155mm M107 Howitzer Shell

thingiverse

This is the standard 155mm howitzer shell in use by the US military since World War I. This model was inspired by SBEECROFT's designs, but it's not a remix - rather a completely new CAD creation based on US Army procurement specs. However, if you have a gMax-sized printer, I highly recommend checking out SBEECROFT's work; his pre-made shells look amazing, and he sells them too. Note that unlike SBEECROFT's model, the screw threads on the fuse didn't work well for me (likely due to the issue of printing with SLA and FDM). To fix this, I made the fuse glue-in instead, using epoxy. The painting process was quite complex, requiring a variety of paints, including flat-army-green spray paint that matched the specified color, as well as flat-yellow (CAT yellow) paint. For masking, I used a laser-cut mask made from laser-safe material, which I secured with movable spray adhesive - make sure it sticks well to avoid hand touchups! I also used Krylon's copper spray paint from Home Depot for the rifling band. I've included reference artwork for the fuse painting; I used acrylic red with a fine brush to add some details and a screw indicator. To be honest, I needed to touch it up with a red fine-point sharpie to get it looking right. To prevent the base from tipping over, I added about 15lbs (6kg) of cement - the fins are designed to grip the concrete so the model doesn't shift around. When gluing each section together, use model putty to achieve a smooth finish.