New Mass Effect Carnifex Pistol model - 3D printable - Andromeda
Posted: March 29th, 2017, 4:10 am
You may know that I'm a huge Mass Effect fan (already got over 75 hours playtime in Andromeda ). 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 .
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! -
Jess' Carnifex design and my starting point. Colors are random. I know it looks off, sorry
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:
I made some improvements with the trigger guard: 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? 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.
Well, turns you can 3D-print anything .
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! -
Jess' Carnifex design and my starting point. Colors are random. I know it looks off, sorry
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:
I made some improvements with the trigger guard: 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? 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.