The BigJasoni's ROTK 3D Print Build Thread

[Darth147[TK]]

armor looks great

great job with what you have done 

mine already has a few scratches most of them can be cleaned off and it gives it a natural  battle worn look to it 

even my abs anovos kit has those scratches from armor rubbing 

 

[Sly11[Admin]]

Definitely the most epic R1 build thread we have on FISD.

Unfortunate about your cracking issues with the chest plate, but it is something I have seen on almost all 3D printed armour, some far worse than others. Hopefully this one small crack is the worst of any issues you may encounter along the trooping journey.

Looks fantastic and I am thoroughly enjoying your build thread and all the fine details.

[BigJasoni[TK]]

All,
Thanks for helping me out through this build. After talking to a few people, I decided to clean up the armor, fill the cracks and broken seams, and try again. I really put a lot of work into this armor and just can't throw it in the corner. I'll let you know how it turns out. 

12 hours ago, Sly11 said:

Definitely the most epic R1 build thread we have on FISD.

Unfortunate about your cracking issues with the chest plate, but it is something I have seen on almost all 3D printed armour, some far worse than others.

Thanks Andrew. On August 14 you asked me what I was doing to reinforce the big pieces, specifically the chest, back and abdominal. My answer at the time was to keep a good infill percentage and only reinforce the parts that flex a lot. Of all those parts, I was only worried about the abdominal, so naturally I really reinforced it with resin and haven't had any issues, What I overlooked was the amount of stress I could put on the armor from basic movements like adjusting my forearms. Additionally, when I was stress testing my chest, I kept testing the lower portion (where the side extenders connect) and it had some flex, so I wasn't worried. Fortunately, the damage seemed to be mostly superficial (paint and filler) and I was able to fix it relatively easy. 

 

So, before I pull the trigger and order a new set, I need to game-plan this a little bit. After 1 day of wearing the armor, I really had to go crazy with the rubbing and polishing compounds in order to get all the wear marks out. I'm not using rattle-cans next time, I really feel like the Rustoleum (cans) is too soft and susceptible to wear. Also, since I used an HVLP to spray Mando I got out the  jitters and can practice with paints, hardeners, and clears until my BBB arrives.

 

So, until all that happens, I've got that clone helmet sitting in my garage waiting for paint, so I think I'll make it my Guinea Pig. I also really like my helmet, so I may build another one and create a "Trials and Tribulations of Paint/ Learning to Paint" build thread. 

 

Finally, members of Garrison Tyranus's Inferno Squad were recently recognized as the "501st Legion Crew of the Quarter." This was due to the work performed, and donations raised for the Make A Wish Foundation during the online convention "Inferno-Con," which ran 2-4 October. On 19 December, Inferno Squad will be holding the "InfernoCon Holiday Special" which will include "Printers and Plastics 2.0." I'm not sure if anyone following this thread turned in last time, but this ended up being a very popular panel and I'll be sitting on it again. I'll post more later.      

 

Thanks again!

Edited November 3, 2020 by BigJasoni

[11b30b4[TK]]

Jason, I understand the issues with cracking and paint wearing. I still say the rattle can is the way to go, when its all cleaned and filled, a respray is an easy thing to do with the rattle can. If I decide to respray my ROTK, I will need to do a lot of masking and sanding since its automotive paint and clear coat. As for giving up on this armor for approval. I recommend you check out my build thread on Pathfinders, here:http://forum.501stpathfinders.com/index.php?/topic/21220-11b30b4-shoretrooper-wip-mr-pauls-3d-print-files/

Ignore all the mistakes and look at the second page abdomen and how I reinforced the inside along all the seams. 

 

In the future, I am hoping for some reasonably priced software that can be use to cut up slt files and automatically apply different joints to the parts. here is avideo of something in the ball park of what I am talking about. 

 

 

Everything I have found that can do this is either too expensive or way too complicated currently. I really feel this will be a huge enhancement over just gluing parts together. Anothing thing to consider is the type of filament you use. Mr. Paul uses a carbon fiber filament for his printed armor and he has a video of him flexing the abdomen open and closed and its extremely resilient. He also uses an industrial MEK glue that is expensive. I got some of the glue and tried it on PETG but it didn't work near as well as gel CA glue.

 

In the end I think if you reinforce your armor on the inside, clean it up, fill the cracks and retouch the paint you would be good to go for trooping and approval. Believe me when I say I was hugely disappointed after only one parade and found a ton of damage to my ROTK. Its nearly impossible to keep these kits in tip top shape unless you had a kit that was cast from the same stuff the screen used kits were made from.

 

 

[BigJasoni[TK]]

2 hours ago, 11b30b4 said:

I recommend you check out my build thread on Pathfinders, here:http://forum.501stpathfinders.com/index.php?/topic/21220-11b30b4-shoretrooper-wip-mr-pauls-3d-print-files/

Ignore all the mistakes and look at the second page abdomen and how I reinforced the inside along all the seams.

Jeff, you've got another build thread... what are you doing to me?! I was already planning on building a ShoreTrooper, now you've just given me additional fuel for the fire. I'll start digging through this after work.

 

2 hours ago, 11b30b4 said:

I still say the rattle can is the way to go, when its all cleaned and filled, a respray is an easy thing to do with the rattle can. If I decide to respray my ROTK, I will need to do a lot of masking and sanding since its automotive paint and clear coat.

So, initial look at your Shoretrooper build and I notice immediately that you grabbed the Montana Gold Saraha Beige. I picked up some cans of Montana Gold (Chestnut and Shock Brown Dark) for my Mando and this stuff is unbelievable. If I do rattle-can my next build, I'll likely use the Montana Gold Shock White and their high gloss varnish. Also, that's good to know about the automotive paint. I was thinking that with a appropriate use of hardener that the paint wouldn't scratch nearly as bad. Did you use hardener in yours? 

 

2 hours ago, 11b30b4 said:

Anothing thing to consider is the type of filament you use. Mr. Paul uses a carbon fiber filament for his printed armor and he has a video of him flexing the abdomen open and closed and its extremely resilient. He also uses an industrial MEK glue that is expensive.

The team I used to work with used the carbon fiber filament exclusively. The stuff was phenomenal, but the things we were printing were relatively small. I might pick some up and do some prints. It's a little more expensive, but I'm pretty sure I've gotten all my kinks out. Also, I've used MEK products in the past, that's something I didn't even think of. Thanks.

 

 

[tarok[TK]]

Jason, mate, I’m glad you’re not throwing in the towel. Your build has been phenomenal.

While you’re recouping, I’d suggest popping over to spec ops and having a chat to the Deathtrooper guys. Many of them are wearing printed armour, and achieve the most magnificent high gloss, durable, finishes. I’m sure they’ll have a few tips to share.

Btw, a guy in my garrison uses UV resin to fill and reinforce his FDM weapon prints. It comes up great on the smaller parts (I don’t think it cost effective for larger parts - I’d think epoxy resin would still be the preferred way to harder armour)

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Definitely a nice build and in no way should you give up. I heard of someone that took a 3D printed deathtrooper over to the states and when opening the case found a few pieces crushed. 

 

I do love the ability to print costumes/parts but it does come down to strength and trying to reinforce areas, when possible apply some resin and matting inside large areas and anywhere that will take strain.

 

Looking forward to seeing the project finished, keep up the great work.

[BigJasoni[TK]]

Jason, mate, I’m glad you’re not throwing in the towel. Your build has been phenomenal.

While you’re recouping, I’d suggest popping over to spec ops and having a chat to the Deathtrooper guys. Many of them are wearing printed armour, and achieve the most magnificent high gloss, durable, finishes. I’m sure they’ll have a few tips to share.

Btw, a guy in my garrison uses UV resin to fill and reinforce his FDM weapon prints. It comes up great on the smaller parts (I don’t think it cost effective for larger parts - I’d think epoxy resin would still be the preferred way to harder armour)

Rudi,
Thanks for the advice. I've actually just started trolling around the other forums, but really haven't been too active other than looking up Mando stuff on the BH Detachment pages. However, I just left my first post on the Pathfinders forum and saw some of your posts there. I haven't looked at the Spec Ops forum yet, but I'll definitely take a look since I've been tossing around the idea of either a Shoretrooper and Deathtrooper for my next build; I didn't realize people were printing TX kits. I'm leaning heavily towards Shoretrooper, but we'll see. Also, I have experience with UV resin, but at a very small scale. I'll dig into that a little.

 

5 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

I heard of someone that took a 3D printed deathtrooper over to the states and when opening the case found a few pieces crushed. 

 

I do love the ability to print costumes/parts but it does come down to strength and trying to reinforce areas, when possible apply some resin and matting inside large areas and anywhere that will take strain.

Glen,

Thanks again for the input. Opening a case and finding crushed armor would absolutely... crush me. Stupid pun, but it's the only word that fits. Something similar happened to me Christmas 2000. I got a new guitar as a gift out in California and the airline made me check it for my flight to Virginia. As I was sitting on the plane waiting for people to board, I looked out my window just in time to see something that looked like a guitar case fall off the baggage cart. When I picked up my luggage, I opened my case to find the body of my guitar had shattered. It was replaced by the airline, but if the same thing were to happen to armor that I had worked on for three months, I'd be livid.

 

Adding resin to the chest piece is definitely something I'll be doing in the future. One of the guys here in Inferno Squad showed me his pre-beskar Mando chest piece and he had absolutely covered the back side in resin. With my Mando build I'm not too worried about it because the armor Velcros to the flak vest, the TK armor is entirely different. Initially I was only concerned about parts that require a lot of flex, but after wearing the armor for a few hours, I understand the additional stress the parts are under. Also, after looking at @11b30b4 Jeff's Shoretrooper build, I've got some good ideas for my scrap HIPS.  

 

[BigJasoni[TK]]

Lol. I suck at Photoshop. So, thanks to those who encouraged me to continue with the build. I guess I was just really frustrated after I saw what I felt was the destruction of my work, but when I reassessed the situation, it was all superficial, which apparently is pretty common. For those who can't read Aurebesh, under my TK ID it says First approved 3D Printed ROTK. My wife told me yesterday that I acted happier about this than when I graduated from college. My reply was, "well Penn State doesn't have racing shirts."

 

To recap this build (again), I had been "trolling" the 501st resources and forums for a while, speaking with members, and just wondering if this could be done to an acceptable standard. I had seen plenty of people start 3D printed builds, but couldn't find any finished projects, with the exception of some awesome helmets. Additionally, I saw plenty of YouTube videos of people building armor, but nothing indicating that they had applied for legion membership, or built their TKs to a reasonable standard. However, with all the awesome clones, Mandalorians, and other various 3D builds I had seen get approved, I thought "let's try it. I'm either going to irritate people with all my questions, or find a great group who's willing to help." Fortunately it was the latter. Thanks again for everything.

 

So, I've spoken to a few people about other projects and I'm mulling over another big 3D build i.e. Shoretrooper, (thanks again @11b30b4 for prodding me over the edge), but honestly the last couple days has felt weird not going into my garage and fighting with plastic and paint. I've got a few things I'm going to tweak on this armor, because as you all saw from the thread, I was trying to build to the centurion standards, though I'm not sure it's attainable with a 3d kit. Regardless, I'll clean up a few items, but I'm fairly certain that I'm done printing big parts for this set. If you see me request an EIB look, that's probably where I'm going to call it until I receive my BBB.*

 

*Previously I mentioned that I'm going to go ahead and order a new kit, likely from Jimi. After that arrives, I'll be posting a whole new build thread. 

 

So, while I'm waiting for that to arrive I'll be playing around in the Pathfinders forum. I just started something that I should be able to finish in about a month:

 

This will be a lot of fun, and make for some awesome pictures if I ever get around to visiting my family back in the Redwood National Forrest. Also, this quick project will give me the opportunity to try out a few new techniques, like printing helmets upside down.

 

 

Rough on top due to the supports, but this gets filled, primered and sanded anyways. The interior of the dome however is smoooooooooth. 

 

So, thanks again to everyone. You're all awesome and proof that this is a great community. I'm happy to be aboard!

    

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

This is excellent news, congratulations and welcome to the ranks trooper.

 

The more and more I print and the worse my arthritis in my hands is getting I'm realizing I have to suck it up with the print times and go for finer prints, less initial work, less sanding, normally 3 coats of spray putty (primer filler you guys call it) and a sand wet with 240grit and most prints are done. Very rare I need to use blade putty but having to wait 2 or 3 times longer for prints really sucks, hope we see some cheaper large resin printers in the not too distant future, those things will reduce the work. 

 

Well done once again

[BigJasoni[TK]]

5 hours ago, gmrhodes13 said:

The more and more I print and the worse my arthritis in my hands is getting I'm realizing I have to suck it up with the print times and go for finer prints, less initial work, less sanding

Glen,

 

I understand completely. Fortunately my hands have held up fairly well, but I had to make significant alterations to other parts of the armor to compensate for joint issues. I probably should be printing at a higher resolution (finer), but I think I lack patience when it comes down to larger prints like helmets. That's one of the reasons why I'm experimenting with different techniques during this "down time" between builds. Funny that I consider building a Scout Trooper "down time."

 

Regarding the large resin printers... wow! If I had an extra $3000 floating around I'd have a Peopoly Phenom L running around the clock (if I could afford the resin). Right now I'm trying to muster up an extra $300 for either a Phrozen Sonic Mini 4K or Elegoo Saturn 4k. However, when I first started researching 3D printers, something the equivalent of my CR-10s would have cost the same as that Peopoly. Let's give it a few years.

 

Thanks for the comments.     

[tarok[TK]]

Well done mate! That’s awesome!

And of course just as you get yours complete, Nico Henderson starts designing ROTK armour to go with his bucket

Btw, are you on Shoretrooper Fam on FB?

[BigJasoni[TK]]

4 minutes ago, tarok said:

Well done mate! That’s awesome!

And of course just as you get yours complete, Nico Henderson starts designing ROTK armour to go with his bucket

Btw, are you on Shoretrooper Fam on FB?

Rudi,
That's funny about Nico. I reached out to him back when I first started thinking about doing this and he said he didn't have any plans to make the armor. I almost don't even want to see what he comes up with because it's probably going to be awesome. I'll probably reach out to him again.
I'm not on the Shoretrooper Fam FB page, I've only started my research for that project, but this helps. I'll get on and continue digging around. Thanks for the info.

[tarok[TK]]

Lol I thought so too. We’ve been nagging him for ages. I think he saw the interest when Paul Prentice started a new research group this weekend

Definitely jump on ST Fam, the place to be for ST research.

[11b30b4[TK]]

Congratulations Jason, I will update the roster. Outstanding work.

[BigJasoni[TK]]

So, I haven't posted anything in a while, but I thought I'd finish this thread off with one last 3D print discussion thanks to this quote from @gmrhodes13:

On 11/7/2020 at 4:41 PM, gmrhodes13 said:

The more and more I print and the worse my arthritis in my hands is getting I'm realizing I have to suck it up with the print times and go for finer prints, less initial work, less sanding, normally 3 coats of spray putty (primer filler you guys call it) and a sand wet with 240grit and most prints are done. Very rare I need to use blade putty but having to wait 2 or 3 times longer for prints really sucks, hope we see some cheaper large resin printers in the not too distant future, those things will reduce the work.

I've had a profile set up in Simplify3d that I've used for finer prints. It's essentially been the same as my larger prints, except I slow the speed down to around 60mm/sec and run layers at .100 or .150. The results have been good, but not perfect. Please ignore what I printed and take a look at the quality in these pics:

 

This a prime example of two totally different settings. First, on the helmet, you can see the results of .2 layer height at 180mm/sec. Lots of bondo, sanding and filler primer in my future. Next, the Snout Greeblies were printed at .100 and 60mm/sec. They're very detailed and will pass muster, but in the flat sections you can still see the line separation and on the "strainer" there's a lot of stringing. Also, the mesh doesn't look good at all. This is one of the primary reasons I'm going to be purchasing a resin printer; I'll turn that thing into a Greeblie Factory.

So, the hot bed heater cable shorted out on me and I had to bust out the soldering iron to fix it. When I was done, I ran one of the prints that's embedded on the SD card that came with the Creality printer. Here it is:

 

I thought it would be a fast print, but the thing actually took somewhere around 8 hours. However, when it was finished, I was absolutely blown away by the detail, the total absence of layer lines, and even more impressive, the thing printed on a raft that just snapped off with little to no effort at all, leaving a perfectly smooth surface under the cat. It was enough that I couldn't believe it was my printer that did it... stupid lucky cat. 

 

This got me thinking about Glen's aforementioned quote, and since I don't have anything better to do while I wait for my BBB, I decided to print a few armor pieces off using the profile I pilfered from the cat file. By the way, in case you didn't know already, if you ever find a perfect profile embedded into a .gcode file, you can just upload the file using the upload FFF profile function in Simplify 3D. The Upload FFF function recognizes the FFF in the .gcode. Neat! Here's what happened:

 

 

Just like the cat, the level of detail blew me away. These are very small items (as you can tell by the 1" squares on my mat). But what happens when you print a larger armor piece like this?

 

Pretty cool. These will require no Bondo or initial sanding. One layer of filler primer should be all it needs before paint. Also, I'm either going to have to resize these greeblies, or fill in the gap with resin. If I do, the resin will likely be rougher than the print and that's saying a lot. The only downside is that these biceps took 34 hours to print and if I were to print a full helmet with the cat settings, it would take a week. That doesn't sound like fun, but maybe I'll try it when I run out of things to print.

So, Glen, thanks for the tip and thanks to Creality for supplying the amazing FFF file. If anyone is interested in how to pull a FFF profile from a .gcode file, check out this video:

https://youtu.be/SRQ-3nnSa-4

Lol. He even used the cat to do it. 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Great work, it's just the extra print time you get stuck with but saves you so much more in pre paint work, I prefer the less hands on approach now and with 3 printers the extra print time isn't that bad 

[Darth.Darth.Binks]

First of all I want to say thank you.

I just finished printing a mandalorian helmet as a first big print, but a TK full armor was one of the reasons i got a 3D printer in the first place. The whole process of sanding etc. kinda made me want to give up, and looking through the forums most comments said a 3d printed armor will not last. I was a bit frustrated.
Your armor is awesome. The guide is phenomenal, and such a rollercoaster, I read the whole thing in the last couple of hours, and it was so informative, you deserve a medal just for that.
I would love to know how do you feel about 3d printing armor after a couple of months.
For a self-made collection and display I think 3d printing is a great way to go, even on my Ender 3. My lightsaber collection is coming along nicely, and the mando helmet will be fine in the end (I think). However for the rest of the armor I think, and the online comments suggest, there are better ways then printing. But I would love the hear your thoughts about it, and what was your experience like.

 

Thanks,

Michael

[Rampage13]

Did you get this armor approved? If I buy files for printing they are screen accurate now?

[Rampage13]

I have a few questions, first the brow on helmet is higher than in Ro photos is this acceptable? Did you get armor and helmet approved? Is the black series ro helmet accepted?

[Rampage13]

I have a few questions, first the brow on helmet is higher than in Ro photos is this acceptable? Did you get armor and helmet approved? Is the black series ro helmet accepted?

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

6 hours ago, Rampage13 said:

Is the black series ro helmet accepted?

Not straight out of the box, check out this thread 

 

[BigJasoni[TK]]

On 8/29/2021 at 9:31 PM, Rampage13 said:

Did you get this armor approved? If I buy files for printing they are screen accurate now?

 

8 hours ago, Rampage13 said:

I have a few questions, first the brow on helmet is higher than in Ro photos is this acceptable? Did you get armor and helmet approved? Is the black series ro helmet accepted?

John,

Sorry, I have no idea how I missed your original post back in August. I’ve been very busy, but I’ve also been active on the forum since then, so oops. Yes, this costume was approved but no, they’re not seen accurate as-is. Currently, these files are the most accurate ROTK files out there, but I had to really hack them up after printing to get them to an acceptable level. Additionally, I had to do some of my own modeling to create a few of the pieces.

I also continue to find things that I don’t like and I keep altering it to get them right. Here’s a list of the things I’ve changed. 

1. Printed a Nico Henderson helmet

2. Printed Paul Prentice shoulders, biceps, and forearms (Shoretrooper files)

3. Cut more accurate arm holes in the chest piece and fixed bottom “bell”

4. Cut rear of both thighs

5. Printed Paul Prentice calf armor (Shoretrooper files)

6. Likely replacing abdominal armor with Paul Prentice Shoretrooper abdominal piece and modeling my own ab greeblies

7. Modeled new belt boxes. Files found here 

8. Bought the Jimmiroquai kit

9. Bought gray acrylic paint, Fuller’s Earth, sand, and a Soviet army plash in order to turn the 3D print TK into a Mimban TK.

 

Your second comment about the brow may need a little more background info. There’s photos that have been floating around for a while that make the brow appear to sit directly on top of the eyes. However, we also have reference photos that show the brow sitting approximately 1/4” above the eyes. Additionally, almost all of the ROTK helmets available currently have the brow wrong anyways. We’ve since seen references that show that the brow trim was rubber similar to the OT buckets, which explains why it’s placement seems to fluctuate. Unfortunately I don’t have access to my reference photos right now otherwise I’d post a few that show this. 

 

Look, I encourage people to 3D print costumes; I’m a big fan of the hobby. But, there’s better options out there than the TK. The ICAT Driver and Mudtrooper files available via https://mudtrooper.co.uk courtesy of Empire3D are the most accurate costumes out there. Paul Prentice’s Shoretrooper files are insanely accurate. When finished properly, Mr. Poopie’s Scout Trooper files teamed with Jesus Salmeron’s helmet are capable of obtaining Lancer Certification. Basically, there’s awesome costumes out there that are ready to be finished and approved, but unfortunately TKs aren’t one of them. There’s just too much work needed to make it a good option. 
 

However, I will finish by saying this: Nico has stated that he’s building accurate TK files. But, he announced that over a year ago and when I spoke with him a few months back, he sounded like it was the least of his priorities. I feel like it’s only a matter of time before one of our heavy hitting 3D designers comes up with something that doesn’t require the same level of blood sweat and tears I spilled. When these files are made, I expect to see many 3d print kits getting approved. 

 

 

[Awesomest_Dude]

@BigJasonihow much sanding did you have to do? Also, is it hard to join two pieces of armor together that you printed separately? Do you feel it was easier to break in that area or did it feel sturdy?

Edited December 3 by Awesomest_Dude