Jeremiah Baker - Flashlight

ghosted painted black

ghosted with material assignments

sonic screwdriver render 01

sonic screwdriver render 02

Concept:

     I wanted to challenge myself with this project and go a bit beyond a flashlight sleeve, so I decided to model the 10th Doctor's sonic screwdriver from Doctor Who (which is sort of a flashlight). I knew that this concept wasn't going to work as a sleeve, but figured I could use the parts from a pen light for the internals instead. This version of the sonic screwdriver was inspired by previous versions from the show. The original screwdriver (shown below), quickly became an iconic tool of rite character and inspired many later renditions/improvements.

original sonic screwdriver prop

Modeling Techniques:
     I know one of the objectives of the project is to make an object to scale, so this screwdriver has been scaled to it's correct proportions and is hollow (with walls no thinner than necessary), and is able to house all necessary mechanics to light an LED.
     I wanted the screwdriver to be modular so I could more easily finish it after it's been printed out, so I took it one piece at a time. I haven't decided how I want to incorporate the mechanics as of yet, but most of the model is already modular and hollow where necessary. (A hole for the wires to the LED, hollow enough for a AAA battery in the main grip, etc.) I've also already begun looking for the necessary materials to make the model. Most will be 3D printed, but some pieces like the diode and clear barrel won't be.
     I used Boolean difference to create the diode at the top, which is just a hollowed out half-sphere with another half-sphere inside it.
     For the cylindrical parts of the top, the revolve command was incredibly useful. The rectangles on the side began as a box, which I cut into using Boolean difference. I used Boolean difference to hollow out the clear cylinder in the middle.
     To make the red wires, I drew a few curves and then used the pipe command to give them some depth.
     The middle plastic piece was tricky. I created curves along on edge of the model and used the revolve function to get the right shape. This one took a few tries to get right. The holes in around the edge were created with Boolean difference.
     The bottom metal piece was pretty simple to get the main shape, but I had a lot of trouble with the engraving in it. I ended up drawing a curve on one side and projecting it onto the main shape, rotating it, and getting rid of excess pieces. I then used pipe and Boolean difference to cut out the engraving.
     The bottom plastic piece was a lot of fun to put together. I used a curve and revolve to make the center part, then created a box on one side and tapering it down. I then used the bend command to warp it around the main shape. I duplicated the box and scaled it down to add some more detail, and then used array-polar to create 4 copies evenly spaced around the center.
     To finished everything off, I used both fillet and chamfer in various places to make the model look more realistic and fit together better.
     I also thought the model would look pretty boring in a render if it was just sitting there, so I created a simple stand to put it on.

Materials:
     For the materials, I did my best to mimic the original prop. The black base, red wires, and blue interior are all made of rough plastic. The metal parts are using a slightly rough polished aluminum texture with a slight orange tint. The diode at the top is refractive glass tinted blue, and the light inside is just white. The main part of the handle was the trickiest to mimic. I ended up using a scaled up leather with de-saturated orange color. The base is using a slightly rough black Axalta paint texture to give some cool reflections. I also used a little depth of field and vignette in the renders to give a more finished/professional feel to the model.

Finishing Methods:
     After getting the model 3D printed, I began the finishing process. I decided to just use sandpaper on this model to smooth out some of the striations from the printing process. After sanding, I sealed the prints with a clear coat, then started adding color. I started everything off with a black primer coat (to help make the other colors pop). I then added the other colors on top of the black (except the base piece). For the electronics, I went through multiple different flashlight internals before I found the one that would actually work for this project. I then created a makeshift button and wired the LED to the top of the screwdriver. After the electronics were worked out, I used superglue to stick everything together.