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Zorg Industries ZF1 - Fifth Element film prop replica


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Hello chaps, 

 

I've spent the last two months after work analysing pictures, film stills, drawing .DXF files, laser cutting, 3D printing, turning, machining and swearing a lot and it's starting to pay off into something that looks a bit like that gun from that film with Bruce Willis and the hot orange haired girl. 

 

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I speak of the ZF1. I found a guy in the states who has shell castings taken from the original moulds from the production so I hastily threw some money at him and received some fibreglass parts in return.

 

What follows is a quick summary of what I've been up to. 

 

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The upper half of the body shell and a movie still showing what it will one day look like. 

 

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The original creators used Star Trek kits to add detail. The folks over at the replica prop forum diligently figured out which ones were used. 

 

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I knocked up some silicon block moulds and cast out the parts I needed for the lower shell. 

 

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I have been using a lot of film captures and stills to scale and accurately lay out the multitude of parts I need to fabricate. 

 

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Most of the parts at this early stage are just placeholders and will be swapped out as my drawings evolve and develop. 

 

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Some parts require turning and machining. 

 

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in other cases it's easier to take castings from 3D printed copies I draw up in Fusion360. The core principle of this build is if it looks like metal, I'll make it out of metal and the same applies to all the other materials. 

 

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I have to do regular fit checks to make sure it all works. 

 

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The grip is carved out of some chemiwood and cast in black pigmented resin. 

 

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This is the flame thrower part of the gun. 

 

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Turned on my lathe and attached to some Clippard pneumatic valves, followed by a bit of further milling and my first finished component is completed! 

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These parts are turned from aluminum and use Mag Lite torch bodies. 

 

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I also machined the square housing they sit in. 

 

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This innocuous looking part holds most of it together and had to be very accurate in order to line up with other predrilled holes. 

 

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This is pretty much where it sits right now. Still a lot to do and the plan is to have the enclosed scope and weapon bays fully extend/light up etc etc with servos and actuators. 

 

The aim is to have the best ZF1 replica prop on the planet so please stay tuned and enjoy the ride! 

 

Jake

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

More progress..

 

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Scribed and machined 5mm aluminum on the mill to get the side arm parts. 

 

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Fabricated the mounting brackets too. 

 

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Cut down an allen key and used a press to push through a hexagonal hole. Looks great! 

 

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The rocket is a Estes Bullpup model rocket. I took a resin cast and made a mounting bracket..

 

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...complete with laser sight! 

 

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Rocket assembly slung underneath the barrel mount. 

 

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Finished grip construction, nice and rigid. 

 

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Where I was at about a week ago. Much progress has been made since so stay tuned!!

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  • 4 weeks later...

More progress!!

 

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I turned these screws to replace the M4 machine screws that were holding the side arms in place.

 

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They are now complete.

 

I also fabricated some pistons!

 

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As well as the barrel ring that these attach to..spacer.png

 

The rod ends were bought.

 

I turned a mount for a yellow indicator light that goes onto the frame too..

 

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There is a small detail on the bottom shell that I made by layering strips of plastic, casting in resin and then bending it while the resin was still soft..

 

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The rocket also got a new tip, complete with fins..

 

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I’ve also started mechanising the prop beginning with the top weapon bay.

 

I started by testing the mechanisms I thought I should use.

 

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This scissor lift style mech will ensure the bay is lifted horizontally and simultaneously.

 

I then made the extending mech.

 

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Due to the positional inaccuracy of the servo, I used microswitches as end stops that will tell the servo when to stop rotating.

 

Both together..

 

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Thank you. A lot more to come. I have to come up with a way of raising the scope at the rear, complete with LED lights and I also want the two side dart launcher bays to open and extend. 
 

There’s not a huge amount of space to play with but I’ll make it work somehow.

 

Then it’ll be time to take the whole thing apart, paint some bits, get other bits annodised and put it all together again.

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On 10/17/2019 at 3:54 PM, JakeEaton said:

A couple of little adjustments to make but it’s looking pretty damn cool.

 

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most of the last updates have this SPACER.png instead of pictures unfortunately.

 

Looking cool though

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  • 3 weeks later...

The build continues...

 

I finished the top gun by turning the tip.

 

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First round with a couple of angles..

 

Then stuck in the vice on the mill to add the holes..


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..and final shaping. A bit of love with a file and wet and dry and it’s complete..for now.

 

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The complete thing. 
 

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A job I’ve been picking away at whilst doing everything else was the lower hand grip.

 

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I decided to design and model it in Fusion 360 and 3D print it on my Prusa i3.

 

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This is a simulation of the slices that build the model.

 

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A lot of coats of filler primer later and it’s ready for moulding.

 

 

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The main part of this stage of the build is the scope, all its details, lighting and movement.

 

I started by taking a deep breathe..

 

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..and removed the scope hood with an air file with a chopped down hacksaw blade in it.

 

Star Trek model kit time again!!

 

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This time the trusty old Voyager. I removed the hull parts and threw the rest away.

 

There are also parts from a Kazon and Marquis fighter on the body.

 

A mould was produced..

 

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...and resin was slush cast in about 5 layers to get a light, hollow body.

 

I also started looking at rough mechanisms to get the thing raising and lowering..
 

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..there’s quite a lot to move up and down so I think I’m going to use a geared DC motor and use a potentiometer as a positional feedback pot to let the Arduino know how far to move it backwards and forwards. I could use a really powerful servo but they’re expensive at the torque I think I’m going to need.

 

I’ve also made progress on the pistons that raise the scope (although they’re aesthetic on mine!)

 

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There’ll be another alongside this one plus some nice steel conduit snaking around. 
 

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Stay tuned chaps!!

 

 

 

 

Edited by JakeEaton
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