TKModder421's Nico Henderson R1TK helmet build

[TKModder421[TK]]

I've been slowly working on a 3D print build of Nico Henderson's R1TK helmet. Nico is well known for his accuracy on his Shoretrooper helmet design, so when I saw him post on Facebook that he was going to be releasing a 3D printable model of the R1TK I knew I had to give it a try. It's a beautiful design and I believe it to be the most accurate I've seen.

I didn't know how far I was going to get with this build tbh so I hadn't started a build thread, but now that I'm getting close to painting I figured now would be a good time to post my progress. I'll probably need some advice on paint here soon as well, so any advice on paint and/or threads to read would be appreciated!!

 

Here are some pics of the freshly printed pieces:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's a few of the mockup of the raw printed pieces (except for the chin and ears which I had already started to sand):

 

 

 

 

 

 

So after I had sanded things down a bit, I wasn't sure which method I wanted to use to fill the print lines I couldn't get with sandpaper. I had heard some people talking about using XTC3D so I decided to give that a try.

 

 

My opinion is that it's good if you don't want to process it too much further than the initial polish, but I ended up with bubbles in the dried resin and found it difficult to sand, I think I could've gotten the same results easier just using filler primer, which is WAY easier to sand and get smooth.

 

 

 

After endless hours of sanding I was finally ready to attach some of the pieces together. I started with the face and the back, then attached the dome. I wanted to fill the seam line between the back of the helmet and the dome. I wasn't ready to attach the chin yet as I wanted to get the face/back/dome piece as well as the chin up to paint ready smoothness with wet sanding before I attached the rest of the face together. Mostly so I wouldn't have to try and sand the seam between where the chin and cheek tubes meet, as well as the surfaces leading into the frown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So finally, I'm caught up to my current progress. I've got everything wet sanded up to 2000 grit and I have attached the chin to the rest of the helmet. I've mocked up the ears, brow trim and vocoder for looks, everything else you see is attached.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I need to know how to proceed with painting. I've been trying to research rattle can options and the steps I should follow. I've never attempted to spray paint a project that needed to achieve the level of gloss and smoothness that this requires, so I want to get all the input I can before I proceed.

I'm not sure if I should be laying down a particular type of primer first (should I use white primer?) and then what type of paint is best and how I should be going about getting all the angles without missing spots or pooling problems.

Also, I've seen people talking about just using gloss white, but then I saw someone mention appliance epoxy, which I think might be a good idea due to the fact that it resists chipping?

I found some at my local Home Depot but wasn't sure so I haven't gotten anything yet.

This is what I found:

 

 

Alright, well I'd love to get some feedback on the painting process as well as how to proceed with painting the greeblies (tears and traps) as well!

 

[TKModder421[TK]]

Also, is there a color guide for ROTKs or is it the same as OTTKs?


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[TKModder421[TK]]

I've read over the label on the appliance epoxy and it recommends not using a primer. It says it self levels, but I'm a little concerned that if I screw it up it will be difficult, if not impossible to sand off. Anyone have experience with it? I'm kind of leaning away from that idea at the moment.

[Darth147[TK]]

I wouldn’t use it

gloss white paint should be enough 

[TKModder421[TK]]

I wouldn’t use it
gloss white paint should be enough 

Yeah, that’s the direction I’m leaning. Do you think I’ll need to add a clear coat after the gloss white?

[Darth147[TK]]

you can for an extra shine 

just make sure you do not wait more than a hr after your last coast to apply the clear coat 

i also started the nico bucket but have had trouble printing the chin

[TKModder421[TK]]

you can for an extra shine 

just make sure you do not wait more than a hr after your last coast to apply the clear coat 

i also started the nico bucket but have had trouble printing the chin

Ok, good to know!

 

Looking at my most recent pics I’ve burned through some spots (mostly on sharp edges) on the primer getting it up to such a high grit, do you think it’s ok to just go ahead and apply paint (since I’ll be using a paint with primer) or do you think I should lay another layer of primer first?

 

 

 

I had to print a second chin myself. What problems are you having?

[Darth147[TK]]

i suggest you prime and sand until your happy with that you see

once your done with all your sanding and you prime a final time and if you do not notice anything wrong 

do a wet sand of 2000 grit and then paint

 

the intended  part where the mic tips go never fully closes 

[TKModder421[TK]]

i suggest you prime and sand until your happy with that you see
once your done with all your sanding and you prime a final time and if you do not notice anything wrong 
do a wet sand of 2000 grit and then paint
 
the intended  part where the mic tips go never fully closes 

I’ve got it pretty free of any texture I can see. Actually went up to 2000. Just wondering if I’m going to have paint adhesion problems on the spots I’ve wet sanded down to the plastic, or if it needs to be free of those color differences before I paint?

I had the same problem my first go round, one of my supports failed under the left mic tip depression and it left a gap in the bottom. So I increased the supports under those areas and added a brim (for the supports to hold on to better) and the second one worked great

[Darth147[TK]]

you should be good

if anything you can re sand a bit since most paint is paint and primer 

 

which orientation did you print at 

i gave up with the helmet for now  until i get the rest of the suit done 

[TKModder421[TK]]

you should be good
if anything you can re sand a bit since most paint is paint and primer 
 
which orientation did you print at 
i gave up with the helmet for now  until i get the rest of the suit done 

Ok cool

I printed it face up with supports and a brim


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[11b30b4[TK]]

The Nico bucket is coming along nicely. I was in on the initial offering of the files and I have his Shoretrooper bucket as well. Now all you need to do is order a set of RO armor and you will be on your way 

[TKModder421[TK]]

The Nico bucket is coming along nicely. I was in on the initial offering of the files and I have his Shoretrooper bucket as well. Now all you need to do is order a set of RO armor and you will be on your way 

Thanks man! Oh sweet, I also grabbed the file on his initial offering, and I also have his Shoretrooper files! lol
I just barely started printing those!
I currently have Anovos ANH TK armor and would love to get a set of RO armor but it’s gonna have to wait until I can afford it unfortunately

[TKModder421[TK]]

So I apologize for abandoning this thread. I did end up finishing my build and I've got some documentation on it, so I plan to finish documenting my build that I ended up finishing back in October of 2020. 

I'll be catching it up in chronological order. Please feel free to ask questions and such

[TKModder421[TK]]

Here are some of the back traps. I printed them all using FDM printers, so it took some sanding and filler primer and more sanding to get rid of the layer lines. I was working on these at the same time I was working on the full helmet. At this point I had the chin, face, back and dome all attached and had filled all the gaps and was working on smoothing it all out

[TKModder421[TK]]

I ended up getting all the traps, tears and ear greeblies all filled and sanded, up to about 600 grit I believe, and painted them with the Testors Dark Admiral Gray Gloss, which is the same color used for OT TKs. After this pic I hit them with a matte clear coat.

 

Edit: the ear greeblies are the modded files by David Os. They can be found here along with a few other accuracy mods that he's done for this helmet. 

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4227844

 

 

Edited December 12, 2022 by TKModder421
replaced upload with link to image

[TKModder421[TK]]

Next I painted the ears because they were small and easy to get to a high enough grit (2000). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 12, 2022 by TKModder421

[TKModder421[TK]]

I decided to paint the inside of the bucket before I moved on to attempt the outside to prevent any possible bleed ruining my outer paint work. Note: unfortunately that proved to have been fruitless anyway as you'll see in the next few posts. 

I didn't document the black painting, but I got a few shots of it masked up and the primer

 

 

 

 

 

[TKModder421[TK]]

So after painting the interior and endless amounts of sanding, I finally felt ready to give paint a try...

 

Well... a few lessons were learned. Granted this was really my first attempt at trying to paint anything like this, it definitely turned out to be a good learning experience. First problem was that when I attempted to paint it was far too hot, it was around 95º F in the middle of summer and I was painting in my garage. This caused the paint to dry too quickly, leaving a slightly dusty look, which then caused me to over compensate on the thickness of layers that I was laying down. So after 3 coats I had lots of textured spots as well as sagging paint where I layed it on too heavy. So this round of painting was a no go. Back to endless sanding lol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Like a lot of things practice makes perfect, I used to do some automotive spray painting but swapping back to spray cans can take some trial and error. I did find using automotive acrylic paint the best as you can apply a little heavier without creating runs as it would dry quite quickly, for a lot of enamels you just cant do this. With auto acrylic paint you can also sand, buff and polish which is a bonus if you have any dry areas or runs. One thing for sure is I'll never use rustoleum again, I've tried that a few times on droids and it's terrible paint to get a constant coverage, no matter how much you shake in between. 

 

Not sure if I've mentioned it before (I loose track of build comments) any paint sanding I find is easiest to do wet, with wet and dry sandpaper, helps to not clog as fast and makes the paper glide a little easier, a few drops of dish washing liquid can also help glide the sandpaper.

 

Hopefully your next go over will do the trick, looking forward to seeing the progress  

[TKModder421[TK]]

On 2/6/2023 at 9:41 PM, gmrhodes13 said:

Like a lot of things practice makes perfect, I used to do some automotive spray painting but swapping back to spray cans can take some trial and error. I did find using automotive acrylic paint the best as you can apply a little heavier without creating runs as it would dry quite quickly, for a lot of enamels you just cant do this. With auto acrylic paint you can also sand, buff and polish which is a bonus if you have any dry areas or runs. One thing for sure is I'll never use rustoleum again, I've tried that a few times on droids and it's terrible paint to get a constant coverage, no matter how much you shake in between. 

 

Not sure if I've mentioned it before (I loose track of build comments) any paint sanding I find is easiest to do wet, with wet and dry sandpaper, helps to not clog as fast and makes the paper glide a little easier, a few drops of dish washing liquid can also help glide the sandpaper.

 

Hopefully your next go over will do the trick, looking forward to seeing the progress  

 

 

Yeah, I definitely learned some good lessons back then. I did end up wet sanding this down and learned to be aware of temperature and humidity. 

I like the idea of using automotive acrylic paint, but I don't have the equipment for that unfortunately. I have gotten better at my rattle can technique but I agree with the unevenness and inconsistent coverage, especially when dealing with round objects like helmets and overspray.
I actually finished this build over a year ago, and was so busy with life that I forgot to finish this build post, so I'm finally getting around to it in my spare time for completeness 

[TKModder421[TK]]

After hours and hours of wet sanding, I was finally able to get the texture and sagging paint removed and got it back to paint-ready. 

I applied some of the lessons I learned and watched some YouTube videos and gave it another go. 

It turned out pretty well in comparison to the first go round and aside from some minimal eggshell texture I was happy with it.

 

 

 

 

 

So I decided to mock it up to see what it looked like with all the pieces attached at this point. (aside from the lenses)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also thought I'd do a side-by-side with the Nico helmet on the left and a black series helmet on the right for comparison. Keep in mind, the black series does have a modified brow trim.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 9, 2023 by TKModder421

[TKModder421[TK]]

I decided that I wanted to get rid of the eggshell texture, so I did some research and ended up buying some white Carfidant Ultimate Scratch & Swirl Remover.

I wet sanded with 1000 then 2000 grit, being careful not to burn through the paint. Then used the scratch remover to bring it to a smooth polish.

 

Once that was done, I attached the ears, tears and traps, brow trim and teeth.

I attached the lenses I had purchased from Paul Prentice.

I decided to drill holes in the chin to attach the mic tips (don't remember where I purchased them from) and the vocoder with fasteners and nuts.

And lastly ended up using US52 rubber U trim (OT TK brow trim) for the neck trim.

 

  

 

 

 

I have to say in the end I was pretty happy with the result. Finally I had my beautiful, factory new R1TK helmet!!

 

This build was waaaaaayy more work than I anticipated, but I'm pretty proud of the finished product! It has become my flagship piece in my collection.

I hope you enjoyed the journey along with me. Please feel free to comment and let me know if you have any questions 

 

 

 

 

 

[TerribleBen[TK]]

Very very nice!!!!  My brother Mike is printing Nico's bucket for me as we speak. I will hope it turns out this great. Thanks for sharing your work, helps tremendously!

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

Awesome! great work