OK, so I know exactly nothing about how to go about this. But I have a pistol from the TV show Man From UNCLE that I'd like copied in plastic for cosplay. Just, you know, light copies that look good in a shoulder holster--non-firing, naturally. I also need one that is just like half the gun (i.e. just the handle in case we are not allowed to have a full sized pistol that "looks real") to sit in the holster. How would I go about this? Any help would be appreciated.
... since you wrote "copies" I'll assume you don't mean just the one.
Depending on your skills you could :
- design it and 3D print it., then 3d print again and again.
- design it, design a mold, 3D print the mold and cast your prop several times.
If you already have a physical part, my suggestion would be to skip all that. Take plaster and 2 boxes, make a half imprint of each side in each box in the fresh plaster. Join the 2 half molds then use casting epoxy to cast.
Like lambda said epoxy casting may be the way to go. Rotocasting is a good choice for this.
You could, theoretically, scan your existing pistol, clean up the scan, send it to a 3D printing service bureau, have prints made, clean up the prints and paint them. That would be pretty expensive, though, as well as time-consuming.
Alternatively, you could make a mold from your pistol and cast replicas in epoxy or whatever, then clean them up and paint them. The process isn't quite as simple as Lambda makes it seem, but that's the basic idea. It still would be somewhat expensive, messy and slow.
The cheapest, simplest and quickest way would be to just buy another Man from Uncle toy pistol or two. This one even shoots: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Man-from-UNC...item35e0f95538
Just make sure the cops don't see you brandishing the thing; you could end up dead.
Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com
Thanks everyone for the advice. It is appreciated.