slap some orange tape around a real gun's muzzle and still shoot it. So what's the point about the thing? Actually you could also just shoot through a 1mm plastic cap...
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Re: New Mass Effect Carnifex Pistol model - 3D printable - Andromeda

Post by jonnybischof »

heavy barrel wip.png
...And the heavy barrel mod as a quick and dirty mock up. I need to check ingame to get the size right. I think it's too small...
It doesn't really fit the Carnifex's style. Maybe I make a different one that deviates from the original but just fits the Carnifex better. What do you guys think?
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Re: New Mass Effect Carnifex Pistol model - 3D printable - Andromeda

Post by jonnybischof »

Please excuse that horrible heavy barrel mod. I slept over it and today I almost puked when I saw it :P

Instead, let's just make what everyone loves: The silencer mod!
silencer 1.png
silencer 2.png
/edit: Took a close look at Andromeda's Carnifex yesterday. There are quite a few differences. I think I will try to incorporate them, but in a way that one can choose between the classic and new look in the end. This will take more time because it's a bit more complex geometry stuff (especially the grips which are different), but should be worth it in the end.

/edit2:
Here's a picture I took from the ME:A inventory screen:
Andromeda Carnifex.jpg
Picture quality is bad, I know... I will be working off a video I made rotating the gun around, which turned out better than this pic. Some differences in the details throughout the model. I will make alternate pieces to reflect the new model better. Except for the heavily rounded front bracket, this looks awful...
Speaking about awful: Andromeda's "barrel" attachment is... well... awful. It looks like a tiny cup style muzzle brake which does not fit any of the guns in the game tbh. Well, stick to the silencer :P
Oh, and don't ask me what happens with the lower barrel. I didn't invent the Carnifex :D
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Re: New Mass Effect Carnifex Pistol model - 3D printable - Andromeda

Post by jonnybischof »

No idling during the weekend!

I'm working on the LED control board, which will be very simple but (hopefully) nicely integrated:
LED control 3D-PCB wip.png
So, you can see the spring-loaded trigger which actuates a switch (Cherry MX blue keyswitch). The switch will switch the LED control mosfet and charge a capacitor sitting at the mosfet gate. Upon releasing the trigger, the capacitor will slowly discharge (through an 1M resistor) and after about a 2 seconds delay the mosfet will switch off again.
As a result, the LEDs will light up for about 2 seconds when you pull the trigger. The circuit is very simple (5 components including the switch and LED series resistor) and can be soldered into this neat 3D-printed 3D-PCB:
LED control 3D-PCB wip 2.png
The component's legs serve as PCB leads, just gotta put them into the PCB, bend them and solder the joints.


/edit:
Lol I should really re-read my stuff sometimes... Those sentences :P
Last edited by jonnybischof on April 4th, 2017, 3:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: New Mass Effect Carnifex Pistol model - 3D printable - Andromeda

Post by LePaul »

I'm impressed with how good you are with CAD
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Re: New Mass Effect Carnifex Pistol model - 3D printable - Andromeda

Post by jonnybischof »

LePaul wrote:I'm impressed with how good you are with CAD
Thanks :)

I'm 90% self-learned. As an electronics engineer you only learn some very basic stuff about mechanical design, like making paper drawings and dimensioning. Most of the credit goes to SpaceClaim - a freakin' excellent program for mechanical engineering. It's so easy to use that you really don't need to learn anything apart from a few basic training videos. Just need to be able to imagine what you want to design (maybe that's the hard part? Just comes naturally to me...).
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Re: New Mass Effect Carnifex Pistol model - 3D printable - Andromeda

Post by LePaul »

I'm able to have the Academic version of Solidworks very inexpensively and I keep wanting to learn all about that! But it looks like Fusion is the way to go for 3D printing.
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