I’ve had the idea of building a replica battle arena from the Busou Shinki games for some time

I’ve had the idea of building a replica battle arena from the Busou Shinki games for some time now. Recently I decided to commit to getting it fully designed and made, so here begins development!

I was originally using LibreCAD to produce the designs, so that I could export them and use a laser cutter machine to make the parts. I found it difficult to visualise and design some of the more complex components, so I ended up switching application and using the 3D editing tool Sketchup 2015. This made it really easy to design the battle arena and visualise it at the same time. In fact, the screenshot at the beginning of this post is from Sketchup.

If you’re aware of Sketchup, you might be wondering why I haven’t been using a newer version of the software (especially given that it’s free for non-commercial use). I’ve used a specific plugin that allows the faces of shapes to be exported as SVG files, thus making it really easy to get the necessary parts lasercut. Unfortunately this plugin isn’t compatible with later versions of Sketchup, so I’ve had to stick with the 2015 version. As an aside, I’d be interested in finding someone who can make the plugin compatible with later Sketchup versions and maintain it, or get a crowd funding project together to hire some development time with a developer!

Returning to the battle arena, the design is finalised and ready to burn, so I’m really looking forward to making this idea a reality!