A n00bs sidearm, a veteran Spartan's primary.
Have you ever wanted to dual wield in Halo 5? Sad that it won't return in Halo Infinite? Well worry no more, this model will allow you to print as many of the Halo 5 Sidearm as you want!
Major Features
Modular Design
The design of this pistol is such that most of the parts hold themselves in place without the need for glue, this allows for plenty of fun mix and matching. This is of course provided your printer is calibrated correctly. Even so a little glue never hurt once you find your preferred configuration/paint job.
This model makes it so that a majority of the places that require supports end up being hidden upon assembly, so those rough surfaces will be covered. This makes for a much less stressful post print process.
Flashlight Compatibility
The flash light in this pistol includes two pieces, a placeholder flashlight and the flashlight attachment. This is done because the placeholder flashlight is based on a keychain flashlight i found on Amazon small enough to fit into this pistol. The design allows this flashlight to be inserted and activated by just twisting the end as the back of the flashlight is locked in place by the attachment.
Design Process
This was my second major modeling project and the first one where I was drawing from reference. That being said I learned a lot about modeling and it took me many weeks to get the end product. The reason why I decided to make my model in the first place was that the models for this print that I kept finding online involved ugly seams in the middle of parts, and hard to print STLs of what was essentially just the game files solidified and sliced crudely.
I got the game model from the 405th's website in their armory. I then converted them into 3d models using a process that you can read more about in this tutorial. It was clear why this model was going to be such a paint in the butt. The poly count was through the roof almost everything was just overlapping surfaces that were meant to move with in-game animations.
What this meant is that i had over 1000 different additions and modifications to the original files to essentially "solidify" the model so that there were no internal walls or holes. Then once solidified I had to then slice it in a way that would hide seams. This process of hiding seams goes hand in hand with why most of my models are "modular" and can have their parts switched in and out in the event that one breaks or you want to try a newer part/color/etc.
If I had to do it again today, I would go with my current approach which is just completely recreating the model from scratch, using the game files as reference. However, playing hard can be just as good as playing smart, because in the end,
my solidified model gives a stronger print that requires less material and *can print in almost half the time*
than other models of this pistol that I have found online
Builds
For these particular props I printed them at .1mm layer height with my older cartesian printer. While this was obviously a lot slower it made for a print that I could basically just immediately paint without much sanding involved. This was also another prop that I put together while still experimenting with post print processing, so they don't feature that sports car, glossy sheen that some of my newer stuff, but I think it is definitely passable for now. I would like to revisit this project sometime soon while practicing some of my newer techniques.
Again it's worth noting that none of the props above have any glue at all, they are all held together with the pegs and are easily able to switch out parts. Again this is due to my testing of tolerances and my use of a well calibrated cartesian printer.
Overall, I think this makes for a quick 1-2 day print and a fun weekend build.
Here is a pic of the built in flashlight illuminating my "Wall of Halo". Could you imagine if Halo 5 had some sort of Night Mode? Hopefully Infinite eventually introduces the original magnum so that we can experience those day/night cycles with the iconic sidearm.
What Next?
If you are looking to create you own models like this one feel free to checkout all of my tutorials on 3D modeling and prop making techniques.
If you are looking to purchase the model so that you can print your own you can find it in the store.
Lastly, make sure to check back in every once in a while to see what I've been working on
Thank you for your time
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