The BigJasoni Captain Cardinal Build

[BigJasoni[TK]]

--EDIT--

October 9th 2022: Future Jason here... I always seem to do these "future Jason" post edits, but it's because I continuously shift gears in my builds. Regardless, this initially began as a 3D print build, but I decided that I didn't want to go that route. Additionally, I'm trying to get away from doing full 3D armor builds unless it's a set that specifically benefits from being 3D printed. I do intend on leaving my initial posts up here however, because I know there may be future builders who feel the 3D route is in their best interest and this may come in useful.

I have decided to finish the helmet though. It's turning out pretty good and even if I do pick up an older Anovos helmet off eBay for this build, I'm seeing a few benefits in using the 3D bucket, specifically, knowing that I don't have to disassemble this helmet for paint. It's already disassembled.

 

Next, though I'm getting away from full armor 3D kits, I'm not giving up the hobby. With a great set of files, you can actually 3D print extra parts, i.e. shoulder bells, that would otherwise cost a lot to order separately. Additionally, since I'm talking about great file sets, I will say that this one is insanely good. People keep asking me for the designer's name, but the maker has since pulled his stuff in order to take care of some personal items. When he makes his stuff available again, I will openly promote his gear; it's that good.

 

Regardless, I've rambled long enough. So, if you'd like to see what's up, skip ahead a bit. Basically, I officially ordered the Denuo Novo set on Friday, October 7th with the goal of officially putting the "I still don't trust them" conversation to rest. I will update this post again when I get my BBB and start over from there.

 

Until then, here's the original posts:   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why do I do this? I promise this to all of you: I'm not a masochist. I don't enjoy filling layer lines and fighting with misprints. Additionally, I proved last time that it's not financially beneficial to go this route. As a matter of fact, following The BigJasoni's ROTK 3D Print Build Thread https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/49826-the-bigjasonis-rotk-3d-print-build-thread/ I received a ton of messages from people wanting to do the same thing and I talked all of them out of it.

So why, in the middle of 7 other builds, would I start this project???

Why not?

 

So, while I finish my New Generation/ Remnant TK, Deathtrooper, Shoretrooper, Pre-Beskar and Beskar Mando, Darth Nihilis, and Tusken Raider, I'll let the printer run... slowly. I'll be updating the Centurion From the Start build thread in the next couple days and when I do, I'll throw a few things up here, but this is going to be a ton of work.

Thanks @Sly11 for pointing me towards an incredible maker and some unbelievable files. Here we go.

 

 

Edited October 10, 2022 by BigJasoni

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looking forward to seeing the progress 

[BigJasoni[TK]]

So, I'm still trying to determine the best way to proceed with this build and the subsequent build thread. Honestly, I think I'm kind of at a loss because I swore that I would never 3D print another TK. However, this seems kind of fun and a nice little side project.
Additionally, I said a few days ago that I talked a lot of people out of 3D TKs, but this one seems right. The reason I put it this way is because all of those people I talked to about 3D printing didn't leave with a sour taste in their mouth about the hobby, just the understanding that we're still waiting for a good set of files before I can recommend it as a worthwhile endeavor. I've even offered up a few resources/ costumes that are very fine candidates for 3D builders and shown them pictures of the kits I've gotten approved. The top two kits I consistently recommend are the Mr. Paul Shoretrooper and the Empire3D remix of Sean Fields' Mudtrooper/ ICAT Driver armor. Both of these kits are incredibly accurate in nearly every detail and don't require any additional "tinkering" in order to get them up to par.

 

So why does this one "seem right?"

 

Because from what I've seen in the files, and by comparing them to a fellow garrison member's Anovos gear, this file set seems to be in the same league as Paul's Shoretrooper. But out of respect for the creator, and because I haven't received his permission yet, I'm going to hold off on putting his name out there until I have their blessing.

 

So for now, I've decided that I'm going to just start posting pictures of armor pieces as they come off the print bed. Once I have everything together, I'll start working this similar to any other build thread. Additionally, as I perform techniques I think might be useful for the greater 3D print community, or potential 3D TK prospects, I'll post them here. So for now, here's my first set of armor pieces (other than the helmet) and a technique:

 

If you look closely at the picture you'll see a slightly yellowed, angled downwards stripe on both arms. On the right, this was the result of a layer shift that occurred because I had a loose hot end carriage. In order to fix this, I took a razor blade and scored the line that was left from the shift and snapped the arm in two pieces. I then sanded down both edges and used CA glue to seal them shut. The yellowing is from spraying accelerator on it. 
The left one was my fault entirely. I set my printer up last night and went to bed. When I woke up, I found the machine "air printing" because it had ran out of filament. I forgot that I had disabled my runout sensor and only left about 100g of filament on the spool. Oops. Regardless, I recorded the height at which it had stopped, exported the file from Simplify in the exact position I had originally sliced the file, opened it with Meshmixer and created a plane cut at that point. I then exported this file, loaded it into Simplify and let it finish printing.
One thing to note is the obvious difference in layer lines between the two. The arm on the right was printed with a .4 nozzle @ .2 layer height, while the one on the left was printed at .15 layer. Needless to say, the one on the left is extremely smooth and will require very minimal prep.

So here's the technique:
I started printing the abdominal and this is going to be a huge two day print. So, once the first couple layers were down, I grabbed my hi-temp glue gun and laid a bead of glue around the perimeter in order to keep this thing adhered. I've done this a couple times now and it works great. Maybe a little unorthodox, but once you've got a few years of printing under your belt, you get a little more daring than most people. Lol.

In the background of this pic, you can see my forearm finishing off.


And the hot glue. By the way, I can't say enough good stuff about the Surebonder Cosplay Stik glue. This stuff is incredible and rivals some of the best stuff I've tried. I've now switched entirely over to the Cosplay Stik glue in any instance that I would have used E6000 previously.

So there you have it. I'll keep posting update pics as prints finish. Currently on the print beds are the abdominal armor (printing on the CR-10 Max) and the shoulder bells (CR-10S). On deck are the back yoke and chest piece (CR-10 Max), and the biceps on the CR-10S. Once I have my resin printers back up and running, I'll start cranking out greeblies.

Now later this week, I'll have some awesome updates in the Centurion From the Start Build Thread.

 

Thanks for viewing 

[BigJasoni[TK]]

Lol. I had an awesome thread in draft, but I let my daughter play Roblox on my computer. When she was done, I came back and realized she closed my pages. Whatever, I'll save my long-winded musings for the other thread.
Tonight I had two more prints finish up and one of them was the deciding factor if 3DTK 2.0 was going to continue or get scrapped. Also, I've decided that since this is another 3D print build, unlike last time, I'll actually post print times for everything so people get a better understanding of what they're up against.

 

First, the shoulder bells:

 

Total Time: 24 hours 18 minutes. Simplify3D estimate: 22 hours 32 minutes.

Not much to say about these. I'll throw them over with the forearms and keep printing.

Monday I posted the picture of the hot glue on the build plate, but totally forgot to mention what I was printing. Well, here it is:

 

 

Total time: 46 hours 38 minutes. Simplify3d estimate: 38 hours 40 minutes.

 

Abdominal armor is pretty much the sole reason I justified the purchase of the CR-10 Max a year ago. Thus far, I've printed 2 abdominal sections (Shoretrooper and At-ACT driver) in the same manner, as well as full chests and backs for multiple costumes. Nothing beats being able to print these in one piece. However, as you can see from the print, I had 3 layer shifts that kind of complicated matters a bit.  

 

Regardless of all the great things I've had to say about these files, I've been wavering on whether or not I want to go through with this build ever since I started it. Essentially, I traded some Mando armor I had lying around for a couple rolls of PETG, so of course, I had to print something and decided this was the thing I'd try. However, the abdominal section is by far the biggest piece, so I told myself that if it turned out bad, I'd cancel this project. Regardless of the layer shift, I was pretty happy about the end result.

This is why we print in PETG. If this were PLA it would have snapped so fast. ABS has similar properties, but PETG allows you to work without having to enclose your printer. I might start printing armor in ABS later, but I just haven't felt the need to yet.

 

The fit is pretty much perfect, but those stupid layer lines were still bugging me.

 

So, the last thing I wanted to do is take a couple hours and just see if I could fix those errors. Ultimately, when I went out into the garage, I told myself that if it was looking like it was going to be more effort than it's worth, the build is off and I'm ordering a kit from Denuo Novo.

 

Unfortunately, I was able to fix it. Lol. A little bondo and I guess this means the build continues.

 

 

 

 

[Sly11[Admin]]

Nice progress, and a beautiful Figurine collection behind you!!

[BigJasoni[TK]]

6 hours ago, Sly11 said:

Nice progress, and a beautiful Figurine collection behind you!!

Thanks Andrew. The figure collection is slowly growing, but I just realized that my TKs are on another shelf.

[BigJasoni[TK]]

Ok. More print updates. It's slowly coming together.
 

Bicep:

Simplify3D estimate 19 hours 11 minutes. 

 

 

Total Time 20 hours 50 minutes X 2 (left and right are essentially mirrored files).  Of note, for the shoulders and biceps, I printed with a .4 nozzle at .15 layer height 50 mm/sec. Also, I forgot to take a picture of these on the build plate, but they turned out incredible. I wish I could print everything at .15 layer height, but it would probably take a year.

 

Chest:

Simplify3D estimate: 27 hours 45 minutes

 

Total Time: 33 hours 24 minutes. I ended up with 1 layer shift, but it was near the top where the points are. I have since snapped these off, fixed the seam and glued them back on.

 

Back Yoke:
Ok. Here's the big one. As much as I'd like to say that this was a flawless print, I finally broke my streak of successful prints without a failure and had to start this thing a few times. Basically, I had the yoke printing for about 36 hours, hadn't checked on it in about 2, and was outside doing some yard work. While I was outside, I looked in the window to my print area and saw this:

 

When I walked inside, I found this laying on the floor:

 

So I tried continuing from where I experienced the failure, but I ended up having another failure which made me stop everything and try to figure out how I could go over a year without a single failed print, but then all of a sudden start experiencing them at a cyclic rate. I stated earlier in the build thread that I had a loose carriage that was causing horrible shifting in the layers. I fixed that, but didn't realize that the hot end itself was loose. This is another one of those things that should be checked before doing big prints, but the hot end is typically hidden behind the fan shroud, so unless you're actually feeling for it, you won't notice that there's an issue.
Regardless, I tightened the piece and then had to decide whether to start from my original failure, or just suck it up and start over. I chose the later.

 

Simplify3D estimate: 42 hours 30 minutes

 

Total time:

This was by far the biggest print I've ever done. Nearly 60 hours of printing at .3 layer height which I slowed to an absolute crawl of 37.5mm/ sec. By comparison, for those of you who watched my original 3DTK build back in 2020, I was printing PLA+ off at 180mm/sec. The fast prints led to me quickly creating pieces, but also led me to a ton of sanding and failures. It can be done, but I certainly don't advise it. Additionally, PETG isn't as forgiving as PLA and requires a little more finesse. However, you're rewarded in the end when you print with a higher quality material.

I'm officially done with the gargantuan items. The thighs and shins will be big, but nothing compared to these beasts.

 

So here's a few pics to show you the current status of the 3DTK 2.0 kit. :

 

Chest and yoke. Yes, this will require a lot of sanding, but the chest was done before I found the loose hot end. Also, this armor is going to be especially easy to sand and finish due to it gentle curves and smooth surface. Additionally, if you look up to the top of the chest near the points, you can see that layer shift I spoke about earlier.

 

Lol. Chest and arms day at the BigJasoni TK Gym.

 

Finally, I wasn't going to start sharing finishing pics until later on, but I did plug away a little on the bucket a few nights ago while I was working on something else. I also got a new tool I feel every 3D print enthusiast should grab and honestly I felt like showing it off. First, more Bondo:

 

Later on in this build, I'll share the photosynthetic resin technique I've started using, but for this helmet, I decided to go "old school" with the Bondo Spot and Glaze putty. This is the second layer I've hit it with; the first was covered previously.

This bucket had a lot of layer lines from the loose CR-10 max parts, but also has a lot of detail lines I didn't want to get resin into. I'm not going to dump a bunch of sanding pics into this thread, but what you need to know is that I hit this with a mouse sander, then with my 3M Hookit Soft Interface Pad covered in 150 and 200 grit paper.

More details about this sanding technique are found in page 3 of the Centurion From the Start WIP found here: 

 

Not sure why the Hengstler pic shows up when I put up this link. Lol.

 

Anyways, the mouse sander and interface disc work perfect for the larger surfaces, but here's the new tool I'm so excited about:

So, I'm able to read G Tool and Mr. Hobby, but that's about it. Basically, it's an electronic toothbrush with a sandpaper disc. Lol. Here's why it's useful:

 

 

 

Previously, for these small areas, I've raided my wife's makeup drawer and stolen emery board fingernail files, but those are hit or miss when it comes down to grit. This tool has tons of available grit pads and can really get into those detail corners. Additionally the head flexes and the pads are backed with foam, so you're really not putting too much pressure on any part. Finally, it was only $20 US, so why not.

Anyways, I'm making a push to finish the other kit and am letting my printers have a well earned break. I'll post a few more shots once I get going, but that's it for now.

Thanks as always for viewing

Edited August 18, 2022 by BigJasoni

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

So much sanding, good luck 

[Sly11[Admin]]

Like Glen said, lots to sand, take care of your fingers my friend

[BigJasoni[TK]]

14 hours ago, gmrhodes13 said:

So much sanding, good luck 

 

6 hours ago, Sly11 said:

Like Glen said, lots to sand, take care of your fingers my friend

Thanks for the reminder guys. Lol. I don't know why I keep doing this to myself, but at this point it's just become part of my costume building world. Even my 3 fiberglass kits get the treatment. Honestly, I don't even know what I'd do if I had a vacuum formed ABS kit.

[Arim215]

Hello everyone,

 

I'm new here, but I have found this forum and thread very usefull on gathering information about a build I'm trying to put together. 

I recently purchased the Captain Cardinal black series helmet and wanted to try myself at putting together an armor or at least a part of it for halloween (I'm not looking for screen accuracy or anything...)

 

On 8/3/2022 at 10:01 PM, BigJasoni said:

Thanks @Sly11 for pointing me towards an incredible maker and some unbelievable files. Here we go.
 

 

You mention having 3D files to print. Would you be kind enough to point me to where i can find/purchase them?

 

thank you for all your help and information

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

1 hour ago, Arim215 said:

Hello everyone,

 

I'm new here, but I have found this forum and thread very usefull on gathering information about a build I'm trying to put together. 

I recently purchased the Captain Cardinal black series helmet and wanted to try myself at putting together an armor or at least a part of it for halloween (I'm not looking for screen accuracy or anything...)

 

 

You mention having 3D files to print. Would you be kind enough to point me to where i can find/purchase them?

 

thank you for all your help and information

Hello and welcome aboard, a few people have been using these files https://www.cgtrader.com/3d-print-models/art/other/star-wars-tlj-storm-trooperhelmet-chest-shoulder-armour-ep8

 

Good luck with your build, hope to see some great photos at Halloween  

[BigJasoni[TK]]

On 9/15/2022 at 4:22 PM, Arim215 said:

Hello everyone,

 

I'm new here, but I have found this forum and thread very usefull on gathering information about a build I'm trying to put together. 

I recently purchased the Captain Cardinal black series helmet and wanted to try myself at putting together an armor or at least a part of it for halloween (I'm not looking for screen accuracy or anything...)

 

 

You mention having 3D files to print. Would you be kind enough to point me to where i can find/purchase them?

 

thank you for all your help and information

Ari,
Thanks for reaching out. I've been away from home for a while, so I didn't see your post initially and apologize for the slow response. I'll continue to update my work and I hope the thread helps you out during your build. I reached out to the designer and asked if he minds me sharing his info, but I haven't heard back yet. If he gives me permission, I'll share their info. However, the files Glen posted have been used by quite a few people and I've worked with the designer previously; he's very helpful. @Cricket put up a great build thread when she used these files for her son. You can find it here:

Regardless, I have a few updates I'll be making later this week and will post them here. For now, here's a picture I haven't posted yet.

 

I finally got everything smooth on the main helmet and have since coated it with another layer of filler primer. This pic was from the first time I did a test fit using screws instead of loosely setting the pieces in place. So far so good. What's good to look at though is the differences between the initial primer layer I posted on August 3rd and this one. Plus, it looks even better now. 

 

3D printing is fun option for doing these, but it's a ton of work. Please keep in mind though, that with these type of builds, 3D printing is the hobby not costuming. I've covered it previously in other build threads, but if you're looking for a costume to jump in, there's other options available that'll save you a lot of time, heartache, and in some cases money. I only say that to give you a head's up, not to discourage you, primarily because Halloween is very close. For a 3D TK, you might want to set some extra time aside. Typically, it takes me around 3 months at the quickest to assemble a full 3D costume and that doesn't account for the lead time on soft parts and assembly.

 

Regardless, I will gladly jump in anytime to help you out if you have any questions and now that I'm back in town, I'll start updating my threads again.

Thanks for the interest 

[Sly11[Admin]]

Wow starting to look like the real deal, I love that little sanding tool you purchased, must look for one myself as getting into those small areas is quite a painstaking task.

[BigJasoni[TK]]

On 9/23/2022 at 4:23 AM, Sly11 said:

Wow starting to look like the real deal, I love that little sanding tool you purchased, must look for one myself as getting into those small areas is quite a painstaking task.

That little tool is great. They're kind of hard to find though and typically ship from Japan, but if you can find one, it's awesome. I've been using it on my 3d print and fiberglass kits, but it also works well cleaning up return edges on traditionally formed kits. If you get one, just make sure to buy extra sanding pads in lower grits. It comes with 600, 800, and 1000, but you can get them as low as 200 grit. 

 

By the way, I neglected to update my build threads last week, so here's a new picture of the helmet smoothed out a little more.

 

I'd take another picture, but it's covered with painter's tape right now. I'm getting ready to spray the inside with bed liner.

 

While I'm typing, I might as well add a few small pieces to this thread.

So tonight, I'm going to print out another set of @TheRascalKing's greeblies in resin and affix them to the helmet before I do any final coats of primer sealer or paint. Regarding the greeblies, here's a little test print I did in carbon fiber PLA a few weeks ago before I left for California.

 

As you can see from the pic, I got a bunch of top layer lines and stepping which is easily filled or sanded out, but I want to avoid this completely for my final set. Also, I will note that the carbon fiber PLA is incredible stuff. Of particular note is that while printing with .2 layer height, the material bonds together with lower layers better than most other filaments which eliminates layer lines almost completely. Of course, the top layer is visible, but that's a result of the shell settings which can be adjusted.
I've experimented with different layer heights from .125 up to .3 and the layers are nearly indistinguishable at heights under .3. At .3 they are visible, but even there, it takes considerably less effort finishing the prints. The carbon fiber PLA can also be sanded out nicely and isn't as susceptible to heat deformities like traditional PLA or PLA+. I did see last night that I can also get carbon fiber PETG, so I may test that out next. Here's a pic of the typical prints I've been getting:

 

Even though this part is for another costume, it shows how clean the carbon fiber filament prints. Printer settings are available on request, but the basic settings of this print are .4 nozzle, .2 layer height, 50mm/ sec, nozzle 210 bed 55.

 

So back to the FOTK, here's a few more of the greeblie tests:

On this one, I printed it in a different orientation which eliminated the top shell lines and also decreased the settings to .15 layer@ 25mm/sec. Even though it came out incredibly clean, I still think resin will provide a better product. Regardless, this slow approach shows that a person with a FDM printer can still get some awesome results if they take their time. This greeblie did not require any filler or additional sanding. 1 layer of primer and paint would easily satisfy any 3d print finishing requirements.

Here it is on the helmet before I sprayed the additional layers of filler primer.

Anyways, this was just a quick little update. Once I'm done printing the greeblies, I'll post pics and likely throw them over in Justin's thread for other's reference.
Thanks for viewing

 

[BigJasoni[TK]]

OK, so regardless of the time I've spent printing, I've decided to abandon this project for the time being. Plus Denuo Novo just put their kit on sale ($100 off + free US Shipping) so...

 

3DTK 2.0 is suspended, but the Cardinal build will resume shortly.

[BigJasoni[TK]]

—UPDATE—

I just received this notification yesterday:

 

Yup! Denuo Novo is living up to its word thus far. I’ll post pics on BBB day

Edited October 22, 2022 by BigJasoni

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Great news, hopefully not too far away

[BigJasoni[TK]]

And... TIME!

 

Officially, it ended up being 18 days from placing my order to BBB Day. Not bad... Not bad at all.

 

Here's what Denuo Novo's About Us page says:

 

denuo (dē-nuō) -once more, a second time 

novo (noh'-vō) -to make anew, revive, change, alter, invent.

 

I think it's fair to say that Denuo Novo has lived up to their name. I also know that there's a lot of people out there who are still jaded by Anovos, but I think the new company is doing a good job at putting that stigma aside. Regardless, I have another TK kit I'm finishing up, then I need to prioritize a few builds.

 

Anybody have an extra TFA bucket they want to get rid of???  

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Yes the "new company" (cough, cough that just happens to have some Anovos employees in upper management) is off to an ok start.

 

Some have had some shipping hiccups, some have received a less than perfect item (me) or a completely different color replacement (me again) BUT for the most part so far the FOTK kits appear to be in stock and shipped without too much of a delay.

 

If only they would adjust their molds to make a few pieces a little more screen accurate, who knows, there "experts" may guide them that way.

 

Glad to see your BBB photo and looking forward to seeing the build progress 

 

[BigJasoni[TK]]

On 10/25/2022 at 11:07 PM, gmrhodes13 said:

Yes the "new company" (cough, cough that just happens to have some Anovos employees in upper management) is off to an ok start.

 

Some have had some shipping hiccups, some have received a less than perfect item (me) or a completely different color replacement (me again) BUT for the most part so far the FOTK kits appear to be in stock and shipped without too much of a delay.

 

If only they would adjust their molds to make a few pieces a little more screen accurate, who knows, there "experts" may guide them that way.

 

Glad to see your BBB photo and looking forward to seeing the build progress 

 

Ugh. Well, hopefully they are able to get this all sorted out. I haven't started trimming yet, but per my initial glance, everything seems to be in order. However, I am a FOTK novice, so I'll be leaning pretty heavily on  you guys. Also, I'm already following @TheRascalKing's lead through most of this and letting Justin make all the mistakes so I don't have to.  Also, if I do start finding off-color pieces, they're all going to end up red in the end, so I'll let it slide. I will say this though... who in the flying QA circus allowed the DN team to sew the gaskets inside out??? Honestly, I wouldn't have even thought about it, but Justin pointed it out to me about a week ago. 

I don't get this at all. In this pic, I turned the knee gasket inside out so the difference can be seen. SHINY SIDE OUT DENUO NOVO... Fortunately, Dave from Sheev's Emporium gave me a lesson on sewing ribbed fabric a few months ago, so I'm either going to right this wrong, order a new set, or make one myself. Actually, I have a bunch of fabric left over from my DT kidney gaskets, so I might just try to make some gaskets this weekend. 

Ok, I'll post more pics later.
Regardless, I'll be finishing up my new ROTK/ New Generation TK in a couple weeks and I'm sliding the Deathtrooper to the side to finish this one first. My Anovos TFA bucket is getting here tomorrow, so I'll be set soon. 

[BigJasoni[TK]]

 

 

Oh yeah… Thank you eBay. I’ll get started in a couple days.