The AR125 hangers are finished, I added some details to the underside and that big mounting point on left side hanger. It's been no easy task thanks to all those bevelled surfaces and filleted edges, but I'm pretty satisfied with the results.
I printed the left side part overnight, can't wait to have more physical parts and prints aside from the ammo drum, foam grips and the bike switch. Time to shift my design efforts to that MG42 model.

looks great. nice work

awesome job on the 3d print file

Thanks, guys! I printed the right side hanger, time to move on to the main parts of the gun. Some more parts arrived in the mail, including an almost mint Reflecta 3002 lamp. It's so nice that I felt a little bad for having to take it apart and re-purpose it. I tried a quick mock-up with a halogen bulb since I had to order a correct looking LED from overseas. 12 halogen might work as a temporary solution, but it would chew through any battery with over 2 amps of current draw.

Very nice! Just curious, but what do the printed hangers weigh?

Also, can I get details on the "correct looking LED" please? This too is on my workbench backlog

_________________
Cpl Aron "septic" Williams
A10/TQ0.0.82146E1

Thanks, septic. The printed stuff is usually lightweight, these came out at 90g and 95g. I print most of my cosplay stuff with wall thickness of 1mm and the rest is only 15% infill, that's where you get the low weight.

For that "accurate led", I was pretty disappointed with the options at first, most MR16 LEDs look nothing like their halogen counterparts. I was able to find detailed pics of shoulder lamps that were sold in auctions and there seem to be at least two versions of the original lamp.
Number one is with an all-glass halogen MR16 bulb
Number two seems to have an aluminium reflector and a smaller glass bulb (no idea what's the designation on that)

This seems to be a pretty good match for the all glass variant
I ended up ordering a couple of these (aluminium reflector with a COB led in the middle)

It's been a frustrating search, most LED 12V bulbs have some sort of fresnel lens or at least a cover over the LED itself

Made some progress on the receiver/barrel shroud combo, the different radii and sheet metal features were the hardest part. The gun will split into two parts at the trunnion and there will be a "tube in a tube" reinforcing piece in the middle to give that joint enough rigidity.

The front half of the receiver is starting to look like a smartgun! AR125 struts are positioned as best as I could match them to screen caps an behind the scenes pictures. It's interesting that the front mounting points for bike struts seem to be slightly different between the two guns, just like there were small differences between different hero pulse rifles.
Making a model of the IR camera was a bit of a pain since there are almost no clear pictures that show its details (and it's at different angles in different pics since it's held in place with tape)

The front half of the gun is almost complete, at least as far as 3D printed parts go. I still need to account for internal wiring and some minor details, including reinforcements for the barrels shroud and a more durable way to mount the back of the bike struts. The progress is slow, but I'm getting there.

Looks nice. Once I get my smart gun I will sort out the best way to get functional electronics on it.

I have been toying with having a second drum magazine that has everything in it.

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The impossible takes a while longer and goes over budget too...

Thanks! I mocked up a rough stand in for the battery in CAD and it looks like I'll be able to fit a 2200 mAh 11,1V Li-Ion cell under the feed cover, without any need for cutting into the reinforcing tube. Using the drum is a backup option, but the depth of it might be a significant limitation for the size of battery that fits inside, not to mention that I have to save some space for a speaker and its amp.

The LED bulbs for the shoulder lamp arrived from China and while I'm pretty satisfied with their performance, I wasn't able to get one that's near identical with a regular halogen bulb. One of the LEDs has a big diffusor over the front lens and the other has an aluminium reflector that effectively blocks any sideways light from the LED itself - that means no light going through the fin/louvre stack. Using a halogen bulb is still a last resort solution, I don't want to deal with a 10x higher current draw and all the heat that comes off of it.

Really excellent modelling. looks like it might be a b*tch to print

Thanks! My first CAD models weren't all that impressive but I had plenty of practice with different cosplay projects (mostly prop guns)
Printing won't be that challenging, I'm already designing with printability in mind and all of the detailed parts will be either screwed on or printed separately and glued into slots or keyed holes. The only manufacturing issue so far is the barrel shroud, none of my printers can do 500mm tall parts so I'll have to make a joint somewhere, ideally in a place that will be hidden behind those Kawasaki hangers.

The print is coming along, only one part proved to be too difficult to print in one piece and will have to be reprinted as multiple parts. The entire front half of the receiver is a bit too big for my workspace, but I still tried to dry fit all the parts to show how close it is to those CAD renders. I had some doubts about the rigidity of the thin surfaces around the barrel, but there's little flex unless I really try and bend the plastic.

great looking print. good work.

Great work! Love the IR camera.

_________________
Sgt. Frank Peters 'reload' Smartgun Operator
A03/TQ3.0.12136E1 "It will be no picknick!"
AL Colonial Admin. - Sergeant at Arms (SgtA) -- 2020-2022
GERCM - Executive Officer (XO)
UKCM Foreign Legion: The Deviant Dragoons

Agreed re the sight! Not wishing to be some sort of freeloader [*], but do you have any plans to share your models?
I'm quite keen on the IR sight, myself as my current resin one is a solid piece, which will be an arse to drill out; wanting to put an actual camera in it so I can get my SG headset working ...



* Happy to possibly donate to the cause / work something out

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Cpl Aron "septic" Williams
A10/TQ0.0.82146E1

Thanks for the support, guys.

I want to put the entire smartgun on cgtrader once I work out all the details and confirm that everything can be printed and assembled - pretty much the same deal as my Morita project.
If you need just the camera model for an existing smartgun, PM me. Sharing a small part for free is no big deal, though a symbolic bit of cash through paypal is always nice.

I love the idea of a working head mounted display (as impractical as it might be), so if you already have a bullet camera on hand, I can edit the model and make some sort of cavity for that specific camera.

I have done NTS/PAL pin hole (IR) cameras in helmet cameras and my M56A2 IR camera.

A hollow IR camera print would be awesome for what you can get as camera these days.
With Google type glasses for the SG head set and a WLAN camera it can be done even easier than my past project.
I would be very interested in a printed IR camera housing.

If you design oit that way you can use it for (airsoft) upgrade kits that would be awesome.
Anyway good luck with your 3D print project. it looks awesome.

_________________
Sgt. Frank Peters 'reload' Smartgun Operator
A03/TQ3.0.12136E1 "It will be no picknick!"
AL Colonial Admin. - Sergeant at Arms (SgtA) -- 2020-2022
GERCM - Executive Officer (XO)
UKCM Foreign Legion: The Deviant Dragoons

If it helps other Smartgun operators, I'm all for going that extra mile. Besides, hollowing out the camera body and adding a removable rear cover with some screws and heat set inserts is not that difficult at this point.
The only obstacle is how to mount the camera body on an airsoft MG42. It's a pretty simple deal when I'm printing everything and I can design the bottom of the camera so it's a perfect match for one of the cooling cutouts on the barrel shroud/receiver. I'm not so sure that it's gonna be a drag and drop upgrade for an airsoft gun though. Some measurements or a top-down picture of the mounting spot along with some sort of scale would be best.

As the dimensions of the MG42 versions could differ what about the option to have two screws on the bottom of the IR sight or just plain simple velcro.
The videos from the M562A angle are quite interesting. With todays Video software turing them into IR/fake color ones should be easy.

_________________
Sgt. Frank Peters 'reload' Smartgun Operator
A03/TQ3.0.12136E1 "It will be no picknick!"
AL Colonial Admin. - Sergeant at Arms (SgtA) -- 2020-2022
GERCM - Executive Officer (XO)
UKCM Foreign Legion: The Deviant Dragoons

Two screws and a matching part that will insert from the inside of the barrel shroud/receiver, that should work just fine. The precise size of the keyhole doesn't really matter when the part that inserts from the insides is just flat.
From the video side of things, does the flipped down front sight and the retention piece for the muzzle booster block the field of view at all?

The lens of the camera has to be very close to the wall of the camera housing (the 3D printed part).
Depending on the angle of the lense, yes parts of the M56A2 will block the view.
For the helmet cameras that is a problem, if you still want to use the real Pentax "lense" BTW.
Blocking cuased by the front parts can be reduced by "lifting" the camera meaning have it as much as possible away from the M42.

_________________
Sgt. Frank Peters 'reload' Smartgun Operator
A03/TQ3.0.12136E1 "It will be no picknick!"
AL Colonial Admin. - Sergeant at Arms (SgtA) -- 2020-2022
GERCM - Executive Officer (XO)
UKCM Foreign Legion: The Deviant Dragoons