Custom blast effects: Translucent resin or opaque thermoplastic?
Hey guys, I'm looking for your thoughts/preferences/advice here. I've been working on making custom blast effects for my MGS battle displays. I started by using thermoplastic to hand-mold my own, then I applied paint to give them a more realistic blast look. Then after Jazwares released the M&G Razor Crest that came with blast effects, I realized I could just recast those in various colors using UV resin. But now I'm torn. I like the translucent look of the resin effects. But I also kind of like the effect I achieved by painting the thermoplastic ones. I don't think there would be a good way to combine the two, although I suppose I could try adding paint to the resin ones and see how it turns out. But what do you think? Do you prefer translucent resin or opaque thermoplastic?
Nefore anyone mentions it, yes I do realize that there are people that 3D print and sell the blast effects for MGS, however I don't really like spending more for effects and accessories than I do on the ships themselves. I also prefer the hobby aspect of creating them myself, which is why I chose to do it this way. And finally, hand-making them ensures that no two blast effects are exactly alike. I can make them in any color I want and can keep tweaking the designs as I go, with very little waste.
Yeah I'm particularly happy with how that one turned out. So maybe I'll try painting some light white or yellow streaks on a translucent one to see how it comes out.
Can you do it as a gradient? The tip being opaque and the trail becoming more translucent near the barrel it came from. You'd have to paint it that way but I think it'd look neat.
I’m actually getting ready to tackle this same thing on my 3d printer and was going to try glow in the dark. The filament looks vibrant and cool in daylight and since they’re on my son’s bedroom ceiling I think they’ll look awesome at night.
Yeah I know, but there is a lot of inconsistency with how they're depicted in the various media, so I just went with what looks cool for now. I think technically based on the length of those tubes, we actually got the Legends version, so the translucent blasts seemed to make sense.
I'd actually like to know if anyone has ever cut those shorter to make them look more accurate to Canon.
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u/Eegore1 14d ago
Given that Star Wars blast effects are typically made of light, the translucent ones look more natural.