What's up RPF! I am currently in the process of building 2 replica weapons from the Halo universe. They're both pretty far along, but they still need some work. I figured I'd post my progress on here, then continue as I finish them.
One is an MA5B ICWS Assault Rifle (The AR from Halo Combat Evolved) and an MA5K. The MA5K isn't portrayed in the games. In fact, the only reference for it is on the cover of the novel "Ghosts of Onyx". It's mentioned quite a bit in the novels, but we've never seen one in game.
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Above you can see the Mk V Spartan and the SPI Spartan III are holding MA5Ks. They are each slightly different. They each have a different grip. There is plenty of fan-made reference for these guns on the interwebs, but this is the only official representation of the MA5Ks.
The MA5B has plenty of reference, however, they are from the first game and they look pretty dated. The Assault rifle portrayed in Halo: Anniversary is just a re-skinned MA5C. I'm pretty sure it's just an updated Halo 3 asset. When you look at the MA5B and MA5C, the B is a lot stubbier. What I did in my design phase was use the basic design of the MA5B, but add some detail to give it an updated look.
I started my design in AutoCAD. This model is in SolidWorks and it was created from scratch.
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The model is scaled properly and it is a solid, watertight model. That allowed me to send it on over to the ShopBot to have it milled out. Unfortunately, you can't leave the shop bot unattended, so I had to sit there for two 4 hour sessions to have it milled out.
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I was initially going to mill out two halves of one piece, but it would have taken a lot more time and effort to get the second half lined up perfectly on the ShopBot. So I decided to do two halves on separate pieces. The benefit of this is that I already have 2 halves with perfect mold walls.
I'm milling out of MDF which stands for medium density fiberboard. In hindsight I wish I would have used hard wood. I'll get into why in a bit.
Some of the details were a bit too small for the ShopBot. I could have used a smaller bit, but I would have been there for a whole hell of a lot longer. Instead I expedited the process and used the laser cutter to cut some of the details out of acrylic. I also used our smaller Modela CNC mills to mill the grip out of green foam.
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One is an MA5B ICWS Assault Rifle (The AR from Halo Combat Evolved) and an MA5K. The MA5K isn't portrayed in the games. In fact, the only reference for it is on the cover of the novel "Ghosts of Onyx". It's mentioned quite a bit in the novels, but we've never seen one in game.
Above you can see the Mk V Spartan and the SPI Spartan III are holding MA5Ks. They are each slightly different. They each have a different grip. There is plenty of fan-made reference for these guns on the interwebs, but this is the only official representation of the MA5Ks.
The MA5B has plenty of reference, however, they are from the first game and they look pretty dated. The Assault rifle portrayed in Halo: Anniversary is just a re-skinned MA5C. I'm pretty sure it's just an updated Halo 3 asset. When you look at the MA5B and MA5C, the B is a lot stubbier. What I did in my design phase was use the basic design of the MA5B, but add some detail to give it an updated look.
I started my design in AutoCAD. This model is in SolidWorks and it was created from scratch.
The model is scaled properly and it is a solid, watertight model. That allowed me to send it on over to the ShopBot to have it milled out. Unfortunately, you can't leave the shop bot unattended, so I had to sit there for two 4 hour sessions to have it milled out.
I was initially going to mill out two halves of one piece, but it would have taken a lot more time and effort to get the second half lined up perfectly on the ShopBot. So I decided to do two halves on separate pieces. The benefit of this is that I already have 2 halves with perfect mold walls.
I'm milling out of MDF which stands for medium density fiberboard. In hindsight I wish I would have used hard wood. I'll get into why in a bit.
Some of the details were a bit too small for the ShopBot. I could have used a smaller bit, but I would have been there for a whole hell of a lot longer. Instead I expedited the process and used the laser cutter to cut some of the details out of acrylic. I also used our smaller Modela CNC mills to mill the grip out of green foam.