Desert Eagle .50AE

So this thing sort of snuck up on me.

I was hoping I could find a good Desert Eagle model on Thingiverse and MMF, and there are some...but not to my liking. So like a try-hard-hoor I'm going to make one myself. FAIR WARNING, this may make you want to support the 2nd Amendment and drink whiskey from dirty glasses.

With respect to dimensional accuracy, I make no guarantees! I am literally eyeballing everything for proportions, starting from the fact that .50 caliber is 12.7mm at the bore. Going to do a longslide version, and a regular too I guess. This all started form me hemming and hawing over what sidearm an NCR Ranger would have, IF NOT the Sequoia (and this is definitely an upgrade boys and girls).

This is going to be an accurate model that is somewhat stylized on the inside. I want some parts to be able to move with springy assist goodness, but I am not going to re-create every part of the actual donor design (I don't have the detailed drawings to pull that off).

Let me know what you think, or want to see!

NEWEST UPDATE: 26 May 2020: So I needed to correct the left and right grips a little as they overlapped the frame cutout leading into the trigger well. So I did that. And I uploaded them, woot.

25 May 2020 - So I heard you guys about the left and right grip pieces with the re-designed receiver frame. I was stuck mid- computer upgrade and got busy, but here they finally are. Version control is freaking bear, so it's going to be organized from here on out!

03 JAN 2020 - Re-worked some under-the-hood improvements to the barrel lockup in the frame (the previous design didn't keep the chamber end of the barrel from popping up). This thing is pretty much done, mechanically speaking. I still haven't found a great system for the recoil spring/ movement system. There are some sources out there that make a large number of springs and you can choose your material, relative length, thickness, etc. I still haven't nailed this down and made any 'final' edits to this system because I would have to design it for ONE spring product...that not everyone might have access to. It...is BIG. It might be over-sized due to my measurements being taken from pictures alone, but I am still really happy with it. Looks amazing, and delivers a sweet spot level of realism for cosplay! Woot!

26 DEC 2019 - I tuned in some final dimensions for the receiver and slide, and now have identified an option for a working slide/ spring! Once I print some more of this I will keep tweaking it - and look to finish meshing a magazine. Its looking good!

*Also, it bears mentioning that this is definitely ready to be printed if you want a non-moving model. I am printing parts right now to test out the movement features and any refinements I make will to perfect its movement characteristics. If you just want a sexy side-piece - enjoy!

17 DEC 2019 - finally meshed out the trigger and updated the receiver with the geometry to accept it. I'm still scratching my head with the recoil system to make it spring-movey. I know how the assembly would work but finding the appropriate weight/ resistance of spring to use is turning out to be a bit harder than I thought at first. It needs to be lighter, but strong enough not to let the slide slap around with handling. If anyone knows where hobbyists get weird/ interesting springs for projects hit me up!

29 NOV 2019 Part 2 - YEEUH. HUGE update! I've found a way around a lot of the hard stops of the limitations of space and dimensions, but still haven't figured out the recoil system...though I have some good ideas about how to do it. And I still need to make a trigger! But you can see the progress in the files and on the pic. Enjoy!

29 NOV 2019 Part 1 - Hookay, lots of progress on the gripframe, slide, and barrel! It'll be interesting trying to sort out spring detents for the barrel and slide levers, or I could just leave them off and have them glued up once the thing is assembled. Also, I'm messing with the recoil spring assembly - a lot going on between the barrel, slide, and receiver! Going to hit up Home Depot and see if there are any springs that work but I don't have a lot of hope for that. We'll see what I can come up with!

26 NOV 2019 - Okay Fam, making some progress here! I'm not uploading the gripframe just yet - still a lot of work to do on it and the slide, but the updated pic shows some of the good progress here. I added the slide locking lever, though I don't really have the recoil or even barrel lock system sorted out. So this will be 'interesting' to say the least!

25 Nov 2019 - more work roughing in the basic external profiles! I'm pretty happy with what I have going on with the barrel and slide, but fitting the receiver to the barrel and slide will be a serious pain in the butt. The barrel locking lever, barrel trunion, recoil springs, and slide locking lever...are going to be nuts! But I'm up for the challenge! So we'll see how it works.