HALO SPACESHIPS, 3D printing all kinds of ships in the Halo array

[The Universe]

Dear Halo Fans,

After almost two years on hold. I am glad to announce that development on this project will continue! Currently working on a 3D model from Halo 3 but I would like to add the details like the ones added in Halo Wars 2 to the ship.

A option which I am also currently looking into is 3D printing the model by parts to achieve the requirements that were set at the beginning of this project (adding lights and other stuff to create a more interactive display). For now here are some close ups of the model I recently dusted off.

Stay tuned for upcoming content!

The Universe,

[Overview of the model]

[Rear lower view]

[Bottom view]

[Closeup centre Fuselage part]

[Closeup main launchbay]

[Side Hangar doors]

[Lower view of the three Repulsor Engines]

[Main plasma weapon & gravity elevator]

[Closeup showing symmetry between forward and aft located side hangar doors]

 

[Sean Anwalt]

I dare you to make it life- sized.

 

[The Universe]

no problem. Just give me a fleet of Big Falcon Rockets from SpaceX and a home- depot wich orbits around the earth,
Oh and 200 trillion dollars

 

[The Universe]

Still tho I am looking to make the model bigger.(currently looking to make it about 1 meter long)

For those who want to know what happend to the sliced foam model:
The model is still under construction, Creating a momocoque structure around it was difficult but I do have a solution for it(It has also beenaplied to half of the ship, Pictures comming soon).
Still I wil need to do a lot of sanding to smooth the outer surface of the vehichle. In the event that I will 3D print the model the foam model will be used as a testing platform.

 

[Dirtdives2424]

no problem. Just give me a fleet of Big Falcon Rockets from SpaceX and a home- depot wich orbits around the earth,
Oh and 200 trillion dollars

Put it on the credit card........collect the miles.

 

[The Universe]

Great News!

[Update 1.0]
This weekend I have taken some serious thought to consider purchasing a 3d printer. At the same time I have made progress on the 3d model and painted the front part of the ‘FoamShip’ to see what effect paint has on the special fabric harder. I don`t know if I mentioned this but the monocoque hull of the foam ship I was working on is made out of a special Fabric hardener whitch is applied together with newspaper(yet it is not wallpaper glue but so much more). This makes the hull unbelievable strong(As desired) and gives the option to melt out all the foam. This way I could end up with a strong hollow hull leaving enough space for hangars, lighting etc.


Development
Although I have made some progress with the development on the ‘FoamShip’ and its monocoque hull I yesterday ordered a Creality ender 3 3d Printer. I have finally made the decision to create the ship using a 3d printer. It will take some time to print all the parts but 3d printing gives me the chance to add even more detail to the ship.


Covenant Assault carrier 3.0
Two years ago I posted some photo`s of my first attempt at building this beautiful ship. After acknowledging that my first attempt at this model would never be able to reach the level of detail I Desired (In short it was just a horrible attempt XD) I stepped over to slicing software and scaled down the model from a enormous 130cm (about 51inch) to a newer version which was only 70cm(27 inch). I called these two versions CAS1.0(for my first attempt) and CAS2.0(FoamShip). By again(and hopefully for the last time) stepping over to a new production method my newest version will be called CAS3.0. From now on I’ll be referring to them with these names to clean up some of the mess I made two years ago and make this page more clear.


CAS 3.0
The new model I am currently working on is going to be 100cm (about 39Inch). I am going to putt lights in it and see if I can make it more interactive( think about 3d hangars with little ships in them or something). As for the CAS2 Development on that version will slow down as progress on the cas3 starts. Nevertheless is the energy put into the previous two versions not wasted. A lot I learned from the cas1 & 2 will be applied to cas3. The most important thing that I will be applying from the older versions to the cas3 is the way I have reinforced the “neck” of the ship.


To sum things up
I have decided to build the model using mostly a 3d printer. Not only because I can add more detail but also because I am planning to make an entire fleet around the ship. I am still thinking about a typical covenant fleet layout but don`t know one right away, A carrier with two ccs battlecruisers and some svd`s or something. perhaps that you guys have some suggestions on the fleet layout or the models in general.


Sorry for the way to long story here are some photos of the progress I made on the Digital model.
Photo`s of the CAS2 will be coming this week so stay tuned,

The Universe,

 

[The Universe]

So after I decided that the model would me made using a 3d printer I took a look at the model I had. But after having played Halo 2 Anniversary and Halo Wars 2 I just couldn`t stop thinking about all the tiny structures that were added to the ships Solemn Penance(Halo 2) & Enduring Conviction(Halo Wars 2). Although we haven`t seen the Shadow of Intent with this level of detail yet I think that she has the same amount of detail. So with no futher ado I have started adding allllll those little structures.

Ps: i have also added some screenshot i took from different cutscenes Enjoy!

 

[The Universe]

[Update 1.1]
So about a week ago my printer arrived at the door and I couldn`t wait to open it. After having assembled it and levelled the bed I started of printing the test dog from ender. After the printer was finished I printed out some little Pillar Of Autumn models. This way I could figure out the “right” settings for the ship. After I was satisfied with the right settings I started of printing the first two parts of the ship.

56 hours later… I had the first piece. Then 26 hours later the second part was finished. The second parts however was printed at exactly the same setting. However the “neck” part of the ship is much much thinner and therefore takes less time to be constructed. Still, I do have my concerns about the neck part. I think i`l be adding some Steel beams through it in order to reinforce the structure.

After the second part was finished I couldn`t help myself but to glue them together. And so far I’m pretty satisfied with the Result. I only need to buy some more filament XD.

Enjoy the content!

 

[The Universe]

The two first parts are two of the ten parts. So still 8 to go, By my calculations and Cura`s calculations the other 8 parts will take about 500 hours to print. so wish me luck

 

[The Universe]

Parts are now really starting to come together, I hope to have finished the nose section including the neck of the ship by next saturday. after this i`l most likely start printing the center sections. already looking forward to that

 

[The Universe]

Hey people,
The fillament I orderd is delayed by a week so the saturday deadline will most likely not be reached. However this gives me some time to take a look at details and study some parts of the ship.

 

[The Universe]

[CAS02]
While we`ve been waiting for the filament for CAS03 to arrive I thought it was a good idea to post some photos of CAS02 as after almost two years the hull is still floating around from desk to desk and some people might be interested into what happen to it. do note that CAS02 wil most likely never be finished as CAS03 is now the main way of building the ship i`ve been wanting for soooo long. But without further ado:

Status:
The model is still as intact as two years ago but has seen some additions over the years.

A while ago I added a the outer skin to the first half of the ship. I applied it with a special bonding resin to make it a very sturdy skin. And sure it is because the outer skin of the model is strong as hell. The only way I managed to really get through the skin was(in order to test the properties of the material) by drilling a hole in the skin. Now you might ask why on earth would you make the surface so strong as you still will have to sand down any imperfections on the outer layer. Well.. my biggest concern is that once the model is finished and your holding it to take a look at all the work you had put into it, that at that moment the neck of the ship snaps. And of course everyone can the imagine the situation then

I have added one picture with CAS03 to the side of CAS02, you can see just how much more accurate 3d printing is compared to conventional methods(thereby not stating that conventional methods are bad as they can be key at some points)

Oh and btw,
Please don`t get angry with me but I couldn`t help myself but to draw with a marker some very VERY early details.

Ps: the filament I ordered for CAS03 has after a call been sent to me by express post and will most likely arrive tomorrow so that’s good news!


As always,
Enjoy!

 

[The Universe]

Funny fact, Acording to the Halo Lore these ships were made out of so called 'Nano Laminite'. To some extent this is a very very very basic way of nano laminite

 

[The Universe]

Can you guess?

 

[Tyvern]

CSO or DDS Class?
Maybe up-sizing the CAS 3D print?

 

[The Universe]

Nope, its the right front section from the CAS03. But now that you mention a CSO. I have recently been thinking about building the Long Night of Solace. The only problem I have is that i`ve already taken a scale to work with from the CAS ships wich is 1 : 5346. This would mean that if I`d be building a CSO it would be aproxamitly 5,4meters long which is a little to much

Nevertheless I am thinking about making a slightly larger CAS an call it the Long Night of Solace. Yet these are very early plans. First i`l be focusing on the Shadow of intent and her supporting fleet.

 

[The Universe]

Btw expect some content next week guys!
The nose-neck section is printed and fully assembled and the first core section is being printed. As soon as the first two are finished i`l share some nice pictures with you

 

[The Universe]

Masive Update coming this afternoon guys, Stay tuned!

 

[The Universe]

[Update 1.2]There`s a lot going on
Shortly after the last update there were some issue’s with printing which hade to be solved first. This did not only included delayed shipments but also some errors I noticed in the print settings. For example a Z hop setting (in which the printing head is lifted between print lines in order to prevent prints from tipping over) caused a failed print which resulted in 18 hours of printing to be completely worthless.

Over to the good news!
In the resent weeks I have first been upgrading my printer in order to enhance quality and comfort. On the comfort front I made a enclosure with sound dampening walls in order to make the entire thing less noisy. I have ordered stepper dampeners but the are currently being shipped as well as a metal extruder set.

Topic
Last week I changed the title of the thread to ‘HALO SPACESHIPS, Currently working on the CAS class Assault Carrier Shadow of Intent’. I have seen some great spaceship content from other Halo fans and hope they might want to join the conversation. an example for this is CPO Mendez his thread which was all about making awesome halo ships(and from whom I got the idea to print them) his thread can be founde here: Ships and Halos and 3D Prints, Oh My!

CAS 3.0
Lots of progress has been made.
Last week the printer has been working round the clock to print the last ‘neck’ sections of the ship. After this I also printed the first two centre sections and the tail section. This all makes the print in length about 80% printed and we can almost continue to the next step which will be assembly and detailing/painting etc(more on that later). In the pictures you might see a colour change. This is due to the fact that I was using snow white filament and then stepped over to normal white colour which was more available. On the long term this wont matter much as the model will be painted.

Assembly
Some parts have already been assembled. So is the entire neck section assembled as are the two first centre sections also glued together.
The ship realy starts to come together now with the centre sections printed and the size of it is just massive! I will continieu with my original plan to add lights into the model and I am also currently working on planning out the circuits etc. if you look closely at the centre engine from the tail section you can see that i already drilled a hole for the wiring.

Ardent Prayer on its way into service
when gluing some parts together and before I started printing the last two parts I have printed a SDV Heavy Corvette(also to scale 1:5346) as one of the many escorting ships from the Shadow of Intent. After having seen how small the SDV is compared to a CSO (See operation Uppercut Halo reach) you tend to forget that these ships are actually also massive. (the SDV is 956meters long which is only about 200meters shorter than the Autumn)

The model is about 17,8 cm(7,12”) long. I’ll be painting here in the near future according to standard covenant layout scheme`s. Perhaps I’ll print one later up in the project and paint it in swords of Sanghelios colours as the Shadow of Intent also in the hands of the Swords of Sanghelios since the great schism. The SDV is a small side project which will be done in the background of the CAS03 construction. When I finished painting it i`ll show some pictures with you guys.

As the printer will soon end its participation on this particular CAS model, It puts me into the position to print other stuff while working on the CAS03. I will add a pol with a couple of ships to see what you people think I should be printing next.

For now I will contineu printing the last two parts and start planning ahead for the next steps on the CAS03 model.
hope you guys like it

As always, Enjoy!

 

[The Universe]

The poll has been added and closes march 26th, feel free to choose something you want to see being build here

ps: the choices are a bit small but this is due to the fact i`ll be making them wile working on the CAS. after the CAS project is finished larger options might be available as well