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Forge & Figures 3D Printing Service — Cape Town

Arming a Hellsing Crew: the Harkonnen, Casull, Jackal and a Musket

Arming a Hellsing Crew: the Harkonnen, Casull, Jackal and a Musket

Hellsing is a series where the weapons are practically characters of their own. Alucard's pistols carry engraved scripture on the slide, Seras hauls around an anti-armour cannon bigger than she is, and Rip Van Winkle fights with a flintlock musket. For a group cosplay, that means the props can't be an afterthought. Get them wrong and the costumes are just a red coat and a blue uniform.

This set covered four of them: the Harkonnen, the 454 Casull, the Jackal and Rip Van Winkle's musket.

The full Hellsing prop set on a couch: the Harkonnen cannon with its drum magazine, both pistols, and Rip Van Winkle's long musket

Alucard's pistols

The two pistols are the pieces people get closest to, so they got the most modelling attention. Both were built up in CAD with the markings modelled in as raised detail, not painted on afterwards. That covers the Casull's "Hellsing ARMS Weapon Industries Co. Ltd", "454 Casull Auto" and "Made in England", and the Jackal's "Jesus Christ is in Heaven now" in script down the slide, with "13mm Auto Anti-Freak Combat Pistol" beneath it.

Having the lettering in the geometry is what makes the paint job work. A pass of paint over the raised text picks it out in silver on the Jackal's black slide and in dark ink on the Casull's silver one. Painting it on freehand would never be that crisp, and a decal would look flat under con lighting.

Alucard's silver 454 Casull and black Jackal pistols side by side, showing the raised engraved lettering on both slides

The two are finished as a matched pair of opposites. The Casull is silver with black grips. The Jackal is black with a silver trigger guard and wood-toned grips. Both have the cross-head screw detail on the grip panels.

The Casull and Jackal laid flat, with the Jackal's cross emblem and 'Jesus Christ is in Heaven now' script picked out in silver

Seras's Harkonnen

The Harkonnen is the showpiece. It has a long barrel, a five-disc drum magazine sitting on top and a raised cheek rest on the stock. It also runs well past the build volume of any single printer in the studio, so it's printed in sections and joined.

The paint is doing most of the storytelling. The stock is finished as worn, weathered wood with a purple-brown base and lighter wear on the edges. Painted-on leather straps with buckles wrap the body, and screw heads dot the frame. The metal parts are grey-green and the drum is bare silver, dry-brushed so the ridges catch the light.

Seras's Harkonnen cannon laid on its side, showing the five-disc drum magazine, weathered wood-effect stock and painted leather straps

The other side carries the "Hellsing 13.7mm" marking along the stock. A real two-point sling is tied onto the frame, because a prop this size gets carried all day, not held for a photo and put down.

The other side of the Harkonnen, with the Hellsing 13.7mm lettering along the wood-effect stock and a black two-point sling attached

Rip Van Winkle's musket

The musket is the longest piece in the set by a distance, stretching most of the length of a three-seater couch. Like the Harkonnen, it's printed in sections. The barrel bands, which the design needed anyway, are the natural place to hide the joins. It's finished in a dark brown with grey-metal bands and a brass-coloured plate set into the curved stock, and it carries a sling too.

Rip Van Winkle's long flintlock musket resting across the back of a couch, with metal barrel bands, a curved stock and a brass-coloured stock plate

At the con

The props' real test was Comic Con Africa: a full day of being carried, posed with, handed around and bumped through crowds.

A Hellsing cosplay group outside Comic Con Africa, with Alucard carrying both pistols and Seras holding the Harkonnen

Alucard wore the Casull on his belt between photos.

Alucard cosplayer at Comic Con Africa with the silver 454 Casull tucked into his belt

The musket went with Rip Van Winkle.

Rip Van Winkle cosplayer at Comic Con Africa posing with the long 3D printed musket

Big props, printed in pieces

The practical lesson from this set is the one that comes up with every large cosplay build. The size of the prop is never limited by the printer. Anything longer than a build plate is designed as sections, and the joins go where the real object would have a seam, a band or a strap anyway. Plan it that way and the joins disappear under paint.

If there's a prop from a show, film or game you want made, whether one sidearm or a whole group's armoury, send us a WhatsApp with some reference images and the size you need. We'll work out how to break it down and build it.

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