H165 Forward Observer Module "Laser Designator"

[Crimson]

After Planet Comic Con in Kansas City this year I was feeling very inspired by all the awesome work people had on display at our booth. Throughout the car ride back to Illinois, one item kept popping into my head: the Reach laser designator. At the time I was in the planning phases of the Infinite marine that I am now building, and it just seemed like the perfect piece of kit; it's compact and could hang off of a belt or on a pack, and the interactivity of it would cater nicely to my interest in electronics.

Above: 405th Midwest booth, Kansas City Planet Comic Con

So there's the scope of the project: Laser designator which has all of the effects you see in game, plus a couple more for added neatness factor. I purchased STL files from Skookum Props, operated by our favorite discord moderator TurboCharizard (*cough* *cough* Skookum Props) and got to printing.

I got about halfway through printing some parts when I started to have printer troubles... and that's where things sat for a good 6 months.

Until now!

I had a great time at Cleveland Gaming Classic and have returned with another burst of creative energy! I have two robot friends now (twice the print, double the prop) and some electronics I stole from an old RC spy car, so you know this is going to be a good time!

 

[Redshirt]

Great project! I can't remember if the controller rumbles while using the designator. I've found that scavenging rumble motors from dead controllers and adding them to my electronic props adds great 'feel' to a visual effects-only prop.
Redshirt

 

[Crimson]

I actually have a bag I ordered a while back on Amazon, but I have yet to use them. I also don't recall whether the controller vibrates or not. I believe some research is in order.

 

[PerniciousDuke]

It's a great prop! A little big at 1:1, but I still like it. I'm suprised I never dropped a finished photo in my build thread! Con rush on the paint job was probably the explination.

Props - Duke's (Skookum's) Reach Target Locator

I got a little surprise during Turbo's last visit to the States... It's a 3d-Printed Halo Reach Target Locator!!! We don't have many "finishing-a-3d-print-walkthroughs" so I thought I'd post my progress on this one. The goal is for Vancouver Fan Expo Feb 15th. (One Month) First step is to...

www.405th.com

I added spinny knobs and a laserpoint/flashlight. I wanted to make the screen light up, but I never got that far.

 

[Crimson]

PerniciousDuke I'm planning to use a knob with a built in switch for power/audio volume. It is quite large, but I'm planning to use it with a marine so the size might make sense?

Edit: also, yours looks great Duke!

 

[Cadet]

Thread unlocked for new updates from OP.

 

[Crimson]

This prop is back on my bench after many moons in storage. Here's where things are at:

-All of the printing is done, and some subassemblies like the body and pistol grip have been glued up.

-I finally coughed up the $100 and ordered all the electronics after PCKC this year.

-The trigger switch is mounted in the pistol grip, but it's a little wobbly right now, so I'll have to add some stabilizer bars.

-I did some initial testing of hardware and things are looking good. I ended up going with The ESP32 V2 feather by Adafruit with a music maker featherwing and 3.5in TFT display featherwing. The music maker will handle all the sound fx (it even has a built in 3w, 2ch amp, so no discrete amplifier board needed, woohoo), and the TFT featherwing will handle the video. Adafruit's example test code for the TFT ran perfectly, and the display looks great. Everything is powered by a lipo battery which plugs directly into the Feather which will also charge the battery via a USB C panel mount extension which will be hidden under the fabric cover.

Lastly, I'm looking for someone to confirm whether or not the controller vibrates when you use this weapon in Halo: Reach.

That's all for now, stay tuned for shenanigans!