Low Poly Pikachu Stein (Pikastein)

thingiverse

Inspired by a Tweet from @PrintedSolid, a failed giant size Pikachu sparked the creation of the Pikachug. My initial thought was, "Pikachu could still use a head". The tail is a fantastic concept for a handle, but the ears hinder drinking directly from the top. So, why not a stein? This design will elevate the head out of the way as needed. I haven't printed this yet, but I plan to when I get an opportunity. I created several renders to showcase how the final product is intended to function. The post-printing process requires attention to detail. The hinge bolt consists of two parts. You'll need to insert the female end through the hinge and secure it in place with glue. I'm unsure about the safest method for treating your print for food safety. Using ABS plastic, you can make it watertight by giving it an acetone vapor bath. Alternatively, you can smooth the surface as desired and then use a food-safe silicone mold to create your final stein. To design this project, I started with Blender and used the Low-Poly Pikachu model created by FLOWALISTIK as my base. I noticed that the faces were facing in the wrong direction, so I corrected this issue before proceeding. First, I duplicated the model. Then, I removed the vertices of the head from one model and all vertices below the neck from the other. Next, I reshaped the tail to better serve as a handle by moving it out and thinning it down slightly. It also needed to be attached to the body. The hinge proved to be the most challenging aspect of the design. After determining the optimal location for it, I had to model the tip of the tail to function as a thumb handle and allow the lid to open wide enough to drink from directly.