Cyber Octopus part 1! - retro futuristic 80s cyberpunk film ATTACK OF THE CYBER OCTOPUSES

So here's the making of for the head of the Cyber Octopus!!! Still working on the tentacles, gonna publish part2 very soon.

Well, I wanted something original, weird but not trashy, something cool and evil. I've many years of experience with 3D computer graphics and animations (as you can notice on my showreel, especially towards the end), but I never designed anything to be 3D printed... so this is my very first experience in that sense!

Considering I own a low-budget printer (Wanhao Duplicator I3 v2.1) with a maximum printing size of 20x20x18 cm, I designed the model in different parts to be assembled. I did it in 3D Studio Max and this is how the viewport looks like:

There are 3 main parts for the head plus a "8 points star" to hold the tentacles. But I'll talk about the tentacles some other time. I printed them with PLA filament, 0,20mm layer height and it took around 20 hours to print all the 3 pieces. Here's how it look like during printing...

And two pieces just after printing (and some sanding)...

Then the obvious primer coat spray all around, to prepare the pieces for painting and fill a bit the cracks and lines of printing.

And this is the view from my window, while I'm waiting them to dry... eheheh (Tallinn, Estonia)

I then spraied the 3 pieces with a vinyl paint, to have a more nice feeling on touching and a little taste of something "organic", then a matte black coat and here's how it looks like after some dry brush paint of gold (note also the RCA sockets for a more cyber look)

And here's fully assembled, with screws, etc.

Now the most tricky part was to wire the eyes to light up in the dark, as well as a light in the rear part where the engine is (those cyber octopuses can walk around with their tentacle, but are able also of making big jumps and fly a bit!!!). Here's some soldering and how it looks from the inside (I used a 9V battery, 2 big red LEDs and 1 small white LED for the engine).

To make easy to open and close the upper part of the Cyber Octopus, I designed holes to house 5mm super strong magnets. So if I need to change the battery or fix something inside, it's very fast and easy and at the same time is kind of sturdy and not falling apart.

There's also a switch in the bottom part of the octopus...

Here's the first test with the switch on... Everything is working! YAY!

The final touch was plugging those RCA sockets with some black wires. It's just for aesthetical reasons, to make it look even more cyber and mech.

And.... Here's the final result!!! Hope you like it. Tentacles are coming soon... stay tuned!

If you like what you see, got inspired or simply wanna help the project, please consider buying me a virtual beer on PayPal.
Part 2 is available HERE. Please support his project by joining our social media pages or spreading it around!