Something a little bit different to the norm today! A free 3D printed life size bolt gun from creator AWPrintz over on Makerworld.
Regular readers are already familiar with Flippy the Bambulab A1 and possibly his newer brethren, Clippy (also an A1) and their work in the realm of wargame scenery and the odd model.
As it turns out, they have use outside of tiny buildings and tinier tanks – they’re also capable of producing significantly larger toys.
Despite the number of pieces this particular model came in, it still had a far lower piece count than a GW Saturnine Terminator.
I made a few mistakes along the way. Accidently printing a couple of pieces twice etc, using the wrong filament, a slight superglue accident – that sort of thing. Still, you live and you learn!
So what else could I do but print a few more pieces and end up with a second bolter? I mean, the printing part is basically set-and-forget and the assembly was on the level of a model kit for children (with clamps and superglue). How could I not?
One thing I should have photographed as well was these things all clamped up. There was a lot of clamping involved, using clamps. Especially since I had multiple sub-assemblied on the go at any given time. But it was a learing experience for sure. Much like my poor trigger discipline in these photos!
So much so that I actually have enough parts to assemble a third bolter from a combo of “mistakes” and then deciding the hell with it, I’ll just print the final few parts I need for another one. Which I will assemble at some point in the future, and then paint, rather than use the filament as my colours.
The overall plan is to leave this red one “as is”, add some weathering to the green one, and then completely paint and weather the third one. I’ll probably weather the green once I’ve built and painted the third one so I can do the weathering at the same time, since green still looks pretty solid as is.
I’m pretty happy with these. As someone who went through my teenage years as a Warhammer fan and have been interested even when not actively playing for decades now, I’m quite stoked for these to exist and to actually have them. Now to print some wall mounts and find somewhere suitable to hang these bad boys up!
Azazel's Bitz Box. 
Wasn’t expecting that when I saw you had a new post ! LOL They both look really good, and the weathering and painted one I look forward to seeing. As a matter of interest, how many days did it take to print ? Maybe one day I will get the lifesize weapons I have out of the shed and find somewhere to display them ! LOL
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I should have used a picture of Cleese in the ocean at a desk to start the post!
Time-wise these would have taken a few days each, with interruptions as Marouda printed a few sets of earrings and such along with dead time when things finished while I was at work or asleep. They can get done a lot faster, but I tend to use slightly higher quality settings than they default to (not the highest, though) so that makes them take longer.
I figure there’s no benefit to a print finishing at 3am when I won’t be getting up until 7am – and likewise no point finishing at 1pm when I’ll get home from work at 5pm. 🙂
If nothing else, your lifesize stuff would make for a great, interesting post. It’s always cool to see what other hobby related bits and pieces people have around the place!
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I’ll have to check on them and see if they need any repairs, but will do at some point.
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Bloody superb!!
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Thanks Alex!
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They’ve come out really well! 🙂 I just so love the impracticality of GW weapons!
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Thanks John! They’re certainly fun – and really a great example of how impractical the proportions of things designed for little miniatures come up when blown up to 1:1 (or close to it!)
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Oh my goodness.
Those are awesome.
I was about to type that my son would love one of those, but actually I’d love one of those!!!😁👍
Now as you actually have a couple of bolters I have to ask is the calibre bigger than the width of the magazine?
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Yeah, they certainly bring out the youngster in me when I’m holidng them! And yes – they are just as impractical, if not more than the artwork – the diameter of the muzzle is fully the width of the magazine! 🙂
These are of course, “fan art” and not official models. I’m sure if GW were ever to release/licence a full-sized prop then they would be completely feasable. 🙄
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Completely feasible, you think?
🤔
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Yes, just like the suspension on their tanks or the aerodymanics of their air/spacecraft!
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No way! :O I wasn’t ready for this, it’s so awesome!! Oh man, I love this!
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Thanks mate. I’m working on a few more in a similar vein! 😀
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Not a Warhammer fan, but by god they are bloody cool!
Cheers Roger.
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Cheers Roger. Unlike a lot of other printed props, they’re chonky enough to be pretty durable as well, even in PLA!
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This takes me back to my days as a kid playing with dart guns around the house with my friends. These look just awesome.
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Thanks mate. We had a lot of fun back in the day doing similar. 😄
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This is very impressive work by you and your printing friend! They look very chunky and lifelike which is impressive at that kind of scale. I’d love to see the weathered one when you get done with it as I’m sure that will make it look even cooler.
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Thanks mate. I still need to build the one that will be fully painted & weathered. I just need to figure out what scheme to use with it (and print a couple of final parts). Perhaps just a basic, matte black could work I’m considering…
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