A few days ago, I ran into one of my friends on the bus, he was playing Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. I showed him my sketch pad and in turn, he showed me his awesome in-game weapon: the switch axe!
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| Monster Hunters 3 Ultimate Switch Axe |
My imagination was buzzing for the next 24 hours and I decided to take a stab at designing one for my models. After a little research, I had a firm grasp of the transformation mechanism.
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| Axe mode (far left), Sword (left), retracted (right), compact (far right) |
Next, I had to replicate the concurrent swivel action for the axe and sword blades. The axe part travels over the outside of the main weapon body (main) and the sword blade travels along the inside of the main. Ideally, the handle will telescope into the main.
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| Axe Part A (left) and Part B (middle); combined (right) |
The axe part is composed of three layers: Part B1 and B2 sandwich Part A, with some of A sticking out on the blade side. Part B would house the pin that rotates along the axe track.
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| Sword Type I (left), main (middle) closeup main (right) |
The main would have an axe track cut into one side, which the axe part would travel vertically on. The Sword part would have a sword track cut into the 'leaf' of the blade (left), sliding over the the post housed on the main (right), allowing to switch from one side to the other (changing orientation). The leaf of sword type I has two notches where the blade would 'lock' in for either mode.
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| Sword Type II |
Alternatively, Sword Type II has a two sided, dual action hinge that slides vertically on the blade and rotates along the main sword post. This cuts down the surface area of the leaf, allowing for less interference when telescoping the handle.
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| Telescoping handle |
By cutting a channel in one side of the handle, and adding a polycap to the attachment point on the main, the handle should be able to telescope vertically into the main (up to the bend in the handle).
This weapon is still a work in progress and is based on the assumption that I can make the pins work in my favor. Still, this is an exciting idea and I hope I can try to make it soon.
I am also ruminating on simpler, more compact switch blade and switch axe designs. Stay tuned for updates!
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