Craft An Awesome Weapon: Download & 3D Print Your Own AK-47 from Rust

It’s dog eat dog in the world of Rust. Playing to survive, you begin with virtually nothing and have to go on what you find, make, or steal. The greatest threat is, truly, other people in the game, operating out of desperation and fear and trying just as hard as your character is to survive. Having a weapon, and especially a machine gun, is a huge asset in this game—so it’s no surprise that avid Rust aficionados like Pavel Konstantinov of MyMiniFactory and 3D artist Sergey Kolesnik wanted to bring one into the real world—and highly appropriate that they too, should endeavor to make one, as the crafting of one’s own weapons is certainly a focus within the game.

“This gun is in the game now and we all know it is one of the iconic guns in Rust. So as long as I work in 3D Printing industry, my first dream immediately became to print, assemble and paint this awesome gun, obviously,” said Pavel, who has logged in over 1,000 hours playing Rust on the Steam platform.

The AK-47 is a 3D printed, hand-painted, non-working replica and one would assume is the envy of many who walk in the treacherous realm of Rust. Both were inspired by Craig Pearson, a member of the thriving Rust community, and Pavel explained to him how the inspiration for the Rust AK-47 came about:

“I loved your concepts on Trello, and this was the one I was dreaming of seeing in real life. It happened to be that I joined the 3D printing industry and this is where I realized I could organize something like this. I told Sergey about it, he was inspired by your concepts and decided to make a present for the whole Rust community.”

“The guy does things like this to sell, but he was inspired a lot by the Rust AK47 and created it [the files] for free for the Rust community. This is truly amazing to get such a quality work for free for everyone.”

With 21 parts, it’s not surprising to hear that the overall 3D printing time was around 40 hours. Afterward, painting (which is quite fascinating to watch in the video below) consumed another eight to nine hours—and that’s timing for someone with a good amount of experience. Pavel was responsible for the printing of the files at MyMiniFactory and the painting, after Sergey had done his part in creating and uploading the files.

“What we did here at MyMiniFactory was 3D print it, assemble it, and Sarah Wade hand-painted it to make it physical. The file is free and tested for printing now, so any enthusiast could print it at home or find someone to print it (though it would need finishing, assembling and painting).”

As Pavel says, he is a ‘huuuuuge fan’ of Rust. And as he put word out on social media that he was planning to work with Sergey on making the AK-47, support was immense. Comments varied from saying that they wanted to ‘throw money’ at the project to those who had many suggestions for the design, as well as questions. He alerted everyone that indeed the project was underway, and even made posts as it had been finished and he was working on painting it. Enthusiasm was impressive, and the idea was contagious enough that others were questioning how they could make one, and wondering if their own 3D printers could handle the job. All of the files are available for free download at MyMiniFactory.

Pavel has indicated that following this project, Sergey is interested in creating Salvaged Axe (a valued and costly tool in the game used for wood gathering) for the Rust community. Needless to say, the 3D printed AK-47 was a big hit, and it’s not a stretch to think that whatever they make from here, relevant to Rust—and beyond—is going to garner significant attention.

Rust is a PC-based videogame which was released in December of 2013. Made by Facepunch Studios, Rust has received many positive accolades, selling over three million copies. Are you a fan, and if so, what do you think of this weapon? Discuss in the 3D Printed Rust AK-47 forum over at 3DPB.com.